Riad Nasr

The debut book from the acclaimed restaurant and wine bar Mon Lapin in Montreal, Canada, featuring over 100 recipes with quick-witted headnotes, photos, essays, and insight about wine An intimate celebration of a small Montreal dining room that has become one of the most sought-after places to eat and drink in North America. Mon Lapin (‘my bunny’ in French) was named in tribute to winemaker Jean-François Ganevat , well-known in wine circles for calling his friends ‘mon lapin’ – appropriate for a restaurant where a deep respect for natural winemaking, friendship, and hospitality is as important as the food. Mon Lapin opened in 2018 in the French-Canadian province of Quebec and began life as a humble neighbourhood spot before evolving into a fully-fledged restaurant that has won numerous international accolades for its innovative approach to food and wine . The five friends who opened the restaurant together all continue to work there every day. In their words, this book is ‘ a personal invitation into the heart-shaped centre of our Montreal restaurant’. With recipes, sumptuous photos and essays about both food, wine , and the art of hospitality, this debut cookbook exudes the playful spirit and unpretentious culinary brilliance at the core of the restaurant, where cuisine is a lived experience. The book is structured into seven chapters – What is a Wine Bar Anyway? , Steamy Windows in February, The Fifth Season (when seafood means business), Every Vegetable is a Summer Vegetable in Quebec, Primi – A Love Affair, Cooking with Small Animals, and Staples. Each chapter is accompanied by a wine essay, written by Vanya Filipovic, Mon Lapin’s co-owner and sommelier who has shaped the wine scene in North America . The curated selection of over 100 dishes and restaurant staples includes Kitchen-Ade(theirkitchen-team cure-all), Tagliatelle with Newfoundland Squid Ragù, Sourdough Chicken, Oven-Baked Rabbit alla Marco, and many of Mon Lapin’s celebrated desserts – not least the Buckwheat Celebration Cake and Mille-Fleurs de Courgette . Mon Lapin has made its mark on Canada’s and North America’s culinary maps, recently landing the No. 2 spot on the 2025 debut North America’s 50 Best Restaurants list , which also named co-owner and wine director Vanya Filipovic the Best Sommelier in North America . In 2023, Mon Lapin was named the #1 restaurant by Canada’s 100 Best. Gorgeous images by Montreal-based photographer Dominique Lafond bring the wine, food and restaurant to vivid life on the page. The book is designed by Joanne Lefebvre of Paprika in Montreal. For restaurant obsessives, food tourists, curious eaters, enthusiastic home cooks, and chefs and fans of the restaurant, The Mon Lapin Cookbook is an essential companion, equally at home in the kitchen or on the bedside table: urbane yet affectionate, serious about its craft yet always convivial, with a tongue-in-cheek approach to culinary tradition – a love letter to eating and drinking in one of the most beautiful cities in the world.

When restaurateur Keith McNally and co-chefs Riad Nasr and Lee Hanson opened Balthazar in 1997, it immediately became one of the hottest restaurants in the country. Famous for its star-studded clientele, a beautiful room in the chic SoHo neighborhood, and superbly executed food, Balthazar has been embraced by New Yorkers and visitors alike for its perfect evocation of a French brasserie. The Balthazar Cookbook captures that energy, that style, and that cuisine, with recipes for the most-loved and most-accessible French dishes: seafood ranging from the ultra-simple Moules la Marini re to more ambitious Bouillabaisse; chicken and game favorites that include Coq au Vin and Cassoulet; red-meat classics such as Braised Short Ribs and Blanquette de Veau; sides like the perfect French Fries or sublime Macaroni Gratin; and finales that include Cr me Br l e and Chocolate Pot de Cr me. This is the best of French cooking, from one of the best-loved French restaurants in the country.