France Trip Report

[menton1]

In the 9th day of a glorius trip covering several regions of France. I will give a more thorough report later, but so far these are the highlights:

L'Univers, Nice

Le Catalan, Beaulieu-sur-Mer

Le Cabanon, Cap D'Ail

Magiarge, Bordighera (Italy)

Le Cheval Blanc, La Bastide les Jourdans (Vaucluse)

Le Jardin, Montflanquin (Lot Valley)

More details to follow. Doing a lot of eating, though!

[Busboy]

Have a glass of Bellet for me!

Glad you liked Universe.

Note that many Internet Cafes in France have American keyboards (klaviers) available.

[Carlsbad]

I also enjoyed L'Univers, and look forward to your report.

[menton1]

Just returned from our trip, and I can add to our list:

Le Privilege du Perigord, Monpazier (Lot-et-Garonne)

Le Coq Hardi, Toulouse

L'Astralabe, Toulouse

La Petite Cour, Paris

L'Epi Dupin, Paris (highlight of the trip)

As soon as I recover from the jet lag and fatigue of covering about 1000 miles in 2 1/2 weeks, I wil give more detailed reports of these restaurants. Margiarge in Bordighera and L'Epi Dupin are the standouts, though, of a very good eating trip. Time now for a régime!!

Edited September 24, 2005 by menton1 (log)

[markk]

Ah, I know the frustrations of the French keyboard well!

I thought I post a picutre of one for anybody that's not familiar with it - just place your hands over it and try to type a normal sentence and see how far you get before you hit a disaster...

[prasantrin]

Ah, I know the frustrations of the French keyboard well!

I thought I post a picutre of one for anybody that's not familiar with it - just place your hands over it and try to type a normal sentence and see how far you get before you hit a disaster...

←

They use French keyboards in Morocco, too. At first it was a big pain in the butt, especially when using internet cafes. But then some friendly guy (all guys in Morocco are friendly to foreign women, I think) showed me that there's a button on the keyboard that switches the layout to QWERTY (i.e. you can type as though the keyboard were a QWERTY layout). It's a button somewhere in the bottom right, I think. Or maybe in the top left??

[menton1]

L'Univers-Christian Plumail

A long anticipated visit to this well-acclaimed bastion of Southern French Cooking did not disappoint. The restaurant is long, broken up into 3 rooms by rounded archways, giving the feeling of both intimacy and spaciousness at the same time. Wood beams are placed decoratively throughout, and fresh flowers and artwork adorn the walls.

A portent of good things to come was the simple amuse-bouche, 2 beautiful shrimp folded together on 1 plate lightly fried in a white sauce. The Menus (fixed meals) here are startlingly reasonable for the quality of the food. The summer menu entrees we selected were a wonderful plate of grilled sardines in an orange oil sauce and carpaccio of smoked tuna with some crisped vegetables and a bit of conserved lemon. The main server was a bit formal, the secondary servers a bit more amiable, but all were very attentive and helpful. Bread served was of the artisinal variety.

Next was Magret de Canard, a Southwestern-oriented dish which is a boneless breast of duck sliced and sauced; Sea Bream (Daurade) in a sauce with cêpes, served with small potato raviolis and trumpet shaped mushrooms from the Maures area. (Var)

(If this sounds great, it was!)

The nice part of M. Plumail's dishes is that they are simple, they don't go too far with too many flavors. Just enough complexity to let you enjoy the taste of the main ingredients.

Dessert was a Millefeuille of strawberries in a balsamic vinegar reduction with ginger cream and lemon-thyme gratinée. Not overly sweet and a terrific finish to a terrific meal.

If you are coming by car, avoid the main street the restaurant is on, there is a major construction project going on; however, there is a parking building accessible through Old Nice that lets you out only about 50 steps away from the restaurant.

If you are in or around Nice, do not miss L'Univers-- price/value, and the quality and care in the preparation of the food as well as the excellent service make this one of the more memorable places to dine at in Nice.

Website: http://www.christian-plumail.com/

Edited September 25, 2005 by menton1 (log)

[menton1]

Here's a couple of photos at L'Univers, hope they are visible!

Edited September 25, 2005 by menton1 (log)

[bleudauvergne]

Wow I like the way they changed the plates, the light looks overall very special in the restaurant. I thought for a minute that the plate in your photo of the amuse had pressed dried herbs placed around the edge, then lapsed into a daydream that it's something I'd like to do on a special occasion. But then I realized it was the pattern on the plate. Nice, those daydreams.

[menton1]

Some of the best surprises come at the little unassuming places. The weather was nice one early afternoon, so we decided to go to a little place for lunch that was right on the beach at Cap D'Ail. Le Cabanon. Very daunting to find, just a little sign from the main road, and then some wrong turns winding up in dead ends in some tony residential neighborhoods, but we finally landed there.

This looks more like an open air place in the Caribbean. Lots of thatch, wood, and country tables, with the lovely French-style artisin decorations. Open-air. We had bumped in to a liaison of folks from Grenoble who were doing a promotion for a new product, "Side-Bike". This expensive toy is a motorcycle with a luxurious sidecar carrying two people in luxury while the driver sits outside in the elements. It looks like this:

The food was fun as well. Petit farcis nicois was a wonderful assortment of little local veggies and fish beautifully arranged and served with a salad. Grilled sardines were also cooked perfectly and were delicious. The environment was wonderful also. Went perfectly with a local white wine, of course.

While this is not going to make the Michelin guide, this is a terrific fun place for a lunch, a great ambience, great view of the Mediterranean, and the food is quite good!

Web Site: http://www.capresort.com/cabanon/index.php?lg=en&p=pres

[menton1]

On our third day on the Côte, we planned to dip over into Italy for one dinner and a change of food and culture. The Gantié had talked about a little family operation in Bordighera called Magiargé. Bordighera is a bit more attractive than the first 2 towns over the border, Ventimiglia and Vallecrosia, which are decidedly seedy.

The pedestrian way (Lungomare) bordering the sea is quite nice here, but the restaurant is located in the Centro Storico, or the Old Center. In Italy these centers are usually closed to cars, as was the case here, so the restaurant is on a small quiet Medieval square, which at dusk is very atmospheric and enjoyable. The food here did not disappoint. Run lovingly by a couple, Carmen and Mauro, our smattering of Italian came in handy because nobody spoke much English-- this is really off the tourist track.

We chose for starters the "Degustazione" which is 4 plates of appetizers. There were 2 fish plates, a pasta, and a salad/vegetable dish. Stoccafisso mantecato Brandacujon alla ponentina, Passatina di zucchine trombette col ragù di pesce, Sardini Ripene, and Taglielini con pesci cappone;

Main courses were tuna steaks in a balsamic vinegar reduction,

and a scalope de pesce loale con pachini e con basilico.

It's sometimes quite refreshing to go to a simple reataurant like this one producing fresh dishes with local flavors. It's certainly relaxed, and, although the Michelin-star restaurants will always have their place, it is definitely harder to relax in one of those than a place like this. It was a lot of fun, and the food was terrific. A grand evening in Italy!

Here's the couple that runs the place:

For their full menu and a history of the owners, go to: http://www.magiarge.it

Edited September 29, 2005 by menton1 (log)

[Carlsbad]

Thanks for the reviews. I think you were dead on about L'Univers, and I would love to try the others.

[menton1]

Wow I like the way they changed the plates, the light looks overall very special in the restaurant.  I thought for a minute that the plate in your photo of the amuse had pressed dried herbs placed around the edge, then lapsed into a daydream that it's something I'd like to do on a special occasion.  But then I realized it was the pattern on the plate.  Nice, those daydreams.

←

I took one shot with a flash, and, I felt a/like I was making a spectacle out of myself, and b/ that without the flash it captured the beautiful lighting effect of the restaurant. Glad you noticed, and glad the photos are discernable!!

[menton1]

After 4 days on the Côte, it was time to head over to the SouthWest. We drove, 5 hours, becaue the train network in France is really only efficient when you are traveling North-South. East-West doesn't really work by train, unless you take several regional routes and spend an entire day on the trains. So we took the car. Sad to leave this scene, though:

However, after many kilometers (and many tolls!) we arrived at this Chambre d'Hote, quite different from the feeling at the coast, but quite a pleasing experience to the senses. Here is our room (all antiques) and the outside of the house:

This is before we laid all our clothes out here!

The owner said that the vines are over 100 years old, the house is about 200 years old.

The hosts here make a terrific Table d'Hote; this is a dinner for us, another 2 guests, and the 2 of them. We all sit at a table together like family! The dinner menu was:

Pan-fried foie gras (local) with plums, and parmesan and cabbage.

Rotisseried rack of lamb with cêpes (local) and potatoes

Cheese platter

Pan-fried strawberry crumble

coffee

And some terrific Bergerac wine, with a white Côtes de Gascogne.

Dinner here starts at about 7:30, and ends close to 11. An entire evening's entertainment!

Just to make sure the Côte was just a memory, a visit to Monpazier cinched it:

To be continued...

[menton1]

Next stop was Toulouse, France's 2nd largest university town, with 110,000 students. Talk about feeling old!

We did discover two terrific bistros in town, L'Astragale, with some terrific Duck dishes, and a great Plat de jour of "Cailles" (Quail) prepared in a lovely herbed sauce and decorated with lovely vegetables. Very exotic tasting. And the second night was Le Coq Hardi, where we felt we had to do the local Cassoulet which proved to be very tasty and very filling! This is a dish that calls for a nice, hearty, Cahors wine.

The "pink city" is that color because of the Toulousian indigenous stone that a large percentage of the buildings are constructed of. The OT is located in the ancient Donjon, now renovated inside and very severe on the outside. Here are a couple of photos of Toulouse, including the Place du Capitole, the center and the heart of the city:

Here's the courtyard at the Musée des Jacobins:

The Place du Capitole really lights up the night!!

A sculpture in the park just outside the Place du Capitole:

Next stop, Paris!

[menton1]

And sadly, our trip was winding down. Time to hop on the TGV to Paris. After 2 weeks with a car rental, being a pedestrian is also an adjustment. TGV pricing has really increased since we were here 2 years ago. 48 Euros, PP, 2eme classe, from Tours to Paris, a short hop.

Sometimes the adjustment from the countryside to Paris takes a while, but this time we adjusted almost from the time we arrived in Montparnasse. The weather was glorious, and, aftrer all, Paris is La plus belle ville du monde!! Just to reinforce that, we took a photo of the Cluny-Sorbonne Métro station:

One of our dinners was planned at La Petite Cour on rue Mabillon in the 6th. One of the attractions of the restaurant is the setting, a lovely courtyard set about 15 feet below street level with sculptures, fountains, and decorative lighting. This is not a good photo, but perhaps you can get somewhat of a feeling for it:

Highlights of the meal included: Saint-jacques en coquille, éclats de parmesan, Beignet de foie gras, caramel de porto, Homard en bouillon de girolles, and Fondant de joue de boeuf au jus de truffes. Of course, being below ground level, just as we were finishing up, a little "souris" ran through the fountains and really shook up my wife. The french folks all around us just laughed about it. We would up conversing with two gentlemen at the next table from Marseille, in Paris on business. Good thing the mouse showed up at the end of the meal!!

The next day found us visiting a little unknown jem, the Musée de Nissim de Comondo. A very rich man, he had his mansion right on the Parc Monceau with state-of-the art kitchen and priceless artwork and furnishings. He left the house to France because his son died in WWI, and his daughter was captured and killed by the Nazis in WWII. This is an example of a top of the line oven from approx 1900 that is exactly the way he left it:

Here is a shot of a little sandwich shop, just in case you get hungry between lunch and dinner!

Just a little aside; we were walking along the rue Mouffetard, enjoying the market, and came across some huge barricades at the bottom of the hill on a square. A huge commotion. We finally found out that this was the filming of a new film, " Munich" and Steven Spielberg and Roman Polanski were there, but we couldn't spot them. We did get this shot of old cars brought in for the scene:

The next day, while strolling in the Marais, we found this shop, just in case you had a Bagel craving!!

Our last dinner was at L'Epi Dupin, a renowned bistro. While not a Michelin star, the place is certainly lively, a lot of fun, and the food is terrific. Don't miss the signature dish, the baked endive and goat cheese appetizer. It lives up to its reputation. You need to reserve several days in advance to get in here.

While waiting for the limo to pick us up to the airport, a walk over to the Seine can make one quite wistful. There is certainly no city in the world like Paris. A bientot, et Vive la France!!