Meet Chef Luisa

Meet Chef Luisa

Luisa Rios is a pro­fes­sional chef, a grad­u­ate of the renowned Le Cor­don Bleu Paris – Culi­nary Arts Insti­tute and a mem­ber of the Inter­na­tional Asso­ci­a­tion of Culi­nary Pro­fes­sion­als (IACP) and the Amer­i­can Per­sonal & Pri­vate Chef Asso­ci­a­tion (APPCA). She has cooked for Roy­alty, CEOs and fam­i­lies alike, and worked with some of the finest restau­rants and cater­ers in the coun­try, includ­ing Beckta Din­ing & Wine — named one of the Top 10 New Restau­rants in Canada.

If you’ve ever won­dered whether the love for great food is hered­i­tary, one look at my fam­ily will dis­pel any lin­ger­ing doubts you may have.

As a child grow­ing up in Colom­bia, South Amer­ica, every­thing impor­tant that hap­pened in our lives took place around the din­ner table. The table was where we laughed, cried, yelled, debated the top­ics of the day, told our sto­ries and talked for hours with­out end. It was the place for fam­ily gath­er­ings, cel­e­bra­tions and for reunit­ing at the end of the day with the most impor­tant peo­ple in our lives. Most of all, it was the place where we ate – won­der­ful, fresh, local foods, that warmed our hearts as surely as it filled our stomachs.

My mother, aunts and grand­moth­ers are all great cooks, each with their own par­tic­u­lar sas­son (taste) and spe­cialty. My father, mean­while, was the great entre­pre­neur who never failed to tell my brother and I that, if we truly believed in some­thing and weren’t afraid of a lit­tle hard work, there was noth­ing we couldn’t do. With this sup­port, pas­sion and inspi­ra­tion behind me, I believed I could build a busi­ness around some­thing I truly love: food.

I began by open­ing a small bak­ery at my father’s cof­fee shop. When I moved to Canada more than a decade ago, I was thrilled to dis­cover that my adopted home was not only a land of many dif­fer­ent peo­ple and cul­tures, but also an end­less bounty of var­ied cuisines, each more deli­cious than the last. I have been for­tu­nate to have lived and trav­elled exten­sively in Canada, where I have met many won­der­ful peo­ple who work the land to grow or pro­duce great food in every sea­son – a con­cept that was com­pletely for­eign to me, com­ing as I was from more trop­i­cal climes.

Eager to make up for lost time, I decided to leave behind my for­mer life as a new media project man­ager, and enrolled at Le Cor­don Bleu Paris – Ottawa Culi­nary Arts Insti­tute, where I trained with some of the best chefs in the world. I com­pleted Cer­tifi­cates in both Cui­sine and Patis­serie, and served a 10-week appren­tice­ship with Beckta Din­ing & Wine, named one of the Top 10 New Restau­rants in Canada by Enroute Mag­a­zine.

Upon grad­u­at­ing from the Insti­tute, I joined the team at Epi­cure Trai­teur Cater­ing in Gatineau, where I honed my skills as a prep cook and pas­try assis­tant under the tute­lage of expert chef Nor­bert Chabot. A posi­tion with The Angel House Her­itage Inn in St. John’s, New­found­land, gave me the oppor­tu­nity to work with The Rock’s leg­endary cook, Anne Riche, run­ning the Inn’s kitchen and prepar­ing some truly unique break­fasts and catered events.

To me, Cook­ing Jour­neys is inspired by all of these peo­ple, influ­ences and places I have been lucky enough to expe­ri­ence. Like a great recipe, their exam­ples are the essen­tial ingre­di­ents of the pas­sion for food that I would now like to share with you. I am truly excited to have finally landed in this won­der­ful city by the sea, and by the prospect of shar­ing many unique and won­der­ful foods, din­ing expe­ri­ences and dishes with you, your fam­ily and friends.

Together, we can cre­ate a unique gath­er­ing place for every­thing and any­thing related to food. A place to relax and have fun. To unwind and take a break, if only for a few hours, from life’s daily chaos. To indulge in the true pas­sions and plea­sures of life.

And per­haps, in the process, to inspire the same kind of earnest con­ver­sa­tion, heart­felt joy and life-affirming pas­sion around your own family’s table that was the best and truest spice of mine.

All the Best,
Luisa Rios