Vacay.ca features NC culinary grad Vish Mayekar

Culinary Management (Co-op) alumnus Vish Mayekar, from NC’s Class of 2014, is back in the media spotlight.

Vacay.ca features Mayekar and his Vancouver dining hotspot ELEM, in its September 22 article: “ELEM Brings the World to Vancouver.”

 “Some travellers remember their experiences through photographs or journal entries — Vish Mayekar does it with recipes,” wrote Adrian Brijbassi. “The Mumbai-born chef is not only candid about his travel bug when he speaks, but also when he plates his dishes at ELEM, his imaginative restaurant on Vancouver’s Main Street that has been one of the city’s hottest tables since it opened in November 2024.”

Read the full article here. 

Mayekar will be returning to NC to headline the Chef Signature Series at Benchmark on November 13  (tickets now on sale).

Just 16 weeks after Mayekar opened ELEM, the restaurant made headlines in February 2025 hosting a private event featuring celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay, for Ramsay’s cookware brand.

Since graduating from NC, Mayaker has been a contestant on Top Chef Canada, served as the executive chef at the American Pavilion at the annual Cannes Film Festival in France, and has been culinary director for Cocktails and Canapes Catering Company. He has managed Fitzpatrick Winery in the Okanagan, and he ran Pepino’s Spaghetti House as well as Café La Tana, two well-known Italian restaurants in Vancouver. Under his leadership, La Tana won Best Italian Restaurant at the 2024 Vancouver Magazine Awards.