Mathieu Cloutier and Jean-Philippe St-Denis capitalized on the same teamwork and innovation that taught them to steam foie gras in jars in the dishwasher at their Kitchen Galerie restaurant.
A few hours before the patrons arrive, chefs at most high-end restaurants are tweaking menus and handing out marching orders for the night ahead. At Montreal's Kitchen Galerie, chef Mathieu Cloutier mops the floor while chef Jean-Philippe St-Denis cleans tables.
They've already steamed the evening's foie gras, stacking sealed jars next to wine-stained glasses in the dishwasher. (More on the cooking method later.)
Soon, the chefs will duck out to nearby Jean-Talon Market to pick out a few fresh vegetables. Later, they will cook their signature dish, a rib-eye steak for two cooked in thyme, garlic and rosemary butter. They'll serve it, along with a suitable red, while filling patrons' water glasses and settling the checks.
The two men, who share the role of chief cook and bottle washer at their 30-seat Montreal restaurant, just knocked off some of Canada's most famous chefs to win the Gold Medal Plates Canadian Culinary Championships.
The pair beat, among others, the local favourite - Iron Chef America winner Rob Feenie - and Toronto's David Lee to capture the country's top culinary prize in Vancouver last month.
Taking a break from morning chores at their tiny, nondescript restaurant on a busy commercial street, Mr. Cloutier and Mr. St-Denis are still marvelling at their upset win.
"In Western Canada, we saw that chefs are much bigger stars than in Quebec," Mr. St-Denis says. "Those guys are big like Robert De Niro. They're real vedettes."
The partners are an odd couple. Mr. Cloutier, a boyish 30-year-old, has a perfectionist streak and an admitted tendency to get uptight in stressful situations. Mr. St-Denis, stout, gregarious and four years older, usually finds a way to calm Mr. Cloutier.
Their "fire and ice" style helps explain part of their success, Mr. St-Denis says.
They launched Kitchen Galerie two years ago with friend Axel Mevel after rising to the upper echelons of kitchen management at a series of fine restaurants. The three-man team runs the entire restaurant.
"We knew Grandma could have 25 guests and do the cooking, dishes, cleaning and laundry. She serves the food. It's basically the same thing without the laundry," Mr. Cloutier says.
They rented a former shish taouk joint because it had a $100,000 ventilation system already in place. They did most of the painting and carpentry with friends.
They figured they needed six clients a night to break even. Instead, the restaurant has been full most nights.
But even as Kitchen Galerie was making money, they found they were bleeding fatty liver as a low-budget oven kept scorching one of their specialties.
So when they finally bought a dishwasher, Mr. St-Denis devised an unusual workaround: using the boiling-hot dishwater to steam their foie gras, sealed in jars. They then serve it cold with a jelly of muscat wine and long peppers.
"When you throw out $200 of foie gras in the same week because you burnt it, you find a solution," he says.
They won the Montreal Gold Medal Plates competition for a spot at the national championship. The contest allows only one chef to enter per team, so Mr. Cloutier told Mr. St-Denis to take the lead role while he would work as sous-chef.
When Mr. St-Denis called contest organizers, he reversed the rotation, putting his partner's name forward. Mr. Cloutier may be the official winner, but they consider it very much a joint victory.
Their resourcefulness, versatility and teamwork served them well at the competition. When they had to create a dish to match a mystery wine on a $1.60-per-plate budget, they knew how to evaluate wine and to find the right food at the Granville Island Market.
With an ever-changing menu at their restaurant, the Black Box challenge - whipping together meals in an hour using mystery ingredients (risotto, fennel, ale, dragon fruit, arctic char and quail) - was a snap.
Not expecting to win, Mr. St-Denis and Mr. Cloutier were unafraid to risk cooking Stanstead, Que., rabbit for 400. The meat is much more common on menus in Quebec than in Western Canada, and can be tricky to cook.
"We have no budget for contests, but we're proud people. We didn't expect to win, but didn't want to be last," Mr. Cloutier says. "We didn't want to be the clowns of the competition."
In July, the partners opened a second, trendier, 72-seat spot, Chez Edgar, where they have cooks, dishwashers, waiters and sommeliers. They take turns as chef at both restaurants.
But they say they don't prefer Kitchen Galerie over the traditional hierarchy at Chez Edgar, or vice versa.
"Here [at Kitchen Galerie] it's our first baby," Mr. St-Denis says.
"But if you have two kids, will you love the second less?" Mr. Cloutier adds, completing the thought.
Les Perreaux