{"id":9603,"date":"2021-09-01T09:48:49","date_gmt":"2021-09-01T13:48:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tourismebrome-missisquoi.ca\/?p=9603"},"modified":"2021-08-31T09:50:39","modified_gmt":"2021-08-31T13:50:39","slug":"sapin-bistro-and-restaurant-respect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tourismebrome-missisquoi.ca\/en\/blogue\/sapin-bistro-and-restaurant-respect\/","title":{"rendered":"Sapin Bistro and Restaurant Respect"},"content":{"rendered":"

Respect emerges as a cardinal virtue for Patrick Plouffe, chef and owner of Sapin, bistro du lac, formerly known as The Star Caf\u00e9. Respect for employees, customers and agricultural products as well.<\/strong><\/p>\n

We were supposed to meet at 1:00\u00a0p.m., but the dinner rush wasn\u2019t over yet on this beautiful sunny day. \u201cA chicken burger and fish and chips for table\u00a04!\u201d Patrick calls out to the waitress as she rushes out onto the crowded terrace on Lakeside Street in downtown Knowlton.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

In the kitchen, the 42-year-old father of three is busy, sweating, but isn\u2019t becoming impatient. The tension is palpable, but the chef has seen worse. \u201cIt\u2019s easy to be a good chef,\u201d says the man who has worked in many restaurants in France, Spain, and in the Montr\u00e9al area, at Le Quartier G\u00e9n\u00e9ral, L\u2019INcr\u00e9dule, Chez L\u2019\u00c9picier, and at the Quilliams and Knowlton Golf Club. \u201cIt\u2019s another thing to be a good employer, a good restaurateur, a good entrepreneur!\u201d Especially during a pandemic, we might add, since the bistro opened its doors on November 1, 2020, just 10 days before the region fell into the red zone! \u201cEvery employee here contributes to building the identity of the bistro,\u201d says Patrick Plouffe, who has been around the restaurant business long enough to appreciate the value of a good brigade.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Sapin can be described as offering a village cuisine, steeped in simplicity and fuelled by local ingredients. Moreover, it is when he talks about his suppliers that the Granby native becomes excited. \u201cMy philosophy is to highlight the work of our farmers, nothing more,\u201d he humbly states, downplaying his work, not to lower expectations, but to reiterate that everything starts with the products\u2019 freshness and quality.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cIn my dishes, I want the tourists to discover the region through the products, and for the locals to recognize them,\u201d he says. Therefore, white tablecloths and cerebral cooking are out of the question. Although the flavours are complex, they must remain accessible and appeal to L\u00e9on, Chlo\u00e9 or Ad\u00e8le, Patrick\u2019s children under 100 centimetres tall. The bar is set quite high! For example, the chef likes to use fir trees in the sauces or ice cream, to remind us of our \u201cboreality\u201d. Is there anything more comforting for the locals than a bouquet of fir trees reminiscent of the holidays, or more exotic for tourists than our forest fragrances?<\/p>\n

Patrick\u2019s next projects for his Sapin endeavour are numerous. Will it be pottery tableware made in the region? Mismatched tables and chairs to create multiple ambiance zones in the stone and raw wood building next to the bridge? A logo on the menu to highlight the turbo-local dishes that Sapin offers on its menu, thanks to exceptional producers such as Ferme Badger (Highland beef, West Bolton), Ferme Maui (Dorper lamb, Town of Brome Lake) or the Potagers des nues mains (organic vegetables, in Sutton)? It\u2019s hard to say.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Patrick goes back to \u2026 slicing his onions!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Respect emerges as a cardinal virtue for Patrick Plouffe, chef and owner of Sapin, bistro du lac, formerly known as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":9594,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[146],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9603","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gourmet_delights"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tourismebrome-missisquoi.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9603","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tourismebrome-missisquoi.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tourismebrome-missisquoi.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tourismebrome-missisquoi.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tourismebrome-missisquoi.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9603"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tourismebrome-missisquoi.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9603\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9604,"href":"https:\/\/tourismebrome-missisquoi.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9603\/revisions\/9604"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tourismebrome-missisquoi.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9594"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tourismebrome-missisquoi.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9603"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tourismebrome-missisquoi.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9603"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tourismebrome-missisquoi.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9603"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}