Chef Spotlight
Compliments from the Chef

A Labour of Love

by Rachel Naud

To say Bernard Mirlycourtois is a born chef is no exaggeration. The master chef and owner of Mirlycourtois, a traditional French restaurant located in Winnipeg's Exchange District, was schooled in the art of fine French cuisine by two chefs in the family-his uncle and his father. "They were my inspiration," Mirlycourtois says. "I would spend full days with my uncle in his kitchen."

Mirlycourtois heats up the kitchen with his love of fine french food.

Born and raised in Burgundy, France, Mirlycourtois refined his cooking techniques by apprenticing with a master chef in France. Within six years, he had worked his way up until he was running a Michelin-starred restaurant.

Enticed by the city's bountiful fishing opportunities, he moved to Winnipeg in 1988. He worked as the Executive Chef of the Manitoba Club until opening Mirlycourtois two years ago. Today his inspiration comes not from a person but rather from the food he's cooking. "The farmers' market is a good sense of inspiration," he says. "Good food is inspiring. You have to enjoy food."

When Mirlycourtois first arrived' in the city, he said the most challenging aspect of cooking in the 'Peg was finding high-quality produce. "French cuisine is all about the produce," he says. "Sixty per
cent of it is about the produce, the other 40 per cent is about the chef. You can't be a good chef if you have bad produce. In addition to finding good produce, Mirlycourtois advises anybody wanting to cook French food at home to start small. "Make an easy dish and work your way up," he says. "French cuisine is very technical. It's a very slow, sophisticated process. It's all about making the stock, making the juice and making the sauce."

And if your home attempt to cook French food fails, don't worry. You can always score a passing grade with the cooking course Mirlycourtois plans to teach this fall at his Princess Street restaurant.
One thing you'll learn from Mirlycourtois is that French cuisine has changed throughout the years. Once branded with a reputation for being very rich and fat-laden, Mirlycourtois says French food today is chock-full of flavour, but not fat. "It used to be very heavy-made with lots of cream," he says. "Today it's made with more olive oil, more Sauvignon and more foam. There's no dish on the Mirlycourtois menu that is made with cream. Now it's about more reduction of juice. The flavour is very subtle."

So subtle, in fact, that Mirlycourtois can't pinpoint his favourite French food or specialty. Although he does admit, one of the most popular dishes in his restaurant is the foie gras. "I like everything. It depends on what I feel like eating. I have a specialty every night. Everything is cooked with the same labour of love."