At Vancouver's Michelin-star St. Lawrence, chef J-C Poirier invites you into his grandma's house
When Jean-Christophe (J-C) Poirier moved to Vancouver 25 years ago, he found himself missing the familiar dishes from home.
“I’m from Quebec,” he says. “I wanted to bring some of my memory from my childhood, the flavour that I grew up with, to Vancouver.”
Though he admits part of the draw of eventually opening a French-leaning eatery after working within the industry here for quite some time was the ability to speak French.
“Something different that could have also the staff with me that speaks French, so it helped me to feel a bit more comfortable away from home,” he says.
The resulting restaurant was
. Opened in 2017, the restaurant started out as a love letter to Quebecois cuisine. Since then, it has evolved to include other classic French fare — “with a little accent of Quebec,” Poirier adds.
In recent years, St. Lawrence has joined the city’s upper echelon of eateries, most notably earning a
in 2022.
The decorated chef admits he looks as much to the past as he does to the future for his recipes.
“I like to look at old cookbooks, look at what the great chefs have done before me,” he says. “And then do a twist, put my own stamp on it, and modernize, a little bit, the cuisine.”
This sees the menu punctuated with classics such as escargots, roasted rabbit, and tourtière, along with some of the restaurant’s own menu favourites.
“We always have the St. Lawrence classics on the menu,” Poirier says. “The Pâté en Croûte du Jour has been there since Day 1, the lobster and scallop terrine with bisque, and the rice pudding.
“There’s at least four dishes I’ve been doing since the beginning.”
But Poirier also looks to the seasons for additional menu inspiration.
“I think it’s a natural thing to do,” he says of the culinary emphasis on the ingredient here and now (the most recent seasonal menu offering is a maple syrup-inspired Cabane à Sucre assemblage). “I work with farmers as much as possible. I also like bringing some ingredients from Quebec, but in the winter, it makes sense to have vegetables like potato, cabbage, some winter radishes, and moving on to the spring comes the fava beans, the spring peas and the asparagus, and so on.”
As a young athlete, Poirier recalls being drawn to the team aspect of a professional kitchen — “a brigade in the kitchen is a bit like a sports team,” he notes. But what first drew him to the idea of being a professional chef was the food.
“At a young age, I fell in love with food, mostly for the love of eating, first, like tasting things, unusual things as well,” he says. “And then, as I grew older, I started to cook a little bit better on my own, reading about things, because my parents never took me to a restaurant. So I had to learn on my own.”
When Poirier moved out of his family home and out on his own, his culinary exploration really took off.
“I started really cooking for my friends, and then fell in love with it,” Poirier says.
That experience of cooking for friends is something that has stuck with the chef throughout his career. When guests walk into St. Lawrence, Poirier hopes they feel like they’ve stepping inside someone’s home.
“Like they’re not in Vancouver anymore as soon as they enter the space, the music, the server speaking in French, it looks more like my grandma’s house than a modern restaurant,” he explains. “It’s very cosy.”
From its eclectic mix of picture frames on the walls to the centrepieces made of opened maple syrup cans, St. Lawrence may have reached Michelin-star status, but for Poirier, it’s still all about comfort.
“There’s not a lot of Vancouver restaurant that have that kind of design and feel,” Poirier says.
That mix of a Michelin-level menu and a warm, welcoming atmosphere have lent St. Lawrence to be named the Vancouver Magazine’s Best Restaurant three times, included on Canada 100 Best in the top 10 several times, and Chef Poirier named chef of the year.
He also expanded his restaurant offering, opening Chez Celine on Fraser Street in 2025.
Safe to say, what he’s doing is working.
“We’re really grateful,” he says humbly of the continued recognition. “I’ve been cooking for 30 years, and the team that we have right now is very involved, very positive, and wants to learn. And for my position, where I’m at right now in my career, that’s a lovely thing to see.”
READ our 2021 review of St. Lawrence here.
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Source: vancouversun.com