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While he tries repeatedly, throughout an hour-long conversation, to deflect any suggestion that his accomplishments as a chef and restaurateur are exceptional, many of us can’t imagine Vancouver’s dining scene had Chef Nico Schuermans not moved here and opened Chambar in collaboration with his then-wife, Karri Green-Schuermans (who remains its principal owner).
Although Chambar has always been deservedly acclaimed for its food (much of the menu is a reflection of Nico’s Belgian heritage), it may be just as notable for serving as an incubator to many talented people who subsequently opened successful restaurants and other businesses of their own — among them past InterJew interviewees Robbie Kane (owner of Café Medina) and Kelcie Jones (Michelin’s 2023 Vancouver Sommelier of the Year). Think of Chambar as a benign octopus whose tentacles now embrace much of the city’s restaurant landscape, in ways both obvious and subtle.
At the time of this writing, in September 2024, Chambar is celebrating its 20th anniversary with a series of special events. Despite not being an especially public person (his response to people who suggest he should have a personal Instagram account: “For who? Anyone I care about, I see them every day”), Nico spoke enthusiastically and at length about a restaurant and a career that have far exceeded his expectations.
This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.
What’s your earliest memory of being taken to a restaurant?
It was with my grandfather. He was a [military] reserve, not a career soldier. But in Belgium, if you get into the army, you become an officer. He was an officer, although he was a lawyer by trade. You would have these restaurants — they’re like a private club for officers — and I remember him taking me. I was probably eight or nine. There were round tables, napkins, very formal. That was the first time I experienced a high-end kind of restaurant.
What did they serve there?
Very traditional. It would have been coq au vin, stuff like that. But I knew that him taking us there was a big deal. This would’ve been the mid-’80s.
Prior to Vancouver, you had a fairly nomadic career. You were in Belgium, you were in London, you were in Australia. What brought you here?
This is actually not a joke: Every travel I did was following a girl. I went from Belgium to London because my girlfriend had an au pair job in England, and I really wanted to go to London, [where I got a job at] the Savoy. I went to Australia, following a French girl who was going there. And then from Australia, I followed Karri: We came to Canada for ski season. We never planned on staying. Karri loves skiing, I love skiing. Karri is Canadian, so we decided to come here. We got married on the way and I fell in love with Canada.
What did you hope Chambar could bring to Vancouver’s dining scene that wasn’t already here?
I felt in Australia that food was a little bit boring because of the [lack of distinct] seasons. Growing up in Belgium, the seasons are very exciting for a cook. They give you structure; you know what’s coming next and you always have something to look forward to.
But I also realized that Vancouver, for a city — compared to New York or Sydney — it was really not there yet. There was Le Crocodile — great food. Cactus Club. And there was Lumière, which was high-end; great food, but pretty stuffy, you know? My favourite restaurant was Bin 941. That was the kind of the food I was interested in: very technical, good flavours, but you didn’t have the stuffiness. [Writer’s note: Bin 941 was a very popular, very narrow restaurant in the West End, known for its creative small-plates dishes and extremely loud music. It closed in 2018.] I was looking for work, and I really struggled because I couldn’t find a person I wanted to work for. And I was still young — 25 years old — so I needed to learn. I started cooking when I was 14, so I still had a lot of experience, but I didn’t want to be a head chef, because I’d been a head chef in Australia and I found that I was running things more than cooking, and I already knew that was not something I was into.
I did, like, seven years in three Michelin-star restaurants. There was a lot to learn from it, but it didn’t match my personality. When I was 16, I wanted my parents to experience what I was doing, but it was out of reach for them. The price was too high; it was not their world. I wanted Chambar to be a place where everybody would feel welcome. I remember the first time I realized I had succeeded, about six months after opening the first location. I think it was the first time I’d stepped out of the kitchen for a whole evening, and I decided to sit at the bar with a friend of mine. I looked around the room and I saw every demographic I wanted to cook for. This is what I wanted.
I moved to Vancouver in 1999, and Chambar was the first new restaurant here whose opening I realized was being treated like an event. I think the first episode I saw of [Food Network Canada’s] Opening Soon was about Chambar. And I also remember that much of the attention being given to the opening was because of the location you chose, which at that time was considered a sort of a no-man’s land — there wasn’t really anything else on that block. Were you nervous about staking this very important venture of yours on a neighbourhood that people weren’t used to going to?
I didn’t know the city well enough. I was living on Commercial Drive and working in Kits. I wasn’t really aware of the problems of Vancouver… But Karri, she did her homework, and she knew that all those [condo] towers were getting built nearby. She said, “We’re going to have 2,500 new condos in this location in five years.”
But what we didn’t know about was hockey. We didn’t think the stadium [Rogers Arena] was gonna be such a draw for us. One night there was a Sting concert, and that night we went from doing 100, 120, 130 people one evening, to a line-up before 7:00 p.m. We got buried. It was a Saturday night and I shut down the kitchen by 9:00. We had no food left. And I remember coming back on Sunday, and I sat in the kitchen, thinking, “How are we gonna do this right?” I thought that we had an 80-seat restaurant. I didn’t know that Vancouver had three seatings, so the 80 seats turned into 160 real quick, and then we broke the 200-seat [threshold].
Did the Opening Soon episode have a lot to do with that?
It was huge. You know, seven years after that show, I met these Dutch people in the dining room, and they were saying that the reason why they came here — not to Vancouver, but to Chambar, while they were visiting — was because the Food Network sold the rights to the show in Holland, and they saw us. We had people from all over Canada coming to see us. It was a really well done show, and it represented us really well.
Two other people I’ve interviewed for this series, Robbie and Kelcie — they both said something very similar, which was that, number one, Chambar was where they learned more about the industry than anywhere else, and also that what was so great about their experience here is they were allowed to make mistakes, because in the process of making mistakes, you learn, and then you’re able to move on and either work elsewhere or do your own thing. Was that a conscious decision of yours, that you wanted Chambar to be a place where your staff could learn the industry better?
Well, Kelcie and Robbie, both of them — those are the talents you need. And once you give them a job, you’ve gotta let them run it. You can’t micro-manage or go after them when they make a mistake. We all make mistakes. I made some terrible decisions in the past. Mistakes are the best thing can happen to anyone. Now, if you make a mistake because of a lack of trying, that’s a problem. But talented people, let them try.
One of my old cooks, a friend of mine, Pat Hennessey — he owns Barbara — he told me years ago that we are the most generous and most demanding owners he ever worked for. And I actually don’t mind that. I’m like that with my cooks, and I’m like that with my kids, too. Like, “I’m gonna give you the best life, but these are the rules you can’t break.” When people ask me why Chambar is so successful, it’s because we surrounded ourselves with talent. Anything I can’t do, somebody has got to do it, and it has to be the best person.
Do you think you have a particular talent for recognizing potential in people? Robbie began as a server and look at everything he’s accomplished.
I think talent attracts talent. Talent is mutual respect. For me, I would never work for people I don’t respect.
Chambar is 20 years old this month [September 2024]. What are you proudest of?
Seeing the impact we’ve had on people — including staff, even more than customers, because I’m not that in contact with customers. Knowing I was able to allow people to learn and do their job and create a career out of a place like this, it’s more like I look back and I know how much people are touched. I have a dishwasher who worked for me for years. He ended up being able to buy a house in Langley. I’m very proud to be able to create an organization that allows people to do that.
(Photo: Jenna Low)
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