Scott Downey – Chef/Owner

The Butternut Tree

Scott Downey, Chef-Owner of The Butternut Tree, grew up in St. Albert and spent his summers visiting family in New Brunswick. The memory of the butternut tree in his grandmother’s backyard is a powerful symbol of the wonderful ingredients growing all over the Canadian landscape, waiting to be rediscovered.

Chef Downey has cooked at Michelin-star restaurant Daniel in New York, the highly decorated Noma in Denmark, and Wildebeest in Vancouver. For the prestigious James Beard Foundation, Scott took part in the preparation a special foraged feast with Chef Eddy Leroux and forager Tama Matsuoka Wong.

With a love for Canada and its abundant bounty never far from his thoughts and heart, a return home was always in the cards. Chef Downey returned to Vancouver where he founded and operated a foraging company with many fine restaurants relying on his ingredients.

Today, we find Chef Downey back in the prairies at The Butternut Tree in the heart of Edmonton’s downtown core — a place that celebrates the art of gathering, in both fine company and ingredients.