Inns, hotels are attracting top Montreal chefs

Culinary tourism poised to grow as vacationing Canadians stay local

When Danny Smiles first visited the Willow Inn in Hudson, Que., pre-pandemic, he was looking for a wedding venue, not a job. But last spring, the Food Network Canada star and former chef of Le Bremner in Montreal ended up proposing a new relationship to the owners of the 10-room, under-the-radar inn: Now he’s the manager and executive chef at the helm of its breakfasts, lunches, dinners and weddings.

Though Smiles hasn’t finished planning his own nuptials, he has catered three at the inn. He’s also found time to upgrade the menu. Instead of standard pub fare, dinner options now include Nordic shrimp antipasto with vegetables from the garden; local trout with beurre blanc and zucchini; and an 18ounce rib-eye for two with garlic scapes and pepper sauce.

Smiles isn’t the only respected Quebec chef who’s recently headed to greener pastures. Éric Gonzalez, formerly of L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon at the Montreal Casino, is now at StoneHaven Le Manoir in the Laurentians, near Mont-Tremblant.

He left the casino well before the restaurant’s permanent shuttering and took the manor’s offer to return as its chef after consulting on the original menu in 2019. He then convinced five of his former cooks from Montreal to join him, which wasn’t much of an undertaking for a property with a lake, pool and kitchen with a view. When he asked, the answer all around was “Oui, chef, oui, chef,” he says.

Likewise, Smiles easily convinced five Montreal sous chefs to join him in Hudson, a peaceful area 45 minutes west of the city. It was also an easy sell, especially at a time when restaurant jobs were hard to come by in a locked-down city. The fresh country air surely didn’t hurt.

As for why Smiles chose the Willow Inn, he says, “I think I just needed a new challenge. I was in Old Montreal for 10 years.” In a new setting that lets him reconnect, get outside, have a garden and be on the water, he feels like a different version of himself, he adds. He was also inspired by a friend, chef Vincent Dion Lavallée, who in 2018 opened the rural Cabane d’à Côté, a gourmet sugar shack near the famous Au Pied de Cochon maple shack in Mirabel, Que.

It’s not just chefs looking outside the city, either. Food lovers are, too. Culinary tourism already exists across the country — think Pluvio in B.C., Pearl Morissette in Ontario and Fogo Island Inn in Newfoundland — but it’s on track to grow as Canadians vacation more locally.

“I think this is going to be the future of fine dining,” says Gonzalez, noting that in addition to the quieter environments, chefs can be closer to the local products they’ve been championing for years. In France, he adds, prestigious Relais & Châteaux properties and Michelinstarred restaurants have long dragged Parisians out of the capital. Canada just has some catching up to do.

But while guests are on vacation, that doesn’t mean chefs are. “If you have a podium in Montreal (for the best restaurants in Quebec), I want to be on this podium,” says Gonzalez. Ambitious, yes, but the fact that he spent about 15 hours perfecting Robuchon’s mashed potatoes after training with the late chef in Paris speaks to his perfectionism.

The iconic mash will show up on StoneHaven’s menu eventually, he says, but for now you’ll find his pâte-à-choux-style potatoes dauphinois with bacon (and a glorious heap of butter), accompanying his slow-cooked duck with cherry marmalade, pan-seared foie gras, honeyfried apricot gel and almond foam. He probably also deserves a medal for his black cod, which comes with ricotta squid ink cavatelli, chorizo, and a lime and saffron foam on top of seasonal peas, asparagus and fava beans deglazed in Champagne and doused in cream.

Meanwhile, for vacationers headed to the city, one Montreal hotel has lured back a top talent. Jason Morris, the former chef of Montreal restaurant Pastel, spent much of the pandemic training in Japan, but upon his return, the Four Seasons Hotel Montreal hooked him into revamping the seafood-centric menu conceptualized by Marcus Samuelsson. While Morris’s crab and red snapper dishes aren’t available on the hotel’s newly launched Mistral terrasse, Marcus Restaurant’s patio is a fine place for a wine-paired gastronomic experience. Lucky are those who merely mosey back to their suite after dinner.

As hotels and inns continue to attract top-tier culinary talent, a new era of destination dining is upon us. Book fast for the out-of-town options, though, because while you can take the chef out of the city, it remains to be seen how long you can take the city out of the chef.

Danny Smiles isn’t the only respected Quebec chef who’s recently headed to greener pastures outside the city

If you go:

The Willow Inn is open for lunch and dinner Thursday to Sunday (and breakfast for hotel guests). Rooms start from $195 per night and combine charm and modernity, featuring lake views, cotton sateen sheets, Bluetooth speakers, and Oneka’s made-in-Canada bath and body products with organic and wild-harvested herbal extracts.

StoneHaven Le Manoir is open daily for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Rooms start at $340 per night and feature manor-esque charm via thick duvets, elegant rugs and hardwood furniture. There’s a petfriendly floor, a full spa and Finnish sauna, and picnic baskets for your hike over the scenic Laurentian hills.

Marcus Restaurant at the Four Seasons Hotel Montreal is open from 4 p.m. to 1 a.m. Wednesday to Sunday. Rooms start at $540. Suites feature boudoir decor with rose-coloured footstools, floor-to-ceiling windows, marble showers, iPad room controls, yoga mats and four-poster beds. Ask for a room with a view of the Leonard Cohen mural, or just grab a drink at Mistral for a stunner.