Accords le Bistro Shuffles Chefs Weeks After Brutal Review

Accords le Bistro, the second restaurant from Tout le monde en parle host Guy A. Lepage, actress/ TV presenter Chantal Fontaine and businessman Jean-Pierre Des Rosiers, has made a personnel change, reports Nightlife.ca. Simon Mathys, last at Micro Resto La Famille, Racines and Bar & Boeuf, will debut in the kitchen today and get to work pronto on a new menu in his role as executive chef. Original Accords chef Marc-André Lavergne is no longer at the restaurant. Mathys tells Eater he will move to the trio's Accords wine bar in Old Montreal in mid-April: "I'll be more at the bar à vin but will come to the bistro a couple times a week."

The hire comes at an opportune time. Only a month ago, Accords le Bistro was awarded a lone star in a tough, highly critical review by Lesley Chesterman in the Gazette. "[N]othing could save this meal," wrote the critic in February. Notably, Chesterman singled out Mathys for praise in a January 2014 review of the short-lived Racines (now Nolana Pizzeria): "The chef, Simon Mathys, is a talented cook, who last manned the stoves at Bar & Boeuf. He wowed me back in 2012, earning a three-star rating for his drop-dead gorgeous plates ranging from a lusty clam appetizer to a creamy chocolate cake with toasted cashews."

The question now is: how long before the new, Mathys-made Accords le Bistro menu faces the critics?