Chef Dave Omar of Zinc - Biography

Caring for livestock, foraging, tending the garden, hunting for game, fishing ...  this is the life Dave Omar was born into in New Brunswick. He has traveled and cooked across Canada since leaving the family farm, doing everything from street vending to fine dining. Omar initially settled in the Okanagan Valley in the early 90s, apprenticing under Chef Heinz Eichmann at the Grand Okanagan Hotel in Kelowna, while also working at Devino’s, Hectors, and Coyotes. After getting married and starting a family, Omar relocated to Edmonton, heading up the team at the Edmonton Inn, followed by a gig running the culinary operations for Grant MacEwan College, opening a personal chef business, and finally landing at Zinc in the Art Gallery of Alberta. Omar is on several local and provincial apprenticeship committees, as well as the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology’s culinary advisory board. He’s also involved with the You’re Welcome Awards and Festival of Fine Chefs.