Master distiller / blender
David Grant
- Discipline
- Master distiller / blender
Portrait of David Grant
i. Biography
Canadore College is the formal start in the record, but the work that follows is what defines the line: chef at Jasper Park Lodge in Jasper, then culinary director at City O’ City in Denver and culinary director at Watercourse Foods in Denver. That sequence points to a kitchen path built through responsibility, with each role asking for a wider set of decisions than the last. The progression reads as practical trade movement, from training, to service, to directing the pace and standards of whole operations. The current portfolio is split between The Funky Goat Eatery in Valemount and Gladys in Denver, where David Grant holds the titles of chef and entrepreneur, and chef. Those roles place production and ownership in the same frame. They also suggest a working method that is not limited to one room or one format, but organized around building, maintaining, and extending a body of work across more than one kitchen.
Career - chef and entrepreneur, The Funky Goat Eatery, Valemount - chef, Gladys, Denver - chef, Jasper Park Lodge, Jasper - culinary director, City O’ City, Denver - culinary director, Watercourse Foods, Denver Education: Canadore College
Signature
The named dishes show range without overstatement: hot coconut chowder with potato, celery, and crispy onion, and root vegetable reuben sandwich. One leans into heat, softness, and crunch; the other works a familiar sandwich format through vegetables rather than meat. Together they suggest a kitchen that is comfortable with contrast, using structure and texture to keep the food grounded while still moving it beyond routine.
Recognition
The pressure points around opening and operating are stated plainly: community resistance, maintenance, labor, and vendor fees, with about a year and half needed to get everything squared away. That kind of accounting belongs to the trade as much as the cooking does. It shows the back-of-house and the business side as inseparable, and it frames persistence as part of the craft rather than a side note. “My five-year goal is to have three restaurants” sets the scale of the plan without dressing it up. The statement is about expansion, but also about continuity: more rooms, more service, more systems to keep in motion. For David Grant, the measure of progress is not abstract acclaim but the ability to keep building on what has already been put in place.
FAQ Where did David Grant train or study? David Grant trained at Canadore College.
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