If you haven’t heard of Chef Pierre-Olivier Pelletier, you likely soon will, as his star continues to rise in Canada’s culinary scene. Last October, the chef – who is the chef and co-owner of Kebec Club Privé in Quebec City – was named Best Young Chef in Canada after a regional final of the S. Pellegrino Young Chef Academy 2022-23. A panel of esteemed judges included names like Patrick Kriss, Christine Cushing, and Suzanne Barr. A year later, Pelletier put his skills on display on a global scale – further highlighting Canada’s impressive food scene in the process – at the S. Pellegrino Young Chef Academy 2022-23 Grand Finale in Milan.
Held this past October, the event saw 15 finalists compete for the overall prize in front of a grand jury of esteemed international chefs: Riccardo Camanini, Hélène Darroze, Vicky Lau, Pía León, and Nancy Silverton. The theme of ‘Bring your future to the table’ represents how S. Pellegrino invites the next generation of chefs to bring their dreams and visions to share with the global chef community to create a better world through food.
To prepare for the esteemed competition – which identifies the best young chefs from over 70 countries around the world – Pelletier teamed up with mentor Suzanne Barr to put Canada on the map. Barr doesn’t need any introduction in Canadian food circles. The renowned chef and entrepreneur has a decades-long career in the culinary world, which includes everything from owning two Toronto restaurants (True True Dinner and Saturday Dinette), to becoming the first chef-in-residence at the Gladstone Hotel and a resident judge on The Food Network Canada’s cooking competition series, Wall of Chefs.
“Chef Suzanne and I share the same vision of cooking,” says Pelletier. “We like to cook with our hearts and souls, and we’re not afraid to take on our history and emotions. She’s a very complete and versatile chef. She owns several restaurants, writes books, supports various causes, and helped me with this competition – she really does it all!”
Offering her guidance, Barr shared her esteemed culinary wisdom with Pelletier in the creation of his signature dish, “Roots and Branches: Unraveling My Story.”
“I created this dish to represent Canada, as Canadian cuisine isn’t as well known or celebrated as some other cuisines (like Mexican, Italian, French),” says Pelletier. “This sparked a bigger goal for me to put Canada on the map by bringing notoriety to Canadian cuisine as a S. Pellegrino Young Chef Academy Competition nominee.”
The decadent dish includes young-aged and smoked duck with sweetgrass, yellow birch syrup lacquer with crispy cereal, carotene dressing, roasted cereal gravy and verge d’or. “My dish represents my roots and ultimately, the roots of Canada,” says Pelletier. “My inspiration for this dish comes from my family as well as a mix of elements of Canada’s Indigenous roots and layering in the complex history of French and English elements into the dish.”
In short, the dish tells a story of Pelletier’s life. For example, the cereal was sourced from a local Canadian farm where his father worked his whole life, and the carrots are inspired by his mother, who always grew them in her garden when he was growing up.
“I also incorporated a sauce – since Canadians have a love for sauce – as well as bread and butter, which is my personal favourite food,” says Pelletier. “I specifically used young duck and sweet grass to represent the Indigenous community. I can be often found foraging sweetgrass alongside the St. Lawrence River. I will honour the Indigenous community and gift the sweetgrass to the judges along with my meal as a sign of respect.”
The significance of representing the Indigenous community was important to Pelletier as he began ideating around the dish and it became even more significant following the last round of the competition, when he found out he has indigenous roots. “Not only has the S.Pellegrino Young Chef Academy Competition given me a platform to share my passion for gastronomy, but also taught me so much about myself,” he says.
In addition to its solid backstory, Pelletier says his dish was ultimately based on affordable and accessible ingredients.
What were his biggest takeaways from Barr? “I’ve learned not to overthink too much and to concentrate on the important things,” says Pelletier. “I’ve also learned to put the right words to what I want to say to the judge, so that my message is clear and precise.”
While Pelletier didn’t ultimately take home the top honour – Nelson Freitas from Fifty Seconds restaurant in Lisbon was the winner – the competition was undoubtedly a memorable experience for the young chef.
If you find yourself in the forever-charming Quebec City, Kebec Club Privé is known for its tasting menu of prettily-plated and locally sourced gourmet goodness – with dishes that can include things like foie gras, caviar, and salmon – and expertly crafted cocktails. Most notably, the spot features just one 10-person table, so unless you book all 10 spots, the concept involves breaking bread with strangers.
Clearly, it’s working, with each new stranger that connects with another. The restaurant is celebrated as one of the best in Quebec, with Pelletier and his wife Cassandre Osterroth front and centre.
