Eater Scenes

Look Inside Venerable Montreal Institution L’Express

Over three decades in, everyone still lives it

by Tim Forster@timothyjforster Feb 2, 2017, 12:11pm EST

Photography by Randall Brodeur

Serving up classic French food for up to 19 hours a day, seven days a week, the Plateau’s L’Express is a true Montreal classic.

The Saint-Denis Street bistro is coming up on four decades in business, and shows no signs of slowing down — the restaurant weathered the untimely death of owner and founder Colette Brossoit in 2014 and just kept on going. It helps that some of Montreal’s most consummate professionals like bartender Claude Masson have been on hand since the 80s to steer the ship.

Even when things do change at L’Express — such as last year, when ex-Thursday’s chef Jean-François Vachon jumped into the kitchen — the restaurant is remarkably consistent. L’Express has consistently impressed critics from Montreal and beyond, and with Vachon on board, it nabbed an extraordinarily rare four-star review from Montreal Gazette critic Lesley Chesterman.

It’s not just the food that crowds love at L’Express — the tiled and wood-panelled interior feels sharp, keeping far away from hokey French bistro archetypes — and Eater photographer Randall Brodeur headed down right before a Saturday night rush to offer this peek inside.