Darren MacLean | The chef who wants to bring a Michelin star to Calgary

(Calgary) Finalist in culinary competition The Final Table On Netflix, Darren MacLean is one of Calgary’s most prominent chefs, notably with the restaurant NUPO – and its annex Eight –, located in the Hôtel Atl du Groupe Germain.

The day we meet, when we want to talk to him about his influence on the Calgary culinary scene, chef Darren MacLean tells us that he is taking a flight across the Atlantic in the evening, because he is preparing to open another restaurant in… London!

“I want to go and get a Michelin star in Europe,” he says.

Of course, it will take a few years. But he is patient. “If I have a Michelin star, my other restaurants and the city of Calgary will benefit.”

We interviewed Darren MacLean last June at Groupe Germain’s Alt Hotel in Calgary’s East Village, where he opened his second restaurant NUPO.

This was before the third season of the series aired. The Bear in which the characters of Carmy and Sydney dream of a Michelin star. And before we learn that inspectors from the iconic gastronomic guide are currently traveling across Quebec to determine which tables will be in the inaugural selection of 2025. Toronto and Vancouver have already received a visit from the Michelin Guide, but not Calgary.

Connect with chefs from around the world

Darren MacLean would like to see more unity and pride in Canadian cuisine. That’s why he created the Cultural Chef Exchange, an exchange program in which he hosts renowned international chefs, including several Michelin-starred chefs!

He thus welcomed Shinichiro Takagi (from Japan), Masako Morishita (from Washington), Alberto Landgraf (from Brazil) and James Knappett (from London), to fish, hunt and pick berries, but above all to cook.

“I live in Calgary…” MacLean says dryly, aware that Alberta’s largest city is not a tourist destination like Paris or Chicago.

He sometimes feels isolated: “When you’re a chef-owner, you sometimes feel chained to your restaurant,” he confides.

With his exchange program, Darren MacLean wanted to “broaden his horizons and get out of his echo chamber.”

Seeing culinary stars rave about the beauty of the landscape and the variety of produce gives Canadian cuisine a certain nobility. And it puts Calgary on the map.… “People came from abroad for the meal with Andrew Wong,” he says.

Thank you, Netflix

Darren MacLean knows how any showcase is good for standing out. The chef makes no secret of his success, he owes it to The Final TableIt was after his participation in the finals of the Netflix culinary competition in 2018 that his Japanese restaurant Shokunin (an izakaya type) began filling its book with reservations night after night.

Then, in 2020, Groupe Germain contacted him to open a restaurant in its future Alt Hotel, located in the East Vi district, which is undergoing a revitalization. From there, NUPO was born, which focuses on vegetable-based cuisine and high-end sushi. It is possible to have an à la carte service or eat at the counter with an omakase (tasting) formula.

In the appendix there are Eight (37^e rank of the last ranking Canada’s 100 Best)hidden behind a door.

Darren MacLean calls it a speakeasy, or a hidden “restaurant within a restaurant.” Four nights a week, just eight diners are treated to a multi-course gourmet menu.

The seats are among the most sought-after in the country. Interested parties should note that the next round of bookings for January is Nov. 15. It’s sold out so far. “It’s beyond my wildest dreams,” says Darren MacLean. “But you end up sitting at a bar.”

A passion for Japanese cuisine

Although Darren MacLean studied cooking at Stratford Chefs School, he didn’t have the “epiphany” of becoming a top chef. “Restaurants were the only place I could get a job,” says the man who started working in a Chinese restaurant at the age of 13 – pretending he was 15.

Later, in his twenties, while working behind the bar at a place called Cowboys (!), he discovered Japanese cuisine while eating at the nearby sushi restaurant, Zen 8. It was the beginning of a passion that took him to Japanese soil several times.

His own farm

Darren MacLean has a farm on the outskirts of Calgary, where he grows the herbs and vegetables that allow him to create NUPO’s tasty vegan dishes and break down stereotypes associated with “Texas Canada” cuisine.

There’s no meat on the menu at NUPO, but at Eight, people can enjoy its 60-day aged beef from Holstein dairy cows that have been pastured for three years.

One day, says Darren MacLean, he will leave his kitchens and devote himself full time to his farm.

But not right away. He has to open a new restaurant in London… and get a Michelin star!