The Iron Chef has landed on his feet and is loving his new job
Shelley Fralic
Sun
Rob Feenie is adding to the menu at the Cactus Club without getting rid of any of the established favourites. Photograph by : Stuart Davis, Vancouver Sun
Chef Rob Feenie prepares a ravioli and sage dish Thursday in the test kitchen of Cactus Club. Photograph by : Ian Lindsay, Vancouver Sun
When we last left Rob Feenie — renowned Iron Chef, founder of Vancouver’s acclaimed Lumiere restaurant and Feenie’s bistro, cookbook author, Food Network star and, arguably, the most famous chef this town has produced — he had just been ignominiously turfed from Lumiere in the wake of an ugly brouhaha with his partners and had taken up with, gasp, a middle-class restaurant chain.
The Cactus Club, to be exact, the sports bar cum steak and burger joint that is home to big-screen TVs, peach schnapps bellinis and a menu featuring the kind of eclectic, casual rib-sticking fare that surely defines antipathy for a high-brow Food Concept Architect.
Which is the title Cactus Club president and CEO Richard Jaffray gave Feenie when he announced last February that Feenie was joining his senior team to help “shape the restaurants’ growth and product development, creating innovative new dishes and continuously improving long-time favourites.”
Food-loving eyebrows shot up all over town.
What’s a Food Concept Architect?
How will the maverick Feenie deal with so many cooks in so many kitchens?
Will the Jack Daniels ribs with garlic mashed potatoes be replaced by a dainty lamb chop and a sprig of arugula?
And what, exactly, is arugula?
But here we are, nearly five months later, and Feenie and his boss Jaffray are chatting amiably in a cushy booth at the new Cactus Club in the Bentall complex at Burrard and Dunsmuir.
The $6.5-million restaurant, which opened June 6, takes up the entire downtown corner and is stunningly chic for a Cactus Club, two storeys of soaring glass and open concept dining, with burgundy leather banquettes, satin walnut trim, shiny modern fittings, exposed wine racks, an upstairs deejay station and custom chandeliers covered in what look like opaque spiderwebs.
There is an elevator to the second floor, and a washroom waiting area furnished with a funky lounge chair and a floor-to-ceiling video screen spooling runway fashion shows.
It’s so hip you could blink and be in New York.
But then Jaffray is a sophisticated man, finely tailored and a collector of art — decorating his new restaurant are a Jim Schwartz marble sculpture, three pieces by Jean-Michel Basquiat, a Louis Poulsen artichoke light fixture over the bar, three original Andy Warhols and a striking oil painting by actor Anthony Hopkins.
Jaffray oversees the 20-year-old firm’s 19 operations in B.C. and Alberta, and he is clearly chuffed to have snagged a culinary work of art like Rob Feenie.
“He’s just the best,” says Jaffray. “If I had to pick a chef that I was to work with, it’s him. We’ve been friends for a long time. I, of course, would go to Lumiere … and he was curious about the Cactus Club.”
For the past few months, Feenie has been busy in the chain’s Ash Street test kitchen, whipping up nine new additions to the Cactus Club menu (see sidebar for details).
He and Jaffray had taken a hard look at the Club’s trendy and diverse menu — from appetizers to entrees to desserts — and saw that much was good.
But they did see room for change, or evolution as they call it, which is not unusual but can be tricky when you already have a successful operation with a loyal clientele that likes the menu the way it is.
“We didn’t want to completely change the menu,” says Feenie.
“It’s a real challenge in a way for me. I just want to put the right dish out there.”
They agreed, for instance, that “we need to work on sandwiches,” says Feenie.
So the BBQ Duck Clubhouse was born, stuffed with duck, chicken and prosciutto, and served on pecan fruit bread.
Not exactly a BLT but, he says, “it worked out really well.”
And then there was Feenie’s new Spinach Salad, also made with prosciutto, and balsamic figs.
“I thought it was a little adventurous, too different,” Jaffray says of the salad. “I was 100-per-cent wrong.”
The pair intends to work slowly through the menu, keeping old favourites like the pesto quesadilla, which was taken off the menu for awhile but is now back, and focusing on that “evolution” thing.
“Maybe we’ll add some more entrees. Maybe some appies. Maybe desserts,” says Feenie.
“The thing I’ve learned is that you look at the clients. In the next few years, you’ll see an evolution, but I can guarantee you’ll still have your favourites.”
Feenie, who is 43, married and father of two (number three is due any day) says his new job is a perfect fit.
“I’m so proud of this place. The excitement level when I got here was there from day one, and now it’s huge.
“I believe firmly that we’re the best in our field in this country.”
All of which drives his legendary creative urge, which has him in the Cactus Club kitchens from early morning until late evening.
“I’m the gas pedal,” he laughs. “Richard is the brake.”
Says Jaffray: “He’s bringing knowledge like you wouldn’t believe. He’s just so passionate and works so hard.”
As for his previous life in the heady world of haute cuisine, Feenie clearly is a man who doesn’t look back, who doesn’t waste time on regrets.
“I don’t miss anything about where I’m not.”
He’s also happy to take a mentor role, working directly with the Cactus Clubs’ many young motivated chefs, including Bentall’s 30-year-old regional chef Eric Foskett and his kitchen staff of 40.
“I’ve achieved everything in my career that I could ever want. Whatever I can pass on to them … that’s my role here,” says Feenie.
“I just want to continually raise the bar here, day after day, month after month, year after year.
“Ask me where I’m going to be at 60?
“Right here.”
Sun restaurant critic Mia Stainsby reviews the new Cactus Club Thursday in Westcoast Life.
Here are the nine new Cactus Club menu items, developed by the chain’s new “food concept architect” Rob Feenie. Menus vary slightly
by location, however, and these new dishes may not
all be available at every restaurant in the chain.
New dishes
BBQ Duck Clubhouse
BBQ duck, pan-seared chicken, prosciutto, pecan fruit bread, sea-salted fries
Spinach Salad
Italian prosciutto, goat cheese, balsamic figs, candied pecans and sherry vinaigrette
Rocket Salad
Panko and parmesan breaded chicken, baby arugula, vine-ripened tomatoes, cucumber, lemon caper sauce
The Burger
Sautéed mushrooms, aged cheddar cheese, cured bacon and sea-salted fries
Calamari Sandwich
Curried calamari and herb-caper tartar sauce with seasonal greens
Short Rib Beef Dip
Caramelized onion, emmenthal cheese, beef jus and sea-salted fries
Prawn & Scallop Spaghettini
Pan-seared prawns and scallops, roasted tomato sauce, garlic and parmesan crostini
Albacore Tuna Tataki
With green papaya, mint and basil salad, oranges, avocado and yuzu dressing
Butternut Squash Ravioli
Truffle beurre blanc, fried sage, pine nuts and amaretti cookies
© The Vancouver Sun 2008