Certain sectors, as we know, have been hard hit by the pandemic. This is the case with catering. You have to be strong to keep a storefront, stand out with your menu and build customer loyalty. At the same time, the success of cooking shows is not running out of steam, quite the contrary. Series strive to highlight the talent of the chefs and the quality of the places. At the table for productions that shed light on the restoration.

• Read also: Updating the culinary competition: 5 questions for the director of Les chefs!

• To read also: “Welcome to Chuck”: the friendly chef welcomes us to the chalet

• To read also: The second season of “Chefs de bois” on Vrai from Tuesday

Help requested

Louis-François Marcotte is chef and businessman at Chez Cheval. He knows a lot about the challenges of restoration. And this docuseries, now in its second season, came just in time. The first season took place when Quebec fell into the red zone and restaurateurs were faced with the closure of their business or forced to find new ways of doing things. They had to find ways to make up for the lack of a dining room. We also see how a restaurant turned into a grocery store, how to adapt dishes for take-out service, how to get people talking about yourself on social networks. The second season takes place in full reopening, which presents other challenges. This time around, Louis-François is offering coaching to four companies: La Binerie Chik, L’incident 2.0, Si petit be-il and Tacos Frida. This is behind the scenes as we see little. We will all have goodwill walking through the doors of a restaurant next time.

Rest pop up

This new series hosted by Tamy Emma Pepin highlights the talent of chefs whose parents are of immigrant origin and who benefit from a fine culinary heritage. In each episode, she opens an ephemeral restaurant where around twenty guests are waiting and where these chefs will have to stand out with their menu. A single evening of discoveries with each of them. This is an opportunity to meet them, discover their menu and the work that is done in the kitchen. Hakim Chajar (Miel, Rubie's), Anita Feng (J'ai Feng), Minh Phat Tu (Mui Mui), Maria-José de Frias (Virunga), Jean-Rony Poteau (3 Knives Catering), Victor Soto (Tacos Victor) and Marcel Larrea (Tiradito, Chifa) are the chefs who lent themselves to the exercise of this first season and who thus take us on a journey.

The Chiefs !

Without directly promoting restaurants, most of the apprentice chefs who take part in the popular culinary competition come from restaurant kitchens across the province. They have studied there, are sous-chefs there and are ready to take on major challenges to prove their know-how. For example, this season we can see Sous Chefs from Park, Tanière, Edgar Hyperlodge, Tonino, Bouillon Bilk, Foxy and many more. For some, the chefs! was the pretext to fly on their own and acquire a storefront. It's an incredible showcase for each of them, even more so if they stand out. As for the judges, Normand Laprise is still at the head of the most recognized restaurant in the country, Signé Toqué. Isabelle Deschamps-Plante is executive chef of the Ricardo cafés and mentor Colombe St-Pierre runs a highly recognized table at Bic.

Food shots

This is the restaurant guide par excellence. Every week, for eight seasons, Sébastien Benoît finds himself in the company of a personality who agrees to share his favorites in terms of restaurants and epicurean addresses. We therefore follow them at the table of a café, a brasserie, a chic restaurant, at the counter of a binerie, in the aisles of a delicatessen or sipping a cocktail on a terrace. It's friendly, you make discoveries and you see dishes that whet your appetite. Fun fact, it is common for the passage of the team to be found on social networks or posted on the wall of institutions. Guarantee of an approval rating from people you appreciate!

Heads of wood

Here exit the comfort, we are physically miles away from the great tables, but this wild culinary competition elevates the creativity and the know-how of the chefs who dare to measure themselves against it. You don't have to work in a restaurant to try your luck, but when you look at the profile of the candidates, most have made their mark in recognized kitchens, some are even proud owners. For season 2, Charles-Emmanuel Pariseau from O’Cheveuil in Sherbrooke, Elliot Beaudoin from Légende par la Tanière in Quebec City, Lawrence Tomlinson from Canailles in Montreal are just a few examples. After a hard time at Chefs de bois, these food magicians can only surprise us once at the table. So it's quite a beautiful showcase!

Welcome to Chuck

It is not in a restaurant that we find chef Chuck Hughes here, but in the kitchen and the garden of his family chalet in the Eastern Townships. This series promotes the pleasure of making things yourself from fresh produce grown just steps from home. It's still a great way to showcase the work and values ​​of this chef and, who knows, to book a table in one of his popular restaurants (Le pantry and Le Bremner).

Restaurant

It's a new culinary competition that will land on our airwaves this fall, proof that we appreciate this kind of concept. Hélène Bourgeois-Leclerc and chef Vincent Dion-Lavallée will welcome participants in the kitchen of Hoogan and Beaufort. It will be a question of good food, but also of management. The winner will receive a grant to start their own restaurant.

On the go

Summer is the season for potato shacks, snacks and road canteens. Benoît Roberge toured Quebec to taste the best fries, burgers, rolls and other quick, but always appreciated dishes. The series is a bit dated (2011-2014), but is still broadcast in reruns. She can easily guide us on our travels. Just see if the addresses have held up over the past few years. Anyway, the encounters that are made there are always friendly.