Around The World And Back Again

Joel Aube has traveled all over, honing his skills as a chef. Now, with Fresco Kitchen celebrating 7 years, we wanted to get to know Joel a little better by discussing his impressive resume, and what eventually brought him back to the Chaleur region.

Joel grew up in Bathurst, realizing in grade 11 that he wanted to pursue a career in the culinary arts. At the time, his sister was living in Ontario and she was friends with a chef, who offered Joel some advice. Go work in a kitchen for a year before going to culinary school. That’s exactly what Joel did. For his entire graduation year, he worked at a restaurant and when the fall came around; he attended school in PEI. 

“When I went to culinary school. I had a good experience. Working in a kitchen helped a lot, and growing up in a French and English community gave me a leg up on learning many of the French culinary terms,” says Joel. 

From there, he spent a decade on the road and on the sea. He lived in Tofino, British Columbia, and worked on a sailboat in the Caribbean. He traveled through Southeast Asia, as well as some of the United States’ best food cities, like Los Angeles, Seattle, and San Francisco.

He even found himself a contestant on the second season of Top Chef Canada.

“It was kind of a fluke. I joined a culinary guild and did a lot of events. I auditioned, and I made a video with some friends, did the process, and six weeks later I was in Toronto. It was a pretty whirlwind experience. But it opened a lot of doors for me and got me some recognition.” 

He briefly returned to Bathurst for a summer, but didn’t feel the time was right to settle down. Joel went back out west and learned more about the business side of restaurants. Then, in 2012, he packed his stuff in a Snap-On tool truck and made the trek back to the Chaleur region. 

Before opening Fresco, Joel opened a food truck on the causeway. He ran it for five years, and it did well, though he found operating a seasonal business was a little tricky. But that led him down a path of catering during the months when the food truck was closed. This allowed him to focus on his background in fine dining, and once realizing that there was a market for it, the plans to open up his own restaurant began. 

Fresco’s doors opened on November 3rd, 2017. The plan was to open in January, but a devastating fire and flood caused a nine-month delay. This proved to be a very difficult turn of events for Joel, but he was able to still open the restaurant in the same year. 

We want to thank Joel Aube for being a guest on this edition of The Northern Heat Report. The place you come to listen to the stories that have not yet been discovered.