L’Express: A beloved Montreal classic
L’Express was closed for almost five months for major “identical” renovations. The doors reopened on September 19, 2025, to the great relief of both customers and staff.
For the clientele of an institution like L’Express, “identical renovation” means that everything remains intact—thoroughly redone, but exactly the same. The kitchen team, however, now enjoys a fully updated, modern workspace.
Bon appétit, everyone!
L’Express is a landmark institution in Montréal, one of the city’s very best French restaurants! Known by all, it’s a classic table whose cuisine is defined by remarkable consistency.
François Tremblay, Colette Brossoit, Pierre Villeneuve, and two silent partners opened L’Express on December 19, 1980 (!) on Saint-Denis Street. The address even appears on our list of Montréal institutions. Pierre and the late Colette came from the theater world, and at the time, Saint-Denis was a popular and bustling artery.
They wanted to open a restaurant where one could eat after the theater, but more importantly, a place where everyone would feel at ease—both stage technicians and star actors alike.
L’Express was created with this idea of conviviality and inclusion across all social classes. To this day, the address offers appetizers, daily specials, and main dishes at reasonable prices. The same wisdom applies to the wine list, with both glasses and bottles among the best values in town. L’Express maintains two lists: a “regular wine list” and a “parallel wine list.”
The original owners, however, opened the restaurant with little actual experience in hospitality. At the beginning, Colette was in the kitchen and Pierre served as maître d’ in the evenings. The menu was simple, but even without a precise format, customers poured in. After a few months of success, they could no longer keep up and needed to reorganize. They placed an ad for a chef; in October 1982, Joël Chapoulie applied and was hired. For over 30 years, he delighted L’Express’s clientele with carefully crafted and always deeply satisfying dishes.
It is thanks to Chef Chapoulie that the current menu exists. If you visit, you must try the bone marrow, chicken liver mousse, beef tartare, veal kidneys, ravioli, veal liver with tarragon, or the hanger steak. For regulars, the restaurant also offers daily specials and seasonal dishes based on arrivals. Everything here is homemade—except the bread! From pickles prepared twice daily to the unique sauces that accompany each dish, L’Express puts love and care into every plate.
In January 2016, following Chef Chapoulie’s well-deserved retirement, the talented Jean-François Vachon took over the kitchen, ensuring the restaurant’s exceptionally high standards remained intact. In early 2025, he announced his departure, warmly thanking the team—both in the kitchen and on the floor—along with the restaurant’s loyal clientele before moving on to “take on new challenges.”
Since March 5, 2025, the kitchen has been led by Marc-Antoine Lacasse, whose work had been admired at Stonehaven Le Manoir, a member of the prestigious Relais & Châteaux association. An ITHQ graduate, Marc-Antoine also trained at Toqué! under Normand Laprise and at La cabane Au Pied de Cochon with Martin Picard.
Many customers have been faithful since 1980, returning again and again, and the team itself remains one of the most stable in the city.
The décor has also contributed to L’Express’s success. Designed by the late, renowned architect Luc Laporte, the elegant French brasserie interior is a model of the genre. Chef Chapoulie once said: “Architect Luc Laporte created a fantastic décor, of remarkable classicism—you can’t do better in this style; everything is balanced, exactly as it should be.” The fully open dining room creates a unique atmosphere. The 15 bar seats allow for a lively solo or couple’s meal, while the 60-seat dining room provides a perfectly balanced touch of elegance.
As one team member puts it: “Everyone who grew up here comes back with their children. We have a new generation, it’s wonderful! The atmosphere at L’Express is unique. People come in covered in paint after moving, others stop by before their wedding, after the theater, before an event, after childbirth, and so on. We’re a big family, and I think the customers feel that.”
Today, the restaurant is run by Pierre Villeneuve, Mario Brossoit, Hélène Dansereau, and Marc-Olivier Gavina, the latter having joined as managing partner in 2024. They continue to pour love into the establishment, ensuring the quality for which L’Express is known, while keeping it in step with the times. One doesn’t come here to be dazzled by originality, but to savor perfectly executed French classics.
If most Montréalers have eaten here at least once, few know the institution’s secrets. A few things to know:
- The restaurant L’Express opened its doors on December 19, 1980. Since then, the Saint-Denis Street institution has become known around the world. At the time, the owners were Colette Brossoit, Pierre Villeneuve, and François Tremblay. Today, the restaurant is run by Hélène Dansereau, Mario Brossoit, Marc-Olivier Gavina and, more discreetly, Pierre Villeneuve.
- For more than 30 years, chef Joël Chapoulie was at the helm of L’Express’ kitchens, building an impeccable menu. From 2016 to March 2025, it was chef Jean-François Vachon who led the brigade. At the very beginning of his career, Jean-François had worked at L’Express under Chapoulie, and knowing the house philosophy inside out, he knew exactly how to carry on its tradition of excellence.
- L’Express is reassuring. The menu hardly ever changes; regulars want no alteration to the dishes they’ve loved for decades. It has become a sort of permanent comfort, now a classic, untouchable and timeless. Guests come from near and far to enjoy a good meal in its lively atmosphere. That said, the little cards tucked into the menu feature dishes that change regularly, designed in part for the most faithful patrons who don’t want to eat hanger steak or calf’s liver five times a week. “And yet, people always order the classics!” The most popular dishes? “All of them… the chicken liver mousse, the bone marrow, the beef tartare, the hanger steak, the calf’s liver, the floating island…” For us, it’s the hanger steak, calf’s liver, kidneys, and bone marrow that keep us coming back.
- The sorrel soup and the chicken liver mousse, among others, have been there since day one.
- Back then in Montréal, dishes like bone marrow or hanger steak were practically unheard of—it was Joël Chapoulie who brought them to L’Express.
- Today, the team at L’Express numbers just over 70, true professionals who carry out their work with precision and heart. Newcomers to the staff usually integrate seamlessly, keenly aware of the privilege of working in such a prestigious and admired institution.
- The décor was designed by the late Luc Laporte, one of Québec’s greatest architects. If L’Express has become an institution, it is not only because of its food and history, but also because Laporte succeeded in creating a remarkable, perfectly balanced design of pure classicism. The décor is an essential part of the restaurant’s identity. L’Express truly has a soul of its own.
- The interior has barely changed over the years, only refreshed. At one point, the ceilings were beige—not by choice but because the smoke from heavy restaurant smoking had stained them that way. Eventually, the decision was made to repaint them… in the same color the smoke had left behind! Thanks to its history and distinctive style, L’Express remains one of Montréal’s most beautiful restaurants.
- Instead of placing a traditional sign above the façade, Laporte designed one of Montréal’s very first in-ground signs, embedded in the heated sidewalk in front of the restaurant. The fact that the name appears on the ground may even be read as a gesture of humility.
- The restaurant seats 75, including 15 coveted spots at the counter. The counter itself is integral to the French brasserie spirit that defines the house.
- So what makes L’Express an enduring institution? Its constancy, its atmosphere, its hospitality. Add to that the remarkable loyalty of its clientele and staff, the unusually long opening hours that make it feel like a sort of elevated public service—open nearly all day, 364 days a year. There’s a unique energy in the air, a sense of teamwork, a comforting menu, and, not least, a superb wine list at refreshingly reasonable prices.
It’s worth noting that, during the holiday season, L’Express is open on December 24th (lunch only), 31st, and New Year’s Day.
For all these reasons, this restaurant remains firmly on our list of Montréal’s must-visit addresses!
Written by Élise Tastet
Photography by Alison Slattery
