If 2007 saw Vancouver's restaurant community explode with the opening of more than 100 new rooms, this year's big story is the jostling at the high end for pole position.
The two eternal contenders for the crown, Lumière and West, have found themselves without the chefs that made their reputations.
Rob Feenie departed Lumière in the fall after a public falling-out with owners Manjy and David Sidoo, and David Hawksworth took his leave from West at the end of December to prepare for his next venture, in the Hotel Georgia redevelopment.
So with Lumière's new executive chef Dale Mackay yet to capture the city's imagination, all eyes are turned toward West, the Top Table group's flagship South Granville eatery, and its recent import from Britain, Warren Geraghty.
"Yes they are big shoes to fill," says Mr. Geraghty of his predecessor. "But if we didn't take chances, life would be pretty boring."
Mr. Geraghty's own footprints are not to be taken lightly: He has spent the past 15 years in some of the best kitchens in Europe, working under Nico Ladenis, Stefano Cavallini and Gualtiero Marchesi.
His previous post was executive chef of London's Michelin-starred L'Escargot.
Before that he was head chef at Richard Neat's eponymous Cannes restaurant, where he was considered instrumental in obtaining that room's Michelin star.
Neat, he says, proved to have the biggest influence on his cooking: "Richard really taught me how to build a dish - and then how to let it evolve," he explains. "But the Italians showed me how to make the best pasta, and that remains a big element in my food."
Mr. Geraghty, 34, sees the move to Vancouver as a major, life-changing opportunity. "London is hard work," he explains. "It's expensive, it's tiring, and it just doesn't feel that safe any more." When Top Table owner Jack Evrensel offered him the chance to visit Vancouver, he jumped at the opportunity. "We had three chefs cook with a view to getting the job," Mr. Evrensel says. "Warren just blew us completely away."
Although the two chefs met years ago while Mr. Hawksworth was in Britain working for Raymond Blanc, they had no official handover period in Vancouver. Stéphanie Noël, sous-chef at West, acted as the bridge between them in the kitchen and was also charged with showing Mr. Geraghty around the local markets when he visited the city.
The availability of good regional ingredients was a big reason Mr. Geraghty came to Vancouver, and he says he's thrilled to have a steady stream of organic farmers on the kitchen doorstep showing their wares.
"The fish is my biggest challenge," he admits. His long list of preferred species - red mullet, John Dory, monkfish - was quickly crossed out and replaced by creatures he'd never seen before, including Japanese tai (sea bream) and a sturgeon - "a five-foot-long monster of a dead fish."
West's kitchen has proved a steep learning curve, with the new man quickly reorganizing the brigade to his liking. There have been teething problems, including one night where Mr. Geraghty was so unhappy with some of the food leaving the kitchen that the restaurant manager was forced to slow the room down to allow for changes to be made on the fly.
"I just wasn't happy," he shrugs. "It's my name and my reputation at stake, and there was confusion and we needed to make adjustments right there."
The restaurant's regular clientele were so excited to taste his cooking that they were calling up desperate to book tables for the day after he arrived. Menus take a while to evolve, however. Mr. Geraghty started by offering daily additions and asking serving staff to gather feedback on the dishes.
A frogs' leg appetizer began as a plate laden with butter and cream: "I quickly found out that people here are very health-conscious," he says. "So I rethought it, changed it up and it was popular enough that it's now on the regular menu." In its present incarnation, the frogs' legs are served crispy, with a bacon and parsley salad and a herb vinaigrette.
Completely unfamiliar with Asian cooking, Mr. Geraghty has no plans to take the fusion route that is popular locally. Though his first encounter with Japanese tai resulted in a raw dish, the accompaniments - cauliflower cream and roasted prawns - are decidedly European in influence.
He insists he will not simply transport what he was doing in London to Vancouver, but Mr. Geraghty is expected to inject a higher degree of complexity and inventive presentation to Vancouver's culinary scene.
First, though, he and his team have to get used to each other: "I asked one chap for coriander [the British term for cilantro] and he handed me a colander."
And this is the first time the chef has worked in an open kitchen: "Unfortunately, up until this moment my language reflected that fact," he grins. "So now I just pretend my mom's in the kitchen, because I never swear in front of her."
Coming from a strong military family, Mr. Geraghty only trained as a chef because his father wouldn't let him join the army until he had a trade. "They all wear their medals with pride and I sit around the Christmas dinner table wearing my Michelin star," he jokes.
He may not take himself too seriously, but he is deadly serious about his work and the quality and inventiveness of the food he plans to deliver. Though he says he has no plans to reinvent the wheel, he believes Mr. Evrensel brought him here intending to make some noise.
"I am going to put my own spin on the food, absolutely," he insists. "I want to put something on the plate that hasn't been seen in this city before."
