Nestled in the heart of Calgary, Canada, The Dorian Hotel stands as a more than just a place to lay your head; it’s become a culinary beacon in this emerging fine dining community, encapsulating three distinct dining experiences: The Wilde on 27, Prologue Café, and Bistro Nouvelle. At the helm of all three restaurants is gastronomic expert and Executive Chef, Josh Dyer.

Prologue Café, located on the first floor of the hotel, offers a delightful cafe and cocktail bar experience – renowned for its delicious pastry team that handcrafts everything in-house, fresh from scratch. I personally am still thinking about how to get their lavender and hazelnut puff pastries delivered back home. Light, crunchy, filled with a burst of flavors – they were super tasty bites that obviously left me wanting more. In the evening, they transition from espresso machines to artisanal cocktails with fresh herbs, light bites, a lovely wine selection, and a build-your-own charcuterie program. 

On the second floor, Bistro Novelle serves as a hub for breakfast and lunch, offering traditional fare in a casual setting, yet maintaining the integrity and quality that defines Chef Dyer and The Dorian’s culinary ethos. Every dish is crafted from scratch, so you really can’t go wrong. Plus, the experience is amplified by the interactive ‘Le Petit Chef’ offering which is perfect for a family meal. ‘The world’s tiniest chef’ is projected onto your table with 3D projection mapping technology, and combines artistic storytelling to navigate a whimsical world of sea monsters and groundhogs with your table and utensils as the canvas for stunning visual narratives. It truly takes their literary-inspired experience to a whole new level. 

Towering above, on the 27th floor, The Wilde is their shining star. With a menu that evolves every two to three months, this fine dining establishment captures the essence of seasonal ingredients and creative culinary expression, while fully embracing the whimsy and inspiration drawn from Oscar Wilde’s ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray.’ (The entire hotel’s design and aesthetic are driven by this literary masterpiece.) It was here that I caught up with Chef Dyer to discuss how he manages it all. Truth be told, I was lucky enough to walk in on him enjoying a rare moment of tranquility in The Wilde’s dining room on his single day off. And he was kind enough to chat… 

Alright Chef, tell me what you’re excited about here.

We’re launching our new summer dinner menu at The Wilde tomorrow. I like to change the menu frequently because we usually have only five or six entrees, and five or six appetizers – so it’s a really focused menu. This allows us to take the opportunity to really hone in on unique periods of time. And it’s fun for me to create.

Give me a snapshot of those periods of time, what’s something you’d highlight?

We always aim to stay within seasons. In spring for example or early summer, you have ramps and wild garlic, and beautiful mushrooms. Porcinis are available right now, but they’re only available for a short period of time – so the frequent menu change allows us to highlight them at the very height of their season. And then in two or three months, we’ll move on to the next best thing. 

Do you serve mostly local produce too?

Yes – at The Wilde specifically, our culinary focus or philosophy is really rooted in sustainability and conscious eating. We work with a lot of local farmers here in Alberta. But we also tap into British Columbia because we’re so close. Obviously, they have some amazing products in British Columbia, and then also on the East Coast as well. All of our shellfish, oysters, and a variety of different wild foods come from the East Coast. So while we do represent Canada from coast to coast, we try to focus on our surrounding neighborhood of Alberta as much as possible. 

I love that. Are you from Alberta? What brought you here, and to the Dorian?

I’ve been in Alberta for about five and a half years now. Time flies. I came from Ontario, where I originally spent most of my career. I spent some time in Peru as well and working in South America. But when the opportunity came to work here – with The Dorian being a new property, it aligned with what I love to do as a chef – which is building from scratch. When I heard we were going to have this beautiful fine dining restaurant that’s carte blanche, open canvas, and that they really wanted to push the culinary scene here in Calgary… That’s what really excited me. So I took the job and have been here since pre-opening. 

Talking about from scratch – I hear you have bees on the rooftop, too. 

We do. 

Do you use the honey throughout a lot of your recipes? Or any other homegrown, in-house ingredients?

Absolutely. On the third floor, we have a rooftop that’s really nice. We actually host events there it’s so beautiful, and we’re going to open it up pretty soon to do some barbecues during the afternoon. We have a rooftop apiary there with six beehives right now – each hive with about 20,000 to 30,000 bees in each. 

How much honey does that produce? 

Way more than you would think. Each hive will produce, depending on how good the season is, maybe 100 to 150 pounds of honey twice a year. We usually do a harvest around mid-summer and late summer, getting about 200 to 300 pounds per hive. So with six hives, that’s quite a bit of honey, which is awesome. 

And then also we have a rooftop chef’s garden in that same space. All of our edible flowers are out there, all of our fresh herbs, some different vegetables… we use that a lot in The Wilde. There’s lots going on.

What’s a favorite dish you’ve made from those ingredients – or that you’ve concocted for any of the restaurants since being here? 

That’s a tough question. We’re very famous for our beef in Alberta; and we’re also very well known for bison. Currently on our menu, and we’ll have on our summer menu debuting tomorrow as well, is a bison ribeye. We’re changing the dish a bit for the summer menu, but we cure it with Koji, which is a traditional Japanese method of fermentation using rice. It imparts this amazing, funky sort of flavor, and it also adds to the texture of the bison as well, because bison is a really lean protein. So that’s pretty unique and really, really tasty. And something we’re proud of. 

Have you ever made anything literary-inspired?

Actually, we have. Some of the dishes on our menu usually have little nods to Oscar Wilde and his life and the book, ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray.’ On our new summer menu, we have three new desserts that are totally inspired by a paragraph in the novel. Our pastry chef was reading through the book and came across this paragraph that really inspired her, having to do with different flowers. So on our new dessert menu, we created three desserts that are specifically tied to three of the flowers mentioned in the book, which is really cool. 

This conversation’s making me hungry. What’s something more lowkey you might make at home for friends or family? Do you keep it really simple, like totally opposite of what you do here?

I do cook at home almost all the time, but I definitely keep it simple. I would say, I’m cooking at home at least five days a week. One of my go-to’s is fresh pasta. I love grabbing whole tomatoes, like just fresh, vine-ripened tomatoes and cooking them down. That fresh tomato sauce is the best. I throw in onions, garlic, tons of olive oil, some fresh herbs, and then toss that all together in some fresh pasta. Sometimes I’ll add some protein.  

Do you make your own pasta? 

I do – but not at home as often. Another thing I love to do at home though is use my wood smoker. It’s super old school, like cast iron, and it uses huge logs of wood. Usually in the summer, at least a couple of times a month, I’ll do some smoking outside with it and make brisket, sirloin cap, pork belly… all that kind of stuff. It’s so good. 

What’s one of the strangest flavor pairings you’ve made? Or that you’ve tried from another chef?

You know what? I did actually just have a flavor pairing recently that totally blew my mind. It wasn’t something I created, but it was really inspiring. We hosted a chef cultural exchange program here with Chef Carlos Zamora — originally from Mexico where he worked at Michelin-star restaurants, and now the Executive Chef at El Catrin Destileria in Toronto. After we met, we started to build a rapport. And so when he did a dinner at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT), where I actually teach on Mondays, I decided to go and taste it. And for dessert, he did this amazing, amazing pairing. 

The dessert was all about corn; obviously, corn being an important ingredient in Mexico. But he paired the dish with a peanut butter ice cream topped with caviar – and I would never think about caviar with dessert – but the mix of fattiness and saltiness between all those ingredients… It just totally made sense. 

The cooler thing was, you couldn’t see the caviar. It was hidden underneath this corn tuille that he had made. So he had this super luxurious, expensive ingredient that usually you showcase – but in this case, it was all about the corn. So it’s kind of this fun little surprise play. And the combination of the flavors was just unreal. 

I love the thoughtfulness that went into that. When you’re personally making your own dishes or a new menu, where do you start? 

The way I tackle the brainstorming process is basically just starting with a blank piece of paper and jotting down ideas. It’s usually over a bit of time, allowing me to think about things a bit. An ingredient could come to mind, or it could be a method, a plate, a concept, a name… it could be many different things that I jot down. Once I have a few ideas, I’ll reach out to our suppliers to poke and pry for what’s coming up and going to be available. I’ll ask them if there are some interesting ingredients they want to showcase, and I’ll just compile all those ideas and options. Once I have that, I start putting the pieces together and things just start to really flow. So that’s my creative process. 

You mentioned plating – the presentation of a dish. How does that factor into your menu design, since everything aesthetically in the hotel is so specific. Very bold, but a little whimsical. Do you tie that in?

100% yes, that’s a factor. Our dishes are definitely whimsical. And the plate presentations as well. The nice thing is that the dining room itself is mostly a blank canvas. It’s very neutral in terms of the color of the chairs and the tables, so the dishes really pop and stand out. We use a lot of the color and whimsy for that pop, so the dining experience actually comes from the dishes instead of the environment.

What about the aesthetic in your kitchen when you’re cooking? Do you need silence, heavy rock music? What do you like going on around you? 

I like lots of music during prep time, and then usually no music during dinner service so that we can focus. Dinner service requires a lot of communication. But during prep, I listen to everything – from rock and roll to hip hop to old-school rap to folk music and country. 

Noah Kahan is one of my favorites right now. I play a little bit of guitar in my pastime, or I pretend to at least, so I’ll get inspired by or riff off his music. I come from the East Coast as well, so I can really relate to a lot of his experiences. 

Besides guitar, what else do you like to do outside of cooking? 

I don’t have enough time for all my hobbies. I love music, obviously. I’m really into photography and videography as well. 

What do you like to photograph? 

Everything. Food, obviously. But also a lot of nature. We live in an amazing place for that. I like taking portraits too, but I would say I mostly capture food and landscapes. Just as a hobby though. 

I just love spending time in the outdoors. Camping, fishing, golf, mountain biking in the summer, skiing in the winter… Like I said, too many hobbies. 

I can relate. I’m going to photograph some of your food myself tonight; I’m eating at Prologue – what do I have to try?

Prologue is a bit more casual, burgers, handhelds – so definitely do the build-your-own charcuterie board. That’s our more unique offerings for that space, and it includes our rooftop honey. We have some really beautiful cheeses from across Canada, as well as some really nice cured meats – including Iberico ham, which is probably one of my most favorite ingredients in the world. It’s from Spain – not Canadian – but that’s ok. It’s a very famous ingredient that comes from black Iberico pigs that eat primarily acorns so it has this wonderful nutty, fatty flavor. If you can think of the most wonderful prosciutto you’ve ever had in your life, this is better. So it’s a really special ingredient that you definitely have to try out. 

Reporting back, I can attest – that was the most delicious charcuterie board (Iberico ham and rooftop honey included) that I’ve had in a very long time. 

*This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Follow Executive Chef Josh Dyer at @chefdyer | The Dorian Hotel at @thedorianhotel | The Wilde on 27 at @thewilderooftop | and Prologue Café at @prologuedaybar 

Credits:

Photography and Interview by: Carly Long | @bycarlylong