The Track on 2 - Range Rd 272

The Funky Monkey Kitchen + Bar is home to Executive Chef Sophear (Pete) Sok and his amazing Western Gastro and Asian Cuisine. Chef Pete is a brilliantly talented award-winning chef that has a very extensive and diverse background in the restaurant industry. A hilarious and personable man, you will often see him visiting guests in the restaurant and if you have the pleasure of attending one of his cooking classes, you will experience his delightful sense of humour.

Through a mutual friend, we had approached Pete in 2018 to have him help to create our menu and facilitate our first race season. What started as a commitment of a few months quickly turned into a long-term friendship and partnership with a vision for the future and many exciting collaborations.

Chef Pete was the oldest brother in his family of seven with one older sister, two younger brothers and one younger sister. Having endured four years in Thailand refugee camps fleeing from his native land Cambodia because of the Khmer Rouge war, his family was able to immigrate to Canada when Pete was just 5 years old. The Sok family are very proud Canadians that were able to establish several successful business ventures.

Pete is married to his adoring wife, Melissa, and they welcomed their first baby, Maximus in 2019. Chef Pete was raised with a Southeast Asian Cuisine background and is classically trained in French Cuisine having studied at Le Cordon Bleu Sydney and Ottawa. He spent over a decade at a renowned Steakhouse starting as an appetizer cook/dishwasher and worked his way up to a General Manager and National Corporate trainer. During his time there, Pete helped launch six new locations. He spent three years operating Bamboo Hut in Sylvan Lake, which his brother Dany now operates independently. His other brother Pon and sister Sue still operate Blue Dragon in Red Deer. For five years, Pete also operated his own restaurant, Sophear in Red Deer.

In 2015, Pete competed against his brother Dany on Chopped Canada. Given some very challenging ingredients, Pete was victorious!

In 2019, our team planted what will be the first of many garden plots and veggie/herb planters. With this farm-to-table approach, Chef Pete utilized as much fresh produce as possible in his dishes.

Chef Pete loves the opportunity to be creative with weekly features and when there is an opportunity for a unique catered event. His well-rounded menu is sure to please all of our guests, from the traditional “meat and potatoes” to those with a more exotic palate!