Quickfire With Chef Alex Chen
Get to know Chef Alex Chen, the culinary Executive Chef of Boulevard Kitchen & Oyster Bar, and Wild Blue Restaurant in Vancouver. Chef Chen expresses his cooking style, sharing his love for food and cooking with his family, and so much more!
1. What was your first job in the culinary industry?
My first job in the culinary industry was at McDonald’s when I was 13.
2. What is your flavour philosophy?
Nothing synthetic. Only real food.
3. One ingredient you can’t live without?
Salt. Regardless of what cuisine.
4. A cooking utensil that’s always in your kitchen?
Good quality copper pots and pans.
5. You are an executive chef of not one but two restaurants. How do you manage to balance both?
I am very blessed to have two very good executive chefs who run the day-to-day operations. Both have different seasons for being busy. The calendar is always evolving.
6. What’s your signature dish that you always cook for or with your family and why?
Lots of homemade long simmer bone broth, Chinese style. Usually there is a lot of weird dry seafood in there for umami (dry scallops, dry squid, dry conch, dry geoduck clam, and dry iberico ham hock). Lots of pasta as well carbonara, stuffed pasta, braised osso bucco. Lots of meat cooked over charcoal or fire.
7. You like to do a lot of cooking with your son, what’s that like sharing your passion for the culinary arts with him?
It is interesting to see his perspective. The force is strong with this one. I am also very impatient. Not a good formula for when we both cook. I have fired him a couple of times a night but always hire him back.
8. Go-to cooking technique and why?
I am a chef, we apply the best technique to the food we cook. It all depends on what we are cooking. By now we have also built up plenty of muscle memory and past experience. We rely on past experience and we share or collaborate a lot in a professional kitchen.
9. Best memory as a chef thus far?
Every new promotion is another milestone, they are all unique in their own way. It shows growth, evolution, and progress. Every competition as well, we have been blessed with so many.
Same thing I say when my past students win an award(s) or win a cooking competition. Get an opportunity to move forward in her or his career, my proudest moment.
10. Worst memory as a chef thus far?
Every loss in a competition is also a learning opportunity, at that moment it may seem like it may never pass. You remember that for life, it’s a reminder you are not immortal.
11. Go-to place for sourcing ingredients?
Depending on what;
Granville Island - Oyama for charcuterie
Richmond Country Farm - May to December for all the vegetable produce
Fujiya - for Japanese ingredients
T&T - for my day-to-day home meals
Sebastian & Co - dry-aged beef
Steveston Fisherman Wharf - for local seafood
Cropthorn Farm – organic farm veg and lettuces.
12. Where do you go to eat on your day off?
I have a few: HK BBQ Master, Happy Lamb Hot Pot, Phenom Penh, Fishman and Seto Sushi.
13. What is your favourite dish to cook at each of your restaurants?
At Boulevard Kitchen & Oyster Bar - anything en croûte.
At Wild Blue Restaurant + Bar - Vongole pasta.
14. Congratulations on winning Iron Chef and being a judge on Wall of Chef, do you think you would ever want to host a cooking competition or participate in another one again?
Thank you. It seems like ages ago.
Competition is in my blood. I keep saying that I'm done with competitions but I haven't heard of any opportunity lately. I coach and mentor now, similarly. I still get a microdose of the thrill and excitement.
15. Your chef hero?
Bruno Marti. The Godfather of French cooking in Vancouver. He is still inspiring and teaching many.
16. What’s next for you as a chef?
I am going to stay focused on the restaurants, growing the restaurants. I will consider all opportunities wisely, most of them are just noises. Hopefully age gracefully, mentor, and coach more.
Head to Chef Chen’s Instagram to see the culinary dishes he creates, events he caters to, and more.