Mougins/Cannes/Nice

[Larchvilla]

My husband and I are off to the Cannes area for our twentieth anniversary -during the second week of September. We would like lunch and dinner restaurant suggestions in the Nice/Cannes/ Grasse corridor. We have had our fill of the self-centered, very high end restaurants in Paris and are looking for more relaxed and real surroundings on this trip. (Not to say we can't dine with a crisp tableclothe, but not so many attentive interuptions would be ameniable - as we will be on our 2nd honeymoon.) Excellent locale foods served in friendly surroundings is our goal. Thank you for your helpful, up to date info. We can't stand the touristy traps and look hard to find a place that locales go to enjoy their good meals away from home.

[Jonathan Day]

Do a bit of digging in this forum, and you'll find lots of places worth checking out in this area.

To mention only a few (toss any of these names into the Search function and you'll learn a lot more):

In Nice:

La Merenda for traditional Nicois cooking

Aux Rendez-Vous des Amis, ditto

La Petite Maison, delicious but just slightly more refined

Terres de Truffes, where truffles feature in everything including the apple tart

In Cannes:

La Cave, again for traditional southern cooking

In Biot:

Les Arcades, for simple, traditional food served up by an enthusiastic family

In Cros de Cagnes:

Loulou, for wonderful fish and amazing steaks

In Antibes:

Bacon, for the ultimate bouillabaisse

In Mougins:

Le Bistrot de Mougins, for simple, traditional, delicious cooking

In Grasse:

Bastide St Antoine, Jacques Chibois's two-star. Superb, creative cooking with a strong local flavour. Chibois has a less formal place in Menton, called Mirazur.

In La Turbie:

Hostellerie Jerome; simple, elegant, delicious; also a two-star.

Regalez-vous! and bon appetit!

Edited August 19, 2003 by Jonathan Day (log)

[menton1]

Le Catalan in Beaulieu-sur-Mer is very relaxed, with moderate prices and a great view right on the bay;

I second La Mérenda, very quirky, 12 tables, great food-- you must stop by in the late morning to reserve for that night-- no phone, closed Sat & Sunday as well-- Dominic loves his free time!!

Bonne vacances!

[John Whiting]

If you're in the old town in Nice at lunchtime, L'Acchiardo is about the last of the old-fashioned bar-restaurants. My own account thereof:

At almost two-thirty, L’Acciardo is just about to close, but the waitress finds us a table in back near the kitchen. The choice of fish soup is automatic, but the main course is more problematical. There are no fish courses on the menu, strange for a restaurant offering fish soup. After some hesitation I decide on entrecote au poivre, a dish served ad nauseam all over the world with bottled sauce, but worth a gamble at a promising bistro.

The soupe de poisson arrives in generous bowls, with the requisite rouille, grated cheese, rounds of dry baguette, and a dish of peeled fresh garlic cloves.

—Do you know how to eat it, monsieur? asks the pretty waitress.

I haven’t encountered the fresh garlic before, but I make a shrewd guess and, using the dry bread as a grater, scrape the garlic back and forth. I start to drop the crouton into the bowl.

—Non, monsieur, you must make ze boat!

She takes the bread from my hand , piles on a spoonful of rouille, and then sprinkles the gruyere on top and places it carefully in the bowl.

—Voilà, monsieur! You may now go to sea!

She is lovely. I am afloat on oceans of desire. She can grate my garlic any time.

The flavor is up to the theatrics: a thick, rich soup, with a proper palette of flavors, and a strong garlicky rouille, both fully as good as the best Mary and I make at home. The entrecote is even more surprising. I had specified bleu, and it comes as rare as I could wish, a full half-pound, over half an inch thick, crusty with cracked peppercorns on the outside and translucent in the middle, but tender enough to cut with a fork. The sauce, rich and concentrated, has gone through all the proper stages of deglazing and reducing. Two classic dishes classically prepared and modestly priced.

L'Acchiardo, 38 rue Droite, Nice, Tel 04 93 85 51 16