Bux

Le Vieux Pont in Belcastel some 25 kilometers west of Rodez (the "z" is pronounced) is an old favorite. The restaurant delighted us the first time we were there prodded by GaultMillau's declaration that it offered the best ratio of quality to price in all of France. How could an old skinflint such as I am, pass up the opportunity get the certified best value meal in France. We were even more delighted to return again after they had renovated an old stone building across the vieux pont and added some seven guest rooms. The guest rooms, all with a view looking across the river at the restaurant and the stone village, are another bargain all of themselves. I'm especially fond of the one with stall shower at 67 euros. What can I say, the hand held shower head and the curtainless tub is the single situation in which I feel most alien in France and le Vieux Pont, for all it's charms, does not seem to attract a large American following. Indeed, that may add to it's charms for those of us who leave the U.S. hoping to find some remnant of la France profonde. It's hard to believe, we call this a personal favorite and yet it's been almost six years since we've been here. It felt good to be back. The only change we noted was that Michèle Fagegaltier seems to have more help in the hotel and the front of the house and Nicole Fagegaltier has her husband Bruno Rouquier with her in the kitchen. The dining room brought back memories of our first meal where the dishes all seemed exquisitely simple and a later meal from which I recall a menu of dishes with intriguingly different crusts on each dish. A quick look at the menu revealed yet continued development and wider range of flavors than we remember. There was a carte, but the economy of the menus--for instance one can order the cuisse de lapin au coriandre, à la carte for 20 euros or (except on weekends) as part of a menu with an appetizer, course of fresh cheese, dessert and petits fours for 23.50 euros--dictated that we consider ordering one of the four prixe fixe menus. There's also a children's menu for 13 euros and for a moment I fantasize about having a childhood where I'm fed Croustillant de caillé de vache au magret fumé, Cuisse de lapin confite au coriandre, semoule de légumes de printemps and Fruits de saison et sorbet. Would I have had a spill proof cup of Grippa's fruity St. Joseph with that? This is what we've been saving ourselves for. Well, this and Michel Bras to follow in two days, but we've been careful about not overeating and felt confident we could handle the 62 euro menu with four savory courses which is served only to the entire table. All of the other menus have options. This one does not. Sur une poêlé d'endives aux fruits secs, des noix de Saint-Jacques rissolées, semoule fine et bouillon de curry I'm not a fan of fruit and seafood for all the excellent preparations I've had from the kitchen at Daniel, but this certainly worked. It was surprisingly complex but I was not surprised to be pleased right off the bat. Dorade royale poêlée, haricots coco et pieds de veau, jus de truffes et pointes d'asperges Beans and truffles are yet another of my comfort foods. The veal foot--bits of very fatty, gelatinous and unctuous veal foot--offered more texture and richness than taste. An asparagus spear and a parallel brush stroke of truffle emulsion were like bookends on the plate. This was a more traditional preparation perhaps, but the veal food made it a bit interesting and challenging in addition to being satisfying . Du foie de canard grillé et un caramel d'orange au safran, des pommes pailles The foie gras was seared as almost to have a coat of very fine dark kidskin. It would have been impressive unadorned, but this was one of the most supportive garnishes I've had for fresh warm foie gras. This was superb and vaut le voyage as Michelin would say. Normally I tend to stay with a red wine with hot foie gras, but this would have been nice with a Muscat. Poitrine de pigeon rissolée, jus au sésame grillé, tartelette des cèpes et brou de noix The breast was incredibly rare and the leg was crisp with a crust of salt and spices. Esilda loved the sesame "juice" (crushed sesame seeds). I was a bit indifferent to it, but I polished off the breast and leg although I thought I was full when it arrived. Fromages du Rouergue Again this was not an exceptionally large selection of cheeses although certainly more than we could sample between us at this point and I was impressed that they were all local cheeses and excellent examples. Dégustation de desserts Sadly, we were not up to the array of desserts that followed, though for intellectual purposes we ascertained that they were up to par. I believe there were about six of them and rest assured that they were no more than half portions each. We were up for a light dinner the next night at le Vieux Pont after a day trip to Conques and a very light lunch. -------------- to be continued

The web site is actually a very nice one. It's criminal of me not to have listed it. The prices in francs are a dead give away that the site is not up to date, as is the comment that "Le Domaine de Barres est actuellement fermé. Réouverture prévue fin mars." The rabbit was not disappointing, and I'd be happy to have it again. I'd be lucky to have it as my average food. There's no doubt this is a star quality place, as much as anyone can say that from one meal. To tell the truth, I don't pay as much attention to wine lists as some people do here and thus tend not to talk about it or take notes on it. I seem to recall a small list which is not surprising when you consider that this is new management and the prices are very low. Fortuantely many restaurants note the wines on the bill, which is great for those of us too lazy to take thorough notes. We had a St. Joseph, Charpoutier - Deschants for 40 euros. Sorry I don't have the year. We had a lot of St. Josephs, especially in the first few days. One of the most interesting was a very fruity one from Grippa. Yes, the Michelin rosettes are a good guide for destination places that one "must" visit, but the lack of any description is a real drawback when making advance reservations. When driving and looking for a place to stop, just knowing a hotel or restaurant is in the guide is reassurance, but until you see it, or read the menu outside, you're relatively clueless about what you will find. Nevertheless, although GM can be quick to spot a rising chef, they are sometimes less reliable.

You have a hard row to hoe, and I may not have much to contribute beyond sympathy. I find French food is a lot like American food except that it uses more fat, red wine and pork in its preparation. The French also eat more fish than we do. But I seem to recall that you have your own first hand knowledge of France, am I mistaken? You note that your mother does not eat fish, but suggest a seafood restaurant would be a good bet. Does that mean you are distinguishing between fish and shell fish? I ask because most people who can't tolerate one, can't eat either. I'm not so sure the answers to my questions will help me provide any suggestions, but they might prod another member.

I haven't been there, but from what I've read (and most of that has been on eGullet.com) this is French food in the classic sense. It may be up to date or even cutting edge French food in some aspects but certainly in a classic mold, if not entirely traditional. I hope you mean that in a positive way.

I neglected to mention that there was a good selection of cheeses included on the 30 euro menu. To put this in perspective, I would have been happy to pay the twenty-seven dollars with tax and tip for cheese and dessert for two in a far less sophisticated setting in New York. Only here it brought two savory courses and an amuse bouche as well as mignardises in addition. Once the season gets rolling along, there's a 22 euro menu with a vegetable appetizer, trout, cheese, crème brulèe, petits fours and chocolates, that's served at lunch and a small but enticing à la carte selection from which you can compose your own 30 and 38 euro menus with two or three courses plus cheese and dessert. We were told they did a good business on Easter Sunday and I suppose that's why there were open this early in the season.

The Domaine de Rilhac is a couple of kilometers outside of St. Agrève, a town of only 2700 inhabitants. My guess is that there's not that much local dinner trade in the area and that during the middle of the week at this time of year, it may even be surprising that there were that many rooms occupied. You're suspicions are valid, but I've been in plenty of fine restaurants and inns whose support was dependant on travelers. For a city dweller like myself, I can't discount the added appeal of the rural setting. I should be posting about Le Vieux Pont later today.

We had no reservation for the evening of our fourth night in France due to the lack of an obvious spot to stop. I admit that I find something suffocating about an itinerary that allows for no serendipity, but my travel agent wife, on the other hand, believes half of any day on the road is wasted finding a place to stay and that the place we eventually choose is never quite as good as the one we let get away in the last town. As luck would have it, the new Michelin had no new star in the area, but GaultMillau had a brand new listing for a hotel of charm with most reasonable prices almost exactly halfway to our next reservation. that was destined not to get away from her. She lost no time in making a reservation as soon as we left St. Agrève in the morning. The 18th century "gentilhommerie" that houses The Domaine de Barres in Langogne turned out to be far more elegant than one might expect for the Lozere and certainly for the price mentioned. The well restored facade of this classic building gave little indication of the total renovation of the interior in a refined contemporary style. There were elevators to the upper floors. Our room (75 euros) was small and had minimal closet space, but was otherwise very handsomely designed, if perhaps a bit over detailed. A full American style shower curtain is always an appreciated touch. There are larger rooms one might consider if staying longer. There is also an indoor swimming pool, sauna and reception area for catered affairs or meetings in two new wings gracefully attached to a rear addition, and a 9 hole golf course, though it's Emmanuel Mercadier's cooking and his wife's charm that will draw us back. As did many of our inns on this trip into the rural and mountainous countryside, the hotel just opened for the season on Easter. I believe this is only the second year under the present management and it's not (yet) listed in the Michelin Guide, so perhaps it was not a great surprise that we were the only guests. Normally I might find empty hotels a bit depressing, but we could not complain about having Madame Mercadier's full attention as she graciously welcomed us to the hotel and attended to our service in the dining room. It appears that, at least in the shoulder season, the Domaine is run as a mom and pop place, although it's strange for me to refer to so young and charming a couple as the Mercadiers, as mom and pop. The dining room is even more to my taste than the bedrooms. It's paneled in wood and has two sleek contemporary fireplaces. The light oak furnishings are simple and handsomely designed. Across from the dining room there's a very welcoming lounge for aperitifs or digestifs. Had the night not turned so cold, we might have wandered in for our coffee, but the all too seductive embers in the dining room fireplace kept us at the dining table. We were given an amuse bouche of a cream soup made from cèpes. With the touch of hot soup and the warmth from the fireplace, all regrets that spring had not yet arrived in this corner of France disappeared as we settled in for a good meal. An hors d'oeuvre doesn't have to be complex, but the right one works wonders to put a diner in the proper mood. We were told they were only serving a single 30 euro menu for Easter week. It started with a wonderfully satisfying dish of seasonal asparagus and tiny lentils from Puy (we were just south of le Puy en Velay) with a bit of espuma and a poached egg. A poached egg is one of our comfort foods, but this dish rose to a quality I will long for many times over when faced with some less expertly prepared dish of more expensive ingredients. Rabbit loin stuffed with black olives, liver and kidneys, garnished with a medley of vegetables was our principle course. Monkfish was the option, or we could have had both for only 38 euros. Perhaps I've had more succulent rabbit, or maybe the sauce needed to be a bit more intense. It was very good, but over shadowed by the first course and the desserts that followed. It should take nothing away from the savory preparations that the deserts impressed us so much. It's hard to compare meals from day to day, but these may well have been the best two desserts of the trip and they continued to impress us after our visits to the more famous restaurants of the region later in the trip. We had a choice of two desserts, a vervaine macaron (vervaine liqueur is another specialty of Puy en Velay) with pistachio cream and the first strawberries of the season or shortbread with chestnut mousse, baked apple, honey caramel and ice cream. We took one of each. They both came with a tuille and roasted hazel nuts. Each was truly satisfying and clearly recognizable as dessert without being clyingly sweet. I can't think of a restaurant off hand in New York, that consistently serves desserts that are better. When the chef came out to say hello at the end of the meal, I asked if he had a pastry chef. He smiled and said "no," it was all his work. We complimented him on the meal and especially on the desserts. Mme. Mercadier inquired about our interest in France and the route we were taking. She was quite familiar with, and respectful of, Le Vieux Pont in Belcastel, our next stop. I trust we left her with the impression that we were seasoned travelers of some discernment and that the Domaine de Barres more than met our approval. This was a real find and I doubt we will miss the next year's GaultMillau on the sole basis of this year's new listing which pointed us to the Domaine des Barres. I'm not convinced GaultMillau is as reliable as Michelin, but they certainly got the scoop here.

I'm a little slow on the uptake and don't get out of NY as much as I should, but the answer is "yes" to a "T."

In their way the little hotels and restaurants are as pleasing and delicious as those multi-starred destinations of gastro-pilgrims.

As much as anything else, this is the sort of statement that would make a multi-starred restaurant even more appealing to me.

The first stop on our tour was the Domaine de Rilhac, just outside of St. Agrève. It was a tour designed to let us sleep late, not spend any time on the autoroutes and little time behind the wheel each day. It was designed to get us to three specific restaurants--one that we know and love and two that are famous, but new to us--and to sample a bit of the "background" food of the area. The Domaine de Rilhac, a farmhouse in an exceptionally quiet and rural location, has one Michelin star and a rating of 15 as well as an appealing write up in GaultMillau. Although we used the 2001 editions of both guides in planning most of our trip, the new editions which we picked up on arrival remain basically unchanged with the exception that the heart shaped "favorite" designation is now shown. The 2002 GaultMillau is now hard bound. That's appreciated as the old one was hard to deal with by the end of the year. We found a simply furnished rustic timbered room (64 euros) with a comfortable bed, a great stall shower in the bathroom and a warm and pleasant welcome. Five of the ten tables in the simple but tasteful dining room were occupied that evening, apparently all by guests staying at the inn. There were two British couples, a British threesome, a Swiss family with three boys and us. There were wonderful views of the mountains which should be especially rewarding when the sun sets very late in June and July. The air was crisp. There were still few buds on the trees in this early pre spring, but the birds were chirping away in the rural silence. We took a few short walks on lanes and paths, one of which led to an abandoned tree house. We tried out the lawn chairs behind the house, but it was too chilly to stay long. The house cocktail was a St. Peray with chestnut liqueur. Not bad and a change from Kir, but it won't become my standard aperitif. The waiters were young, but eager to please. One of them mumbles terribly however and the Assiette tout chocolate came out as "'lace a' cho'lat, 'teau 'choc'lat, 'choc'lat, 'choc'lat," but it needed no explanation. Four interesting menus are offered, but no "carte." The gastronomic menu was offered with a choice of two or three courses, cheese and dessert. The other menus were set. A regional Ardeche menu offered snails in a garlic cream and stuffed oxtail with vin de Cornas sauce. It's tough for me to resist that kind of cooking, but GaultMillau's recommended foie gras flavored with marc de l'Hermitage was harder to resist and we took the Gourmet menu. Esilda chose the fish and crayfish in a saffron sabayon. I had hoped it would be a local freshwater fish, and thought of changing my selection to the beef carpaccio with a sauce of reduced Cornas when I was told it was cod, but that would have limited our wine to selections by the glass. The foie gras was excellent but it came with some zucchini ribbons and peas in a vinaigrette which were not a match to the glasses of Beaumes-de-Venise we ordered. Eaten apart after the foie gras and wine were finished, the salad was refreshing. Without the wine, it might have also complimented the foie gras. I was a bit surprised to find zucchini again, this time in strips, as a bed for the fresh cod. There was a bit too much saffron in the sauce and it verged on "metallic" though not enough to ruin the dish. A good selection of cheeses with a few local and regional specialties followed, although most were not as ripe or flavorful as I would have liked. At 49 euros with the aforementioned plate of four chocolate desserts it seemed a good value. Adding the carpaccio would have brought the price up to 66 euros. The Ardeche menu ran 34 euros with two courses plus cheese and dessert. It, I suspect would have been the "value" meal. The euro was worth about eighty-eight cents while we were there and prices include tax and service. Perhaps it's not a restaurant that would rate a star in Paris, nor is it a destination, but we were content to relax in the countryside and it was a good choice for us that night.

It's hard to make an educated guess without having been there, but let me try with a steamed or baked custard on top of which the eggs are place. Was this is a cup or bowl capable of standing some heat. Throughout our recent trip I noted that the cost of an appetizer and main course, although often enough there's no difference in size or price between the two, were as much as the cost of eating the two dishes à la carte and cheese and desert or two were free. Often a third course in addition to cheese and dessert could be had on a "menu" for the price of two savory courses à la carte. Sometimes, there was no carte from which to offer, just a choice of "menus."

Obviously you know it translates as feet and packages. I seem to recall reading about this dish in Waverly Root's The Food of France. My copy seems to have disappeared though I have a memory of lamb's feet and tripe being involved. That may have been as an option to pig's parts. I also thought that it involved the feet along side the packages which are stuffed pieces of tripe. It may be that the tripe is stuffed with the meat from the feet. I am a great lover of tripe and most offal meats. Feet, however, are not ones that I love when the meat is still on the bone. Tripe is a favorite. Nevertheless, out of curiosity, I orded this dish once in small restaurant in Provence. To my delight there were no feet in the mix. To my surprise, I got a rather nouveau presentation with the paquets coming inside out in the form of meatballs stuffed with tripe in the center. They were served in a tomato sauce flavored with cumin. I remember the dish, but not the restaurant and I think it was in Aix.

There's always a fine line between an adulteration, an improvement of the species, and a personal quirk that works for a certain cook but shouldn't became the new standard. I gather this falls in the third group.

The bar area at Artisanal is much smaller than the one at GT. It more resembles the one at 11 Madison Park in terms of size and proportion. Hard cider with Cheddar, Bacon and Apple sounds good to me. I think an ale or beer would also be my choice over zinfandel. What kind of cheese is in the Smoked Salmon Celery Root Remoulade sandwich and the Prime Sirloin Steak Sandwich? It might seem obvious, but I've been in trouble making assumptions.

Tom Valenti's Ouest is a bit further up Broadway (in the eighties). You will not find better food closer. You can find less expensive food, but I doubt better value. I don't know Pomodoro Rosso, nor do I know the neighborhood well these days, but Ouest was unlike my past esperiences on the UWS. There's Picholine close to Lincoln Center, but that's a more formal and more expensive meal. Zagat is accurate and quite reliable in terms of addresses and phone numbers and better than the yellow pages in other reagrds.

FriedaL, there was a nice thread on bouillabaisse some time ago. I was unable to find it by doing a search on bouillabaisse, but it's here.

L'Astrance was, and I believe still is, open on Saturday for dinner. With wine, it should meet your budget with ease and a bargain at that price. It's become a very tough reservation to get, however.

No, we didn't get to Poivre d'Ane or a couple of others I'd like to try. We really like Lyon and find there are so many places that have appeal at one level or another. It's also a city in which ordinary and even tourist restaurants seem to provide value. You can eat poorly in Lyon, but it seems harder than in Paris or NY. It was Les Loges for our big meal on the return trip and and a night off after all our eating in the countryside. I'll post on Le Vieux Pont soon. I hope you enjoyed it as much as we did.

Ate at L'Auberge Breton about five years ago and had a most disappointing meal. It can be summed up in one overcooked lobster in an otherwise fine dinner. Needless to say, it's stature seems to continue to rise in spite of my displeasure that year. Click for my comments on that meal. On that same web page you will find my report on Roellinger from that visit. Robert, welcome back.

We began our twelve day trip with two days in Lyon. We spent the weekend as guests of the Agency for Development of the Region of Lyon and the Hotel Sofitel of Lyon. You can tell a lot about the graciousness of a hotel by the way they handle their comps to the industry. The Sofitel gave us a suite which went a long way towards mitigating the loss of one of our bags by Air France. Fortunately the bags showed up later in the day and before we had replaced more than toothbrushes. Our choice of dinners was somewhat compromised by the circumstances of position as guests and the interest our host had in our eating at bouchons serving typical Lyonnaise food. Through some mix up the second "bouchon" was Bocuse's new bistro Le Sud which serves food from around the Mediterranean--think Provence, Italy and Morocco. I had mixed feelings as I had planned to overdose on tripe in at least two Lyonnaise forms--andouillette and tablier de sapeur. On the other hand, I had not eaten in either of Bocuse's other and older bistros in Lyon (Le Nord serves La cuisine de Tradition, while L'Est serves La Cuisine de Voyages. L'Ouest, when it opens will serve La cuisine des Iles.) and this one was two blocks from the hotel and had an interesting looking menu, so we kept the reservation. It was an exceptionally pleasant, but hardly exciting meal. If eighty-five dollars for two three course meals at this level of quality with two half bottles of wine and coffee were available in my neighborhood, I'd be a regular. (Note that prices include tax and basic tip.) I was most pleased with my brandade served in a crust of phyllo pastry served with some salad, cold peeled and seeded tomato and some warm tomato paste. Technically, my chicken tajine was fine but refined and timid. I was disappointed by a lack of spice. I had an old fashioned meringue, ice cream and whipped cream dessert. Esilda, had fresh grilled anchovies, and a pastilla of chicken. I don't know if it was spicy, but it came with a traditional dusting of sugar. It was a very pleasant little place, but could have been in Nice or Greenwich Village. Our other meal at the Bistrot de Lyon fit the traditional bill. There I was able to indulge myself with simple pumpkin soup and an irregular and artisanal andouillette that was positively barnyardy. This is something I can't get in New York and which over the years I have developed an addiction that may be far stronger than any need for haute cuisine. For dessert I had pots de crème--three of them in vanilla, (lots of seeds from real vanilla bean) chocolate and pistachio. The real vanilla and the variety made it a super comfort food dessert for me. Esilda went upscale with some very meaty thick cut smoked salmon. Her "blini" was far too thick and dense however. A main course of tripe was okay, if a bit too much tomato for her taste. I can't tell you the price as we were comped, but I think it was less expensive than Le Sud. It is located on the rue Mercière. I notice that Michelin doesn't recommend any of the places on this short lively stretch, but Gault Millau does. Rue Mercière has all the trappings of a tourist street, but my guess is that most of the patrons are probably local and I'd recommend it for the joie de vivre on a Saturday night. We had some misgivings about passing up a return visit to both Leon de Lyon and Pierre Orsi that we know and love from past visits, but we were just beginning our trip and have learned to try and pace ourselves and we have reservations for Les Loges of which GaultMillau thinks so highly on our return the following week.

Gee, they all work for me at least in some aspect in some little way. Earlier this afternoon, I was thinking that the only time there's a problem is when one of these aspects moves one to choose the more expensive over the genuinely better. That assumes you have had the opportunity to understand why the better is indeed better. It's excusable to choose the inferior but more expensive at least once for reasons of intellectual curiosity, assuming you can afford to indulge such curiosity.

Richard, thank you for all of that that enlightening post, but especially for the word on espardenyes. I now have a recollection of seeing it described, apparently mistakenly, as razor clams in print, which led further to my confusion as when I had it served, it bore little resemblance to sea cucumber. As best I can remember at the moment, the texture seemed much like tender fine sea food and clam, squid or even shrimp if at the proper point of cooking. Your detailed post is most appreciated. I also enjoyed reading those last comments of yours on the practice of pairing wines with a menu. I'm of mixed feelings on this. I think it's brought a new appreciation for the variety that wine has to offer by incorporating several whites and/or reds in a single meal. You are correct however, in pointing out the negative influence and the loss of experiencing a full bottle as the wine develops. I believe this has already been the subject of a thread here and I hope it will be discussed again. Surely the last word is not out and I'm all for keeping the practice a part of our options as long as it doesn't become the only option. It should also be noted that a couple will have a very different experience with a single bottle than will a table of eight, or even six, where a bottle with each course is the same as pairing wines. Your attitude towards wine is interesting, as indeed, a sommelier's should be. May I ask where you work? We don't need a restaurant, just as narrow a region as you care to define.

Well it's the same with art forms such as painting and sculpture. The artist may not be the one best fit to explain his own work, but he deserves the right to present it as he sees fit. So I respect Gagnaire's desire to control that situation, even if he's wrong.

I understand the nature of your curiosity, but I also have some appreciation for the chef's interest in seeing his tasting menu as a whole, and the composition of the whole as a creative act and not just a progression of dishes.