Chastin Martel
Lakeside Leader
It’s not very often you get to see the chef at a restaurant, the one behind cooking your food.
In fact, you may not even see them at all.
Robert McGuigan is the head chef at The Landing restaurant, connected to the Slave Lake Inn and Conference Centre.
Before locating to Slave Lake, he lived and worked in Edmonton. McGuigan tells The Leader he has been cooking since he was 20 and surprise, his experience didn’t come from culinary school.
“I did not go to school,” says McGuigan.
“I’ve been working in the hospitality industry my whole life. I’ve always loved cooking for myself, cooking for family, friends, and then, yeah, it’s not really work.”
Before living in Edmonton, McGuigan worked in Jasper for a Greek family in their restaurant where he made a lot of Greek food. He has a lasting bond with them and still keeps in contact, he says. He worked for the family when he was 20 years old.
The main reason was to experience something new, says McGuigan.
The restaurant is located in Miette Hot Springs, outside of Jasper.
“And then leaving there (Greek restaurant), there was a lot of Greek food in Jasper, surprisingly. Not a lot of people would think it with going to Jasper there’s a big Greek influence,” says McGuigan
There are a variety of foods that McGuigan specializes in such as Italian, comfort, Greek and seafood.
McGuigan is originally from Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. Seafood is pretty big there, he says. In Slave Lake, it’s a different story.
“Not too much in the world of seafood You know, it’s kind of meat and potatoes,” says McGuigan.
Asked if being a chef is good career route, he says, it varies for each person. McGuigan loves being a chef and doesn’t imagine himself in any other career.
These days, he has seen less people pursuing cooking. McGuigan thinks that COVID had an impact on this.
“I can remember even 10 years ago, there was a lot more staff and chefs and cooks,” he says.
“And now, it seems they’re fleeing a little bit. You just don’t see them as much anymore.”
For readers who are interested in culinary careers, McGuigan suggests to keep an open mind, be a sponge and learn different cuisines.
“Even if it’s just something small, I can’t count how many small details or small things that I picked up from one person,” he says.
When it comes to challenges with being a chef, there are a few. Those include time management and working with ten people. The chef is the one making sure everything in order such as maintaining soup of the day, working on specials, cutting vegetables and knowing where certain items are.
“It’s just being able to multitask is probably one of the biggest challenges of doing it,” he says.
In McGuigan’s career, he hasn’t had many customers complain about a dish. During those times where he did, he didn’t deal with the customer himself. The whole deal of a chef entering the restaurant isn’t really a thing, he says.
“Whatever they choose or like is what they like, if they want something cooked a little more that’s not a problem,” says McGuigan.
“It’s very easy, it’s their food, It’s their money, You know, it’s their decision.”
Why is food safety so important? Well, there’s a lot of sharp, hot moving parts, he says. Knowing your surroundings, handling knives and turning appliances on and off are some important aspects.
“Something not so good can happen extremely fast. So you really got to be on your toes,” says McGuigan.
McGuigan wants more people to get into culinart arts.
For people who love cooking, even if you want to just try it, just stick your foot in there, he says.
“You can say, oh wow, I like making soup, I like doing this, I want to do this more. You know, So I would definitely encourage anyone who’s thinking about it to get in it and try,” says McGuigan.
