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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Don't expect to see caviar flown from Russia on the Explorer Hotel's new dinner menu.

Chef Rick Cole stands outside Trader's Grill at the Explorer Hotel. Cole is the hotel's new executive chef. - Thandie Vela/NNSL photo

However, fresh fish straight from Yellowknife Bay and game from across the territory and northern Alberta will be featured prominently in the brand new menu, designed by the hotel's new executive chef, Rick Cole.

A follower of the earth-friendly 100-k cuisine, which aims to avoid large carbon footprint shipping of food in favour of food produced within 100 kilometres, Cole plans to take full advantage of his local resources.

"I've focused the new menu on every type of fish caught right in Yellowknife Bay and supporting the local fishermen," Cole said, listing pickerel, lake trout, whitefish and Arctic char from Cambridge Bay among the new menu's features.

"In my opinion, it's what people are coming here for," he said, catering to the transient corporate professionals and tourists who stay at the hotel when they visit the city.

"People are seeing Yellowknife for the first time and want to taste Yellowknife for the first time. (Local food) is what they want to try."

Local game including bison and venison, and even wild boar Zurich-style are also featured on the new menu, which will be offered by September.

"The chef has done a wonderful job in designing that menu," Explorer general manager Douglas Pears said. "He's bringing in a whole new wild flair."

Pears said the profile of the Explorer's restaurants – Trader's Grill and Trapline Lounge – have been "growing in leaps."

"We've probably got the best restaurant in the city, and by far the best chef," Pears said. "So when you put the two of them together you got a winning combination."

Chef Cole has been brought in from the company's second hotel in Iqaluit, where he served as the Frobisher Inn and Conference Centre's executive chef for more than a year.

His culinary talents span across international styles including Asian and fine French cuisine, honed through executive sous chef and corporate executive chef roles at a number of restaurants, including Wolfgang Puck's Canada in the Niagara Falls and Toronto area, and five years at Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise.

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