Latest news with #LaurentDagenais
Cision Canada
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Cision Canada
Bon Appétit, Toronto & Montreal: Boursin Partners with Canadian Chef Laurent Dagenais to Gather, Share, and Savour with a European-Style Cheese Window Français
The partnership encourages Canadians to celebrate and host at any time of the year, with La Petite Fenêtre Boursin; a surprise pop-up window for one day only in Toronto and Montreal. TORONTO, July 23, 2025 /CNW/ - Boursin is thrilled to announce a limited-time "cheeseboard" window experience celebrating the joy of gathering, in partnership with acclaimed Canadian chef Laurent Dagenais. Boursin, known for its rich, creamy texture and bold flavours, is bringing its signature charm and its passion for gathering—to the streets of Toronto and Montreal with a surprise European-inspired activation: La Petite Fenêtre Boursin. Partnering with celebrated Montreal-born culinary creator Chef Laurent Dagenais—known for his viral recipes and effortless approach to entertaining—Boursin is offering complimentary, chef-designed cheese boards in two beloved neighbourhood spots. For one day only, in Montreal on August 2 and Toronto on August 8, pedestrians passing by can enjoy complimentary, custom-designed cheese boards and take a moment to enjoy Boursin together. Inspired by Florence's iconic "wine windows" that surprise passersby with discreet sips from a hidden soirée, the La Petite Fenêtre Boursin invites Canadians to experience that same sense of spontaneous connection. This summer, the Boursin window brings an unexpected moment of gathering and indulgence — a delight designed to spark shared enjoyment. Each board contains a charming moment of surprise by centering around one of three delicious flavours: Fig & Balsamic, Garlic & Fine Herbs, Shallot & Chive and Basil & Chive. "I wanted to create something that felt indulgent but totally unpretentious—like you're sharing a board with your best friends in the south of France," says Chef Laurent. "The idea behind this event is to inspire people to come together. Good food and meaningful gatherings aren't just for the holidays. We hope La Petite Fenêtre Boursin encourages people to pause the hustle and bustle of everyday life, enjoy Boursin, and share quality time with one another." This summer, inspired by the joy of coming together, Chef Laurent channels his passion for hosting into every detail of the experience. His thoughtfully crafted boards are meant to surprise, delight, and spark connection; perfectly capturing Boursin's spirit of effortless entertaining. Just like Boursin, these boards are guaranteed to be instant crowd-pleasers, encouraging enjoyment in unison with friends and family on any day of the week. Event Details: Montreal: Date: Saturday, August 2 Time: 1:30 PM – 5:00 PM (while supplies last) Location: 957 Mont-Royal Ave E Toronto: Date: Friday, August 8 Time: 2:30 PM – 6:00 PM (while supplies last) Location: 730 Queen Street West Whether you're planning a picnic, meeting a friend for coffee, or simply strolling by, the La Petite Fenêtre Boursin invites you to pause, connect, and savour the moment. This summer, let Boursin and Chef Laurent surprise you with a delicious reminder that some of the best gatherings are the ones you didn't plan for. About Bel Group Canada Bel Group Canada inc. is a subsidiary of Bel Group, a world leader in branded cheeses and a major player in the healthy snack market with distribution in nearly 120 countries. Created in 2005 to boost the development of the Group's activities in Canada, The subsidiary now employs 275 people in Canada, contributing to the Group's mission of providing healthier and more responsible food for all. Its brands Boursin® and The Laughing Cow® are produced under subcontract in Canada with local partners and Babybel® is produced at the company's plant in Sorel-Tracy, Quebec. Bel Canada Group also owns MOM Group, makers of GoGo squeeZ® fruit pouches based in Toronto.
Condé Nast Traveler
17-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Condé Nast Traveler
Where You Should Eat in Montreal According to a Pro Chef
Transcript This is the perfect sandwich. Mm. You know what it tastes like? It tastes like Montreal. [mid-tempo instrumental music] I am Chef Laurent Dagenais, and today I'm taking you to the most iconic restaurants in Montreal, and this is Where the Chefs Eat. [mid-tempo music continues] [mid-tempo music continues] [wind whooshes] [mid-tempo music continues] We are here at stop number one, Schwartz. [screen whooshes] [mid-tempo music continues] Buon giorno. Mm-hmm. Laurent. Frank. [Laurent speaks in French] [Frank speaks in French] So, you know, New York City has pastrami, they have Katz's Deli, but we in Montreal have Schwartz's, and Schwartz's is all about smoked meat. What's different is the way the brisket is prepared. Here it's a dry cure for 10 days and then it goes for eight to 10 hours of smoking and then it goes for four hours in the steamer. You have a dry rub that's made of salt, black pepper, garlic, onions, mustard, coriander. But you know, what's the amounts? No one knows. [gentle instrumental music] Our queen, Celine Dion, she's a partner here, and her late husband also is a partner here, René. Now, let's see if my heart will go on for that smoked meat. [gentle instrumental music] What's up, Frank? Hey. How are you? Are you good? Good, good. Can I please get the usual? A smoked meat sandwich medium, side of fries, a pickle, and a dark cherry Cott? Excellent. Thank you. [hands smack] Very good. [mid-tempo instrumental music] [knife chops] [knife knocks] [mid-tempo music continues] [plate taps] [mid-tempo music continues] There we go. Oh, amazing [hands tap]. Thank you. So what you see here is nothing less than perfection. It's a piece of art. Smoked meat sandwich, beautiful rye bread, not toasted, and, as we like to call it here, baseball mustard or just yellow mustard. And then, you see this meat here? Before I get in there. This is a medium, you can also get the fatty one that's very juicy and fat or the even leaner one. All right, [hands tap and rub] let's dig in. [gentle instrumental music] Yeah, every bite. [staff member chatter] [gentle music continues] Mm. [hand knocks]. Hmm. Mm. I missed you so much. This is so good. You know, every time, a perfect bite. The nice rye bread is the perfect vessel for this fatty, smoky beef. Mm. [gentle music continues] You know what it tastes like? It tastes like Montreal. That's what it tastes like. The family vibe. It's old, it's smoky, it's greasy in a good way. You can come here at 10:00 AM, you can come here at 9:30 PM, it's always a good time. You know, I like my pickle sliced up. Also, there's rules to this. Never put your pickle in the sandwich. That's a side, you know, you take a bite of your smoke meat, extra musty. Mm. Mm. [clothing rustles] And of course, after that, you wash it down with a good little sip of, [slurps] mm, [glass thuds] dark cherry Cott. So, you know, it just feels like home. I was probably five years old, sitting at the same place with my dad and my bro. It's just one of those places, just feel special. [upbeat instrumental music] And here we are, the best fast food in Montreal, Greenspot. This is the ultimate chefs hangout. Speaking of chefs, I have the honor today of being joined by my good friend, Chef Jeremie Falissard. Ah, chef. [chuckles] [hands smack] You good or what? Good. How are you? Yeah, man. Good to see you. Good to see you. Ready for a good time? It smells so good, man. Can you smell that from here? I'm ready for- Whoo. A big poutine, baby. I'm down. For those who don't know, I thought why not ask my good friend Jeremie here, who's from France, what is a poutine? Well, I've been here for 20 years though. You're still French. [both laugh] Well, listen, it's the go-to. We're in Quebec. This is where it froms. Especially in Montreal, there's a lot of different places to have a nice poutine. Yeah. It's my go-to after clubbing usually, but now it became slowly and slowly, my go-to daytime. 'Cause you don't club anymore 'cause you have kids. Exactly. Yes. So basically, let's break it down. A poutine is what? It's french fries. Not the crispy, nice golden fries. Brown, overcooked fries to perfection, some gravy, which is usually a powder-based gravy, and cheese curds. Cheese curds are basically the youngest form of cheddar, and you can find those in every single corner store in the province, and it's always room temperature. The second your cheese curds hit the fridge, they're done. Why, because to get squeakiness, people always say eat squeaky cheese, right? Squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak. And if it hits the fridge, [Jeremie laughs] that squeakiness is gone. [Camera Person] What was that noise again? Like [imitates squeaking] [Jeremie imitates squeaking] [Jeremie laughs] [oil sizzles] [mid-tempo instrumental music] Yes! Saint-Henri poutine. Oh yeah. And the onion ring poutine. That's lovely. Thank you. That's it! Thank you. [Laurent's hands smack] There we go. We have the Classic here, obviously. The wild card, onion rings. Saint Henri with the peppers. Yes. Peppers. Yeah, and this is the Pate Chinois. Let's go. I'm kind of very high for this one for some reason. Yeah. Now, I feel like we should just start with a classic, 'cause, you know, we all know what it tastes like, but- Exactly. You have to judge. Same way when you're tasting a pizza, you go with the margarita because it's the one- Yeah. Then you go crazy. Perfect. Exactly. Let's see how it goes. It's quite good. I like that. Lemme just try the sauce by itself. [patrons chatter] At first I thought it was some cinnamon, but I don't think so. Sometimes you think that two chefs would figure out what's in the sauce, but guess what? [Jeremie chuckles] Not today. Onion? Ya. Mm. Gladly. Sound guy, get closer. I wanna make you hear to squeak, squeak. [cheese squeaks] [patrons chatter] Can you pick this up? Squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak. Can you hear it? [patrons chatter] Come on now. [hands tap] [patron chattering continues] Okay.[hands smack] The wild card. [utensils clang] [patron chattering continues] This is interesting. Yeah. First time for you? Yeah. First time for me. I think it's a good idea. I think it's a good idea. I feel like I go with my fingers too, for some reason. It's hard to... [patron chattering continues] You gotta do cheese. [patron chattering continues] Mm-hmm. Mm. Oh. [faint instrumental music] [patron chattering continues] Bro, that's pretty good. Bro. [patron chattering continues] Surprised it's, I mean, I wasn't sure- Nine. But to be honest, it's like a nine outta 10. I like it because there's the sweetness of the onions coming out. Obviously it's fried, so you have the- Yeah, it's- The french fry kind of feeling. Yeah, it's a batter, so it's probably- With the gravy and everything, it makes totally sense. And people have a bunch of weird things they do with poutine. People put ketchup. People put some vinegar on there. Some guy told me he was putting coleslaw on his poutine, which is crazy, but I think we should try ketchup since it's the number one topping for- For the pate chinois. Ah, it feels so wrong to do this. That's why it feels so right. I'm free. [chuckles] Mm. Is it good actually? Is it better? Makes sense, bro. It's not weird. It's good. Oh, now I can smell pate chinois, with the ketchup on there. Yeah, it feels like you're literally eating a pate chinois. [fork clangs] I guess anyone outside of Quebec probably don't know this, but pate chinois is pretty much the most popular household dish that you probably had at least once or a thousand times growing up. It's a classic. It's just ground beef, mashed potatoes, and canned corn, all stacked up. The order is beef, corn, potatoes, and then this is a poutine version of it, so it just fries, gravy, canned corn, ground beef, and now ketchup. It translates to Chinese pate, which is crazy 'cause there's nothing Chinese about this. And last but not least, this is the Saint-Henri, because we are in? Saint-Henri. Let's go. That's the hood. That's the hood. And that's ground beef, bell peppers, and mushrooms? I know it's mushrooms, but- Yeah, yeah. There's like thin sliced of- Mushrooms in there? Oh yeah. I see it. I see it. Cool. All right. Let's try this. Mm. Oh my God. Look at this. [Jeremie chuckles] [utensil clangs] Mm. When it comes down to poutine, I'm a bit of a purist, you know? So I always ordered a classic one for myself, so anything too crazy, this was fun, that was fun too, to try, the onion rings. This was also very fun with the ketchup and whatever, but this one not for me. Well, I like it. I'm gonna eat my pate chinois then. I'll take it for me. [mid-tempo instrumental music] [speaks in French] Mon Lapin. And here we are, sitting down at my favorite table in my favorite restaurant, Mon Lapin. They have all the accolades you can imagine. Best food, best service, best wine, and it's a nice neighborhood. We are now in Little Italy. A thing I really like about this place, it's a corner restaurant. That's always a thing I really enjoy. People watching on the side. You have the open kitchen. I like the decoration. You have a bit of Lapin everywhere. You have the Jura, 'cause they're a big fan of Jura Wine. Chef, [hands rub] what are we eating for lunch? Not telling you. [Marc-Olivier laughs] Perfect. You know what? I never choose anyway. We'll [hands tap] have some asparagus, some lobster. We just got the first small nettle, cooked nettle, rhubarb. Nice. You know? You know what? The usual, I'm not gonna order anything. You can just bring the, you know? Yeah. Of course. [mid-tempo instrumental music] Ah. Le Croque-Petoncle scallop sandwich. Your 10th one. [Laurent laughs] The 11th one's on us. Wow. I've never seen this before. [Marc-Olivier laughs] Crazy. Wow. Amazing. Thank you so much. It looks like a grilled cheese almost, but it's not. It's a scallop muslin. It's very light, very delicate. Nice crunchy bread from [speaks in French]. I probably had this 10 times, and guess what? I'm probably gonna have 10 more times 'cause it's just that good. And then you have, that's like the ultimate mayo. Aioli with garlic, and then you add saffron, which is originally served with the very classic French dish from Marsaille called [speaks in French]. So it's perfect. Wow, look at this. And that's for me. [crunches] Mm. Mm. The nicest muslin. Look how that jiggles. Basically in French cuisine, a muslin is always either, it could be like a salmon muslin. It's salmon that's blended with a bit of cream, so I don't know if there's cream in there 'cause the chef won't tell me, but yeah, it's just basically scallops and you just blend those into a paste, and voila. [crunches] If you close your eyes, you can imagine yourself sitting down somewhere in Marsaille close to the watery, like in the old port, a nice glass of white wine, and you just eating a [speaks in French]. You can hear the seagulls in the distance, and that's where I'm at right now. [gentle instrumental music] Hmm. [crunches] [Marc-Olivier speaks in French] [plate taps] So we have barbecue spinach with lobster cooked in beef fat and a tomato vinegarette. Wow. Merci, chef. [gentle music continues] [patrons chatter] Mm. [patrons chatter] I don't know how he does it. You know? It's so simple. Just spinach, lobster, and fat. It's the ultimate surf and turf. You have the lobster, the lard, best of both world combine. It's not like the usual filet mignon with a fat piece of lobster. It's just delicate, well balanced, and then you have a nice little touch of the onion flour at the end that just brings a bit of [speaks in French]. [gentle music continues] I hope you're still hungry, huh? Thank you, chef. First-of-the-season asparagus in a nettle sauce, and on top we have a sweetbread glaze with spruce honey. Wow. And what's this, chef? Nettle chips. [Laurent crunches] Thank you, chef. [gentle music continues] [Laurent munches] Mm. [utensils clang] Also, sweetbreads are always a tricky one for chefs to cook to perfection, and you have the perfect crispy outside of the sweetbreads and the soft inside, so texture wise, it's very interesting to eat for sure. And this spruce honey just brings you like in a forest almost. It's just very nice. [Marc-Olivier] You wanna film the soft serve machine? Yes. I'm like the biggest fan of Dairy Queen [metal taps] and I wanted my own soft serve machine. This very simple, just rhubarb soft serve, a nice palate cleanser in between courses, or at the end of your meal. We always do it 100% fruit. This one's rhubarb. We'll go into strawberries, haskap berries, cantaloupe later in this season. This one's rhubarb. [Camera Person] Does Dairy Queen have something like this? I'm the dairy king. [mid-tempo instrumental music] Monsieur. [Laurent gasps] Wow, eh. [chuckles] Chef. Double desserts. Rhubarb soft serve with sesame, and this one is brown butter meringue with brown butter fruits and brown butter cream. That's beautiful. Thank you, Chef. I could use a spoon, but to be honest, I've been looking at this thing for a minute now and I wanna just go right in there. [patrons chatter] [faint instrumental music] [Laurent gobbles] [patron chattering continues] Hmm. Hmm. [spoon taps] Mm. This is like the perfect balance. The acidity of the rhubarb doesn't make it too sweet, and the maple is just perfect. So this is a new one for me. So we have a creme diplomat, which is a mix of pastry cream and asantee cream combined together. Then we have a beautiful meringue. [metal clangs] Wow. [gobbles] Mm. [spoon clangs] [faint music continues] [hand thuds] [faint music continues] The lightest meringue I've ever tried in my whole life. Brown butter blueberries. That's crazy. I don't know why, but it's so good, and this hazelnut diplomat on top just brings everything together, and this is the perfect grand finale for a feast at Mon Lapin. [mid-tempo instrumental music] And guys, I think that's the end of our day together. I took you guys to my favorite spots in all of Montreal. We did Mon Lapin, we did Schwartz's and Greenspot. [Laurent speaks in French] [mid-tempo music fades]
