A new cookbook from The Dirty Apron on Beatty Street captures the homegrown philosophy of chef/owner David Robertson.
The chef has lived most of his life on the North Shore although he didn’t have much say in the matter. His parents loaded everybody up on a Greyhound Bus in 1977 and headed west from Toronto when he was three years old.
Robertson attended Ross Road Elementary and then went to a succession of secondary schools, including Argyle and Sutherland, before graduating from Seycove.
“I was actually kicked out of home economics class at Sutherland,” says Robertson.
His home economics teacher actually made a point of saying he shouldn’t ever consider going into the culinary arts.
“I think I used that as fuel to drive my career,” he says.
Robertson’s father was a butcher and he credits his parents with influencing his lifelong interest in cooking.
“My dad bringing different cuts of meat home and my mom cooking all day – my passion really started at home.”
Robertson’s first job at 15 was washing dishes in the kitchen at the Red Robin on Marine Drive.
“That’s now gone,” he says. “And then in high school I worked at the legendary Yic’s on Third Street, that’s now gone. All I’ve ever known is the restaurant industry,”
Robertson got his first real cooking job at the Furry Creek Golf and Country Club in 1993, the first year it opened. He followed that gig up with a cooking apprenticeship at the Westin Bayshore Hotel before venturing out on his own.
“I travelled the world trying to work in as many different countries as possible,” he says. “I had a European passport so I tried to work with different chefs and gain knowledge from them and just add that to my own repertoire. Cooking was the medium that allowed me to travel and get different jobs. I would go through a headhunter agency and they would give me a list of different places that I could go to and work and they would usually set up the visas for a year, year and a half, and then on to the next place. I always worked fine dining.”
After stints at a number of world class restaurants, including the Homestead Inn in Greenwich, Conn., under chef Thomas Henkelmann, Robertson struck out on his own.
“My travels ended up taking me all the way to Australia,” he says. “I had left New York after 9/11 happened and went to Australia and that’s where I met a girl and started chasing her around the world. We’re married now and live in North Vancouver. I proposed to Sara in Switzerland in 2003 and she’s now my business partner at The Dirty Apron. We’ve been married 15 years. I came back to Vancouver in 2004 and I was hired as the first sous chef, chef de cuisine, at Chambar.”
The year it opened Chambar was voted the top new restaurant in Canada and it’s success as a casual dining operation was an inspiration for Robertson.
“I realized through talking about food that there was an infatuation in Vancouver with people who want to learn more about food,” says Robertson. “And there were no places that were really running the true hands-on cooking experience. I knew there was a market for it and I knew the people of Vancouver really wanted to be a part of that and so in 2008 I left my job and set out to open The Dirty Apron and never looked back.”
The Dirty Apron is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year.
“We’ve taught over 100,000 people how to cook,” says Robertson. “I do team building with everyone from NHL prospects to different law firms. I see over 200 companies a year come through for their team building. We’re full every single night and now we run two different style cooking schools within the Dirty Apron – one’s a hands-on and one’s more of a watch-and-learn.”
In the same building on Beatty, The Dirty Apron operates a deli which sees about 250 people a day coming through and they’ve also added a catering company which is quite busy on its own.
Some of the people working with Robertson have been with him since day one and the new Dirty Apron cookbook shows that collective culture in action.
“It’s not a one-person show,” says Robertson. “I had a lot of help from the team and staff. We kind of looked at the cookbook as a team project.”
The first Dirty Apron cookbook, published five years ago, became a national bestseller.
“The first one was to say, ‘Hey, we’re the Dirty Apron” says Robertson. “We played it really safe with some of the recipes. This one kind of resembles a little bit of my life and my family’s life and that’s why we call it Gather.”
Robertson’s life revolves around his wife and kids and extended family.
“We’re constantly having friends and family over,” he says. “We’re eating together, we’re going on picnics. There’s one picture of us in Deep Cove. At least one night a week in the summer time we take all the food and we cook down there down by Little Cates.
“It’s about gathering – people can decide about how they want to gather, whether it’s showcasing the big island in their kitchen in their house or whether it’s after their kids soccer game, but food is always at the centre of everything we do.”
Robertson sought to showcase the social aspect of The Dirty Apron but he also wanted the cookbook to be a timeless document of not so much where the cooking school/delicatessen is right now but where it’s going.
“We’re returning to simple, good flavourful food that we like to pile up and share,” he says. “We’re a little bit less fish, a little bit less meat, now more roots, shoots and leaves. There’s good vegetarian and vegan recipes featured throughout. We’re eating healthier but we want flavourful foods. That’s kind of the thought process around this book.”
The Dirty Apron may be establishing a precedent by publishing a new cookbook every five years.
“They say, as chefs, our palates change every five years and I think there’s a little bit of truth to that. This book showcases the ingredients we have and also mirrors the staff that work at the Dirty Apron. We have people from all over the world. I think the book showcases Vancouver.”
Dirty Apron planning move into YVR airport in 2020
The Dirty Apron is planning to add two new locations at the Vancouver International Airport in 2020. Both will be located in YVR’s Domestic Terminal.
“One will be in this coming January,” says chef/owner David Robertson. “It’s going to be called The Dirty Apron Nourish and will feature healthy grain bowls and vinaigrette dressings. People can have protein add-ons such as salmon, meat, chicken or prawns and then I’ve developed a whole smoothie line for travellers named after locations in the Lower Mainland, such as the North Shore Warrior, the Baden-Powell, The Chief, the Tofino Surfer, the Jericho Sunrise, and a few others.
“I kind of want it to be a last little piece of home before people fly out.”
The second location will open in June 2020 and it’s intended to showcase The Dirty Apron deli fare.
“We’re going to have European-style sandwiches, some breakfast items and things that people can grab and go and enjoy on the plane,” says Robertson.
The deli will be located in the Air Canada wing while The Dirty Apron Nourish is set for the WestJet wing.
