Toqué’s Normand Laprise Opens His First South Shore Restaurant

The owners of famed Montreal restaurant Toqué have made their first move on the suburbs, with an outpost of the casual Brasserie T now open in Brossard.

Located at shopping mall Dix30, it’s the first expansion for that restaurant, a casual concept that Toqué chef-owner Normand Laprise and co-owner Christine Lamarche devised several years ago. The original has been a fixture with its glassy location at the heart of Place-des-Arts, open since 2010.

Brasserie T’s South Shore location is adjacent to the Alt Hotel (another business trying to fancy up the neighbourhood-sized shopping destination with amenities like a chic bar), with a rather clean design from Alain Carle Architects (see also: Monarque in Old Montreal), and room for around 80.

The new restaurant will stick close to the menus of the Montreal original (the lunch menus, for example, are identical). That’s casual, bistro fare, including oysters, rillettes, and foie de volaille on the entree side, and items like tartares, an upscaled burger, confit salmon, and a steak among the mains, with prices spanning around $15 to $30. The restaurant isn’t in full service mode yet — it’s only open lunch hours for the moment, with dinner likely to start in a week.

However, Brasserie T Brossard will serve breakfast, unlike the downtown version, and will feature a different brunch menu, and daily specials will differ as well, meaning it’s not an exact replica of the original.

The optics of this move from Laprise and team might depend on one’s perspective — on one hand, it’s bringing a reputable dining option (with culinary power behind it) to a part of town that’s lighter on such options (that said, Brossard is hardly a resto desert, although it’s much better known as a Chinese food destination).

On the flip side, it could be perceived as Laprise going corporate — while Brasserie T will likely be a solid notch above other options at Dix30, it’s effectively joining the company of a whole lot of chains, from Amir to La Cage to Starbucks. Surrounded by such company (as well as a few more independent options like bar Mile Public House and ice creamery Le Bilboquet), Brasserie T could draw some side-eye for the move.

This new Brasserie T is the first of a range of expansions for the Toqué group, which were announced almost a year ago. Notably, Laprise has chosen areas not thought of as culinary destinations for these — beyond Dix30, there’s also restaurant Beau Mont, slated to open in the near future in Parc-Extension, a neighbourhood likely to see major gentrification in coming years as a Université de Montréal campus sets up shop next door. At that time, Laprise also indicated that he wanted to open several locations for Brasserie T, although possible other locations were not indicated.

STATUS — Brasserie T is open at local #102 at Dix30 in Brossard, from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily, with extended (read: dinner) hours on the way soon.

• Brasserie T Dix30 [Official]
• Culinary Icon Normand Laprise Lays Out Double Expansion Plan for This Fall [EMTL]