Brad Smoliak's guest appearances

Brad Smoliak

The Inner Circle with Carrie Doll

630 CHED Mornings

Daryl McIntyre

Rachel Notley

Mike House

Darren Markland

Julie Daniluk

Mark Wahlberg

Erin Davis

Jen Esquer

Thordis Elva

Courtney Buhler

Justin Trudeau

Marianne Cantwell

Stacy Sims

Chris Harder

Doug Campbell

OwlTail

By the time he was 34, Brad Smoliak had already endured several surgeries due to a heart defect at birth. He had also become one of Edmonton’s best-known chefs, earning national and international acclaim as an official chef at the 2010 (Vancouver) and 2012 (London) Olympic Games, and cooking for the Queen of England. But at 34 Brad’s heart health began to decline even more. At 52, he was in late-stage heart failure – and was told he may only have three to six months to live. Today, Brad is running his own restaurant, KITCHEN by Brad, fundraising for the Maz, and enjoying every minute of his life with his family. What happened? Doctors at the Mazankowski Alberta Heart Institute saved Brad’s life when they implanted a ventricular assist device (VAD) that serves the role of his heart. For Heart Month – Brad and his wife Leanne had several offers at KITCHEN to raise money to support the VAD program at the Maz – including a Kitchen To Go Romance Menu and a Bacon Bouquet. The Maz is home to one of Canada’s largest Ventricular Assist Device (VAD) programs, and Canada’s only combined adult and pediatric VAD program

By the time he was 34, Brad Smoliak had already endured several surgeries due to a heart defect at birth. He had also become one of Edmonton’s best-known chefs, earning national and international acclaim as an official chef at the 2010 (Vancouver) and 2012 (London) Olympic Games, and cooking for the Queen of England. But at 34 Brad’s heart health began to decline even more. At 52, he was in late-stage heart failure – and was told he may only have three to six months to live. Today, Brad is running his own restaurant, KITCHEN by Brad, fundraising for the Maz, and enjoying every minute of his life with his family. What happened? Doctors at the Mazankowski Alberta Heart Institute saved Brad’s life when they implanted a ventricular assist device (VAD) that serves the role of his heart. For Heart Month – Brad and his wife Leanne had several offers at KITCHEN to raise money to support the VAD program at the Maz – including a Kitchen To Go Romance Menu and a Bacon Bouquet. The Maz is home to one of Canada’s largest Ventricular Assist Device (VAD) programs, and Canada’s only combined adult and pediatric VAD program

630 CHED Heart Pledge Day - Brad Smoliak

Brad Smoliak: lover of all things starting with “F”! Family, friends, food, fine wine, and most of all, fabulous wife! Born at the General Hospital with Transposition of the Great Vessel, and shockingly survived after some intervention, Brad was raised in Edmonton in the mid-1960’s in an average house, in an average neighbourhood, in an above-average family. Lots of love and fun, big dinners, card games, and loud Ukrainian relatives filled every square inch of the Smoliak home on the weekends and during the holidays. Likely due to this, hospitality was the obvious career choice. Although graduating in marketing, the move to cooking was swift, as it was always the first true love. Without any formal education, the Earl’s Restaurant Group provided the foundation for what was to be a lengthy career in the kitchen.From Earl’s, it was a move to Normand’s Bistro, as their Executive Chef, and then as co-owner/co-chef at Edmonton’s formidable Hardware Grill. It was finally time for that formal education. Thank God, a fraud for all those years. It was only time before the food police came. After several years at the Hardware Grill, it was time to spend more than 7 hours a day at home, most of which was spent sleeping. Son, Nicholas wondered who this weird man was, did mom have a boyfriend? Next was the Executive Chef at the Royal Mayfair Golf &amp; Country Club. Time to change gears. Graduating as a Certified Research Chef from the University of Guelph, provided an opportunity to contract as a consulting chef for multiple food processors, caterers, and restaurants which was exciting and involved fabulous travel opportunities. Also, an ever-changing environment working as a personal chef, catering dinner parties for the notables of Edmonton. That worked well until catering out of the house was causing some strain on what normally would be considered an idyllic marriage. Let’s just say, it wasn’t always the chef holding the rolling pin! So came the birth of Kitchen. Kitchen by Brad Smoliak is a culinary studio in downtown Edmonton, specializing in hosting dinner parties in a private environment, serving unpretentious food in a comfortable space. Kitchen also hosts cooking classes. Much better to host guests at Kitchen than to cater in their homes. It has been said, “money doesn’t always guarantee good taste or cleanliness”. January 2019 was life changing. An arduous heart surgery to install a Ventricular Assist Device (VAD), as a result of late-stage heart failure and being too sick to get a transplant, changed everything. Without the VAD, death was imminent. There is not enough gratitude for the care received from the medical team and staff at The Mazankowski Alberta Heart Institute. Hospitals are bricks and mortar filled with machines. The life’s blood of a hospital is it’s staff, their professional skills, aptitude, resilience and trouble shooting abilities, but most of all, it’s their heart, their kindness, their humour, their patience, that makes all the difference. It is a personal lifetime goal to raise $1M through fundraising initiatives for the VAD Program at the MAZ. Mentoring students and speaking to groups is an honour.To tell the story of beating the odds in life, and in business, is immensely gratifying. Brad's story paired with his fantastic sense of humour, outlook on life, and ability to take every hardship in stride is absolutely awe-inspiring. Brad is such a special person who everyone can look to for a great example on how to stay positive in the face of absolutely anything. For more on Brad and his restaurant, Kitchen, visit their website, or follow him on Twitter and Facebook.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Brad Smoliak: lover of all things starting with “F”! Family, friends, food, fine wine, and most of all, fabulous wife! Born at the General Hospital with Transposition of the Great Vessel, and shockingly survived after some intervention, Brad was raised in Edmonton in the mid-1960’s in an average house, in an average neighbourhood, in an above-average family. Lots of love and fun, big dinners, card games, and loud Ukrainian relatives filled every square inch of the Smoliak home on the weekends and during the holidays. Likely due to this, hospitality was the obvious career choice. Although graduating in marketing, the move to cooking was swift, as it was always the first true love. Without any formal education, the Earl’s Restaurant Group provided the foundation for what was to be a lengthy career in the kitchen.From Earl’s, it was a move to Normand’s Bistro, as their Executive Chef, and then as co-owner/co-chef at Edmonton’s formidable Hardware Grill. It was finally time for that formal education. Thank God, a fraud for all those years. It was only time before the food police came. After several years at the Hardware Grill, it was time to spend more than 7 hours a day at home, most of which was spent sleeping. Son, Nicholas wondered who this weird man was, did mom have a boyfriend? Next was the Executive Chef at the Royal Mayfair Golf &amp; Country Club. Time to change gears. Graduating as a Certified Research Chef from the University of Guelph, provided an opportunity to contract as a consulting chef for multiple food processors, caterers, and restaurants which was exciting and involved fabulous travel opportunities. Also, an ever-changing environment working as a personal chef, catering dinner parties for the notables of Edmonton. That worked well until catering out of the house was causing some strain on what normally would be considered an idyllic marriage. Let’s just say, it wasn’t always the chef holding the rolling pin! So came the birth of Kitchen. Kitchen by Brad Smoliak is a culinary studio in downtown Edmonton, specializing in hosting dinner parties in a private environment, serving unpretentious food in a comfortable space. Kitchen also hosts cooking classes. Much better to host guests at Kitchen than to cater in their homes. It has been said, “money doesn’t always guarantee good taste or cleanliness”. January 2019 was life changing. An arduous heart surgery to install a Ventricular Assist Device (VAD), as a result of late-stage heart failure and being too sick to get a transplant, changed everything. Without the VAD, death was imminent. There is not enough gratitude for the care received from the medical team and staff at The Mazankowski Alberta Heart Institute. Hospitals are bricks and mortar filled with machines. The life’s blood of a hospital is it’s staff, their professional skills, aptitude, resilience and trouble shooting abilities, but most of all, it’s their heart, their kindness, their humour, their patience, that makes all the difference. It is a personal lifetime goal to raise $1M through fundraising initiatives for the VAD Program at the MAZ. Mentoring students and speaking to groups is an honour.To tell the story of beating the odds in life, and in business, is immensely gratifying. Brad's story paired with his fantastic sense of humour, outlook on life, and ability to take every hardship in stride is absolutely awe-inspiring. Brad is such a special person who everyone can look to for a great example on how to stay positive in the face of absolutely anything. For more on Brad and his restaurant, Kitchen, visit their <a href="https://kitchenbybrad.ca/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">website</a>, or follow him on <a href="https://twitter.com/bradsmoliak?lang=en" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Twitter</a> and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/kitchenbybrad/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Facebook</a>.See Privacy Policy at <a href="https://art19.com/privacy" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">https://art19.com/privacy</a> and California Privacy Notice at <a href="https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info</a>.

He Doesn’t Have a Heartbeat or a Pulse, but Chef Brad Smoliak is Winning the Battle Against Heart Disease