This is a continuation of my blog posts about a three-week trip to France for the entire review, check out these previous blog posts: Week One, Week Two, Week Three
Some general food observations about France first:
- The Boulangerie – The French love their famous puffy, melting in your mouth croissants straight from the oven. But the Pain au Chocolat was a daily choice for me. Strong coffee versus café americano (watered down). I found their coffee to be strong, but much less acidic as typical American coffee.
- Generally, the north uses more dairy (milk, butter and cheese) whereas the south uses more olive oil. South is a more Mediterranean diet (more fish, tomatoes and other nightshade vegetable). More goat cheeses, lots of olive oil. Rosé wine in the warm months. South-East France: Not surprisingly, foods revolving around olives, olive oil and herbs, tomatoes and garlic are popular in this region, in common with nearby neighbors Italy, Basque country of Spain and North Africa.
- Lunch is usually the biggest meal of the day, and longer than what we take to eat in the US. Many shops close for two hours during lunch.
- The most prevalent food we found (available in the big cities, and the small countryside villages) was...Pizza. Fresh food everywhere.
Our first taste of any French food
was at a local bakery, in Paris, called Yannick Martin. Our hotel room wasn’t ready,
and we had been flying all night. So, our first taste of food in France was a
Pain au Chocolat, followed by a cheese plate and wine in the lobby of our
hotel, as the wait for a room was drawn out.
Our first encounter with a sidewalk café was in the Montmarte
area. We had lunch at a sidewalk café called Au Cadet de Gascogne. I had a ham
and swiss baguette (served with hard boiled eggs).
That evening, the hotel was offering a free drink that they
called “The Green Beast” (made with Absinthe, lemon, cucumber and water).
Dinner at L’Imperial BBZ. My wife had a warm goat cheese salad, and I had the
salmon tartare, along with a carafe of Provence Rose.
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| Salmon Tartare |
A couple times, we grabbed a quick bite at McDonald’s
McCafe, which is loaded with fresh pastries and coffee. They take their café
business seriously. It is a completely different section of the restaurant.
While the regular restaurants are automated (you place an order on an
electronic kiosk) the café portion is personal service. The display cases were
filled with croissants, macrons, cookies, pastries. I think American McDonalds
could learn something from their French franchises!
When we went wine tasting in the
countryside, some of the tasting rooms at the Chateau offered freshly made
lunches. One stop was the small Château de Nitray. where they
served a rustic lunch of grilled chicken, tomatoes and potatoes along with their
wine tasting (Sauvignon Blanc, Rose and Cot). All wines were about 7 euros a
bottle.
When
we traveled to Nice, in Southern France, the front desk person at our hotel was
Italian, and he gave us his recommendation for his favorite Italian restaurants
in the area. We walked a couple blocks from the hotel to the Villa D’Este.
Ordered a bottle of Valpolicella. My wife had a margherita pizza and I had the
grilled prawn (which was the whole prawn and not de-veined). The cobblestone streets
were packed with outdoor café seating, and tons of choices for places to eat.
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| Daube |
The next day, we had dinner at Lu Fran Calin. Authentic
Nicoise food. I had the local specialty, Daube (a beef stew on gnocchi). The
restaurants that offer authentic local food have the label "Cuisine
Nissarde". This is awarded to restaurateurs who work to promote the
cuisine of Nice by committing to respecting the recipes, the quality of the
products and raw materials used.
The next section of our trip was on a river cruise for a
week, so most of the meals were served onboard the ship. The typical buffet breakfast consisted of
eggs (not cooked well, usually on the wet side), fruit, fresh baguette with
jam, pastries (croissants, Pain au chocolat) very thin bacon, cold cuts, baked
beans (I’m assuming this is for the English tourists), yogurt (usually pretty
runny, and served in glass jars), cheese, café, fruit juices. The
dinners were all four course meals. You could order individual items, or go with
their regional menu for the day (which is what we usually did). Meals were made
with fresh local ingredients, and paired with wines from the general area.
During the river cruise, we would stop along the Rhone at
villages and spend a portion of the day exploring the towns and soaking in the
local culture. We found great bread shops (with fantastic olive bread). One of
the highlights was a lunch at La Table
de Sorgues, for wine tasting and lunch. A typical two-hour French lunch. Opened
with a taste of 2018 Chateau Aqueria Lirac (very refreshing and floral with a
certain minerality), paired with a couple small appetizers, as well as a
scallop dish. Next was a 2013 Clos de T Ventous, paired with perfectly roasted
lamb and red pepper tart. This was followed by a cheese course of goat, sheep
and cow mile cheeses. Lastly a dessert course that consisted of an éclair
filled with a raspberry crème and fruit.
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| Valrhona Chocolate |
Another highlight was stopping at the
Valrhona Chocolate factory on the east end of Tain Hermitage. It is considered
the finest chocolate in all of Europe, and used by all the top chefs.
Other side trips included a cheese tasting at Les Halles
Grand Hôtel-Dieu, in Lyon as well as a cider tasting along with a smoked fish
pate. at the Halle de la martineire, and a stop at the Boulangerie
du Palais, to taste pink praline cakes, which are made with caramelized
almonds.
Our last big excursion of the River Cruise was a day trip
to the Macon/Beaujolais area, where we visited a Goat Cheese factory: Chevrerie
La Trufiere, in the village of Lys. Cheese
and wine tasting Wines were presented by the winemaker: Christophe Perrin, of
Domain Christophe Perrin. He presented five wines, which were served with
different aged goat cheeses. The next stop was at the
truffle farm at Les Cos Piguet, in Saône-et-Loire. The owner (Oliver Devevre),
and his 15-year-old dog (Chinook) gave a black truffle digging demonstration
beneath the hazelnut trees. He grows nine different types of truffles in
numerous locations. This time of year, the truffles were dried out. The season
is really in the fall. After, we went to his house for lunch and wine pairing.
Lunch included homemade ratatouille, beef stew, couscous, bread, cheese and
chocolate mousse. The wines were presented by Kerrie de Boissieu. Her and her
husband’s winery is Chateau de Lavernette. She is an American, and happened to
be studying for her Master of Wine with Brandon Sparks-Gillis (of Dragonette
Cellars). The 2016 St Amour “le chatelet” was outstanding.
After
the River Cruise, we were back on our own, and this is when the food got really
fun!
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| Seve |
Back in Lyon, we walked to the Halles de Lyon Paul Bocuse. Unfortunately,
most of the market stalls were already closed. We stopped at Beillevaire Cheese
shop and Bellota Bellota Charcuterie. We did buy some macrons at Seve. The
raspberry was a favorite. There is nothing like these in the United States.
They just taste better in France.
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| Andouillette |
After checking out Yelp
for reviews of authentic Lyonnaise cuisine, we stopped for dinner at Fiston
Bouchon. We started with a carafe of Rose. I ordered the Menu Lyonnais, which
included Salade Lyonnaise, Andouillette (a traditional pork sausage) in a
mustard sauce and dessert of a praline tart.
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| Quenelles |
Another dinner was at Le Gourmand
de Saint Jean. Once again, I had the Menu Lyonnaise, which included a goat
cheese and apple salad, and a main course of quenelles. Dessert was
profiteroles. If you have never had quenelles, it is something you have to try.
This was one of my favorite dishes on the entire trip. It is made with creamed white
fish, and shaped like a sausage. Wonderfully smooth, light, fluffy and tasty!
In Dijon, we had to stop at the
mustard shops. There are two in old town Dijon: Edmund Fallot and Maille.
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| Dijon Sampler |
Dinner
in Dijon was at Temps Des Ducs. where I ordered the Dijon sampler plate which
included (in the photo from left to right): Fromage de terroir, boeuf
bourguignon, chair de grenouille en creme parsille (frogs legs),Oeufs en
meurette, Nage d'escargots, jambon-persille.
While
touring the vineyards and tasting rooms along the Cote d’Noir we had lunch
and wine tasting at Trapet Pere et Fils, in Gevrey-Chambertin. This is a nice
hidden spot, that only locals know about. This day, we were the only ones
there. This was an expensive lunch and tasting. The five-course lunch included
five wines from Domaine Trapet Pere et Fils. Lunch included a large Gougère, Dijon
Jambon Persillé (ham in parsleyed aspic), Beef Bourguignon with crushed
potatoes, and assortment of Goat cheese (from the farm and mountain cheese), Organic
bread and a dessert.
All the towns had wonderful fresh market places, where fruits,
vegetables, cheese, meat and bread were available. The shopping carts were
small hand held baskets, so most locals bought just enough for one or two days.
Fresh is the key emphasis here.
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| The market in Dijon |
Any trip to France has to include food, and you don’t have
to go to the Michelin star rated restaurants to experience France. The most we
ever paid for a meal was the lunch in the Cote d’Noir at 140 euros for both of
us. Most dinners were around 60 to 80 euros for two, and the larger lunches
were less. Breakfasts (Le
petit-déjeuner) were simple.
I could live this lifestyle!
