The Chef
One could say that internationally acclaimed Super-Chef Susur Lee was born with a spoon in his mouth— but it would be a tasting spoon, not a silver one.
From inauspicious beginnings as a 16-year-old apprentice at Hong Kong’s elegant Peninsula Hotel to his Atlas stride atop the fickle world of celebrity chefdom, Lee has never strayed from his consuming passion: to create tantalizing dishes that blend textures and flavours in glorious harmony. Balancing the epicurean traditions of China with the classical techniques of French cuisine, Lee improvises a daring and original culinary aesthetic.
Soon after he opened his 12-table restaurant, Lotus, in Toronto in 1987, Susur Lee tongue-tied food critics from The New York Times to Art Culinaire with menus of astonishing artistry. Courvoisier’s Book of the Best proclaimed Lotus the finest restaurant in the country; Zagat unabashedly pronounced Lee “a culinary genius.”
Never content to rest on his laurel leaves, Susur shuttered Lotus after a decade of glowing reviews, and decamped to Asia for a “re-energizing” period, during which he consulted for the Tung Lok Group’s 45 restaurants.
Returning to Toronto in 2000, Chef Lee drew up plans for his gastro-dome, Susur. The restaurant immediately earned accolades from such industry heavy-weights as Food & Wine magazine, which heralded Lee as one of the “Ten Chefs of the Millennium,” and Gourmet magazine, which dubbed him “an improvisational artist.” In 2004, the chef opened “Lee,” a less formal, more youth-oriented kid sister to “Susur,” which food critics praised for its inventive sharing platters and inspired gastronomy.
In 2008, after years of being courted by New York hoteliers to “take Manhattan!” Susur Lee was persuaded to apply his culinary savoir-flair south of the border. He donned the toque as executive chef at Shang –Chinese for “upwards”-- in the sleek new boutique hotel, Thompson LES.
Shang and Susur were launched into New York’s A-list society orbit in October 2009 with critical raves, and Lee soon joined forces in Washington, D.C., with The Do Not Disturb restaurant group to open Zentan (Chinese for “Spy”), in the Thompson Donovan House hotel. Zentan quickly achieved status as a dining “destination” in the Capitol, and America’s First Lady, Michelle Obama, has graced the premises on numerous occasions.
One of Susur Lee’s most ambitious goals was realized in 2009 when he unveiled (in partnership with Tung Lok Group), Chinois by Susur Lee restaurant in one of the world’s leading gourmet destination-- Singapore. Located in the exclusive Hotel Michael at Resorts World Sentosa, bordered by the establishments of Daniel Boulud, Pierre Boulez and Wolfgang Puck, Chinois is the jewel in Susur Lee’s crown.
In the spring of 2010, Lee became a media sensation on the Food Network’s popular hit TV show, Top Chef Master. He vanquished 20 competitors and received the highest-ever score in the show’s history before ultimately crossing filleting knives with Marcus Samuelsohn in the nail-biting final.
In addition to his duties in his home and away-from-home kitchens, Susur Lee contributes regularly to charity and community projects. He has raised funds for the James Beard Foundation and manned the grill at the Mohegan Sun WineFest in Boston, Mass., for juvenile diabetes causes. Through the Null Foundation, Lee helps to provide scholarships for underprivileged students to attend cooking schools. In September 2010, the chef contributed his name and star appeal for the eighth consecutive year to the Susur Lee-Daniel Nestor Charity Event in Toronto, which has raised almost $800,000 for Canada’s aspiring Olympic athletes and North York Hospital. On the 20th anniversary of the David Suzuki Foundation, Chef Lee prepared a Locavoracious dinner for 400 people, using sustainable species and ingredients from local dairies and farmers.
In January 2011, Susur Lee heated up his grill and hundreds of appreciative appetites at a top-level Caribbean Gourmet Festival, the Cayman Cookout, alongside celebrity chef and colleague Eric Ripert.
On February 14, 2011, the Chef presented a delicious Valentine to Toronto, his home-town, assuring that his fine romance with food lovers would endure. He added a new “Gastro-Club,” the sleek and sophisticated Lee Lounge, to his epicurean domain. The debut of Lee Lounge also marked the entry of the chef’s adult sons, Kai and Levi, to the restaurant business. Since Susur’s regular design collaborator, Brenda Bent, happens to be his wife, the Lee culinary empire is undeniably a family affair.
In 2011 Susur Lee continued to criss-cross the globe, sharing skill-sets and sauté pans with culinary peers and cooking tyros. As Hokanson Chef-in Residence at NAIT (Northern Alberta Institute of Technology), Lee nourished creativity and confidence in students at the Culinary Arts Program; in New York City he partnered with Daniel Boulud to create a celebrity banquet at “Daniel”, to raise funds for City Harvest; he donated his services and a charity dinner to “Unmasked,” the annual fundraising gala hosted by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health Foundation in Toronto.
Before 2011 drew to a close, Lee found a few unfulfilled hours in which to help CANFAR on its 15th anniversary to raise funds for AIDS research, participate as a guest judge on Top Chef Canada Season Two, and launch a scholarship at Conestoga College for students in the Culinary Arts program. He capped off the year in Cannes, receiving the 5-Star Diamond Award from the American Academy of Hospitality Sciences.
What’s next for the sought-after, peripatetic celebrity chef? His hometown fans are hoping that his plans for expansion will not overshoot Toronto, and they have reason to exult: Susur Lee confirmed recently that he and his two sons would be opening an as-yet-to-be-named restaurant, located in Toronto’s newest, brashest foodie destination—the neighbourhood of Dundas West. The establishment is expected to open its doors in the spring of 2012. Sharpen your knives and forks!
Now Toronto
The World's 50 Best Restaurants
Time Out New York
Food & Wine
Eye Weekly
House & Home
The American Academy of Hospitality Sciences
Sweat Equity Magazine