Véronique Dalle: a path shaped by music, restaurants, and wine

Véronique Dalle has always moved within the world of restaurants. Born into a family of restaurateurs, she started very young: at 13, she was already working garde-manger in her father’s restaurant. She loved the atmosphere from the start. As a child, she would often go to the restaurant just to see her father at work.
“I admired the way he interacted with guests — I found it beautiful. Meeting different people, the magic of service… It was almost like a show to me.”

During her studies, Véronique first imagined a future in music. Restaurants remained in the background, even though she continued working in them. She trained in classical music for several years, at the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal, then at McGill and the Université de Montréal. She played the oboe — an instrument she started later than most, but adopted with immediate passion.

She carried both of her loves — music and restaurants — at the same time. She first worked at Roberto on Bélanger Street, then helped open Le Petit Alep, a Montréal institution where she stayed for six years. That’s where she took her first wine classes with Jeannot Gingras. Tania had invited her to help build the service team around a wine list that was still modest at the time (Le Petit Alep now boasts one of the most impressive wine selections in Montréal).

For fun, she enrolled in sommelier courses at the ITHQ: service, pairings, oenology… She completed her training with distinction, winning several scholarships. She then continued with a master’s at Suze-la-Rousse, in partnership with the ITHQ, and travelled to the Rhône Valley to defend her thesis and complete her exams.

At the end of this program, the shift toward sommellerie happened almost naturally. Powerful encounters with inspiring winemakers deepened her desire to devote herself fully to wine. In the music world, freelance work was unstable, and stable positions were scarce in Quebec. Sommellerie offered a more viable professional path — but above all, a rich, stimulating universe full of discovery and connection.
Everything was interconnected. For Véronique, becoming a sommelier was as noble a path as music: a life filled with beauty. The only difference was that in wine, she didn’t feel the constant vulnerability inherent to performing arts. She had found her place.

While working on a contract in Europe for the Roux brothers, Catherine Bélanger contacted her to invite her to join the team at Pullman. When Véronique returned to Montréal, she met Catherine. At first, Catherine found her a bit too straight — very “grand maison” in her bearing — but the trial shift went well, and she gave Véronique a chance. Véronique would stay almost fifteen years at Pullman, working alongside Catherine. Located on Avenue du Parc, Pullman was one of Montréal’s very first wine bars.

This experience was foundational: she worked exclusively with sommeliers, learned immensely, and discovered a rigorous, thoughtful approach to wine within a relaxed service setting. She quickly became deeply involved and built the foundations of her career within a dynamic, inspiring team.

She developed a wine list that was both accessible and precise, with a strong focus on by-the-glass offerings. At the time, natural wines were just beginning to appear in Quebec. She selected rigorous producers whose wines expressed finesse and precision, without the flaws sometimes associated with the style. Pullman became a true laboratory — a place of experimentation, education, and palate-building.
Catherine gave her the freedom to create, to build a team, and to shape a vibrant cellar. Managing such a dynamic selection remains one of the most formative projects of her career. During this period, Véronique also taught at the ITHQ.

After nearly fifteen years within the same group — between Pullman and Moleskine — she felt the need for new challenges. Longtime friends Éric and Dyan, founders of Olive et Gourmando, asked her to take over the dining room at Foxy.

There, she brought her personal touch: refining the service style, creating a wine list aligned with the wood-fired cuisine, and approaching the project holistically, with great freedom. She thrived in this new role.

Then came the pandemic, which upended everything. Éric and Dyan wanted to refocus on Olive et Gourmando, and offered Véronique the opportunity to run Foxy entirely on her own. She accepted, surrounding herself with a strong team: Bruno Lessieur, a former colleague from Pullman, and two discreet friends and partners, David Cataford and Steve Boucratie.

Today, Véronique is at the helm of Foxy, which she continues to evolve with attentiveness and high standards. The warm decor remains unchanged, but the wine list has grown richer: carefully designed to complement the cuisine, it reflects her close relationship with the winemakers she has admired for more than twenty years.
She loves the creativity of the work, the daily stimulation, and the attention to detail — in the food, the service, the welcome.

Her ambition: to offer a memorable experience to every guest, stay relevant, and ensure the long-term vitality of the project with heart, finesse, and exacting standards. To uplift and encourage younger talent.

The Michelin Guide recently recognized Foxy with an award for Sabrina Touzel’s exceptional cocktail program.

“I feel so lucky. My wish is simply that it continues: success, health, joy for my team and, of course… plenty of good wine!”

Written by Jean-Philippe Tastet
Photography by Alison Slattery