By Don Urquhart, Times Chronicle

A new addition to the Walnut Beach Resort team promises some exciting times ahead in the culinary realm in the form of new Executive Chef Darien Rozsahegyi who joined in mid-September. 

She takes over the culinary helm from former Executive Chef Bilel Lasmar who has returned to Newfoundland to be with his family. 

“We’re really excited that we brought on Darian, and you know, she’s going to do amazing things here,” said Jared Sissons, Walnut Beach Resort General Manager. 

“We’re very, very confident that she is the right fit for the resort and the right fit for the community as well. I do like the fact that she really wants to be community-engaged as a chef.”

She’s hit the ground running with her first task under her belt to prepare a new menu for the hotel’s Point 49 Kitchen & Bar. “It’s pretty exciting for the first crack at it here and I see a lot of creativity in her menu selections and things like that,” Sisson noted.

“I’m looking forward to what she’s about to create and come up with, and I think the community will be too because I think it’s an opportunity for them to try some unique and different foods that the restaurant hasn’t had before.”

Chef Rozsahegyi’s strong suit is her knack for creating innovative twists on classic dishes and her goal is to create dishes that showcase fresh, local ingredients while educating guests about the diverse elements of global cuisines. 

This will be put into action with the return of the restaurant’s popular “Explore the World” series of weekly menus focused on one particular country or culture each time.  

She will also be leading some new events for the resort, including wine-tasting dinners and festive tables. “She’s created a really neat, festive menu,” Sisson said of the upcoming festive season, adding “There’s a lot of really cool stuff coming”. 

“I think the chef of any restaurant is the reason why people come to the restaurant. It’s not just the ambience, it’s the food and the food draws them in more than anything,” observes Rozsahegyi. 

“And I think it’s very critical to not only a resort to have a really good food offering, but to the community as well.” Part of this community focus she sees in an opportunity for some of the local resort and winery chefs to put together a culinary experience. 

She notes that the wineries are facing a challenging year ahead after the crop devastation in early 2024. “They’re going to need it, they’re going to be struggling, so anything that we can do – the restaurants, hotels – to support a positive culinary experience for people is going to be very important,” she says

Her move to Walnut Beach Resort presents different challenges and opportunities from her previous job where she managed the kitchen at the lower mainland’s Sasquatch Mountain Resort (the former Hemlock Mountain ski resort). 

“I really think there’s a lot of potential here so I’m really excited. I’m excited to kind of see what we can bring.”

One of the aspects she enjoyed in her last job was the diversity of people that work at a ski resort and clearly a people-person, she’s excited to see the different people that come through Walnut Beach in the different seasons. 

She laughs as she says, “I feel like snowbirds would be similar to the ski bums. They’re not here to spend a lot of money, they’re just here to enjoy the experience, which is what skiers are like.”

In that vein she says comfortably priced, “really good quality food,” is one way of building a reputation for a restaurant she notes. She’s also big on getting people to try new things. 

One of the tricks up her sleeve is to slip in menu items that guests might not ordinarily try, but nestled amongst the more familiar items they are less intrusive and appeal to those little adventurous flashes.

Take for example steamed buns (Chinese steamed bao) which she slipped onto the lounge menu. “I just love them, but they’re something you’d never try anywhere else, and it’s something that you can be a little adventurous with because everything else on the menu is familiar.” 

She doesn’t have a particular favourite cuisine but notes that her mentor as she was beginning her career was “super heavy into Italian food so I’ve got a bit of that in there”. 

What does tickle her fancy, however, is fusion cuisine. 

“I know that’s kind of on the way out,” she says adding that sometimes it seems to be a little overdone. “It’s kind of like everybody’s done it, and it’s almost to the extreme where it’s not fun anymore, but I really enjoy it.” 

She likes to bring elements together in dishes that cause people to sit up and say, “Hey that’s not meant for it!” She says it’s a bit of experimenting but adds it’s not about “going crazy”. In particular, she likes to create dishes for older people who might hesitate to try new things. 

Pointe 49 Kitchen & Bar at the Walnut Beach Resort is open nightly from 4-9 p.m. and for weekend breakfast from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. Call 250-495-8203 or 250-495-5400 for more information or reservations.