Fall has now started to arrive which as a child of summer makes me look back wistfully on the summer we just had. It was a nice one which for my wife and I culminated in a beautiful 2 week trip to Gaspésie. Despite some of the bad weather, he had a great time seeing the beautiful scenery and enjoying the wonderful local culinary fare. As soon as we booked this trip, I know where I had to reserve for dinner: At chef Colombe St-Pierre’s restaurant in Le Bic, Chez St-Pierre. Chef St-Pierre has become quite the household name in the Quebec food scene and even at the international level now. So it was with very great excitement that we found ourselves there on the 1st night of our vacation on our way to Gaspésie – hopeful for quite the meal.
Located in the small village of Le Bic just across the Church atop the hill, Chez St-Pierre is a tasting menu service of either 3,5 or 7 courses with a option of wine pairing as well. The restaurant has a nice look to it – floor to ceiling wood with tons of lighting. The kitchen is open concept in the middle of the space and the dining area is extended with a closed solarium off the side of the building. It is hard to see in the pictures but they are using wine corks as cool accents along the walls in certain places. The service throughout the night was impeccable with the different chefs in the kitchen (including Colombe) coming out to explain the different dishes throughout the evening. I enjoyed the touch of having all of the wait and kitchen staff listed on the menu as well as all the suppliers the restaurant uses for their food – a nice way to highlight the people who help contribute to make Chez St-Pierre want it is.
We chose to go with the 5 course meal for this evening. Before the meal got started, we got an amuse-bouche of a fried stuffed zucchini flower. Beautiful presentation with great crunch and a nice flavour. We were also served housemade bread – including squid ink bread – served with a soft cheese and herb spread. Just delicious and a great start to the meal.
First course provided us with a salicornia and gin cucumber gaspacho with a Scotch lovage (Persil de mer) emulsion, marinated white turnips and a chervil salad. A dish with many ingredients I had never had before – very cool use of local items and such an excellent soup. Great depth of flavour – a nice brightness punctuated with some saltiness. The emulsion added some creaminess which paired well. Honestly one of the best soups I have had in a while.
The second course was the fish course – grilled filet of turbot served over mussels and nordic shrimp with a jus of mussels. Excellent piece of fish – flaky and tender with a nice grill to it. The shrimp and mussels were super fresh and flavourful. A great platform to showcase the great local seafood and fish of the region.
Third course went vegetarian as we were served a terrine of zucchini and eggplant served with a summer savory tomato coulis and a vodka yellow pepper sorbet. Beautiful presentation and super creative idea of the sorbet which legitimately tasted like yellow peppers. However, it didn’t worked for neither my wife nor I. As a result, the dish didn’t wow us as the others had.
Fourth course brought us back on track with a beef medallion marinated ‘spicy’ served with red cabbage tortilla, tequila sour cream and pepper salsa. The cool thing about this dish is where the beef came from – it is from a dairy farm nearby. Chef St-Pierre has a partnership going with the farm where she takes the beef of the cows, ages them 60 days and then uses it in the restaurant. Given that the meat comes from a dairy cow, the meat is more lean and tough so the aging helps the texture. It was excellent and a super cool approach to re-utilizing resources from the region. The dish had a very Mexican-influenced flavour to it – some heat and some sweet, the sour cream had a nice kick to it and the pepper salsa was very good.
Final dish, of course, was dessert. We were served a black spruce éclair with strawberries, black garlic pastry cream and balsam fir ice cream. A gorgeous dish once again with tons of very interesting flavours. The éclair was airy and spongy. When combined with the ice cream, it made for a very strong pine-like taste – evoking of our Northern forests. I really liked the punch from the garlic pastry cream as well. And the strawberries, being in season, were very sweet and flavourful. An awesome close-out to our meal.
Chez St-Pierre is the best restaurant experience we have had all year. Excellent service from top to bottom, amazing dishes with tons of flavour and creativity and a wonderful use of local ingredients. It may be a little out of the way for those of us in Montreal but believe me visiting Colombe at Chez St-Pierre is well worth the extra gas mileage 😉
Cheers!
Chez St-Pierre
129 Rue du Mont Saint Louis, Rimouski (Qc)
418 736 5051
Ramblings from the Complex Mind of a 30 Something 