Marc Lepine
M
ARC LEPINE IS AN
award-winning Canadian
chef, owner of Atelier
restaurant in Ottawa, and
with this 2018 publication,
a cookbook author. He’s also, as anyone
who has experienced his cuisine can attest,
a chef with a singular interest in doing foodAtelier
differently. His style has been dubbed
‘Modernist,’ ‘Contemporary Canadian,’
‘Innovative,’ ‘Molecular,’ but none of these
captures fully the artistry and playfulness
he brings to plates. His dishes are bold,
combinations of ingredients are thoughtful
and often unexpected, and the knock-your-
socks-off factor in plating is ever-present.by Marc Lepine (FIGURE 1, 2018)
PHOTOGRAPHY by Christian LalondeBut it’s the obvious fascination with
the ‘fun’ element that keeps the
experience of an Atelier 12-course
dinner rolling merrily along.
In my former role as restaurant
critic for the Ottawa Citizen, I’ve
written about the experience of
Atelier’s 12-course tasting menu
many times over the restaurant’s ten
years of life. As a judge at both the
2012 and 2016 Canadian Culinary
Championships where Marc Lepine
secured top honours (the first time
in the history of the competition
that a chef won twice), I’ve had the
pleasure of witnessing his cuisine
reach and wow a wider audience.
Two years ago, as Atelier was
approaching its tenth anniversary,
Marc Lepine asked if I would help
him write a cookbook. He felt the
time was right to answer some of
the many “So how the hell did you
do that?” questions he’s been asked
over the years. And besides, he told
me, it would be fun. He would take
care of the recipes. Would I help him
tell the story of Atelier?
Clearly, if you were to ask me for
an Atelier book review, I’d bring an
obvious bias. (It’s fabulous, by the
way: instructive, gorgeous, amusing,
inspiring. You’ll love it.) But setting
aside the subjective, I think it would80 TAST E&^ TRAVEL INTERNATIONAL^ APRIL–JUNE 2019
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BOOK REVIEW REVIEWED BY ANNE DESBRISAY
TAST E& TRAVEL LIBRARY
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