Le Moulin de Lourmarin

[PaulaJ]

We are holding a reservation in this restaurant. Does

anyone have any experience with it? Also, do you

have notion of its distance from Avignon or St Remy?

[Bux]

Robert Brown mentioned he was "trying to finish my long post on Lourmarin" in an e-mail message. My understanding is that his reaction is mixed, at best. I've alerted him to this post.

[Steve Plotnicki]

Paula - I just drove to Lourmarin from Chateauneuf-du-Pape in February. That drive took me about an hour. It should be about a 35-45 minute drive from Avignon. And yes Robert's post on his recent meal at the restaurant (literally only a few days ago) should be on the board in the next day or so.

[PaulaJ]

Thanks Bux and Steve; I await RB's post.

Actually, we would be driving there from Chateuaneuf-de-Pape

[i posted Avignon to make the responding simpler.] ...so I

now suspect that between the upcoming post and the 'hour'

that we shall be seeking an alternate destination. We are dining

at La Mere Germaine. Do you have another suggestion?

Did you post on your trip? If so, I'll try to locate it. Later in the

week, we will visit L'Oustau, Crillon le Brave and Le Prieure[AVG].

Any comments are welcome...........as are ideas to fill the other

evenings.

[Steve Plotnicki]

La Mere Germaine is a simple place with decent enough food. A good place to take lunch. I haven't been but "the place" in the region is supposed to be Bistro au Paradou. I think I posted on my trip. It was a truffle fest in February. Check the boards. But we didn't eat at Moulin but at La Feniere instead. It was nice but not something I would drive an hour for. This is the funny thing about Provence. It has this mystical reputation about food but the restaurants there are truly poor compared to other regions of France.

[Bux]

This is the funny thing about Provence. It has this mystical reputation about food but the restaurants there are truly poor compared to other regions of France.

Provence attracts English speakers who like to talk about their travels.

Two winters ago, we had lunch in a one star place of some charm in Eygalières--le Bistrot d'Eygalières I don't know that I'd describe it as compelling, but it certainly showed signs that it could become that. As I recall, Margaret Pilgrim ate there on our recommendation and enjoyed it at least as much as we did. GaultMillau listed it as one of their finds that year. It's only a 15, but acoup de coeur in the latest GM. The chef is a young Belgian and his wife is a charming hostess. They had added some inviting looking rooms upstairs, but we had an appointment in Nimes that night.

[cabrales]

I've had very good meals at Lourmarin. Better than any meal, subjectively, than I have had at Veyrat with respect to cuisine only. The utilization of "forgotten" vegetables, less common herbs from the locality and flowers is patterned after Loubet's mentor, Veyrat, but better-executed. Interesting use of bitterness, including in almond relatives and other herbs.

The restaurant is worth the drive from Aix, and is, based on my experiences, among the strongest places in the South. I happen to believe that, together with Lorain and Roellinger (I have not yet sampled the latter's cuisine), Loubet is a strong two-star within France with respect to the crucial dimension of cuisine.

[MartyL]

Steve P. and Bux are right about Provence generally. On my recent trip to the region, Jill and I had a lot of restaurant meals that were mediocre. Lots of places focused too much on hotel-dining-room-style frou-frou (but generic) presentation, and not enough on flavor. That being said, Le Moulin de Lourmarin was excellent, and the best meal we had there. It is well worth a trip.

I’d like to write up a more detailed post about the meal and the rest of the trip, but that will have to wait until work responsibilities abate somewhat. The dish that I remember best at the moment from that meal was an appetizer of chickpea-truffle “soup.” More a foam then a soup, it was richly flavored and accented with some intriguing local herbs and topped with chickpea/herb fritters that were reminiscent of the much-discussed-round-these-parts falafel, and slices of black truffle. All of the food was, in the vein of this last dish, both inventive and delicious. As Cabrales says, there was much use of local and unusual herbs, vegetables and flavors. Although Loubert’s creativity was similar to Veyrat’s, personally I didn’t find the execution at Lourmarin to be superior. I may be biased here, as at Veyrat the service was so warm and generous and the atmosphere so beautiful that my memory of the meal is filtered through rose colored glasses. People should be aware that Moulin de Lourmarin does charge basically *** prices for food, but that is consistent with the quality you get. The wine list was also generally pricey, although if you don’t mind drinking it criminally young, 98 Chave Hermitage is available for something like $100. I didn't mind too much.

A further note about Lourmarin---consider staying the night in town after dinner. Our drive back to our inn (to the North, in Gordes) was pretty treacherous due to the twisting and narrow roads leading up through Bonnieux.

I also say Amen to Steve P.’s recommendation of Bistro au Paradou. Great place with a happy vibe and simple but delicious country food. 3 courses plus cheese, including a bottle of the house wine will run about $30. Everything is included whether you want it or not. No choice on the menu---you eat whatever they are making that day, but it will be good and you will clean your plate. My favorite part of the meal was when they brought a large tray full of excellent local cheeses to the table with a couple of knives and left it with us for a while so we could choose how much we wanted and go back for more when something was really good.

The third great meal we had in Provence was at Le Mas de Cure Bourse. I don’t have my notes handy and can’t remember any particulars, but I remember the food and service were excellent, with an emphasis on fresh local ingredients, and the tree-shaded garden was beautiful. Great place to go for lunch after a morning spent browsing through the market (Saturdays and/or Sundays, I think) in Isle Sur la Sorgue.

[cabrales]

MartyL -- I don't have my notes with me, but one of the dishes I remember most about Loubet (it was summertime) was a truffe en croute with local summer truffles, in a corn-based sauce. I was in a truffe en croute phase following my sampling of the same (with black truffles) at Boyer, and the one at Loubet did not seem poor in comparison by any means. The Loubet truffle in a pastry shell was accompanied by a bouillon consisting largely of uncooked egg yolk, dotted copiously by summer flowers from the region.

I sat outside in the area surrounding an old olive (?) tree, underneath vine-like canopies. The only negative about the environment was that there were scavenger cats, but they were not particularly nasty.

[MartyL]

Too bad the truffe en croute wasn't on the menu when I was there. Sounds terrific. Fortunately, I had Boyer's version of the dish a week later and it was as richly and decadently delicious as I remembered it from the first time I had it there, 3 years earlier on my honeymoon. Would have been interesting to compare the chefs' takes on the dish though. Unfortunately I guess I'll have to go back.

[cabrales]

PaulaJ -- I'd like to supplement the reasons for not necessarily cancelling your Loubet reservation. Unless you are traveling to the South specifically for Loubet or unless you are willing to go North (e.g., to Roanne or Laguiole -- which is only 3 hours from Montpellier), the Loubet restaurant's appeal is enhanced by its competition in the South. There is three-starred Jardin des Sens in Montpellier; perhaps that might be worth sampling merely to make the evaluation in your own mind if you have not visited and if you like Gagnaire-like, complex cuisine. There is two-starred Clos de la Violette in Aix, which was closed when I attempted a visit and at which I have never eaten. There are places of particular interest historically like Ostau de la Baumaniere. There's Passedat in Nice. And more if you are willing to go to or beyond St Tropez/Cannes/Grasse. Then there's also bouillabaisse at a small place in Marseilles, which would be somewhat appealing to me subjectively. However, depending on how much further you are willing to travel, alternative restaurants in the South in the area of Lourmarin is, in my assessment, considerably less attractive than if one were near Paris, Lyons or Strasbourg.

[cabrales]

Linked are indicative menus retrieved on the web regarding Moulin de Lourmarin. I have other menus that could be typed up, in the event they would make a difference to PaulaJ:

http://www.fitzroyhotel.com/Lourmarin/menuMoulin.htm

As illustrated by the menus, the herbs and other seasonings used by Loubet are unusual.

[Richard Tan]

I am also very fond of the cooking of Loubet; I agree with Cabrales that he is among the strongest of the 2-star chefs (although a gut feeling tells me that Chibois is going to be the next one elevated: he's made all the right moves in recent years, for instance investing heavily in upgrading his main property). I know quite well that they are doing very different things and are therefore not comparable, but if I had to choose strictly only one of Loubet or Reine Sammut, I would go with Loubet without hesitation.

In Lourmarin, make sure not to miss Albert Camus' grave at the cemetery. Incidentally, I think that Gilles Pudlowski (Le Point etc) is also a fervent supporter of Loubet and has written some very beautiful passages about Lourmarin, if I remember correctly, in his early (1984?), youthful, very passionate, very fine "Le devoir des francais".

Agnes Varda made a deeply-moving film recently (2000?, 2001?) called "Les glaneurs et la glaneuse" which was released in the US as "The Gleaners and I". She takes the notion of gleaning-of picking up what someone else has refused/does not want-examines the most varied and extraordinary manifestations of this practice and makes it resound almost as a metaphor for her life and her art. She visits second-hand stores, investigates the salvaging of unwanted furnitures left overnight at a street corner, follows a man who rummages in the garbage piles at the market (it looked like Marche de Belleville in the 11th) for perfectly edible but unsellable vegetables...Of interest to food lovers are those scenes in rural France where she films gleaners who, by law, are permitted to move freely into any farm (even those on private property) after the formal harvesting is over and glean whatever remains of grain (there is that famous image of Millet of grain gleaners), apples, of grapes...There is even a scene of oyster "gleaners" at (I think) Noirmoutier, waiting to move in and harvest "free" oysters once the legal signal is given. She visits Jean Laplanche, the great psychoanalyst who recently sold Chateau de Pommard to the Cathiards of Smith-Haut-Lafitte (this was the biggest news of the wine world last spring) to interview him about this practice of gleaning in the vineyards of Burgundy.

THEN there's the scene with Loubet himself, looking like a perfect maniac (wild hair and all), out frantically searching the fields of weeds for creative material. From his almost vehement defense of this practice, one gets a sense that this man uses foraged herbs/"forgotten vegetables" in his cooking not because it is all the rage at the moment, not bec his master Veyrat does it, but almost as if he needs to, desperately, to nourish his soul...

[robert brown]

On a summer’s day in the picture-postcard Provencal town of Lourmarin, you can, in the hotel-restaurant Le Moulin de Lourmarin, feel the uncomfortable heat coming from owner-chef Edouard Loubet’s bank loans. Well before I put the first morsel of Loubet’s food in my mouth, I had several times already felt a sting of stinginess that lasted throughout my entire stay. When I phoned for a hotel room and ask what the cancellation policy is, the receptionist told me that if one cancels less than 21 days before the date of the reservation, the establishment would keep the full cost of one night’s room as a credit for a future stay. (At Hotel-Restaurant Troisgros, for example, it is a much more considerate seven days.) When I told her that this was not a problem for me because I lived part of the year within reasonable driving distance, but that other Americans (let alone Asians and Australians, among others) might have a problem returning, she said that this was how it was. For practical purposes then, it is a case of use it or lose it. When I arrived, I felt the next blast of “froideur” in the chilly greeting at the front desk and the perfunctory explanation of the facilities in our hotel room by the luggage handler—but no educated one for the wrinkled sheets and pillowcases on the bed that made my wife question their freshness and that took three requests and two hours to replace. The “ haute bourgeois” quality of the fixtures, fittings, and construction of the hotel rooms and the distinct lack of the wherewithal to give them some charm and style fortunately does not carry through to the restrained yet tasteful décor of the public rooms.

If you are at the Moulin de Lourmarin just for dining (it does attract many gastronomes with its Guide Michelin two-star rating and talk of Loubet being a future three-star chef) then you do not encounter its tight-fistedness (unless you notice that the tablecloths, too, are not well-ironed) until you have sat down and read the small print on the menu. One line informs you that if you arrive after 1:30 P.M. for lunch or 9:30 P.M. for dinner, you cannot order any of the prix-fix menus, but instead are restricted to the exorbitantly priced (average price of around 60 euros a dish), full-portion “a la carte” dishes. This is what happened to my wife and me last summer after being stuck in bad traffic on the Autoroute east of Aix-en Provence. The printed line below that admonition then states still another rule that I never encountered in any restaurant: If you want to substitute a dish on one of the two fixed menus, you have to pay the “a la carte” price for it, although you are served, according to our maitre d’hotel, a full portion.

The most unfortunate consequence of bad, inept, and maladroit service is the way in which it diminishes the enjoyment of good food. At the Moulin, the food at times can be remarkable. Yet dining there is much like watching a great actor in a bad play with an inept supporting cast. Instead of being swept along through the meal and concentrating on consuming interesting food, the service brigade’s ineptness becomes a profound distraction. It quickly became apparent that Loubet has put together as cost-efficient a group as possible, with little regard to skill or experience, that consisted almost entirely of very young servers, two Senegalese men who did much of the lifting and carrying and to whom none of their colleagues would speak; and a prancer and dancer sommelier who was patronizing (though to his credit always there for a refill when you needed it) and assumed that no one could know anything about wine. (The wine book is bulked up with thick pages and large, well-spaced type and is replete with overpriced wines nowhere ready for consumption. Nonetheless a white Marsannay from Bruno Clair pleased us, as did a red Savigny-les Beaune from Michel Juillot that together came in for under $100.)

At times, the proceedings became rather comic. At the start of service, Loubet came bouncing out onto the terrace dressed in tight black trousers and a Provencal peasant’s top that was a beige, heavy-linen version of Seinfeld’s Puffy shirt. At a few inches over five feet tall, possessing a sullen personality and speaking with a lisp, Loubet is not the most charismatic chef around. He wished us a good appetite without breaking stride. Providing the biggest, though amusing distraction was watching the Senegalese waiters carrying large, heavy trays and standing frozen, waiting until another waiter or two takes the dishes to the table. Just as often as not, the man bearing the tray waits in vain until he finally has to put it down on a serving table. It becomes a game of “Will They Stop Whatever They are Doing and Come to the Rescue?” and an exercise that is sure to stop most dinner conversation.

In between the goings-on with the men in the beige uniforms (and the two woman servers who looked as though they had been hired straight out of junior high school) is Loubet’s culinary outpourings. First, it should be noted that the chef is a practitioner of the new way in the selection and number of dishes in expensive restaurants. I call it the "New Dining quid pro quo" in which the customer pays up for his food and allows the chef to dictate what he or she eats either with expensive fixed “menus”, (at the Moulin they are now 121 and 152 euros) or very expensive “a la carte” dishes, which are offered in fewer number than several years ago and priced to dissuade people from ordering them. In return, the customer receives not just the several small portions of the menu or the two “a la carte” dishes, but half a dozen or more small “amuses gueules”, “entremets” and introductory desserts to sweeten the pot or ease the financial pain. However, there is a self-serving motive to this seeming generosity: The extra dishes are those that can be prepared in advance, or are small versions of other dishes on the menu, and serve the purpose of allowing today’s economy-size kitchen brigades extra time to make the dishes that require meaningful time to prepare.

Some of these little dishes showed Loubet at his best. The first two “amuses-gueules” sent the meal off to a flying start. The first was a cold mousse of giroles in a wild fennel sauce that, “a la Adria”, combined warm and cold. Following this was a boudin of conger fish in an herb sauce that the four of us thought was the best small dish of the meal. (Three reasons for whatever lack of specificity in my describing certain dishes-- beyond trying to be good company for my dining companions-- is that the servers unemotionally rattled off the composition of each dish, speeding off so quickly to play catch-up at some other table so as not to give anyone a chance to ask questions or have something repeated; the establishment ignored my two communiques to provide me a copy of the restaurant menu; and it still has the spring menus on its website). Three of us had the plate of warm foie gras and the terrine of foie gras of duck that was part of the 121 euro menu. (My wife ordered the larger portion a la carte). It is a dish that has been available for the past year. Served with a green apple jelly and caramelized rataffia, the dish is otherwise what it is—something that is served in scores of restaurants, though not usually together. The “warm” foie gras was tepid, even after a waiter replaced it after realizing it had been sitting on the serving table too long The other “a la carte” dish was a small piece of langoustine in a sauce of rhubarb that my friend’s wife pronounced as “okay, not great.” The two “menu” takers each received a rouget, the preparation being forgettable, as evidenced by my inability to recall how it was prepared.. Everyone then received a palate cleanser ( “La Pause Provencal Selon Edouard Loubet”) of tomato sorbet in a blanched zucchini that was unappealingly acidic and icy. ( Having experienced the finesse with which Alain Passard handles tomatoes, I found Loubet’s to be crude. It is a throwaway dish that should be thrown away.)

The “plats de resistance”, as the French call the main course, were without doubt “pieces de resistances”. These were two meat dishes, one of pork, the other lamb chops, that were as succulent as you could ever hope to have. The “menu” provided discs of pork tender loin in a sauce of wild cumin that were so soft, tender, and delicious that they must have come from a piglet slaughtered at the youngest permissible age. The only criticism was the small amount we received in the menu portion: four slices, each of which was not much larger than a Necco wafer. The two women ordered the spectacular dish my wife and I shared last summer, the “cote d’agneau” smoked in “sarriette” or “poivre d’an’ (Summer savory) that the waiter shows you in its cooking pot surrounded by the herb. (Last summer they presented it smoking; last week, not). Even though it must be ordered by at least two people at 75 euros each, it is worth the splurge since these lamb chops may be the most tender and flavorful that you ever have.

Both “menus” include free reign over a large number of cheeses from Provence and elsewhere in France. The number of varietues is large; around 40, I would guess. Whether or not you receive any given cheese in peak condition is the luck of the draw since some had been recently replenished and others, to judge from their cracked rinds and discolored interiors, needed to be.

Desserts are not the strong suit of Le Moulin de Lourmarin. The 121 euro menu came with small portions of several desserts including some that were on the "a la carte" menu. One of these was a “millefeuille” of rhubarb with a grapefruit sauce. My wife’s a la carte selection, which she found predictable, was four small pots of “crème brulee”, each made from a different herb. This particular dish was fundamentally a reinterpretation of what Marc Veyrat serves in his restaurant on the Lake of Annecy. In fact, Veyrat’s hand is very much in evidence at the Moulin from the way Loubet has himself photographed wearing a forager’s hat and carrying a basket to collect herbs, to the use of esoteric herbs, spices and vegetables of the region that are grown in Loubet’s garden, to presenting a bevy of small dishes and a large “chariot” of cheeses. Judging from my last meal five years ago “Chez Veyrat”, Loubet’s mentor is a more inventive, skilled and consistent chef who runs his restaurant with solid professionalism and a spirit of generosity.

The present state of Le Moulin de Lourmarin is bittersweet. A chef who puts forth the best food in Provence is is own worst enemy.. No one, such as a skilled maitre d’hotel, general manager, or a family member is in evidence to makes her or himself readily available to clients or to troubleshoot immediate problems. It is the most extreme case of a phenomenon I have often seen in the sphere of restaurants and small hotels: the country bumpkin or provincial personality trying to make it in a world of those who are more sophisticated or cosmopolite. Yet, Loubet is a hardly a talent one should avoid at all costs. My recommendation would be to visit Le Moulin de Lourmarin in the off-season (the establishment is closed from late November to mid-December and early January to the end of February), spend the night elsewhere, order “a la carte” (the aforementioned lamb chops would be worthwhile having), allow for a large bill, cross your fingers, and do not expect to be treated as anything more than grist for the proverbial “Moulin”. In the meantime, the hope is that Loubet begins to concern himself more with forgotten clients than with forgotten vegetables.

[cabrales]

At a few inches over five feet tall, possessing a sullen personality and speaking with a lisp, Loubet is not the most charismatic chef around. He wished us a good appetite without breaking stride.

Robert -- While the service at Lourmarin sometimes leaves something to be desired, the dining room team appears earnest. I considered Loubet thoughtful and articulate, and not at all sullen. He appeared more willing to discuss cuisine at the end of services than before them, but generally to be welcoming and informed. Even appearance-wise, the chef would not be, in my assessment, unhappy-looking generally.

http://www.fitzroyhotel.com/Lourmarin/restoMoulin.htm

http://www.saveurs.sympatico.ca/relais/fra...sud/loubet3.htm

[MartyL]

Thanks for your post, Robert. When I was there, service was mostly correct, but I think you hit on the key problem with the place, which is a slight deficit of generosity and grace. At this level of dining, service should be balletic, and you should feel as if you are being treated like a king or queen. You don't want to read things on the menu about pricing policy.

[cabrales]

Despite the printed pricing policy, Loubet can be very generous, based on my experiences. For example, after discussions with him, he once gifted me 1/2 portions of all of the appetizers not included in my ordered tasting menu and an extra 1-2 entrees in appetizer size. Note I see nothing wrong with the explicit statements regarding pricing of dishes. Diners are better off knowing about what the restaurant might charge under different circumstances. Note I also happen to believe Loubet's cuisine is a good deal, relative to its tastiness.

On the policy of not returning funds after a specified period of time, note that it is a generous policy because one gets to utilize the "forfeited" amounts towards a next visit. I have direct experience with this policy. Once, I cancelled the day before a room. The hotel likely would not have had the time to resell it. Nonetheless, I still received back the full amount, held by the hotel/restaurant, for application towards my next stay. That is generous if the hotel could not resell the room. Note also that, despite the written policy, if the hotel is able to resell the room and is full, a diner is free to argue for a refund, I would assume.

The hotel/restaurant's frankness with respect to its policies is helpful, instead of distracting, to me. It is very up front about its room cancellation policy. If a guest is unhappy with that, the guest need not book a room there. The guest can stay at Auberge de la Feniere, whose reservations policy I do not care to learn about, or elsewhere in the region. Nobody is being forced to accept the cancellation policy of Moulin de Lourmarin. To indicate that it disproportionately affects non-European parties is something that could also be debated.

It's similar to concerns about price inflation in certain respects. Nobody is forcing Americans, French or any other people to eat at two- or three-starred facilities. If a diner cares about prices, she should call the restaurant and ask, or otherwise investigate. Similarly, nobody is being forced to take a room at Moulin de Lourmarin. One takes the benefits of a room reservation together wth the potential downsides (including the reservations policy). In my mind, a diner s not entitled to reasonable prices or reasonable reservations policies. The prices and policies are what they are. If a given diner considers them unreasonable and others do not, the latter group dines or stays at the given facility. If most diners consider the prices excessive, the facility will bear the economic consequences of its own decisions.

[cabrales]

On reservations policies, here is La Cote Saint-Jacques' (currently two-starred, although formerly three-starred):

"More than 30 days we refund full prepayment

**Between 29 and 20 days we refund you 80% of the prepayment**

Between 19 and 10 days, we refund 40% of the prepayment

Less than 10 days : nothing"

[MartyL]

Despite the printed pricing policy, Loubet can be very generous, based on my experiences. For example, after discussions with him, he once gifted me 1/2 portions of all of the appetizers not included in my ordered tasting menu and an extra 1-2 entrees in appetizer size.

That is the kind of above-and-beyond type of generosity that we experienced at Veyrat, where our lunch lasted about 5 hours as a result. We simply did not luck out like that at Lourmarin. As I said above, I'd still happily go back, but I do think the restaurant has a few things to work out in terms of warmth and hospitality of service.

[robert brown]

Marty, welcome to the site. You look for, and are aware of, the same attributes I do in serious French restaurants. I look forward to your future exploits and commentary. (When was your first post, as now I see you joined in March? Welcome nonetheless).

Cabrales, you know how much I revere and respect you. I rarely disagree with you. However, I don’t see eye-to-eye with you about Loubet, although it may be largely because we were there at a different time and had a different quality of experience. Nonetheless, the Moulin’s revelation of its reservation policy was a result of my asking what it was. Perhaps the woman on the phone would have gotten around to explaining it to me. My guess is that it was spelled out on their reconfirming fax that for some reason they were never able to successfully transmit to me. But even then, that is too late, having already given her my credit card information. I cannot find the policy spelled out on their website either. Yet even when she told me five days before I was to arrive that they had only one room left, she did not say that if I canceled and they could still sell the room, they would refund my money. For someone like yourself who travels the length and breadth of France every year, having an establishment keep your deposit for future use when canceling as little as 24 hours prior to the reservation date is “ a good thing”. But what about the majority of clients, some far-flung, for whom a trip to Provence is a once or twice in a lifetime event whose circumstances change 20 days prior to their reservation? In the alternate example I cited, Hotel-Restaurant Troisgros, and the one you mentioned, La Cote St. Jacques, both are quite a bit more humane than the Moulin’s.

As for prices, these are discoverable on the Moulin’s web site, which reproduces the two “menus” with prices A fair notion of them is also presented in the usual guide books The point I was trying to make is not that the prices were high purely on an absolute basis. (They are three-star prices as Marty said, but the Moulin’s prices are not the highest in France); they are high and not commensurate with the level of service and the spirit of generosity of the house. You appear to be giving great chefs a level of autonomy and supremacy that says to the hands that feed them, “Take it or leave it” It is just this kind of attitude that leads to what I experienced in Lourmarin and why, I believe, the Loubet family, and an increasing number of other chef-restaurateurs, now has to make these ordering rules (again no one told me that if I arrive after 1:30 p.m. or 9:30 p.m., I could not order a “degustation” menu), create these one-sided room reservation policies, and economize on the number and professionalism of the employees.

As for complimentary dishes, who knows these days what is complimentary and what is not. There are so many little dishes coming out prefaced with the words “compliments of the chef”, it is hard to figure out. If everyone in the restaurant is getting them, does that mean you are still getting special treatment? It sounds as though you did get extra dishes when you were there. But were they dishes that otherwise would have gone to waste, made in anticipation of special situations, or was the giving of them indicative of treatment that you would receive today? Is that we did not receive special treatment another indication that “Family S.A.” as the Loubet empire of 2-1/2 hotel-restaurants and a boutique calls itself is feeling the heat of the major decline of tourism in France? Is it possible the serving staff was too stretched out to want to serve more dishes and keep the tables occupied longer than necessary? I saw what I saw. After many years of patronizing these kinds of restaurants regularly, my depth or length of experience picked up the manifestations of an enterprise in a less-than-robust state of financial well being, which I was made to pay for both with my wallet and my spirit.

[cabrales]

Cabrales, you know how much I revere and respect you. I rarely disagree with you.

Robert -- Thank you for your kind words The directionality of the admiration and appreciation should be, and is, from me to you and Susan.

But what about the majority of clients, some far-flung, for whom a trip to Provence is a once or twice in a lifetime event whose circumstances change 20 days prior to their reservation?....

[T]hey [the Moulin prices] are high and not commensurate with the level of service and the spirit of generosity of the house. . . . the Loubet family, and an increasing number of other chef-restaurateurs, now has to make these ordering rules (again no one told me that if I arrive after 1:30 p.m. or 9:30 p.m., I could not order a “degustation” menu), create these one-sided room reservation policies, and economize on the number and professionalism of the employees.

On the Moulin prices, I agree that they are not below three-star prices. I note, however, the number of dishes one gets, even if only the dishes mandated as part of the tasting menus are served, is a good number. I agree also that service is a weakness of the restaurant, but there could be many explanations for that. For example, lack of local talent within the small population in and around Lourmarin, including as a result of competition for talent with nearby Auberge de la Feniere (depending on how wide a geographic "draw" each restaurant has with respect to hiring).

On the Moulin poicy of no menu degustations after 1:30 pm, perhaps that reflects the length of the degustation menu at Moulin (it is very significant -- the only times in recent memory that I have felt pressured about being able to eat everything served to me that I wanted to eat was at Moulin and at Veyrat's, ironically). I rarely get so full that my tummy begins to feel tight and I feel I cannot eat any more. That has happened at Loubet. In each of Loubet's tasting menus, there is an item called "La Pause Provençale Selon Édouard Loubet" (A Provence-style Pause According to Loubet). I remember looking at the menu the first time I went to the restaurant, and thinking that menu line was gimmick-like. Only after beginning the meal did I realize how necessary that (very short) pause was. While it would have been better if the restaurant had alerted you to the 1:30 policy, perhaps they only alert people who attempt to make reservations at or after 1:30 (?). I appreciate one can encounter unexpected traffic, as you and Susan did on a prior occasion around Aix, and that unanticipated developments can materialize. I merely note that, under normal circumstances and without knowledge specific to this point, I would have expected the restaurant to attempt to alert diners to the 1:30 timeframe only if they were making 1:30 or later reservations (or perhaps 1:00 reservations, if they were contemplating a cushion).

On the reservations policies, there is the possibility, depending on the facts, that a late cancellation (even 20 days beforehand) would cause the hotel to have turned away some other potential guest in order to honor the reservation. In my case of a cancellation the day before the date of arrival, the hotel would have likely lost revenue because it would not have resold the room, but would have been obligated to honor the payment I provided against my next visit.

I note another potential weakness of Moulin. When I am there in the summer, I sit outside in the open air. However, the main vaulted dining room did not appear to have strong air conditioning and was relatively poorly ventilated. Have members noticed adequate air conditioning in the main dining room at Moulin?

[lizziee]

"two Senegalese men who did much of the lifting and carrying and to whom none of their colleagues would speak"

"Providing the biggest, though amusing distraction was watching the Senegalese waiters carrying large, heavy trays and standing frozen, waiting until another waiter or two takes the dishes to the table. Just as often as not, the man bearing the tray waits in vain until he finally has to put it down on a serving table. It becomes a game of “Will They Stop Whatever They are Doing and Come to the Rescue?” and an exercise that is sure to stop most dinner conversation."

Robert,

I don't know if this is the case, but I wonder if your Senegalese bussers were getting the "hazing treatment" from the rest of the wait staff. Our son who did a stage at a two star in Paris was given THE newcomer treatment by the staff. When he first started working, the wait staff would set up impossible situations for him to handle. He, too, had to hold a huge, heavy tray and wait patiently at attention while the waiters slowly removed the plates to be brought to the table. When the table was ready to have their plates cleared, they would again "load up the tray" and he had to carry it down a long, spiral staircase to the dishwashers. In the kitchen, the chef would slap his hands with a steel spoon to "get his attention." Of course, I am not condoning this treatment and it certainly should not be so obvious as to make diners wary and uncomfortable. It is just a thought as to why it happened.

[Steve Plotnicki]

Cabrales - Why do you feel it is so important to defend the Moulin, going as far as making excuses for them by making hypotheticals about their difficulties in getting good help? Robert's review wasn't unfair. Couldn't that be what he experienced when he went there? And if a restaurant has bad and unfair policies about things like room cancellations and time limits on ordering, and someone finds that offensive, then why shouldn't they complain about it in print? There are no excuses for a 21 day cancellation policy, and saying one can use it as a credit in the future doesn't make it a good policy.

[cabrales]

Robert -- Please know that I respect and trust your views. I am merely trying to ask whether there might be alternative, more "benign" interpretations.

[Bux]

Taste in food is very subjective, but I believe reaction to dining experiences overall is just as subjective. The trick is not to hide one's subjective reactions, but to present them as objectively as possible, which is what I thought Robert did very well and very fairly. I don't think Cabrales was denying Robert's right to complain. I welcome her "defense" of Loubet and his Moulin to the extent that it explains her feelings and even to the extent that she plays devil's advocate. I think eGullet serves its members best when it encourages discussion and presents the widest possible assessment of any restaurant or situation. I don't think we function well as a jury deciding thumbs up or thumbs down and I doubt anyone has posted anything that Paula shouldn't find useful in making her decision about dining at le Moulin de Lourmarin. My guess is that she really wanted all thoughts, opinions and even speculation as long as it's presented as what it is.

What's been said will dissuade some potential diners from making a reservation and not others, but I think it will also serve those who choose to dine there and make them more aware of where the rewards are and where they may not be.

PaulaJ, you don't say if you have reservations at the inn, or just the dining room, but the information on cancellations may be most useful.