Chef Rob Feenie to take over beloved Vancouver restaurant Le Crocodile

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In a full-circle move, Chef Rob Feenie is taking over Le Crocodile, an iconic and beloved restaurant where he once worked as a sous chef under mentor and lifelong friend, Chef Michel Jacob.

Jacob has announced he will be closing the restaurant on April 30. It will reopen as Le Crocodile by Rob Feenie in late May.

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Long before Feenie opened Lumiere, which shone so brightly before its unfortunate demise — and before he proved his mettle by winning an Iron Chef America battle — he was honing his skills under Jacob.

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“It is time for a well-deserved retirement,” Jacob says, after 40 years helming Le Crocodile. “I am so happy to have found a remarkable successor — my dear friend — who is like family to me and shares my passion for French cuisine. I know the next chapter of Le Crocodile will be just as incredible. I feel extremely grateful and content for the career I’ve enjoyed. Thank you to my staff, customers and all those who have believed in Le Crocodile since day one.”

For Feenie, who worked at Le Crocodile from 1992 to 1995, it’s a beautiful kismet development. “I could not think of a better place to represent who I am as a chef and what I love to do. I am deeply honoured Michel is entrusting me with continuing the legacy he has started at Le Crocodile and look forward to sharing more details in the coming weeks and months.”

In turn, early in his own career, Jacob was inspired and followed the standards of chef Emile Jung, who operated Au Crocodile restaurant, in Strasbourg. He had a meal “like nothing he’d ever seen or tasted before” and that meal and experience set the standards for his own restaurant.

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Feenie might very well have been a firefighter were it not for Jacob’s intervention early on. Feenie was about to give up cooking to be a firefighter like his father, but Jacob intervened, believing in Feenie’s potential. He asked Feenie’s father to convince his son to stay the course.

In fact, Jacob has mentored many of the city’s top chefs such as David Hawksworth and Ned Bell, who once likened apprenticing at Le Crocodile to getting a Harvard education and “winning a life lottery.”

Following his departure from Lumiere, Feenie spent 15 years as food concept designer and executive chef at Cactus Club, transforming it into one of Canada’s top casual dining experiences. He also spent brief periods leading culinary teams at Bacchus Restaurant and Vancouver Golf Club.

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