Cook Like Our Chef of the Year!

Alex Chen pays a visit to the Dirty Apron to show mere mortals how to cook like a champ.

There are two types of great chefs in this world: those who deal in such exquisite simplicity that the customer can be sucked into thinking “Hey, I could do that!” (you can’t by the way); and then there are those who produce dishes of such layered complexity that fellow chefs won’t even harbour the belief that they could do that. Boulevard‘s Alex Chen—VanMag‘s reigning Chef of the Year—is firmly in the latter category.

Which makes his upcoming appearance at the Dirty Apron Cooking School so compelling. Chef Chen is going to pull back the curtain and the intricacies of his craft while preparing a menu of some of his fave, celebrated dishes:

• Salmon Tartar with chive oil, crème fraiche and fingerling potato chips• Hamachi with shaved-vegetable “crudités” and yuzu vinaigrette• Slow-Roasted Duck Breast with pea “risotto” and shaved asparagus salad• Apple Tarte Tatin

As opposed to the Dirty Apron’s usual roll-up-your-sleeves-and-get-in-there format, Chef Chen will instead do all the heavy lifting, preparing in front of the attendees as they learn through watching, listening and tasting. Taking guests through each course step-by-step, Chef Chen will share his tips, tricks and tools of the trade and then serve each demonstrated dish alongside a glass of wine.

Demo and Dine with Alex Chen

Thursday, July 5 (5:30 to 8:30 p.m.)Dirty Apron Cooking School, 540 Beatty St.

Tickets available here—and they’ll undoubtedly sell out.