Chef Rod Butters
Chef, Owner/Operator, RauDZ Creative Concepts Ltd.
Chef Rod Butters is proud to call the Okanagan home.
Rod is a strong proponent of “everything local” and supports many of the local farmers and food artisans that thrive in the valley. The importance of Rod’s commitment to establishing regional BC cuisine has earned him international respect. Long before it became “trendy” to serve regional food, Rod has always been committed to this effort. It’s because of this and his talents as a chef “at the top of his game” that in 2007 his peers inducted Rod into the B.C. Restaurant Hall of Fame. Chef Butters was recently inducted into the CCFCC Honour Society recognizing his contribution to his industry.
Since moving to Kelowna from the west coast, Rod has established a Four-Diamond restaurant (Fresco), gutted it and transformed it into one of the city’s prime hot dining spots – RauDZ©. Known for it’s casual atmosphere, RauDZ© has become a food destination with a loyal following.
The growing RauDZ Creative Concepts Ltd. portfolio now includes RauDZ Regional Table, micro bar & bites, Sunny’s Modern Diner and Terrafina at Hester Creek by RauDZ.
Summer 2017 saw the launch of a long awaited project from Chef Butters – his cookbook The Okanagan Table: The Art of Everyday Home Cooking. Boasting over 270 pages including 80 recipes and more than 120 photos, the book includes some favourites from Butters including Oat Crusted Arctic Char, a classic on the menu at RauDZ Regional Table, the addictive Spring Pea Soup that celebrates that season in the valley and even a few cocktails to be enjoyed with appetizers and friends.
Signed copies are available at all four of the RauDZ Creative Concepts restaurants plus bookshops and wine shops in the valley as well as online at Chapters/Indigo and Amazon.
Audrey Surrao
Co-owner/Operator RauDZ Creative Concepts Ltd.
Audrey is passionate about the local wine industry and can be found conversing with winemakers throughout the region, constantly on the lookout for the “next great wine.” With a strong palate and nose, Audrey has the ability to source some of the Okanagan’s best wines and price it so that it can be enjoyed by anyone who cares about a great product.
Audrey is certified by WSET, an Internationally recognized wine and spirits certification authority. This certification is designed to give a thorough and comprehensive knowledge of the principal wines and spirits of the world combined with commercial factors and a system for the professional evaluation of wines and spirits. She graduated “With Distinction”, and this has resulted in requests for her participation as a Wine Judge in a number of wine competitions.
She has the ability to set a welcoming tone at the restaurant and her commitment to setting a high standard of service is legendary.
Audrey is excited to explore the flavours of an international wine portfolio for micro bar • bites making it distinctively different from the exclusively local beverage menu at RauDZ Regional Table.
Kaidi Richardson
Restaurant Manager micro
Kaidi is the friendly face you’ll see behind the bar, and around the room ensuring the guests at micro enjoy every bite.
Born and raised in Kelowna, Kaidi joined RauDZ Creative Concepts Ltd in January 2015 and became the restaurant manager at micro in November 2017.
Her love of both local and international wine is on display with the ever-changing chalkboard wine menu and is backed by her WSET 2 (Wine & Spirit Education Trust) education with plans to pursue her WSET 3.
Kaidi’s love of wine is surpassed only by her passion for travel and craft beer. She enjoys searching out unique, hard-to-find brews and bringing them back to micro for her guests.
Next up in Kaidi’s ‘thirst’ for knowledge is craft beer’s own version of a sommelier program, completion of the Cicerone Certification.