Chef Deseree "Dez" Lo didn't earn the nickname "Dragon Lady" because she was born in the Year of the Dragon, though, it so happens the Vancouver-based chef, entrepreneur, and Top Chef Canada season 10 runner-up was.
Rather, it was a top New York City chef who dubbed Lo "Dragon Lady" thanks to her work ethic and fiery spirit in the kitchen.
Lo's career, which took her from some of New York City's most renowned spots to Top Chef Canada and roles at acclaimed Vancouver restaurants, began on Wall Street. A true fork-in-the-road choice found Lo trading a six-figure salary in banking for chef whites and apprenticeship gigs as she followed her newfound path.
With "soulless and mindless" spreadsheets and the trading floor grind behind her, Lo put her head down and got to work, even if it meant struggling to regain her family's support after walking away from a lucrative job offer in finance.
"I just kind of took this leap of faith," Lo tells V.I.A. over a cup of coffee and croissant in a Mount Pleasant café.
From New York City to Vancouver
Lo describes what she characterizes as a rapid ascent through the ranks in the demanding and male-dominated New York restaurant scene, drawing praise along the way from guests and employers alike. She remembers a customer from the esteemed La Grenouille sending word back to her that Lo had prepared the best-tasting frog legs they had ever tasted.
"I'm just this little tiny chef that just cooked!" Lo recalls thinking. "In the bank, no one ever told me 'that's the best spreadsheet I've ever seen.'"
Fulled by positive feedback and the unrivalled satisfaction of creating something people can immediately enjoy, that tiny chef — the Dragon Lady, indeed — wound up working for Andrew Carmellini. The respected New York restaurateur and chef not only gave her the nickname but also wound up giving Lo pivotal job opportunities, including drawing her back to New York after a stint working with family in Los Angeles.
And then Lo went from happy exhaustion, eating staff meals on a fire escape, marvelling at the fading sun on the New York skyline, to following her heart to Vancouver.
While the love that brought Lo to Vancouver in 2016 faded, the busy chef has continued to call the city her home. Lo is also deeply in love with Vancouver's food scene, particularly the array of global cuisines that shine here, like Vietnamese, Indian and Thai, among others.
Lo's experience with Italian food landed her on the culinary team at CinCin under executive chef Andrew Richardson before she slid into a leadership role executing a menu for the now-shuttered Old Bird that both drew on her roots and allowed Lo to play with fusion — an aspect of cooking the chef loves to see growing in prominence.
Old Bird melded Shanghaiese and Taiwanese fare in a modern setting on Main Street. The restaurant had barely four months to get its bearings, as Lo continued to make menu adjustments before the COVID-19 pandemic brought everything to a halt. The restrictions signalled an immediate end to any consideration to what the Old Bird team was doing to make the experience the best it could be for their guests. There couldn't be any guests. "Nothing mattered," reflects Lo, of that unprecedented time in the restaurant industry.
Ultimately, Lo left Old Bird. The restaurant eventually closed permanently in May 2023.
Being in the role of executive chef for Old Bird was a turning point for Lo, who previously had only been tasked with executing the vision of the chefs for whom she served as a sous. As the pandemic restrictions loosened, Lo joined the lineup of "chef-testants" vying for the title and glory of Top Chef Canada in its 10th season.
After Top Chef Canada wrapped in Toronto, Lo returned to Vancouver, committing to making the city her home. Lo remains excited by chefs and restaurants across Metro Vancouver showcasing global cuisines with regional or fusion twists, but the chef admits when she dines out she often chooses to dive into a bubbling hot pot.
'I just need to keep learning'
The past few years have prompted Lo to take careful stock of where she is in her culinary career. While she sees herself as "gaining traction" in the local culinary scene, Lo also is confident she doesn't want to head up a restaurant kitchen that would find her on her feet turning out dishes until midnight every day.
"I just cannot see myself doing that," says Lo.
Top Chef Canada opened many doors for Lo, while it also helped her solidify which doors she wanted to close for herself.
Trying on varied versions of the chef's toque, Lo tried out roles as a catering chef for a company in Langley and as an events chef for the Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts (PICA) in Vancouver. Lo also took a gig working as a banquet chef for a Metro Vancouver casino. All of the posts were in an attempt to learn how those jobs were done, to try them on to see if they were for her. Working as a private chef, while often exciting, ended up leaving Lo feeling burned out.
Lo says her mother didn't understand why her daughter was still roving from post to post. "Why can you just have a full-time job and settle down?" she recalls her mom asking.
But for Lo, whose culinary career had an unconventional start, learning is a hallmark of her journey.
"I just feel like it's shaping me into something, and that one day I'll have that 'aha' moment. I just need to keep learning," she describes. "I feel like I'm Benjamin Button and living my life backwards," jokes the chef.
However, being on Top Chef Canada also brought Lo an opportunity to create something of her own. Prompted by her strong finish as the season's runner-up, Lo says investors approached her with the idea they'd back her in a food business.
Launching a biscuit biz: 'It's always been a goal of mine to make something on my own'
Drawing from one of her biggest successes in the televised cooking competition — and from a past success — Lo has created a ready-to-bake cheese biscuit under the Just Roll With It banner.
Lo's "O-G"Ooey Cheese Biscuits are sold in freezer packs, and feature a recipe that Lo first created working at a relative's Los Angeles wine bar before she nabbed praise from Top Chef Canada judges when she whipped them out in the high-stakes competition. Lo recalls the impact the judges' compliments had on her. "It has stayed with me," she says of their feedback.
Tapping into a newfound entrepreneurial spirit, Lo, who attests she is not a pastry chef, identified a gap in the market and dove headfirst into research and development for her first-ever packaged product. It had to be the biscuit, she recalls realizing, after dismissing wanting to try her hand at any number of condiments that already saturate the artisanal foods market.
"It's always been a goal of mine to make something on my own," describes Lo. Trekking from Burnaby to the North Shore and Langley all in a day's work, Lo has been the sole person on the ground getting her biscuit onto store shelves, deploying her "Dragon Lady" ethos to the tasks at hand.
Taking inspiration from many other small, female-founded independent businesses in Metro Vancouver, Lo is mastering scaling up her product and being the face of what she hopes can be an inspiring marketing campaign to let people know how to add her biscuit into their home cooking routine.
"I want this to succeed. Because if not, then I feel like what else do I have?" admits Lo, who proudly shares that many of her U.S. friends have implored her to ship orders of her flaky, cheesy, sugar-free biscuits across the border.
It's at this juncture in her professional trajectory in this current Year of the Dragon, Lo — the "Dragon Lady" born in the Year of the Dragon — is finding herself in the role of entrepreneur, mentor, and Vancouverite. She's helping the next generation of young female chefs succeed in the demanding industry, offering advice for those looking to get ahead in the culinary game.
Though Lo may be the mentor, she is adamant that she is happy to always be a student, and that's the first piece of advice she'll offer young chefs in training, too.
"One thing I want to tell people is don't stop learning, don't become complacent."
And while Lo is content to take on a variety of chef gigs, and wouldn't turn down a great offer to return to Top Chef Canada or to host a show, ultimately she has one hope: "I just want people to get my food."
- Follow Chef Deseree "Dez" Lo on Instagram @chef.dezlo and @eat_justrollwithit to find her "O-G"Ooey Biscuits.
Find more delicious Vancouver food and drink video stories by following V.I.A's Forking Awesome TikTok account, @forkingawesomevancouver on Instagram, and signing up for our Forking Awesome newsletter delivered fresh to your inbox every Thursday.
