Chef-owner JC Poirier has become one of the defining voices in Vancouver’s French dining scene.
After nearly a decade at St. Lawrence, JC Poirier is cooking with more restraint than ever.
As the chef-owner of both St. Lawrence and Chez Céline, Poirier has become one of the defining voices in Vancouver’s French dining scene.
But his current cuisine bourgeoise menu at St. Lawrence ($110) feels less like a statement and more like a refinement. Classical French cooking filtered through experience, confidence, seasonality and a growing desire to let ingredients speak more clearly for themselves.
“Restraint,” he says, “is about subtraction.”
At home, Poirier keeps a board full of ideas and inspirations. Written across the top is a single word: subtract.
That philosophy now drives nearly everything happening at St. Lawrence (269 Powell St.). The process often begins with a single ingredient. Right now, that ingredient is halibut.
“I start with the best seasonal product I can find,” he explains. “Maybe it’s halibut. Then I think about the sauce.”
That sauce may begin with the fish bones themselves, fortified with trims from the fish and reduced carefully into something elegant but lighter than traditional French cooking once demanded. The fish may be grilled, steamed, poached or pan roasted depending on what feels right. Then comes a seasonal vegetable to complete the plate.
“That’s the dish,” he says simply.
It sounds minimal on paper, but Poirier argues simplicity often requires more discipline than excess. With fewer components, there is nowhere to hide. Every sauce has to be balanced. Every protein cooked perfectly. Every seasoning precise.
“When you’re younger, you want to add things,” he says. “Textures, garnishes, more components. But now I look at a dish and ask myself, ‘Does this ingredient actually bring something to the idea?’ If the answer is no, it goes.”
‘It makes no sense to eat strawberries in December’
That mindset is also shaping the way he approaches seasonality. At St. Lawrence, the menu constantly shifts based on what arrives at the restaurant that week. A dessert changed just days ago after the season’s first rhubarb arrived from Glorious Organics.
“We had a maple tart before,” he says. “But it didn’t make sense anymore.”
Now, guests are served a panna cotta with poached rhubarb and rhubarb sorbet. Soon strawberries, peas, asparagus and fava beans will follow. Certain ingredients may only appear briefly before disappearing again.
“I want to capture those moments,” he says. “It makes no sense to eat strawberries in December.”
It’s a philosophy increasingly rare in a world built around constant availability and convenience. Poirier speaks nostalgically about older generations eating with the seasons instead of demanding every ingredient year-round.
“We’ve become impatient,” he says. “Life isn’t supposed to work like that.”
That same philosophy also shapes the atmosphere he’s trying to rebuild at St. Lawrence.
Despite holding one of the city’s most celebrated Michelin stars, Poirier recently lowered the restaurant’s tasting menu price rather than increasing it. In an industry where many restaurants continue pushing prices higher to offset rising costs, the move feels almost rebellious.
“I’m tired of everybody solving problems by just raising prices,” he says.
St. Lawrence might be the best-value Michelin dining in Vancouver
Instead, Poirier wanted to create what he believes may now be one of the best values in Michelin dining in Vancouver. Not because he wants to cheapen the experience, but because he wants more people to feel comfortable walking through the door.
“There’s this perception with Michelin,” he says. “People think stiff, expensive, pretentious, tiny portions. That’s never what St. Lawrence was supposed to be.”
His vision has always been closer to a bustling Montreal or Quebec bistro. Loud rooms. Warm hospitality. Serious food without the rigidness that sometimes accompanies fine dining.
“It’s just a restaurant,” he says with a laugh.
Toward the end of our conversation, Poirier begins speaking passionately about the evolution of French sauces themselves. He references the old mother sauces of Escoffier, many thickened heavily with roux and built for another era of dining.
“People want to eat lighter now,” he says.
Instead of relying on those heavier classical structures, Poirier builds sauces through vegetable extractions, broths, infused oils, emulsions and brighter acids that still carry richness without feeling heavy. It is still deeply French cooking, but seen through a more modern lens.
“I’m just cooking what I want to eat now,” he says.
And increasingly, that means less noise, more confidence, and letting exceptional ingredients speak for themselves.
Christian Alvarez is the founder of Vancouver Chefs and the ICON Dinner Series, platforms that bring together celebrated chefs for immersive, culture driven dining experiences. A graduate of the Northwest Culinary Academy in Vancouver, he blends culinary training with a passion for storytelling, photography and community building. Through curated collaborations, he explores the intersection of food, film, music and art, creating intimate events that celebrate both craft and creativity. When he is not curating dinners, he runs the Vancouver seawall, spends long hours on the road as an avid cyclist, and explores the world through its food and culture.
Dining and Cooking