DESSERT DUEL CHALLENGER #3: CURTIS LUK

Photo via Fable

The Vancouver Home + Design Show is getting set to debut one of the city’s most exciting cooking competitions: the Savour Thursday Dessert Duel, happening Thursday, October 11 at 6pm on the Savour Your Life Cooking Stage.

This month, we’ve profiled our first two esteemed competitors. Last but not least, today the spotlight shifts to our third and final entry: Curtis Luk, Top Chef Canada competitor and pastry chef at hot new eatery Fable. He’ll also be appearing alongside Fable executive chef (and fellow Top Chef Canada competitor) Trevor Bird on the Savour Your Life Cooking Stage, demonstrating two of the restaurant’s top-selling farm-to-table dishes. They’re to die for – just wait. Or better yet, visit them at Fable to get a little advance tasting!  Plus, catch Trevor as he lends a hand during the Samsung Passion for Fresh Cooking Challenge on Design Saturday, October 13, where he’ll pair up with an amateur chef with the goal of winning $7,500 worth of Samsung Home Appliances.

Here’s what our favourite dynamic duo had to say about where they’ve been, and how far they’ve come since they got their start in the world of fine dining....

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Name: Curtis Luk

Occupation: Chef

Birthdate: October 27, 1982

Horoscope sign: Scorpio

Hometown: Markham, Ontario

What’s your regular coffee order? Cream – and lots of sugar. No surprise coming from a pastry chef!

How were you discovered? By Christopher Columbus. I kid – Top Chef Canada was definitely my most memorable and important career moment to date.

What famous figures inspire your career? Gordon Ramsay and Thomas Keller

If you weren’t in your current occupation, what would be your dream job? Astronaut

Describe your cooking style in five words or less: Ad hoc and carefree. I have fun with what I do and try not to take myself too seriously.

Home gadget you can’t live without: Peeler

What is your Twitter handle? @RunswithTongs

What movie or program is at the top of your Netflix queue? Community

Name the fictional character with whom you most closely identify: Kato from Green Hornet.

Name one natural talent you wish you had: A sense of humour.

What’s the best advice you’ve ever been given? “Do as I say, not as I do.”

What’s your personal mantra? Relentless discipline is the key to success.

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Name: Trevor Bird

Occupation: Chief proprietor of Fable

Birthdate: January 22, 1983

Horoscope sign: Aquarius

Hometown: I have never felt so at home as I do in Vancouver.

What was your first job? Slinging ‘zas at Boston Pizza.

Most memorable career moment to date: Top Chef Canada runner-up.

Any embarrassing on-the-job moments you’d like to share? Spilling 4 litres of sweet soy sauce all over my face and down my chest prior to serving in front of Jean George and his New York crew at Market in the Shangri-La.

Describe your cooking style in five words or less: Local, simple, fundamental, creative

What cooking trend or item are you dying to try/coveting for fall? Preserving and using winter produce from local farmers.

The last item you bought for your kitchen: Rational, the Cadillac of ovens.

Home gadget you can’t live without: Micro-plane

What is your Twitter handle? @83TBird

What songs are on repeat on your iPod? Anything by Wu-Tang Clan or Mos Def. Any gangsta rap – my (now not-so) secret shame.

Name one natural talent you wish you had: Playing musical instruments – I suck at it, and they suck at me!

What’s the best advice you’ve ever been given? Follow your dreams.

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Who’s starting the pool for the Savour Thursday Dessert Duel? That’s one bet I’m not sure anyone should feel confident enough to make!

Keep checking back here every Thursday in September to learn about our other Savour Your Life Cooking Stage guests, including Quang Dang of West Restaurant + Bar, Ned Bell of YEW Restaurant & Bar, Angie Quaale of Well Seasoned: A Gourmet Food Store and hometown favourite Rob Feenie, executive chef of Cactus Restaurants Ltd.. The heat is on!