La mere Brazier in Lyons still open?

[doctorandchef]

Hi,

thanks for the PM John

I just came back from a 2 week tour of france and made the pilgrimage to La Mere Brezier.

It was reopened in the last few years by a local French guy Phillipe Bertrand and Bob Tosh.

We strolled in late one night after getting lost on our way to the hotel.

We only ordered 3 dishes out of courtesy for the kitchen staff.

Started off with a plate of gratis salami, which was very good.

Of course I had to try the Salade Gourmande, a spectacularly simple dish of foie gras, smoked duck magret slices, with green salad dressed in a nicely mustardy dressing. Perfectly executed, the foie was extremely flavorful (not like the majority of North American foie), every element of the salad worked perfectly together. This salad alone was worth the price of admission. What an incredible bargain at 17 euros!!!

I ordered the legendary volaille de Bresse demi-deuil et sa sauce supreme (poached Bresse chicken stuffed with black truffles under the skin). this was my first experience with Bresse Chicken and it was an excellent dish. The leg meat was moist and flavorful, with the intriguing aroma of truffles waffing up from the sauce and generous amounts of truffles. I scooped up all of the creamy sauce at the end. Surprisingly light, I'm guessing they just monte'd the reduced poaching liquid with a tiny bit of butter at the end. What a dish! Visions of Paul Bocuse in the kitchen years ago floated in my mind as I enjoyed every last bite. I can't believe they only charge 23 euros for this dish.

My s.o. ordered the Quenelle au gratin "Mere Brazier", sauce homard. This was the only slight miss of the night as it may have been slightly over-gratined. The Quenelle was quite large, with a nice texture and a mild flavor, as previously noted by many others. The sauce homard tasted like plain bechamel, with a very subtle lobster flavor. Nonetheless it was worth trying just to see how it tasted. only 16 euros.

Had a nice long chat after dinner with the owner/chef/proprietor Phillipe. Very interesting guy, extremely friendly and chatty. Apparently he revived this restaurant 3 years ago, and he has been using the original recipes from La Mere in most of the dishes. It was like a dream for him to own this legendary restaurant.

I'm surprised I didn't get a response to this thread in the past 3 weeks as I would have thought more people have come to this place recently.

If you haven't, it's worthwhile to come back and soak in some history and try some dishes at the site of its origin. THe dishes do not at all taste dated as good recipes IMHO stand the test of time.

If anything, come try the salade gourmande!!

http://www.lamerebrazier.com/accueilAng.html