EARLY LIFE AND CAREER

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Born in 1955 in Marolles-les-Braults, a small town near Le Mans in Sarthe (in the Pays de la Loire region), Jean-Luc Boulay comes from a family of 11 children, the son of a mason and a farmer-gardener-florist. He got hooked on what would become his profession around the age of 13 with his mother.

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He began his apprenticeship at the age of 15 at the restaurant Le Dauphin in Saint-Pierre-des-Nids, and obtained his certificate of professional aptitude in the kitchen in 1973. He then went on to work in Paris at the restaurant Le Coeur Volant for three years, after completing his compulsory military service (in Saumur as a cook in the officers' mess.

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He eventually worked at Orly for an airline, before leaving for Canada during the 1976 Montreal Olympics, to stay there permanently, having been hired as the chef at the restaurant Le Boeuf Charolais, at the Loews Concorde hotel in Quebec City.

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Two years later, in 1978, he opened his first restaurant, Le Saint-Amour, located on rue Sainte-Ursule in Old Quebec City, with his partner Jacques Fortier, who over the years would become a true gastronomic institution and one of the great gastronomic tables in the province, having contributed the most to forging the gastronomic identity of Quebec, honored on several occasions, and in particular recognized as one of the best gastronomic restaurants in Quebec and in Canada. Le Saint-Amour is notably known as Paul McCartney's favorite restaurant in town, for whom Jean-Luc Boulay concocted an entirely vegetarian meal featuring Quebec products.

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In April 2012, Jean-Luc Boulay opened a Nordic-inspired restaurant, Chez Boulay - Bistro boréal , with chef Arnaud Marchand, located on rue Saint-Jean in Quebec City. He is the ambassador in Quebec of this local cuisine which finds its roots in Nordic products. Indeed, Jean-Luc Boulay is a seasoned hunter and fisherman.

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In April 2019, he opened Les Botanistes restaurant, in the Floralies Jouvence garden center in Quebec City, a table that gives pride of place to vegetables in the dishes, with his partners Arnaud Marchand and Jacques Fortier.

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Throughout his career as a chef, Jean-Luc Boulay has taken part in over fifty advanced training courses in Europe, carried out among others at the Le Nôtre gastronomic school and at the Bellouet Conseil school in Paris. He had the privilege of representing Quebec culinary art in Belgium, Japan, Malaysia, Italy, Whistler, Martinique as well as at the 2010 Winter Olympics, in Vancouver, and recently in France.

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Jean-Luc Boulay is also passionate about training the next generations, giving various seminars in sous-vide cooking, cold meats, and foie gras, while supervising the rigorous training of apprentices and professionals who wish to participate in various competitions, in Quebec and abroad. Volunteering is part of his daily life and he supports many charitable causes, such as the Serge-Bruyère Foundation, the Red Cross, the organization of Young Musicians of the World, the Quebec Philanthrope Foundation, among many others.