Yannick La Salle, local Bryson chef was hired in new role for the Supreme Court of Canada.
Winner of the 2019 Canadian Culinary Championships, La Salle, a native of Pontiac, has worked in many top restaurants throughout his career, but he’s well known for his style and flavours that he serves at Restaurant Les Fougères, in Chelsea.
Seeing a new opportunity present itself, La Salle is thrilled to start his new role as the court’s new executive chef and cook lunches for its nine judges, as well as food for dinners and receptions.
La Salle described his food as . . .
simple, fresh, vibrant and at times surprising and bold, but told THE EQUITY he prefers to let his food speak for itself.
A physically demanding job, La Salle said you have to be able to handle a little bit of pain to do this sort of work.
“If you’re not ready to collapse at the end of your day, it means you didn’t push hard enough. I truly believe that. To become a great chef, you need to like, sort of, a little bit of pain. It’s not an easy job,” said La Salle.
The idea to cook for the Supreme Court hadn’t even crossed La Salles’s mind. It came on his radar when he first met Oliver Bartsch, the court’s current chef who told La Salle he was retiring. So when the job posting became available, he went for it.
“I said I might as well just try to apply and see what happens with it,” said La Salle.
Through a rigorous four-step process, La Salle was able to showcase his skills and talents and stand out. The first step was writing a 1500-word cover letter and sending in a resume. The second step was a written exam that tested them on health and hygiene and things a chef should know when running a kitchen. The third step was a one-on-one interview, and the last step was a cook-off with four finalists, after screening about 26 applicants, he explained.
The cook-off was a way to give the chef’s an idea of what a day in the life of a Supreme Court chef would look like and what it entails. They had to arrive around 7 a.m., write the menu, go get the ingredients and then come back and prep for lunch. They prepared two appetizers, four main courses and one dessert.
“It was quite interesting. It was a good challenge. It was the first time walking into the Supreme Court of
Canada kitchen and I didn’t really know what to expect,” said La Salle.
He vividly remembers getting the call at home with his wife when he was told he was going to be the court’s new executive chef. He said he didn’t expect it.
“When I applied for the position I didn’t put that much pressure on myself. I just went with the flow and told myself, whatever happens, it’s a good experience and it’s quite an honour, and a prestige position. It’s not every day that a job opportunity like this would fall on the table,” said La Salle.
After graduating from a culinary school program at the Centre de formation professionelle de l’Outaouais in the Pontiac, La Salle worked his way up the ladder and worked different positions before becoming Chef de Cuisine in 2016 at Restaurant Les Fougères. Working at that restaurant has taught him a lot about being able to direct a team and let individual members of the kitchen shine, and has allowed him to grow as a chef, he said.
“It was a true pleasure and honour to cook for all of them. A huge shout out to Jennifer Warren-Parts and Charles Parts, co-owners of the restaurant, who had a huge impact on the person I am today and what my career became. I’m truly thankful.”
When asked what his biggest lesson from his time at Les Fougères he explained that he chose to stay because he wanted to understand the fundamentals of running a restaurant. Not just the cooking but also taking care of labour costs, inventory management schedules and orders. “I’ve learned a lot,” he said.
La Salle never saw himself taking on a government job but said he’s excited to take this on as a new challenge to allow him to continue to push the limit with his cooking. He enjoys creating and he hopes he can bring his flavour and unique style to the new role.
“I think I’m gonna bring something new to the table. A different style of cooking you know, I’m quite young and I still I have a lot of energy to burn,” he said.
With their new baby just a few months old, La Salle is hoping his new job will also give him more time with his baby and wife Sara-Claude Romain.
For now La Salle is gearing up to start his first day as a solo chef on Sept. 2. When asked what he has planned for the future, he told THE EQUITY his life long dream is to open his own restaurant, and it might not be today or in a year, but it’s something he is definitely working towards, he said.
“One thing I love about cooking is how it brings love around the table. I always love to bring happiness, and you know that’s a big part of cooking is to bring happiness in people’s lives. I also grew up playing sports and being in teams closely, and that’s also another aspect of being a chef,” he said.
