🤝 Meet Dadrian Coke. He’s the head chef at Chubby’s Jamaican Kitchen, a Michelin-recognized Caribbean restaurant in Toronto that’s frequented by world leaders and pop stars alike. We sat down with Dadrian to chat about what he’s learned from a quarter century in the kitchen, which of his celebrity diners he would most want to have a beer with, and his favourite places to grab a bite in Toronto (outside of his own kitchen).
Did you grow up cooking as a kid in Jamaica?
Yeah, I used to cook at home with my mom. It has been a love of mine because, you know how it is when you're a kid, you just love to eat. The main thing for me was learning how to cook. So I started from there at a young age.
One of the things that crafted my career path and gave me the opportunity to become a chef was that at around 10 or 12 years old, my mom invested in cookbooks. The first thing she did was get me a cookbook and say, okay, you learn how to cook the basic stuff from home like rice and peas, chicken, fried chicken, brown stew chicken, stuff like that.
She basically harnessed that craft by giving me the opportunity to read more about food. So when she gave me the cookbooks, I started from there and started building my creative knowledge of food — what to do with food, how to utilize food. That’s my journey as a young 10-year-old coming up into being the chef that I am today.
Is there one dish from your childhood in Jamaica that’s made it onto the Chubby’s menu?
Yes, there is. My mom would always create a little makeshift barbecue at home. So we would grill and she always made sure on a Sunday that rice and peas were there, fried chicken, and jerk chicken. So jerk chicken, jerk pork — we always had that. We would light up our grill, cook, and then sit and have our family meal.
One of the dishes that is on Chubby's menu is that jerk chicken, and it’s one of the top sellers. It drives back to what I used to do as a child, and it still exists today. People crave that feeling or that home taste of a meal. That’s what the jerk chicken brings to people. It brings them right back home to Jamaica.
You trained at the prestigious Culinary Institute of America. Is that learning experience more like being in a college classroom or like being a new recruit in the military?
I’m glad you asked that question. It’s a little bit of both. In some ways, it’s just like being in the army. You have to be strict. You have to be disciplined. If you’re not disciplined and strict and abiding by the rules, then you’ll find yourself not learning how you should. You learn as you go because you formulate recipes, learn about them in class, and then have to do the practical gradually, which becomes fun for you, even though it was like being in the army.
I realized there was a wealth of knowledge that I got from going through the Culinary Institute of America for so many years. It basically made me into who I am — how to maneuver recipes, how to deliver customer experiences, how to find the best products.
A lot of celebrities have made Chubby’s a regular stop when they’re in Toronto. Out of all them, which one would you most want to sit down for a drink with?
Honestly, there have been a lot. DJ Khaled has come in here, but I never got to sit down and have a discussion. I would love to sit and chat with him about his experience in business and how he has grown over the years.
A lot of celebrities, even though they’re popular, the business side of things is where the wealth of knowledge is. It has to do with what you do throughout the day when you are not on stage or not on the field. Those are the questions that I would ask him — to get that business-side experience.
You are one of the chefs on CookUnity, how does that operation work from recipe development to releasing the meals across the country?
It is one of the most exciting things for me to bring what I do back home in Jamaica to the wider Toronto population, bringing that Jamaican culture and Jamaican food, hence why Chubby’s and now Cook Unity are bringing Jamaican food to wider Canada, which is everywhere now. It has been a goal of mine to do so, and partnering with Cook Unity has brought the opportunity for me to give my knowledge and expertise to customers.
I start off by choosing a menu item. I write it down, create the recipe, and try that recipe. The Cook Unity team then evaluates the recipe. Once everything is formulated and entered and the trials are done, you move into production. You can move from one meal to as many as 1,000, but they all taste the same because of how the system has been designed.
What’s your favourite place to eat in Toronto?
That’s not hard for me. Of course, I love Jamaican food but I have a soft spot for Thai food because of the level of taste and the depth of the dishes. I love Pai, which is one of the restaurants doing very well in Toronto. I love pad thai. I tend to eat that all the time. I just love how they prepare their meals. Just like Jamaican food, there’s depth to what you’re eating, and I love it.
Would you have any career advice for a young chef?
Definitely. For young chefs, I would always say: whenever you choose a career, make sure you’re passionate about it. Because if you’re not going into something you’re passionate about, it won’t drive success for you.
My mom always said if work or a job is fun, then you’ll never work a day in your life. It’s always fun for you to go to work if you love it and are passionate about it.
What is one underrated Jamaican dish that you’d want more Canadians to try?
To be honest, a lot of people tend to dismiss oxtail stew because they think, “Oh, bone is inside,” or “I don’t like oxtail.” But it is one of the best dishes. It is braised and cooked for a long period of time and it has a lot of unique flavours.
When you taste an oxtail stew, it transitions you from when it was seasoned, to the cooking process, to the spices used in the end product, to how soft and chewy it is and the flavour profile at the end. It is popular, but a lot of people don’t try it.
Is there a book or movie that everyone should read or watch once?
From my experience, I always give my kids this cookbook series. I think it’s Professional Cooking volumes 1 to 7 or 1 to 8. I give them a catalogue to read.
One of the things I find is that whether you're an entrepreneur or just someone in society, it’s always good to learn how to cook properly. From a young age, I give them these books and stages to read. Even if they don’t fully understand what’s in there, they remember the words and phrases later on.
Is there a diner pet peeve that you have?
No, I really don’t. What I can say is that I appreciate diners giving their honest opinions, even if it’s bad. One thing I find is that you can’t please everyone. Whatever you prepare, someone will like something a certain way and someone else won’t.
As a chef, you have to understand that you can’t make everybody happy. You can create great dishes and great flavours, but if someone doesn’t like a specific thing, you can’t force them to. I always appreciate honest opinions. It makes your mind more creative as a chef.
