Vallier Completes Fresh Reboot in Old Montreal

Months after Old Montreal's Vallier was sold by Martin Poitras to the couple behind the Sésame restaurant chain, Vallier Dufour (namesake and original principal) and Éve Desmarais, and Sésame minority partners Étienne Borgeat and Vincent Borgeat, the decade-old bistro on McGill is back with a new look. The complete refurb comes courtesy Appareil Architecture (Hoogan & Beaufort, Quebec City's Le Bouchon du Pied Bleu), and includes a new concept: contemporary Quebec bistro. Lawrence Picard, the Nectar & Mixologie cocktail consultant, oversaw Vallier's new beverage program. "You'll see a lot of Quebec ingredients in the cocktails and premium local beers on tap. All of this without becoming too fancy." La Presse reports that the restaurant has been remade in forest green and caramel brown, with significantly more space and light than before. Menu changes include reinvented classics like shepherd's pie, salmon tartare, and Portuguese chicken. Dufour remarked that he wants patrons to feel like they're at their grandmothers' tables.

Dufour and Desmarais' Sésame group operates six pan-Asian style restaurants (billed as brasseries asiatique) in the Quartier des Spectacles, Atwater Market, Old Montreal, Boucherville, Gatineau, and Quebec City. The couple was also the brainchild behind the SushiGo franchise concept, which was sold to Stanley Ma's MTY Group in 2013 for $1.05 million.