I can’t believe that SAISONS is three and a half years old already! Where does the time go? If you still haven’t heard of SAISONS, it’s the other food-related project that takes up quite a few hours of my time every season. SAISONS is a collection of curated gatherings staged in unique surroundings and headlining Montreal-based chefs working with seasonal and regional ingredients with the express mission of promoting our distinctive Quebec cuisine. These SAISONS DINNERS take place once every season and are organized by my partner Janice and I.

The past winter event took place on February 25th, 2019 with chef William Cody. Will honed his cooking skills in Toronto, Australia, Nova Scotia and at Montreal’s Les 400 coups restaurant. He is the chef / owner of Maïs and is also the founder and chef of Parasol, the successful seasonal restaurant lauded by food lovers, including me since I’ve consistently had some of my favourite meals there every year since it was founded 3 years ago.

The winter dinner took place at the spectacular St-James Theater in Old Montreal. Months ago, I snuck in early one Sunday morning while the door to this historic building was left ajar and I was awestruck at how gorgeous this old bank is. This venue instantly made it to the top of the list of places I wanted to host a SAISONS in. The St-James administration was so gracious and so lovely and welcomed our little projet with open arms. I couldn’t have dreamt of a more perfect setting for our winter dinner. Our guests were surprised by this location, which many didn’t know about.

Chefs William Cody and Phil Andrews took center stage (literally) to cook us a fabulous 6-course dinner that took SAISONS attendees on a celebration of Quebec’s seasonal and local winter produce. Here’s the menu the guests enjoyed:

SAISONS Winter Feast Dinner Menu by chef William Cody

Amuse-bouche
Winter radish, dashi.

1st course
Beets, endive, rose.

2nd course
Tortellini en brodo, celery root.

3rd course
Arctic char, cabbage, miso, brown butter.

4th course
Mushroom, bacon, bordelaise.

Dessert
Mille Feuilles, burnt sugar, summer blueberries.

Just in case you are not familiar with the SAISONS DINNER concept yet, here’s how it works:

Each season, a chef is invited to explore his favourite ingredients through his cooking. Each event’s multi-course menu will highlight what’s in season in and around Québec at that time of year and feature foraged ingredients, along with unique products from local producers and growers who share the SAISONS philosophy.

You bring the wine, and we’ll take care of the rest!

The concept is simple. You purchase your ticket in advance, which reserves your seat(s) at the SAISONS dinner table. A week or so before the event, we will email you a flavour profile for one of the dishes on the menu so that you can shop for a fabulous wine to pair with that dish. The day of the dinner, bring your bottle of wine to share with the other guests, and when your dish is being served, you will be asked to describe and present your wine to the other guests attending so that they can understand the pairing. We don’t expect you to be a professional sommelier so don’t worry too much about your wine presentation. You can ask an SAQ vendor for recommendations. This is supposed to be fun! Our aim is to teach and inspire our guests with great food and a few surprises.

Our next SAISONS DINNER will take place in May. Follow us on our social media channels and sign up to our newsletter to stay up to date and be the first to know about advanced ticket sales. 

SAISONS 13
February 25th, 2019
Chef: William Cody of Maïs and Parasol
Venue and partner: St-James Theater
Partners: Ceramik b.

There are more outstanding photos of this event by the talented Martin Reisch on the SAISONS Facebook page.