Chef David O’Connor
Executive Chef – Sutton Place Hotel
Born in England, into a working class family of six, Chef David O’Connor learned the importance of coming together for meal times. From a young age, he followed his mother around to help make simple, rustic foods. He became inspired when he saw how people enjoyed sitting together, surrounded by food and discussing their days.
At 18, Chef David decided to take on the world and traveled to Switzerland to work at the larges train station in Europe: Bahnhof Buffet.
Since leaving the train station, he has worked at many well known restaurants and hotels such as the Savoy in London. Here he trained with Anton Alderman who cooked for Margaret Thatcher, Princess Diana, and the Rolling Stones, to name a few. He soon decided he needed to push his limits and went back to college to learn advanced cooking which included fat carving, ice work, and sugar work. This led him to win the London le Salon Culinary for Fat Carving in 1990, where he competed against London’s top Chefs.
Chef David was intrigued by food, and wanted to discover the new fusion style of cooking, so his next move was to Toronto, Canada. There he worked for 17 years in some of the finest hotels, holding positions under top Toronto Chefs. While in Toronto, Chef David had the opportunity to be the Chef in Charge for the Tranches blanc (White Hat Society). Chefs from around the world were invited to come and enjoy his beautiful creations, including Anton Mosimann.
Along the way he has learned from his own experiences, and others including George MacNeil and John Higgins, who were willing to pass on their knowledge and secrets to him. In 2006, after a move to Edmonton, the opportunity presented itself for Chef David to become the Executive Chef at The Sutton Place Hotel, located in the downtown core. Since moving, Chef David has now passed along his great passion and knowledge of food to the young chefs of the fast-growing city of Edmonton.
“I believe that to make honest food, you have to do it from the heart.”