Award-winning St. Lawrence, known for Quebecois food, is now focusing on regions of France, with monthly changes.
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St. Lawrence
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Where: 269 Powell Street, Vancouver
When: Dinner, Wednesday to Sunday.
Info: 604-620-3800. stlawrencerestaurant.com
“Pivot! Pivot! Pivot!” a panicked Ross hollers in a classic Friends episode, as they haul a sofa up some stairs.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, restaurants learned to jump to those words, torquing this way and that, with Dr. Bonnie Henry as their Ross.
At St. Lawrence, owner/chef J.C. Poirier did the mandatory pivots and some of his own as well. It began with a special ticketed Lyonnaise dinner in March to attract customers. It proved so popular he planned a Burgundy dinner for the next month , but then had to pivot as a third wave of the pandemic hit and a circuit breaker directive banning indoor dining was issued. In July, he and his team created a Provençal dinner and in September, a Normandy menu.
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That’s when he decided to pivot to these ticketed dinners permanently.
“They were so well received and people asked for more. It wasn’t only the demand, I quite liked the idea,” says Poirier. “It pushed us forward as a restaurant. Sometimes a one-concept menu can be too restricting and I wanted to open my horizon and be more like a painter with a white canvas.”
Another upside? These pay-ahead ticketed dinners get around the losses St. Lawrence suffer — like other restaurants — thanks to discourteous no-shows for reserved tables.
I’m all for it and for restaurants taking a deposit for reserved tables. So totally reasonable.
Poirier is a Quebecois at heart and will display it on his sleeve with the very popular cabane au sucre or sugar shack dinners during maple syrup season in January and February. In December, he’ll offer St. Lawrence’s greatest hits menu — Quebecois food, elevated to the sublime — during the busy holiday season. All prepaid dinners.
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Meanwhile, in October, it’s an Alsatian menu and in November, it’s a trip to Burgundy. ‘La Tour de France’ menus pick up again in spring.
The ticketed dinners were originally priced at $65 but “skyrocketing costs” pushed it to $75 for three courses with a choice of starter, main and dessert as well as complimentary buckwheat bread and mignardise. There are options for extra appetizer add-ons if you like and if you want a front-row seat to kitchen ballet, book seats at the counter.
Poirier reports a noticeable sense of ease in the room since vaccine passports were introduced — it’s like the ease I feel when hiking, knowing I’m not in grizzly bear territory.
“I can see a change in how people enjoy their evening. They’re more relaxed and have more fun,” says Poirier.
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I visited St. Lawrence in September and had an unpretentious but refined and ethereal Normandy dinner. The region is famous for apples, Calvados, cider, Camembert cheese, cream sauces and oysters. Normandy also happens to be where his family originated generations ago.
From the add-ons I had a traditional dish — Normandy on an oyster shell. A large oyster sat on brunoise-cut apples and shallots, sautéed in butter and deglazed with Calvados. It was topped with a slice of Camembert. For my appetizer I had veal sweetbreads and side stripe shrimp in puff pastry with Normande sauce.
I noted that escargots with garlic butter in puff pastry were on both the September and October menus and caught the backstory. Seems that it was his after-school snack as a ravenous youngster. His mom would buy a three-pack of canned escargots and every week he’d polish them all off, frying them in butter and eating them over toast.
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“I think, in a way, I don’t ever want to get rid of them,” says Poirier.
This, his Proustian dish, will be in a cookbook he’s writing called Where The River Narrows, the definition of the Algonquin word kébec, or Quebec. It’ll have St Lawrence, classic French and Quebecois home style recipes.
“It’ll reflect my career,” says Poirier.
My main dish, rabbit stuffed with boudin blanc in cider sauce with mushrooms, was exquisitely prepared. The boudin blanc was made from leg meat, and stock from the bones was reduced for a sauce with cider and mustard. On the side, grilled gem lettuce was topped with whole mushrooms — such a gorgeous fall dish.
For dessert, a Normandy style tart with apples, joined by custard and Calvados part way through cooking. It was served with an orb of vanilla ice cream atop crushed hazelnuts. All in all, a flawless meal in a warm and intimate setting.
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Each menu will be accompanied with French wines and other beverages from the featured regions, and in my case there were beautiful French ciders — lighter, more wine like than in North America — and several Calvados.
The Alsace menu, currently running to Oct. 31, features these mains: pork stuffed with bratwurst sausage, braised fennel, pickled mustard and cheese croquettes; duck confit choucroute with sausage and potatoes; cod with brown butter and almond sauce, grilled cabbage and potato dumplings.
Tickets for the dinners are released on the restaurant website. While we are travel deprived, why not have one of the best chefs in Vancouver and, for that matter, Canada, take you to France?
Thank you, Food Stash Foundation. You make so much sense.
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Think of it, 58 per cent of food produced in Canada goes to waste, which contributes 56.1 million metric tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent to the atmosphere every year. Meanwhile, in B.C. one in six children are food insecure.
Food Stash began five years ago with high school student David Schein rescuing food and distributing on his own. Now, Food Stash rescues about 70,000 pounds of food every month from groceries stores, warehouses and farms and delivers it to about 30 organizations such as Union Gospel Mission, Urban Native Youth Association, The Dugout Drop-in as well as to 100 families in need. They delivered almost 10,000 pounds in weekly boxes to families last month.
And as of Oct. 1, they started a zero waste Rescued Food Market open every Friday from 3:30 to 6 p.m. at 340 West Second Avenue in Vancouver. What’s unique is that customers pay what they feel to remove any stigma. But bring your own grocery bags. And imminently, there will be a community fridge, stocked with free food by members of the community and Food Stash outside their warehouse.
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The Foundation is a charitable organization and relies heavily on generous donations and the work of volunteers. So simple and yet so brilliant. For more information on the market or to donate, go to foodstash.ca.
The 17th annual Taste of Yaletown (TOY) takes place from Oct. 1 to 31 with restaurants offering $25, $35, $45 and $55 prix fixe menus.
For every TOY menu ordered for dine-in, takeout or delivery, $2 will be donated to the Greater Vancouver Food Bank, adding to the $124,000 already donated since the debut event. Another $2 will be donated to Yaletown House, a seniors care facility.
As well, a ‘Healthcare Happy Hour’ takes place each Wednesday behind the Canada Line station during TOY from 4 to 6 p.m. with live music and gift baskets for health care workers with proof of employment. Visit yaletowninfo.com/event/tasteofyaletown for participating restaurants.
Source: vancouversun.com
