Cabane à Sucre returns to Vancouver's Michelin-starred St. Lawrence restaurant, starting January 18, 2023
Reservations now open for chef J-C Poirier’s homage to the Québécois tradition during maple-syrup season
St. Lawrence.
St. Lawrence presents Cabane à Sucre from January 18 to the end of March
ON THE HEELS of earning a Michelin star, Vancouver’s St. Lawrence restaurant has announced it is bringing back its most popular dining event of the year. Cabane à Sucre is a perennially sold-out dinner series by chef J-C Poirier, running from January 18, 2023 to the end of March, with reservations now open.
Having launched in 2020, Cabane à Sucre is a chance for Poirier to pay tribute to his Québécois heritage and the annual tradition of trekking to the province’s sugar maple forest. It’s customary for people to gather for rustic, hearty, home-style meals at “sugar shacks”, where freshly collected tree sap is boiled and turned into syrup.
St. Lawrence is offering an elevated version of a typical sugar shack menu along with a few new dishes this year. It features seven courses, with choice of starter, main, and dessert.
Options among starters include morue Charbonnière, jambon, poireau & soupe aux pois (maple-cured sablefish, split-pea soup, leek, and ham) and tartare de boeuf, champignons marinés, foie gras & croquette de cheddar Perron (beef tartare with marinated mushrooms, foie gras, and Perron cheddar croquette). There are three dishes to select from among les plat principaux: venison loin and mini tourtière; maple glazed trout cooked on cedar; and dry-aged roasted pork and apple-maple sausage. One of three desserts to choose from is tarte au sirop d’érable, lait mousseux & sapin; Poirier loves this even more than a classic tarte au sucre (sugar pie). There’s much more; see here for the full menu.
St. Lawrence.
The Cabane à Sucre experience is $125 per person plus tax and gratuity, with pre-paid reservations required. The price has gone up since last year in response to progressive changes at St. Lawrence aimed at improving staff members’ work-life balance—which is hard to come by in the industry—and their overall well-being while enhancing guests’ experience.
Beginning on January 18 (after the team takes a break from December 31 to January 17) guest numbers will be scaled down each evening, and there will be more staff members in front and back of house. To better match employees’ family schedules restaurant will be open five days per week rather than six, from Tuesday to Saturday (instead of Tuesday to Sunday). Back-of-house employees, who work longer shifts than front-of-house staff, will switch to four-day work weeks. Enhanced benefits for staffers will include extended coverage for mental-health treatments as well as company-matched RRSP contributions. St. Lawrence will also donate a portion of proceeds from each reservation to a designated Vancouver Downtown Eastside charity each quarter.
“As the holiday season approaches, it has me thinking about what’s most important,” Poirier says in a release. “Success is not about gain, it’s about giving back to people, especially to the staff who have been loyal to me. Vancouver is one of the most expensive cities to live in the world; these changes will help make living here a little more comfortable.”
Poirier has also just released his first cookbook, Where the River Narrows: Classic French & Nostalgic Québécois Recipes From St. Lawrence Restaurant (written with Joie Alvaro Kent). Read more here.
For more information, see St. Lawrence.
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