Railtown Cafe

Born and raised in Vancouver, Dan Olson started his culinary training in high school and developed a passion for cooking at an early age. “It's all I know,” says the award-winning chef and restaurateur behind Vancouver’s Railtown Cafe and Railtown Catering. “I just developed a love for it. I started entering cooking competitions – and winning – when I was 15 years old. I never wanted anything else.”

After high school, Dan decided to forgo formal culinary school training and went to work in the industry right away, starting out at the Century Grill restaurant in Yaletown. Soon after, head chef Robert Sulatycky asked a then 19-year-old Dan to apprentice for him at the prestigious Bocuse d’Or world chef championship in Lyon, France. “Out of the 24 countries that competed, we came in fourth,” says Dan. “That’s the best that Canada has done still to this date.”

Following his success at the international competition, Dan’s culinary career took off. He worked with the Four Seasons chain for many years, travelling throughout North America. Later, he relocated to California to serve as the executive sous chef at the award-winning Beverly Hills Hotel and as executive chef at the acclaimed Hotel Bel Air.

Dan eventually returned to Canada in 2012 to help coach the Canadian team for the Bocuse d’Or competition. At that point, he decided to stay close to home, taking on a consulting project before partnering with chef Tyler Day to launch Railtown Cafe and Railtown Catering in Vancouver’s emerging Railtown neighbourhood.