Zach Smith’s newest outpost in St. Catharines is an homage to all things French in the ‘90s with so many twists your head will be spinning.
Les Incompetents in St. Catharines could’ve been serving up an endless parade of cheese pizzas to the ‘90s loving masses, with a name inspired by Home Alone (“You know, Kevin, you’re what the French call “les incompetents”). Instead, owner and chef Zach Smith is preparing soft shell crab sandwiches with “boat loads” of caviar, crêpes Suzette with fried chicken and foie gras layered with rhubarb jam in between two stroopwafel buns.
“I want a dish to be a little bit outside of the box and have room to play,” Smith says.
Having never professionally cooked French food, Smith decided he wanted to take a lot of liberties — dubbing it ‘French-ish’. He also wanted to focus heavily on seafood, in direct opposition to his restaurant across the street, Fat Rabbit.
Hopping into success
After opening in 2023, Fat Rabbit quickly rose to stardom, earning Michelin Recommendation status in 2024, and joining Canada’s 100 Best — first at 97 in 2025, then rising to 48 in 2026. Fat Rabbit’s philosophy, according to Smith, is “what would it be like to dine in a butcher shop,” focusing on whole animal butchery and delicious vegetable dishes that almost steal the show.
As its popularity and acclaim grew, Fat Rabbit had two flaws: it could seat only 30 diners at a time, and there wasn’t enough space for a bar. Smith approached his friends Adam D’Intino, Owen Walker and Geoff Dillion from Dillon’s Small Batch Distillers to help him rectify the second problem. The final partner, Bee Lim, is the founder of a digital marketing agency.
A space directly across the street, which had previously been a movie theatre and more recently a restaurant called Dispatch, became available. It allowed them to open a 58-seat bar with a robust cocktail and wine list, as well as a menu packed with French-adjacent dishes and ‘90s nostalgia.
Zach Smith (top left) is the chef and owner of Les Incompetents in St. Catharines, a ‘90s-inspired space filled with warm wood tones, mirrors and playful details, where French technique meets irreverent creativity in dishes such as the crêpes Suzette layered with fried chicken (top right) — a nod to chicken and waffles.
The look and feel
To make it all come to life, they enlisted design studio Westgrove, which has worked on several food and beverage spots, including Eloise and its companion, Bar Cart in Toronto, West Avenue Cider House in Hamilton and Georgian Bay Surf Club in Collingwood. The space needed to have the right balance between kitsch and high-end, just like the food. The design firm helped them thread the needle.
“We wanted to bring back the nostalgia,” says founder and lead designer Keri MacLellan. “Deep, warm, wood tones, mirrors to reflect movement in the space — the intention was always to be vibey, think Paris in the ‘90s.”
True to its roots as a former theatre, there is a corridor leading to the bathroom that slopes down (towards where the screen would’ve been). All along it are pop-up tables for people to perch and have a drink if the main room is too full. At the end of the slope is an original French poster for Home Alone (“Maman, j’ai raté l’avion”). Head into the bathroom, and you’ll find similar wallpaper to the one in the McCallisters’ home in the movie. There are even a few ‘90s figurines tucked into corners throughout.
“It’s all about evoking a fun atmosphere,” MacLellan says. “The space isn’t taking itself too seriously, just like the food.”
Fancy feast
While the space is quirky and nostalgic, Smith wanted the food to be high-end. To him, that meant there was only one option — French.
“French food has a reputation for being a bit stuffy, boring and super classic — I wanted to disrupt that reputation,” Smith says. “Everything is centred around French technique, but it’s a little more playful and fun.”
The aforementioned crêpes Suzette is served crumpled in a heap with mounds of fried chicken and orange slices. It’s a play on the classic orange chicken dish found on Chinese food court menus across the country, as well as an homage to chicken and waffles.
The top seller on the menu is the puttanesca tartine, an open-faced, two-bite sandwich similar to a Spanish pincho. A fresh baguette is topped with caramelized onions, olive purée, bluefin tuna, a Spanish Cantabrian anchovy and a sun-dried tomato vinaigrette. It’s a dish the waitstaff encourages first-timers to try and repeat customers know to order every time.
The Secreto Frites, a play on steak frites, also earns the attention of guests. A marbled, fatty piece of Secreto Iberico pork is marinated in koji and topped with melted Café de Paris compound butter, complete with a hint of anchovy and curry.
An escargot and baked oyster dish accompanied by divan curry nods to the plethora of French restaurants that would find any excuse to weave in vadouvan curry.
“I look at old French menus and draw inspiration, and then throw a couple of curveballs in there,” Smith says.
This summer, he’s looking to make the most of Niagara produce and find a way to make ratatouille with all the fresh tomatoes, eggplants, and peppers around. A dish that he says is “due for a revival.” Les Incompetents works with Chez Nous Farm and Pearl Morisette’s garden as often as possible to source local produce.
Chicken of the sea
One of the showstoppers in the room, next to an open kitchen and a three-seater chef’s table, is a large ice-filled raw bar often loaded with shrimp, scallops and mussels.
Seafood here is always prepared with an unexpected twist. The raw bar scallop, for example, is scallop sashimi on top of a fried and breaded scallop and bacon nugget layered with tare and Kewpie mayo.
That touch of Japanese cuisine is no mistake either; Smith wanted to weave global flavours into his menu, and that especially shows up in the sauces. The seafood tower is served with a variety of cocktail sauces, including harissa, pear wasabi and pineapple jalapeño.
Cooked seafood is woven into the menu, but keeps the quirk going throughout. A lobster thermidor was re-imagined as a baked lobster dipped into a leek fondue. Peruvian scallops sit atop smoked, deep-fried sweetbreads that taste like chicken nuggets, all anchored by a brown butter, chopped parsley and lemon Meunière sauce.
Boston squid is seared on a flat-top griddle with morcilla, a blood sausage and a ramp-green garlic butter sauce.
“In the ‘90s, what was more celebratory than surf and turf,” Smith asks. “The nostalgia of it and the chance to throw together two completely different elements for the sake of it excites me.”
To finish the experience, Smith and team didn’t forget about dessert. There’s a chocolate mousse topped with cinnamon toast crunch, a French toast made with raisin brioche and a cruller donut topped with — what else? Foie gras.
Drink up
All of this is anchored by the original reason for opening Les Incompetents at all — the drinks.
Co-owner Owen Walker has spent years honing his bar skills at Toronto hot spots such as Bar Isabel and Bar Raval. He built out the beverage program to pair with the food, with French influences and plenty of quirk.
A forced carbonated drink, the Normandy Highball mixes Dillon’s vodka with Calvados brandy from Normandy. “It’s basically a fancy vodka soda,” says co-owner Adam D’Intino. The drink is finished with an apple slice floating in the middle of a perfectly clear cube of ice.
That style of ice gets ‘Les Incompetents’ stamped into it, for anyone who orders the Negroni #2. A seasonal take on the classic, it features a Campari infused with strawberries and tomatoes. Each Negroni is made until the bar can’t get the fresh local ingredients anymore, then they move on to the next, infusing Campari with different seasonal flavours. “This is a nod to spring and summer,” D’Intino says. “I’m hoping we can at least get up to #37 without stopping.”
The lone coffee drink uses locally roasted East Doc Coffee beans. It’s cold-brewed and complemented with miso and banana for an umami take on an espresso martini. “It has Guinness-like smoothness and richness,” D’Intino says.
Speaking of, Guinness is the only beer on tap and just because the staff love it.
Almost all of the wines are sourced from Niagara or France. The Niagara bottles include sparklings from Stratus Vineyards and Mason Vineyard; whites from Black Bank Hill and Pearl Morisette; and reds from Bachelder and 16 Mile Cellar. Sommelier Lexi Wolkowski goes to great lengths to find local producers making interesting options, according to D’Intino.
The French wines are far-reaching, stretching from Burgundy to the Loire Valley.
Growing the warren
In October, Fat Rabbit took over the space next door, extending its head count to 90 seats, expanding Smith’s empire across St. Catharines. His arrival has signalled a shift in the food scene in the southern Canadian town, one he hopes will continue to grow and blossom.
“I’m born and raised in St. Catharines, and our dining scene was very bleak for a while,” D’Intino says. “We don’t want to have to drive to Toronto for a good drink and a nice plate of food and now we have options.”
Les Incompetents
386 St. Paul St., St. Catharines
barlesincompetents.ca | @barlesincompetents
