NAIT Culinary Arts grad and IKA Culinary Olympic silver medalist Crystal Higgins is now executive chef at Beaumont’s beloved Chartier.
In January, the French-Canadian restaurant announced that the new executive chef would be introduced to the public through a “Local Love” themed Valentine’s menu. The feature menu showcased ingredients from some of Higgins’ favourite local artisans.
“It was such a symphony to just watch them put the food on the plate, love putting the food on the plate, being excited to put the food on the plate,” said Higgins about her launch menu. Initially, the cooks felt like the menu was ambitious. But Higgins said the team put their best into it, and everyone was pleased with the results.
Higgins ‘naturally gravitated’ towards food
From early beginnings as a 10-year-old chef helping her single mom to getting her first job in a grocery store, food has always been part of Higgins’ life — including hours spent watching her hero, chef Emeril Lagasse.
“All the garlic and ‘bam, bam, bam!’ That’s really where I started to understand ingredients and understand cooking techniques and wanting to apply that into the kitchen.”
After sidebars in finance, oil and gas and evenings at the Abbotsfield Walmart, Higgins was driven to pursue her true passion. “I kind of said to myself, ‘Well, if I’m going to get paid 15 bucks an hour to get yelled at by random people, then maybe I should go into a profession that I want to do,’” she explains.
Higgins’ dad offered to help watch her kids while she was in culinary school, and the then 35-year-old was accepted into NAIT’s Culinary Arts program. “I’d never felt more at home than being in those hallways and in those kitchens,” she says.
Experience at NAIT taught her to lead
She graduated in 2021 and later represented NAIT in 2024 as the captain of an all-female team at the IKA Culinary Olympics. The validation she got from her instructors helped her lead the team of dedicated women to a silver medal win.
“Your friends can tell you that you cook, and your family can tell you that you cook,” she explains. “But when you have an instructor going ‘you killed that,’ it’s just a whole ‘nother level.”
The team’s experience at the IKA Culinary Olympics had all the hallmarks of a perfect cooking competition story. “It was kind of a whirlwind, to be honest,” Higgins recalls. “This whole time we had practiced our salad with kale. But when we get to Germany, there is no kale anywhere!”
“It was kind of a whirlwind, to be honest,” Higgins recalls. “This whole time we had practiced our salad with kale. But when we get to Germany, there is no kale anywhere!”
There were long days of prep, cooking and even an interruption from a fire alarm during the “crunch time” of the dinner competition. But the team pressed on with their 120 plates and still received inspiring feedback from the judges.
She recalled one of the judges saying the team cooked with love. Higgins “started bawling” when she heard this — her motto is “food is love.”
“It’s food, it’s fuel, it’s medicine, it’s going to get you through everything in your life, and so if you put that love and attention into it, it’ll give back to you,” she said.
Their efforts paid off once they found out on the train to Munich that they won silver.
“We all started screaming on the train. It was really cool,” says Higgins, smiling.
Big dreams for her future
The women have stayed in touch since, and Higgins even brought one of her close teammates and coworkers at Royal Glenora Club with her to work at Chartier. The executive chef has big dreams for the restaurant in the heart of Beaumont.
“I want people to talk about Chartier the way they talk about RGE RD,” she says. Blair Lebsack, chef and owner of award-winning Alberta cuisine restaurant RGE RD, is one of Higgins’ inspirations. He was also a former Culinary Arts instructor at NAIT.
“And I want you to Google where to eat in Alberta, and it’s Chartier that comes up first,” she adds.
Higgins is aiming to launch her first mainstay menu at Chartier in the spring. She plans on sticking to the restaurant’s roots and getting more familiar with rustic French-Canadian cuisine, but French techniques and food feel natural to her.
“Right now, there’s a big focus on poutine. Poutine is a big one,” she says. Other classics like the ‘haricot vert’ or green bean won’t be going anywhere.”
Higgins says she wants to bring more seafood and beef to the menu, including bringing back an authentic beef bourguignon for comfort. “I also really enjoy the French, the way they treat vegetables,” says Higgins. This means a classic ratatouille to “revive the freshness” of a heavy, meat-focused menu.
It all sounds like something not to be missed and Higgins is ready for the challenge. “The team here has been so warming, so welcoming … and they’re just ready to dig in and give me their best,” said Higgins. The buy-in and trust at Chartier is there, she explains. “Now the rest is just like, let’s just learn together and see where the food is going to take us.”
For more information on Chartier and to keep up with their new executive chef, visit their website or follow @dinechartier on Instagram.
Featured Image via Chartier
