HISTORY

A graduate of the professional program at the Hotel School of Avignon, Chef Benoit honed his skills and artistic vision working with some of the best chefs in the world. Following a year of military service (where he was the personal chef to the Commanding Officer), he returned to the south of France and worked for four years with Chef Dominique le Stanc. He then went on to work as Chef de Cuisine at Zurich's Hotel Restaurant Hermitage that scored 15/20 in Gault et Millau. It was there that he met a young Chef de Rang from Finland, Minna, who was to become his wife.

From Zurich the couple travelled to Cap Ferrat where Chef Benoit was Sous Chef at Jean Jacques Jouteux Restaurant (1 Michelin star and 18/20 Gault et Millau). He then went back to work with Dominique le Stanc who was at that time the Executive Chef at Hotel Negresco in Nice. Chef Benoit became the Sous Chef in the hotel's fine dining restaurant, Chanticleer. The next move led the couple to Corsica where Chef Benoit became Executive Chef at the Hotel Eden Roc. More travels led them to a stint in Brussels.

By then, Chef Benoit yearned for Provence and they returned there to open their own place "Fleur de Thym" in Cavaillon. It quickly became one of the top restaurants in the Lubéron, receiving a score of 13/20 in Gault et Millau as well as a favourable review in the Michelin Guide. Only the restaurant's plain interior prevented it from receiving a coveted star. The Benoits did however develop award winning staff one of their apprentices won "Best Cook Apprentice of the Year" for southern France and another apprentice, Eddy, went on to work for Pierre Gagnaire (3 Michelin stars) in Paris.

A chance meeting with Vancouver chef Rebecca Dawson who was visiting Lyon resulted in the couple coming to Vancouver on vacation. Once here they found to their surprise that two of Chef Jean Yves' commis from Hotel Negresco were living and working in Vancouver Jean Francis Quaglia, chef/owner of Provence Mediterranean Grill and Frank Pabst, formerly chef/partner at Pastis. The couple fell in love with Vancouver and felt that with an already established base of friends in the city, they would like to try living here.

Chef Benoit was quickly snatched up by the five diamond Pan Pacific Hotel to head up its award winning Five Sails Restaurant. Four months later, Minna was joined the restaurant as Maître d'. They stayed at Five Sails together almost 18 months, making lots of friends, learning about Canada and the restaurant business in Vancouver. As wonderful as the Five Sails is, it was not theirs. When the opportunity arose to buy an already existing restaurant in West Vancouver, the couple jumped at the chance to create a place of their own and L'Emotion was born.

After 3 years of success in far away located West Vancouver Jean-Yves and Minna started looking for a better place for their restaurant. They found it in Kitsilano, on the North Side of West Broadway at the ancien Portobello Ristorante.

Mistral Bistro opened in September 2005.