Local chef makes it on ‘Top Chef Canada’
Another of this province’s culinary crusaders is about to make his mark on national television.
Chris Chafe is the executive chef at Magnum and Steins in St. John’s and one of 16 contestants sharpening his knives on Season 3 of The Food Network’s “Top Chef Canada.”
The 24-year-old went about gaining ground in the cooking world in a different way than most. There was no formal schooling.
“I like working with my hands,” he says. “I find you learn more on the job than you ever do in school.”
And he’s been proving that point. He started out in the dish pits at 16, but liked what the chefs were doing. A few positions opened up and Chafe asked the owners to take a chance on him.
They did and it has paid off. He quit university halfway through a biochemistry degree and worked his way up to become executive chef at Magnum and Steins.
Local food critic Karl Wells says Chafe is a natural.
“He’s very creative. He’s got great instincts and he knows how to put food together really well. He knows how to work with spices and herbs and create the right kind of balance that you have to create to make really great food. And he’s got a great eye. His food always looks nice on the plate.”
The producers and judges at “Top Chef Canada” must have seen something in him too. This isn’t the first time a Newfoundlander has taken East Coast flavour to the competition. Todd Perrin was on the initial season of the program. He says the fact that Chafe even took the chance on getting on the program shows character.
”I think it’s awesome. It takes a bit of gumption to even fill out the application and send in your video.”
Perrin was at a much different stage in his life and career when he got on the show. He had been doing the restaurant thing for a while, had worked abroad and was home with a young family. He was actually thinking of a career change when he got on “Top Chef Canada.”
“For me it was fantastic. I had a blast. And it kind of launched me into the second half of my career really, so it did a whole bunch of stuff for me, personally and professionally.”
The experience relit old fires in him and gave him some notoriety, which never goes astray in an industry where it pays to be known. But he knows from experience that Chafe has to be prepared.
“It’s super tough. It doesn’t look as hard on television as it actually is,” says Perrin.
“The whole thing is an exercise in kind of a slow torture. They keep you tired. They keep you working. They keep you off guard in terms of what’s coming next. So they play all kinds of mental games on you as well as just the physical challenges that you have to do.”
Perrin did well and made the Top 8.
He threw a few curve balls at the judges by representing the East Coast in every challenge, breaking out a bottle of seal for use in a dish at one point.
There’s no way to know what they’re going to make you do, he says, but deciding who you’re going to be on the show is a good move.
”You have to have some kind of a plan going in.”
Chafe seems like he’s had a plan for quite some time. In an audition tape for the show he says that what he lacks in formal training he makes up for in self discipline, reading and absorbing as much knowledge on cooking as he can.
“I’m sure Chris will do fantastic. He’s a talented young fella and I know he’s got a great fire for it,” says Perrin.
Chafe has a strong notion of what he thinks makes a good meal.
“Food should really appeal to more than just your sense of taste,” he says, adding that the look, the texture and the smell are vital to a really good meal.
His notion on what it takes to be a good chef is no less firm.
”Don’t get boring. Don’t get stale,” he says.
It sounds like good advice for somebody trying to stay popular on television, as well.
Season 3 of “Top Chef Canada” premieres on The Food Network on March 18, 9 p.m. ET.