From Courmayeur to....

[francesco]

Well,

I will be staying for a few days in Courmayeur, on the Italian side of the Mont-Blanc and I was wondering whether I might get a chance to step into France and do a nice meal somewhere I can go and come back from the same day. In the area, I've been at Georges Blanc and Marc Veyrat and, in Switzerland, Rochat (ex-Girardet) and Pont de Brent so I want something new.

I have been contemplating many options and I wonder where I can get some sort of feedback. I have been in "historic" mode recently so most of the suggestions are old classics (no Bocuse because reviews are unvariably negative).

Auberge des Clos et Cimes: sounds interesting but it is perhaps too far. I've read mostly (very) good reports.

Alain Chapel: the great man is gone and I hear so little about this place that makes me think of decline but since I've never had a chance to try the original, I wonder and this is the one chef who has always piqued my curiosity a lot.

Pyramide. Same as above with perhaps even fewer links to the previous "great man". But it is good now?

Flocons de Sel. A Veyrat pupil and fairly convenient. Any thoughts?

Auberge du Midi (in Lamastre) - A former great restarant: does it stll have some interest? off the beaten track, I suppose

Lameloise - Apparently the cheapest 3 star and fairly uncreative, but then again, I don't necessarily want creativity per se as much as good food. Is it worth it?

Greuze - recent reports seem less enthusiastic than before.

Any other thoughts?

Thanks,

Francesco

[peterpumkino]

If you're in Courmayer you MUST go to Maison de Fillipo in Entreves as it's a real experience, very rustic very Val D'Aosta, and it's five minutes from Courmayer just before the tunnel. There's an incredible restaurant in Megeve which is less than an hour from Courmayer

BTW how is Rochat now? I went when it was Girardet and I had one of the best meals of my life in good old Crissier.

You could try Lac Annecy, wonderful area, great restaurants and very pretty.

[robert brown]

Francesco, I would bop down to Prioca d'Alba and go to Il Centro if it is open. Bill?

[Stephen Jackson]

I had a terrible time at the Auberge et Clos des Cimes. Made to feel terribly unwelcome by a smarmy, aloof and frankly sexist maitre d', the kind of which I thought had ceased to exist in France.

The food was extremely average, the desserts terrible, dessert wines were completely forgotten (and by that time I had given up asking) and the dining room was way too hot and filled with nasty biting flies. Such a shame, as Saint-Bonnet-le-Froid is one of the most enchanting villages I've ever seen. I will go back, because I always feel one shouldn't judge a place on one visit alone, but it'll be a while before that happens.

[Bux]

I had a terrible time at the Auberge et Clos des Cimes. Made to feel terribly unwelcome by a smarmy, aloof and frankly sexist maitre d', the kind of which I thought had ceased to exist in France.

The food was extremely average, the desserts terrible, dessert wines were completely forgotten (and by that time I had given up asking) and the dining room was way too hot and filled with nasty biting flies. Such a shame, as Saint-Bonnet-le-Froid is one of the most enchanting villages I've ever seen. I will go back, because I always feel one shouldn't judge a place on one visit alone, but it'll be a while before that happens.

I've enjoyed your posts because I've tended to share your sentiments about many places. Here we depart a bit, but there is an element of agreement. Frankly, we loved our food, including desserts and predesserts. I ordered the roast bananas with coconut ice cream because I was intrigued by the caramelized mushroom sauce, which worked. I enjoyed each of my courses and found the amuses exceptional. Chef Marcon himself carved out lamb at tableside. Unfortunately, our wine service was so bad that it had a serious negative effect on the entire meal. So much so that I too feel a bit "gun-shy" about returning soon in spite of the fact that I felt the food itself was easily worth the two stars.

After an initial pour of white wine that couldn't have been as much as two ounces apiece and was just about finished by the time my fish arrived, I couldn't attract anyone's attention to get a refill from our half bottle. I ate as slowly as I could and by the time I got another ounce or two of wine, my fish in a cream sauce was no warmer than room temperature. A wonderful dish was ruined. When our bottle of red arrived, I asked to have it left on the table and was told it was not allowed. I made enough of a fuss to show I was annoyed. As expected I was constantly trying to catch someone's eye all through the rest of the meal as I once again nursed my food and hardly paid it the attention it deserved. We managed to finish the wine before dessert, but at one point I noticed someone pull our half bottle of white wine out of the ice bucket, look at the still half full bottle and sheepishly put it back in the ice. I also believe that person caught me looking at him, but there was no improvement in the service of our red and no apology or comp. I left a strong note at checkout complimenting almost everything in the hotel and restaurant, but I described my frustration at dinner. In all fairness to the Auberge, we had one of the most wonderful breakfasts. In addition to the buffet, we asked for eggs. I had a soft boiled egg and my wife asked for a scrambled egg. Her egg arrived in a little covered ceramic ramekin. It was loaded with minced cepes and truffles as I recall and from behind his back, our waiter produced one for me in addition to my plain old boiled egg. I don't know if they had us marked for a favor, or if we were just lucky to order a scrambled egg on a day there were a lot trimmings around. When I focus on breakfast, my mood changes. With the exception of the wine service, we thought the service was exceptional.

It's really a shame when a great, or even really good restaurant provides an unsatisfactory experience. I'm of the school that would like to believe that's unacceptable, but my guess is that every great chef, restaurant and hotel has a horror story they'd prefer not to share.

[Stephen Jackson]

I was very upset at the AECDC, and I think a lot of it is because I was looking forward to it so very much. I had followed Marcon's rise to the top of the GaultMillau rankings, and when he was made Chef de l'Annee in 2001 (I think it was 01) we made plans to drive across to Saint-Bonnet from our house near Rodez. We made a trip of it, and stopped in Clermont for a night (having a simply fabulous meal at Le 5 Claire, which was superb from start to finish) before heading up into the Velay.

I suppose it's because I was expecting so much that I was disappointed; perhaps a few more details would be helpful here. The bedroom was wonderful, with a great view over a field full of horses to the tree-lined meadows beyond. So far so good. The welcome was warm and friendly. A good afternoon's exploring was had, including a pleasant coffee or two at Marcon's cafe on the square.

We walked up for dinner, and sat in the tiny 'holding pen', on what I'm sure are the most uncomfortable chairs in the world. They're those boxy leather banquette chairs that even Elle McPherson would have trouble looking graceful in. Being tall I was either sat with my knees round my ears, or in a slow barely-controlled slide towards the floor. My wife opted for a perching position right on the edge, which was how the other guests were coping. A small matter, but I think some thought for comfort may have been employed here. The room itself is an awful hotch-potch of design styles, with lovely table-settings spoilt by 70's-style chrome lamps and lots of rubber plants and rugs. Not my cup of tea. Again, not important, but certainly made an impression.

The menus arrived, and immediately I set about translating for T. One of the dishes was printed differently; the fillet of beef came with all manner of accompaniments, and on my menu it had an oxalis butter, but T's menu stopped short. I asked the Maitre d' (a smarmy bugger) about this, and he simply laughed it off by saying that the Oxalis was for men only. Now, even as a gag that's pretty poor, but he was almost serious about it. We ordered.

Amuses were great, starters were great (especially T's signature Brochette Margaridou (sic)). The dining room was also hosting a table of annoying black flies, like small 'regular' flies, but with a spiked proboscis that punctures soft flesh in a most painful way (they annoy us at our house, too. Must be a French thing)) These flies just kept coming, and made my main course a chore rather than a pleasure, which is a shame as it was lovely. The presentation throughout was, for me, a little dated, given that the ingredients were fo the modern genre (wild things, rare 'shrooms etc) Everything was centrally piled, with a pool of sauce below. it all looked a bit samey. A bit of exciting construction wouldn't have hurt, I thought. I know the flies were unavoidable, but the maitre d' seemed not to care at all about one of his diners' discomfort. I saw other people frantically slapping their forearms, so I'm sure I wasn't the only one who felt like a pincushion.

The dessert menus appeared, and as I was now hot, bothered, bitten and annoyed by the clown-like Maitre d', I ordered the bouquet of fruits with a woodruff ice-cream cylinder. We also ordered our dessert wines. T chose a dessert which memory fails to recall (she wasn't keen, which is NOT like my wife at all!) and said she'd like a Maury, because she fancied a glass. She was well aware it was the 'wrong' wine but wanted it anyway. The Maitre d', who inexplicably took our wine order, basically said it was the wrong wine, and that she should choose something else. Astonishing. I was by now so irritated with the man, that I just told him to forget the Maury, and bring mine. I should have laid into him here, I know. But it was just too much effort. We would share my wine, and order another if we needed to. No need. my dessert was, frankly, absolute rubbish. The woodruff ice-cream was yummy, but it came on a plate surrounded by the most embarrassing selection of fruit I'd ever seen. It was everything - mango, currants, orange pieces, papaya, strawberries. Thw hole lot just collided in a mess of flavours that actually astonished me. I'm not the world's greatest pastry chef, but I would have *never* chosen to combine those fruits. It was amazing that someone in the kitchen thought this was a good idea. Berries, fine. Tropical fruit fine. But together? A mess. Oh, there was apple in there too. My dessert wine never appeared.

By now, I needed a Marlboro badly, and as I don't smoke in Dining Rooms we had to go and scale the North face of the leather torture-chairs again. As I lay at 45 degrees, my feet desperately trying to gain purchase on the stone floor, waiting for my coffee, one of the waiters passed, and I told him about the wine screw-up, and he went to tell the maitre d'. He came over, said he was sorry, and rushed off, presumably to rectify things. I'm sure we never saw him again. Now, I must point out here that the rest of the staff were wonderful, friendly people. The young commis waiters were excellent in demeanour and ability. The big penguin was awful. I don't think I've ever met a man so far up his own arse.

I went to bed grumpy and unhappy, and we left early the next morning. I had SO wanted this to be a memorable experience for us both, but things happened that soured the whole experience, and I'm sad that this affects my memories of the good things, like the majority of the meal. I will always remember the cep 'tea' with tansy, though. that was brilliant stuff.

Hopefully, it will be different when we go again. But that won't be soon. He's got a lot of work to do to be anywhere near as impressive (all-round) as Gagnaire, Veyrat or our all-time favourite, Michel Bras. Now there, there's a man who never disappoints us. I'm going in October, and I cannot wait.

Sorry for hi-jacking this thread, by the way. Very poor form. Apologies.

Edited August 6, 2003 by Stephen Jackson (log)

[francesco]

Well,

I will be staying for a few days in Courmayeur, on the Italian side of the Mont-Blanc and I was wondering whether I might get a chance to step into France and do a nice meal somewhere I can go and come back from the same day.

Thank you to all who replied. Unfortunately, we didn't get a chance to go anywhere as we had our daughter we us and baby-sitting options didn't materialize.

As an aside I just noted that Robert Brown has had experience with the current chef at Alain Chapel and it would be nice to read his thoughts on the subject as this restaurant is on my "target list" anyway.

Francesco

[robert brown]

Francesco, I revisited Restaurant Alain Chapel two or three summers ago for the first time since Chapel died (1990). The current chef Philippe Jousse was Chapel's "second" for eight years before 1990. I was surprised that other than a cheaper version of the famous "Salade d'Homard", nothing of Chapel's was on the menu. My meal, as I recall, was certainly a two-star one, but frankly Jousse lacks Chapel extraordinary turn of mind, such that the dishes had no great conception in their totality. The place was a shadow of its former self and devoid of the "rock-em, sock-em, every one is grooving" quality it had. It was sad for me to be there, but that's because this is wheere I had more than half of my top twenty meals. Dining room director Herve Duronzier, who has been there since 1972, told me that if I phoned ahead, I could have Chapel dishes prepared for me and that their sources of supplies had not changed. I have always wanted to get a group of eight people together and have Jousse make an all-Chapel meal. That might be worthwhile. As for making a couple of dishes for two-four people, that might misfire. If you are in the region, it is worth a visit, though it is perplexing as to why there are no pictures of the great man (at least when I was there) and almost no other references to him.

[francesco]

Dining room director Herve Duronzier, who has been there since 1972, told me that if I phoned ahead, I could have Chapel dishes prepared for me and that their sources of supplies had not changed. I have always wanted to get a group of eight people together and have Jousse make an all-Chapel meal. That might be worthwhile.

Robert,

the idea is intriguing. I can bring two people (i.e. me and my wife) to the table, if you think we can raise the rest, it might really be something interesting to organize for next summer. I haven't had the chance to try many of the greats at their peak (Robuchon and Girardet being another couple that I really missed) and amongst them Chapel was always the one that somehow fascinated me most.

Francesco