Chef Raymond Taylor, of Ponte Vecchio, Executive Chef for Niagara Casinos

Raymond Taylor, AKA "Chef Ray" was born in England and trained in London at the legendary Savoy and Claridge's. His first Canadian job was as sous chef at Toronto's King Edward Hotel. After several other hotel and resort positions, he made his way to the Bahamas and the One and Only Ocean Club Resort on Paradise Island, where he worked alongside celebrity chefs like John George. He was
appointed Executive
Chef
for
Niagara
Casinos
in
November
2007, and presides over a menu of classic Italian dishes at Ponte
Vecchio at Fallsview Casino
Resort in Niagara Falls.

This interview is one of five I did with Ontario chefs for an article that was bumped from a print publication for lack of space. Chef Taylor was then at Executive Chef at Casino Windsor. I'll publish all five as separate postings; they all share the same format.

• Food style: Euro-Asian with contemporary presentation and clean, simple flavours
• Oddest customer request? Cooking a dinner for a poodle. It was surf and turf, and it had to be served a certain way.
• Greatest triumph? When my employees go into a competition. We did the Battle of the Hors d'oeuvres in Windsor, and seeing them get gold was great. My own personal one was working for the Ocean Club when we were ranked number four in the world by Condé Nast. That was a celebration!
• Scariest moment in the kitchen? We were setting up a wedding outdoors in the English garden on the beach at Atlantis [in the Bahamas], and there was a Category 5 hurricane coming. We didn't know whether it was going to pass us or not. It was so close, but we set it all up, and it actually missed us, and the wedding went on.
• Wisdom for Other Chefs? Work hard and cook from your soul. Cooking's all about love.
• What's Cooking? [At Casino Windsor] We do a tuna light appetizer with ribbons of fresh tuna with spicy daikon and red radish slices. The tuna is like a sashimi. It's prepared in a marinade with ginger, soya and garlic, pureed to make it like a light vinaigrette. The radish we marinate in a spicy chili oil. To finish, we layer the radish with the tuna into three layers over crushed avocado.

Also check out:

• Craig Paulger, J. Dee's Market Grill (London)
• John Sinopoli, Table 17 (Toronto)
• Stephen Vardy, Black Cat Bistro (Ottawa)