Chef James Waters has worked in many of Calgary's finest restaurants and has turned his talents to creating well-executed diner food at Diner Deluxe.
Like many chefs his passion for cooking started early in life. He says, "I became inspired through my mother. She was a pretty great cook. We used to cook a lot at home and we used to have a lot of Sunday dinners and I always liked to help out."
Chef Waters went the route of learning his craft the old fashioned way - on the job. He's worked at many restaurants around Calgary including the Raw Bar at Hotel Arts, Saint Germain, Home Tasting Room and the Mercury amongst others. He explains, "The idea was to move around and learn as much as I could, as quickly as I could rather than actually going to school. I call it the school of passion."
Bruce Lee + Cooking
When it comes to his approach to food Waters says, "My approach to food would be to keep an open mind, never be satisfied with what you've cooked, and always be looking for the next best thing whether it be from the classics all the way to the molecular gastronomy that's being created these days. I believe in the old world and the new world because they all have something to offer."
In fact Chef Waters has a unique way of explaining his approach of taking the best from many places. He says, "It's like the way Bruce Lee took a chunk of every style of kung fu and made his own kung fu out of the best parts of each."
The approach that Waters takes at Diner Deluxe is to combine diner classics with solid culinary technique in a way the reflects his personal philosophy. He says, "Some of the food that was on the menu before seemed to me was more for the wow factor of it. Its fun as a chef to get people to try new foods but in the diner setting I find people just want familiar food."
However, he says, "Instead of just taking mayonnaise and putting Parmesan cheese in it and calling it Caesar dressing we make everything from scratch. We don't have to call it a reduction, we can just call it a sauce. I'm not about confusing people. I just want people to try nice food but keep it approachable."
Every chef has certain ingredients that they enjoy working with and for Waters these include "the saucier things like stocks, proteins and sauces." He also adds, "I like fish a lot because we're landlocked and we don't work with it as much so it's a bit different."
Local, Sustainable and Tasty
Using local and sustainable products is another important aspect of what Chef Waters is doing. He says, "If all of us chefs don't get on it the next generation's not going to have nearly as much to work with. If we don't start acknowledging that cooking for the masses needs to be done responsibly we could all be in trouble in the future."
The relationships he forms with the local suppliers he uses are important to Waters. He points out, "The idea is that we need to source each other and we have to be doing this together. If we don't keep trying to find a local guy and they don't keep trying to find us it won't be beneficial for anybody."
Creating new menu items is one of the challenges of being a chef. For Chef Waters there's a two-pronged approach. He explains, "The first thing we have to look at is cost and then creativity. If you're breaking the bank, there's not much point in being creative. We look at what's in season and how you can get creative with that. If what we create is a dead item so if something's not selling we will have to analyze why it didn't sell and what we can replace it with. If we have a fish on the menu that's not selling, we'll change it and go that route because otherwise you're just wasting your money."
Since taking over at Diner Deluxe Waters has taken a new approach to the menu. He points out, "If we're going to work with local people, it would be best to do more seasonal stuff. We go through customer feedback. If you're listening to people who come to your place you're probably going to be better off than listening to your own ego."
He adds, "Before I got here I know that this place had a bit of a dark cloud around it for numerous reasons. We're trying to lift that cloud from here and show everyone that Diner Deluxe is back on the map. We're trying to show that there's a lot of love here and we're putting the care back in the food and in the service."
When it comes to the direction of Diner Deluxe in the future, Chef Waters says, "I want to see more of a dinner crowd. We're trying to push the dinner aspect here. Obviously brunch isn't broken, we don't need to fix that. I also want all our food to be a touch healthier and a touch fresher."
A Harmonious Kitchen
An important part of any chef's career is managing the cooks and the rest of the staff at a restaurant. The diner setting at Diner Deluxe throws up certain challenges that aren't present in high-end restaurants. Waters explains, "Its definitely different because of the level of skill. A lot of our guys are part-timers or doing it to get paycheques as opposed to seasoned chefs who want to do this as a career. Basically its a lot more teaching every day."
Chef Waters says, "The whole teacher-chef thing comes out. If you've got a guy who's not sure about it and he learns a bit about cooking he's actually changed his life and he might take a new career path."
Another challenge is the busy line and basic equipment that the diner has. Waters says, "With our kitchen its a pretty gritty line and we don't have a lot of equipment. We try to be patient and understanding because we're feeding a lot of people in a short amount of time. I also like to keep on everyone but don't do it through yelling or anything but through repetition and spending time rather than just being some crazy chef."
Being a chef isn't easy but Chef Waters finds the passion to keep going in "the pursuit of perfection." He adds, "Each day the food should be better than the last one. As soon as I figured that cooking was it it has been non-stop since. I don't find working 90 hours a week very trying, I find it enjoyable."
For more information on Diner Deluxe: http://www.dinerdeluxe.com
The interview with Chef James Waters was conducted on Friday, August 26th over the telephone.
