Mark Perrier brings over a dozen years of culinary experience to the table as partner & food director of the award-winning and beloved Osteria Savio Volpe in Vancouver’s burgeoning Fraserhood- Mount Pleasant. He has honed his skills in some of Vancouver’s top kitchens, along with time spent in London, England. Upon graduating first in his class from Vancouver’s Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts, Perrier secured an apprenticeship position at Chef David Hawksworth’s West Restaurant. Over the next three years, he rose through every station in the kitchen to become junior sous chef, winning Dubrulle’s Rising Star Black Box Competition along the way. Inspired by Chef Hawksworth and assisted by CinCin Ristorante + Bar pastry chef Thierry Busset, Perrier landed a position at celebrated two-star Michelin restaurant Le Gavroche in London, England. He spent the next year learning under famed Chef Michel Roux Jr. as chef de partie poissonnier. Perrier later returned to Vancouver to work as sous chef at CinCin, eventually gaining the position of executive chef. During that time, he developed the skills to cook with live fire while running the restaurant’s wood-fired grill and rotisserie. It was CinCin that sparked his interest in Italian cuisine, changing the course of his culinary career. After years spent working in mostly upscale French kitchens, Perrier yearned for something simpler and more elemental. Over the next five years he worked as sous chef for Neil Taylor, helping to launch and run Cibo Trattoria, which would go on to win enRoute Magazine’s best new restaurant in Canada 2009. During his time there, he was given the freedom to cook and serve uncomplicated rustic food, such as simply prepared vegetables and fruit picked at the height of the season, handmade pasta, cured meats, whole grilled fish, offal and other less common cuts of meat. He incorporated Italian methods into his food, using fresh, local ingredients and allowing the true nature of the ingredients to speak. After over a decade in high-pressure restaurants and a growing young family, Perrier took a step back from kitchens and tried his hand at something new. He spent the last two and a half years at Two Rivers Specialty Meats, mastering whole animal butchery and gaining an intuitive sense of utilizing the whole beast. Since his very first day in a professional kitchen, Perrier has always been working towards the dream of running the kitchen in his own restaurants. Osteria Savio Volpe, and his latest ventures, Pepino’s Spaghetti House and Caffè La Tana, are the fruition of that dream.
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