La Table de Lucullus phone number

[cindym]

The phone number I have for Table de Lucullus doesn't seem to work:

01 40 25 02 68

Does anyone have updated information? I can't seem to find anything. They're still open, I assume?

[John Talbott]

The phone number I have for Table de Lucullus doesn't seem to work:

01 40 25 02 68

Does anyone have updated information?  I can't seem to find anything.  They're still open, I assume?

←

Yes and no. I went by a couple of weeks ago. Nicholas Vagnon is not only definitively gone; the two new guys at the place who took over say they don't know his coordinates but insisted he has opened his new place on the Ile de Yeu. Two friends who live on the Ile de Yeu, which is about 3 miles wide by 20 miles long, say he has not opened anything they've seen.

The new place Le Jujubier on the Rue Legendre is not the same (none of his kooky signs, drapery, nappery etc); different sous-chef, different menu, etc. It's simply not Lucullus.

Sorry.

Edited by John Talbott to add the name - Le Jujubier

[cindym]

Ok, that would explain it. What a shame. I have two weeks left in Paris and I wanted to try it; I had heard such good things.

Thanks for the update.

[John Talbott]

Ok, that would explain it.  What a shame.  I have two weeks left in Paris and I wanted to try it; I had heard such good things.

Thanks for the update.

←

Well, the lost is found.

As luck would have it, I was knocking about the Ile d'Yeu websites this morning and stumbled upon a Chez Nicolas whose site informs one that:

Nicolas Vagnon {welcomes you starting 30 March on the l'Ile d'Yeu}

Chez Nicolas

13 rue du Marché

85350 Port Joinville

tél: 06 74 24 73 10

I will report back after eating there next week.

[John Talbott]

Unlike Elvis and Jimmie Hoffa, about whom sightings have proven unproven, Nicolas Vagnon, ex-Lucullus in the 17th, is alive and well and living and cooking on the Ile d’Yeu off the Vendee/Brittany coast. Last week, he provided a most excellent dinner for my extended family at his new place – Chez Nicolas, 13 rue du Marche, on the back street off the port at Port-Joinville, 06.74.24.73.10, closed Wednesdays. After passing out water and a circle of bread with a generous portion of Comte and much appreciated (especially by the children) rillettes of tuna (the Ile d’Yeu is the traditional home to the French tuna-fishing fleet) with Swiss chard, he essentially provided two meals; one for the five kids of pasta and/or cod with rice/risotto, fruit juices and a wonderful coconut cake and another for the six adults consisting of a salad of greens and new red onions (from his own garden), squid with peppers and zuccini, amande clams with zuccini and leeks, sardines with butter and a “surprise dessert” of a thick chocolate mousse with flecks of chocolate and a “soup” of cranberries with a confiture sorbet. The bill, 276 Euros for 11 with lots of wine, Nicholas’ warm welcome and a fine send-off.

For those tempted to visit this wonderful 5000-person island just to revisit M. Vagnon, there’s much, much more, principally oysters and potatoes from Noirmoutier, a huge choice of fish to BBQ from one of Hennequin’s three stores, haricot vert beans and chevre from the Island itself and quite respectable wines from the Loire and Vendee.

And, for those inevitably stuck in Fromentine between the bus from or to Nantes and the ferry to or from the Ile d’Yeu, there are two fine places to eat: one a more-or-less standard creperie – l’Avocette, where we eleven ate for 34.40 Euros; the other, one of our best meals anywhere in June, Le Caboulot, 15 ave de l’Estacade, in La Barre de Monts, 02.28.10.56.3, where the salads, bar, desserts and wine were all way above standard for 175.60 Euros for 11.

[menton1]

Interesting, thanks for the report, John. This area of Brittany got a lot of attention last year at this time because of the Tour de France's start in this area, and the media swirl that precedes the Tour. There were lots of oysters, and lots of salt! (Hand harvested sea salt).

This year, it's starting in the Northeast corner, in Strasbourg. Weather looks unusually sunny and warm!