Simon Lachapelle wins Les Chefs! with flawless final menu

Simon Lachapelle, 28, took the crown of Les Chefs! this week, the Radio-Canada cooking competition's 15th season, after delivering what judges called a flawless final menu—a five-course feat described as a "véritable chef-d'œuvre." Judge Jean-Luc Boulay called the mise en bouche and entrées a "tuerie," emphasizing the exceptional technical precision on display.

Lachapelle is the head chef at Juliette Plaza and Montréal Plaza, sister restaurants in Petite-Patrie on Plaza Saint-Hubert at the corner of Rue de Bellechasse. Both are owned by Charles-Antoine Crête and Cheryl Johnson. Before the semi-final last week, Lachapelle had never faced elimination in ten episodes, finishing three times on the podium's top step with a track record described as stable, precise, creative, and savory.

He finished ahead of Jana Larose (2nd place) and Ludovic Hans Cormier (3rd). Larose, 25, a chef at Comptoir de l'Auberge in Saint-Mathieu-du-Parc, had struggled with her feuilleté de volaille—the pastry wasn't fully cooked—and had been too generous with butter and fats.

Lachapelle, a native Montrealer and graduate of the Institut de tourisme et d'hôtellerie du Québec, credits the camaraderie of the competition's kitchen brigade with his success. "For me, it's natural to help the person next to me. It's that, being in a brigade and working with a line of 15 people," he explained. "My goal was to surpass myself. I was competing against myself before all." He worked at Montréal Plaza for nearly seven years, where he says fraternity in the kitchen has always been paramount.

During the semi-final, where four contestants were sent to duel—a first in the show's 15-year history—Lachapelle grappled with a pâtisserie challenge and the high-pressure main course round. He prepared frog legs, duck breast, and riz au lait but now admits he tried too hard. "I attempted to do too much. I was trying to impress Normand Laprise," he reflected.