Enhance your moments with S.Pellegrino and Ivana Raca. Reinvent a classic. Surprise your guests by giving them a new reason to fall in love with something they know.
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Just entering her thirties, Chef Ivana Raca has already achieved unparalleled success in what has traditionally been a male dominated field.
In her early teens, Chef Ivana was accepted into the Humber College Cuisine Apprenticeship program and by seventeen found herself working in the kitchen at North 44, Chef Mark McEwan’s celebrated North Toronto restaurant.
Within three years, Ivana was promoted to the position of saucier, the first female to hold that position in any of McEwan’s kitchens. Another promotion made her sous chef on the team that opened ONE Restaurant by the age of 24, Ivana was selected as the first female Executive Chef for the six million dollar food emporium McEwan Foods.
Looking for more challenges, in 2012 Ivana traveled to Australia’s Gold Coast where, for two years she worked under Two Star Michelin Chef Paul Froggatt at the Palazzo Versace.
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Upon her return to Canada, Ivana entered one of the first Underground Chef Battles in Toronto and to no one’s surprise, made it to the final round. Her competitive spirit was most recently on view on the Food Network’s “Beat Bobby Flay”
In 2015 Ivana opened her own restaurant, Raca Café in Parkdale which was a hit from the beginning and now she is a partner at UFFICIO.
Chef Ivana stopped by What She Said to discuss the ever changing industry and what this means for women, starting her own restaurant, Raca Café & Bar, and what’s next.
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Chef Ivana Raca Twitter | Instagram
