In 2025, our Resident Chef program enters its sixth season with an exciting lineup of Canadian culinary artists. These five innovative and entrepreneurial Chefs will collaborate with our very own Chef Kenton Leier to create new menus to be featured at 1 Elgin, where these chefs will showcase their training, skills, and talents.
The first resident chef of the season is Ottawa’s beloved founder and CEO of Baccanalle, Chef Resa Solomon-St. Lewis. Our local celebrity comes with an international following as the star of her cooking show. She plans to bring all the flavours of the Caribbean to her residency menu at the 1 Elgin, as well as her much anticipated culinary event on January 9, 2024.
In March, we welcome culinary power couple Celeste Mah and Ross Larkin. After working in kitchens from coast to coast, they opened their restaurant, Portage, where they have been making a name for themselves with their style of Newfoundland Canadiana, influenced by Celeste’s Asian heritage. They kick off their new menu and residency at 1 Elgin with the Ladies Who Lunch event on March 7, 2025.
In June, we welcome the 2024 winner of Canada's Great Kitchen Party, Chef Kristopher Kurus. He was honoured to represent his hometown of Winnipeg in Canada’s Great Kitchen Party and is honoured once more by the opportunity to represent the Prairies at his residency at 1 Elgin. Chef Kurus will also be kicking off the first weekend of Chef’s Table, from July 3-5, 2025.
Our final resident chef, Amy Pelletier, is coming in from the East Coast for her own Chef’s Table weekend series on Sept 4-6, 2025. Chef Pelletier is a member of the Madawaska First Nation in Edmundston, New Brunswick, and is the owner of her own catering business of Indigenous and Acadian cuisines, her menu will be available in the restaurant until early November 2025.
Come out and try every one of their menus, taste their ideas, indulge in their creativity, and learn about what inspires them along the way. Join us at the NAC’s 1 Elgin restaurant for an ever-changing and always exciting culinary adventure of Canada’s most talented and creative chefs.
