Vancouver Magazine crowns St. Lawrence best restaurant for 2nd year

Vancouver Magazine has awarded 2019's Restaurant of the Year to St. Lawrence for the second year in a row.

The French-Canadian restaurant's "truly exceptional" achievement, in the words of the magazine, was largely thanks to head chef and owner J.C. Poirier's ability to "to take the classics — vol-au-vent, Paris-Brest — and present them in a way that simultaneously honours their past while still making them seem as if he invented them last week."

Poirier — who also was named chef of the year — said winning the award was a great feeling.

"I'm just really happy for the team at St. Lawrence. There's a lot of work that goes behind closed doors and those are the ones that really matters," Poirier told CBC's Lien Yeung.

"It shows a lot this year. We won like huge awards. That means a lot."

The Vancouver Magazine Restaurant Awards were handed out Monday with winners in more than 30 categories.

Winners in select categories included:

Best Bar

Grapes & Soda, Vancouver

Best Casual

Down Low Chicken Shack, Vancouver

Best Chinese

Chef Tony, Richmond

Best Dessert

Boulevard Kitchen and Oyster Bar, Vancouver

Best Indian

Swad Indian Kitchen, Vancouver

Best Italian

Savio Volpe, Vancouver

Best Seafood

Boulevard Kitchen and Oyster Bar, Vancouver

Best Steakhouse

Hy's Steakhouse and Cocktail Bar, Vancouver

Best Upscale

Boulevard Kitchen and Oyster Bar, Vancouver

Best Vegetarian

The Acorn, Vancouver

A full list of winners is available here.