Track and Food 80: Drafting Your Ideal Restaurant Lineup With James Iranzad And James Langford-Smith

In this latest episode James, James and I gather together to draft our ideal restaurant lineup. Influenced by The Ringer’s, The Rewatchables, and the NBA’s all star draft format, we choose from a random selection of Vancouver’s top hospitality veterans to round out our ideal restaurant teams.

The rules were simple.

1. Come up with a name and concept
2. Ten member teams with two additional wild cards
3. Snake draft format

This episode is hilarious, silly and a complete waste of time, which is why it’s so awesome. Who's picked first? What roles will they fill? What type of teams did we want?

Each person on this list is someone we highly respect and those we might have missed, we apologize. Lighthearted fun you won’t want to miss.

To help you follow along, here’s the list of characters we had to choose from.

Tannis Ling - Owner/Bao Bei/Kissa Tanto

Karri Green-Shuermans - Owner/Chambar

Joel Watanabe - Owner/Chef/Bao Bei/Kissa Tanto

Dave Bulters - Bar Manager/L’Abattoir

J.C. Poirier - Owner/Chef/St. Lawrence

Ogi Radoicic - Gooseneck Hospitality

Ashley Kurtz - Chef/Bar Susu

Leticia Castro - Keefer Group

Jayton Paul - Wine Director/Published

Angus An - Owner/Maenam/Fat Mao

Christina Hartigan - Sommelier/Annalena

Paul Grunberg - Owner/Savio Group

Connor Joseph - Bar Manager/Karma Lounge

Phil Scarfone - Executive Chef/Savio Group

Jeff Savage - Bar Manager/Botanist

Josh Pape - Owner/Gooseneck Hospitality

Adam Domet - Bar Manager/Pourhouse

Keenan Hood - GM/Keefer Group

Amber Bruce - Bar Manager/Keefer Bar

Robyn Gray - Bartender/Pac Rim Lobby

Miki Ellis - Owner/Dachi/Elephant/Hanai

Kaitlyn Stewart - Bartender/Consultant

Belinda Siu - Server/Kissa Tanto

Shira Bluestein - Owner/Acorn

Fraser Crawford - Bar Manager/Kissa Tanto

Shaun Layton - Owner/Como Taperia

Emily Vey - Bar Manager/The Diamond

Satoshi Yonemori - Owner/Bartender/Grapes & Soda

Lucais Syme - Owner/Autostrada Group

Peter Van de Reep - Sommelier/Bar Gobo

Andrea Carlson - Owner/Burdock & co. 

Hector Laguna - Executive Chef/Botanist

Doug Stephen - Owner/DL Chicken

Gus Stieffenhofer-Brandson - Executive Chef/Published

Jenna Briscoe - GM/Café Medina

Jason Yamasaki - Wine Director - Joey Group

Kelcie Jones - Sommelier/Elephant 

Vikram & Meeru Vij - Co-owners/Vij’s

Matthew Morgenstern - Co-Owner/Bacaro 

Sabrine Dhaliwal - Bar Manager/Chickadee

Grant Sceney - Creative Beverage Director/Fairmont Pacific Rim Hotel

Romano Castillo - Maître D/Savio Group

Wild Cards: Former veterans of the trade who are no longer in active restaurant roles but are still connected to the industry in some form or another. 

Ron Oliver - Formerly of Mamie Taylor’s, PMA Reserve Ambassador 

Terry Threfall - RIP, formerly of Hawksworth 

Kurtis Kolt - Formerly of Salt Tasting Room, freelance wine journalist, co-founder of Top Drop

Lauren Mote - Formerly of UVA Wine & Cocktail Bar, Patron Global Ambassador 

Jacob Sweetapple - Formerly of Keefer Yard, Chambar, co-founder of Notion Concepts

Chad Clark - Formerly of Hawksworth

Chen Wei-Lee - Formerly of Bao Bei, Louis XIII Ambassador 

Scotty Marshall - Formerly of Mamie Taylor’s, freelance bartender 

Simon Kaulback - Formerly of Mamie Taylor’s, Boneta, now works in film

Bryant Mao - Formerly of Hawksworth, Wine consultant

James Iranzad is a co-owner of Gooseneck Hospitality. James Langford-Smith is a co-owner of Pamplemousse Jus.