Canada's Iron Chef has been defeated in a battle for control over his own restaurants.
Rob Feenie has quit his job as executive chef of Vancouver's world-renowned Lumière fine-dining restaurant and the adjacent upscale bistro Feenie's, it was announced yesterday.
"Rob Feenie has terminated his relationship with Lumière and Feenie's due to breaches of his employment contract by the majority owner of the restaurants," his publicist said in a statement.
"These breaches severely diminished his responsibilities in both kitchens and in external marketing."
In an interview earlier this week, Mr. Feenie said he had lost creative control of his kitchen.
"They took all my rights away as an executive chef," he said, referring to his business partners David and Manjy Sidoo.
"The final decision about food for the last month and a half has gone through [them] I have no say."
For the past three weeks, a private group of investors supported by Mr. Feenie has been trying to buy Lumière from Mr. Sidoo, an independent financial adviser and former CFL player who bought the restaurant two years ago, when it was on the verge of financial collapse.
The talks broke down on Wednesday.
Mr. Feenie, the host of a television series and author of several cookbooks, hasn't worked in his restaurant since early August, when Dale MacKay was hired as the new chef de cuisine.
Mr. MacKay, the former sous chef at Gordon Ramsay's restaurants in New York and Tokyo, replaced Marc-André Choquette, who departed last spring.
Rumours began flying last month when a full-page ad was published in the new edition of Vancouver Magazine's eating and drinking guide that introduced Mr. MacKay as the new "executive chef."
"That was an unfortunate error," said Mr. Sidoo, who disputes Mr. Feenie's version of the events.
"Rob was always the executive chef. Marc-André often acted independently of Rob, and Dale was hired on the same premise.
"Rob will be missed," he added.
"Having said that, I am confident Lumière will continue to be one of the best restaurants in the city. With the staff and quality of food and the chefs that we have, we can continue to give the same experience to the clientele that they've had in the past."
Mr. Feenie, one of Canada's most famous chefs, opened Lumière in 1995 with Ken Wai, an investment partner he later bought out.
The restaurant, known for 12-course tasting menus and Asian-inspired French cuisine, quickly rose to the top of the culinary scene.
In 2005, when Mr. Feenie competed on the Food Network TV series Iron Chef America, he beat Masahuru Morimoto and became the first Canadian challenger to win the epic food fight.
Alexandra Gill