Chef Patrick Turcot

Born in Québec City, Patrick Turcot was already showing his culinary inclination at the age of five, when he surprised his parents by ordering “escargots” at a restaurant. By the age of 15, he had developed a full-fledge passion for good food and knew that we wanted to study culinary arts.

Upon graduating in both Pastry and International Cooking from the Institut de Tourisme et d’Hôtellerie du Québec, Patrick completed his apprenticeship at the Ritz Carlton in Montreal in 1990. He first started his career at prestigious hotels in Montreal and Quebec City before heading west for a winter to join the kitchen brigade at The Fairmont Château Lake Louise. He returned to Québec City to work at Le Château Frontenac. During that time, he also took on the opportunity to share his experience and taught apprentice cooking at Limoilou College.

In 2003, Patrick was delighted to move back to Alberta as Executive Chef at Edmonton’s Fairmont Hotel Macdonald and three years later at the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge. There, Patrick developed an appreciation for the province’s vibrant professional culinary community and learned to work closely with local producers. In 2005, he joined the ranks of Culinary Team Alberta as a support member and proud ambassador of local farmers.

In 2010, Patrick decided to take on a new challenge on the international scene and transferred to the Fairmont in Scottsdale, Arizona, a Five-Diamond property with four signature restaurants, 72,000 square feet of total function space and a Willow Stream Spa. Patrick enjoyed to move from mountain to desert property and loved discovering new local flavors and products such as Agave nectar. He continued to be actively involved in the Chaîne des Rôtisseurs and to share his knowledge with the customer via cooking demo or TV shows.

Chef Turcot has received several honors such as the Silver Medal at the Quebec Culinary Show and a Bronze medal at the Montreal Culinary show. He is a true epicurean and loves to treat his friends to his new creations to get their feedback before introducing them on the hotel menus. His culinary philosophy and passion reflect the current trend towards a healthier and naturally nutritional diet. Working with neighboring farmers to seek out the finest in regional and local organic produce, is the essence of his cuisine.

At home, he enjoys cooking for his wife and children. He loves when they all help to prepare the ingredients together and sit around the kitchen island waiting to sample first-hand their father’s famous Risotto with truffles. At work, Patrick strives to excel through simplicity, by presenting his guests with dishes of exceptional quality. His style is described as innovative and classical. Using French culinary principles as a foundation and adding the endless supply of regional ingredients, he creates dishes that are simple yet elegant letting the essence of the star ingredients shine through. He works to deconstruct recipes, reinventing them with the products presenting the freshness and most intense flavors.