chatting with robert clark

January 27, 2010 by Jill Thomas

Jill is the creator and editor of this blog and the owner of Rock Salt Restaurant and Cafe on Salt Spring Island.

Rob Clark on pass Chef Robert Clark knows most everything there is to know about how to catch, cook and eat what tastes good in the northern Pacific ocean. No chef has done more to promote the use of sustainable seafood in BC then he has.

He’s the founding chef for the Vancouver Aquarium’s Ocean Wise conservation program. He was honored by the Monteray Bay Aquarium for his outstanding dedication to sustainably harvested seafood. He recently dined with Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall.

Robert is also the Executive Chef at three trendsetting iconic Vancouver restaurants including C Restaurant, Nu Restaurant & Lounge and the Raincity Grill. He’s a successful guy, a bit of a celebrity, our own homegrown Gordon Ramsey.

Celebrity chefs have done a lot in recent years to establish a connection between culinary talent and bad tempered arrogance. Robert might reverse this trend. He’s a nice guy and has a decidedly grassroots air about him. His personality seems better suited to an environmental group office then to glamourous state dinners and gourmet restaurants. Like his kitchens, most of what comes out of his mouth is original, intelligent and unexpected.

Robert grew up in Gaspe Quebec in a humble family where the men cooked. When he finished high school he assessed the lack of opportunity in his hometown and enrolled in cooking school at George Brown College in Toronto. He disembarked the train at Union Station, gazed up awestruck at the Royal York Hotel, and never looked back.

Robert trained to be a chef in the eighties when culinary culture valued excess not sustainability. The talented chefs of the time tried to out do each other by serving unusual ingredients from far flung locals. They competed to see who could pile their food the highest on the plate. Robert worked in kitchens where the chefs bragged about blueberries flown in from New Zealand. This used to impress him.

That changed when he was cooking at the Founders Club and he ate carrot soup made by chef Jamie Kennedy. He says, “It was the best carrot soup I’d ever eaten because it tasted like carrots, fresh local carrots. Jamie made me realize that fancy cooking techniques are not the key to amazing food, that good food comes from good ingredients.”

Robert eventually migrated west to Vancouver. In 1992, he was the opening sous chef with owner/chef Adam Busby at the celebrated Star Anise Restaurant. In 1997, when renowned restauranteur Harry Kambolis opened the first definitive seafood restaurant in the city, he recruited Clark to join his team. Robert was quickly promoted to Executive Chef and led C Restaurant to critical acclaim and success. C Restaurant in return led Robert to a lifelong passion for sustainable seafood.

Sustainability wasn’t his initial focus. Unlike other restaurants at the time, C Restaurant only served seafood. Robert’s commercial suppliers stocked eight seafood products and one of those was farmed Atlantic salmon. To compound the situation the quality on offer was low. Robert says, “We were at the mercy of our suppliers. I would order the same fish from three different suppliers, pick the best one and send the other two back. They referred to us as the boomarang account.”

Over sixty kinds of fish and seafood are harvested in BC. If Robert could access this bounty he would distinguish C Restaurant from its competitors, so he decided to build some relationships with some fishermen. One product at at time he gradually gained direct access to what he needed. He says, “Salmon was the hardest to source directly. We finally succeeded but we had to buy the fisherman’s whole boat and start a retail food line in order to use up the volume we were forced to purchase.”

Robert learned a few things in the process. “I learned how harvesting techniques effect the final product by going fishing with our suppliers. I learned that the quality on your plate results from the technique used to catch, ice and bleed the fish. Fishermen taught me to associate sustainability with quality. The process was time consuming and expensive but the results were worth it.”

Robert emerged as a popular spokesperson for sustainable seafood when he collaborated with the BC Sablefish Association on a ground breaking publicity campaign to distinguish Sablefish from Alaskan Black Cod. As part of the campaign, he replaced Chilean sea bass with Sablefish on the C Restaurant menus. He told me, “The Sea Bass stocks were running out. The quality was degraded. Sometimes you didn’t even know if fish you received was really sea bass.”

Approximately five years after the Sablefish campaign, the Vancouver Aquarium launched the the Ocean Wise Program and appointed Robert as their chef spokesperson. Commercial suppliers finally began to stock sustainable seafood products. Sustainable seafood was officially trendy in the Vancouver restaurant scene which is good news for our oceans.

The trend is spreading now across Canada as more and more restaurants commit themselves to the Ocean Wise program.

C Restaurant made a splash recently at the Vancouver Aquarium with the debut of its new cookbook, C Food. So if you want to know how to cook up some sustainable seafood of your own you know where to look.

Robert concluded our interview by describing his recent efforts to connect with farmers and increase the amount of local food on his restaurant plates. Robert believes that chefs have a special ability to create change. He says, “The people who feed the people are the most powerful so it is easier for us to make a difference.” If his success with seafood is any indication we should expect an astonishing impact.

In the meantime he shared this incredible recipe with us:

Smoked Sablefish and Barley Soup
serves 8 to 10 and freezes well

For the soup:
1 pound smoked sablefish, cooked and flaked
3 Tablespoons butter
1 cup onions, diced
3 cloves garlic, pureed
2 whole bay leaves
½ cup carrots, diced
½ cup celery root, diced
1 cup potatoes, diced
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon freshly cracked pepper
2/3 cup pearl barley
8 cups chicken or vegetable stock
¼ cup chopped fresh parsley for garnish

For the soup:

Heat a soup pot over medium heat. Melt the butter and add the onions, garlic and bay leaves. Stirring frequently, cook the onions and garlic until translucent. Add the remaining vegetables and the salt and pepper, cook for five minutes keeping the vegetables from sticking to the bottom of the pot.
Add the barley and the chosen stock and adjust the seasoning. Bring the pot to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cover, cooking for 50 to 60 minutes or until the pearl barley is tender
Note that hulled barley is more nutritious and if used, you will need to cook it for an hour and a half or longer before the barley is fully cooked.
The soup is better made a day ahead and refrigerated until needed.
To serve heat the soup and add the smoked sablefish at the last minute, just before serving.

A great winter dish to keep the wet weather at bay.