Just back from a trip to Paris, Tours and the Armagnac and Basque regions. We spent a lot of time eating at the homes of friends and family, and in Paris we stayed at an apartment and cooked a fair amount. So I don't have a long list of recommendations, but here are some...
Hotel de Bastard in Lectoure, Gers – The restaurant (also a hotel) is located in a nice 1800s manor house (old to us, just middle-aged for Lectoure). There is a beautiful outside dining area in the courtyard under a pergola with a nice view. Jean Luc Arnaud, the chef, offers stylish modern cooking with excellent local ingredients. The service is good, they have a substantial wine list, predominantly Bordeaux and wines of the Southwest. Given the quality and ambience, I’m baffled as to why it doesn’t have a Michelin star. There is a good 29 euro menu and a 19 euro menu during weekday lunch. Among the dishes we had:
--Foie Gras en 3 façons, the three variations being: a cocotte of fresh sliced foie gras poached in a winy broth with a Chinese-like flavor (anise and soy hints); a whipped foie gras mousse sitting in a small apple; a terrine topped with a delicious beet gelée that brilliantly pays the sweet compliment to the foie gras usually performed by some fruit or compote.
--A perfect very fresh simple green salad showered with chives.
--an appetizer of 3 vegetables, consisting of a ravioli stuffed with veggies, a zucchini stuffed with delicious relative of tapenade, and a slice of eggplant gratineed with cheese.
--a nice piece of turbot on tender beans that looked rather like pintos but seemed richer and plumper and cooked in a remarkably delicious tomato and herb sauce.
--Kidneys with morels on a thick piece of grilled country bread (a “Mique”), topped with a rich brown winy mushroom sauce.
--a superb prune-Armagnac soufflé (how regional can you get?)
--a very delicious eggy pain perdu studded with dark chocolate chips and topped with a rich caramel sauce.
All of this was washed down with a 2007 Domaine de Chiroulet Cotes de Gascogne red recommended by our hostess, quite like a fruity well-balanced Bordeaux with no oak.
Coté Remparts in Condom, Gers – I can’t recommend this Chambre d’Hote highly enough. Philippe and Catherine Bolac are gracious and friendly hosts, occasionally assisted by their kids. The building is an old town manor dating back to the 1600s, built on the edge of the old ramparts with an excellent view and a pool in the garden. There are just two rooms to let, one being actually a 2-room suite. Both are enormous and private. The whole place is superbly restored with restraint and good taste. The breakfasts are copious and delicious with a nice assortment of breads, homemade and local jams and spreads, fresh fruit and good coffee. Luxurious accommodations at the price of an inexpensive hotel.
http://cote-remparts.com/index.php?langue=en .
For fans of medieval history, there is a very entertaining place at the foot of the fortified village of Larressingle nearby where they have reconstructed trebuchets, crossbows, rams and various other instruments of siegecraft. You can get a guided tour and try some of them out. Our guide was quite humorous and knowledgeable. In a nearby field some actors had borrowed some of the equipment to make a hilariously low-budget swords and sorcery film. All that was missing were a few Pythonesque coconut clappers.
The old town of Bayonne is really nice. Many small alleys and pedestrian streets with houses predating 1800, interesting shops and a funky Basque-Hippy-Artisan ambience. In contrast, Biarritz is slick and yuppified, with lots of wealthy looking, tanned and leathery retirees.
Our brother-in-law took us on a tour of the Txakoli vineyards in the hills overlooking the cote Basque. Spectacular views from the roads winding around the steep vineyards. They are looking prosperous and well tended, with quite a few new wineries sprouting up among them. Then he took us to...
Ristorante Basusta in Zumaia, Spain – The port town of Zumaia is about 40km into Spain along the Basque coast. This restaurant is right in the port, which still has active ship-builders. In fact, our view is of a large oddly-shaped platform supply ship being refitted. Entertaining or ugly, depending on your perspective (the former for me). The restaurant itself is simple with pale yellow walls. The focus is seafood of impeccable freshness. For starters, we have some piquillo peppers stuffed with creamy milk-soaked bacalao and thin slices of fine local ham. Then comes a green salad garnished with potatoes, tomatoes and white asparagus. Finally, the arrival of two large whole fish: an incredibly fresh Rape (sp?), which is lotte, cooked a la plancha and dressed in pan juices mixed with a garlic-vinegar-olive oil dressing; and a delicious fresh Lenguado (sole). The sole is very good, but the lotte is remarkable, succulent, oceanic without being fishy, one of the best fish I have had in years. Dessert includes some sheep cheese with a cherry version of membrillo; a good flan; and an excellent Tarta Aramdanos, a light white relative of cheesecake topped with berry jelly. A jolly slightly fizzy Txakolina and a fruity Rioja rosé complement the meal.
Au Petit Sud-Quest, 46 Avenue Bourdonnais, Paris 7th – an establishment selling Southwest wines and food products in front, with a restaurant in the back. This seems to be something of a formula in Paris, I must have seen at least 10 of them while we were there. This is somewhat worrying, in that there must be a temptation to cut costs of skilled labor and inventory with an “open and reheat” kitchen policy. No need to worry here, the owners have pride and use top-notch ingredients whether using their own conserves or buying fresh produce. The service is friendly and professional but not formal. We start off with some tasty regional aperitifs – the Floc de Gascogne (the Gers region’s equivalent of Pineau des Charantes) and the Pousse-Rapiere, which is a local sparkling wine given complexity and punch with a dash of liqueur made from Armagnac and orange. We have an excellent salad with gesiers, good confit de canard with potato puffs, a tasty and varied Garbure (the bean soup of the region), a deliciously woodsy and unctuous Brouillade of eggs with cèpes. Here’s Domaine Chiroulet Cotes de Gascogne red again, this time a 2006 reserve, with the same balanced Bordelaise red fruit, this time backed with a bit more tannin and moderate oak. The first bottle is corked, but Madame takes it back graciously, agreeing wholeheartedly that the wine is corked and complimenting us on having noticed. (This is in stark contrast to our dining companion’s experience at a 3 star restaurant earlier in the year, where a blatantly corked Sancerre was taken back only grudgingly).
Le Trumilou, 84 Quai de l’Hotel de Ville, 4th Paris – This restaurant is very close to the Hotel de Ville, across the river from the Isle St. Louis. It features a somewhat dilapidated décor out of central casting for the Paris neighborhood restaurant – dull red banquettes, small tables, copper cookware and old farmtools and pictures of the owners’ pays (Cantal in this case) on the walls. There is a classic old-fashioned carte (herring with potatoes, escargots, terrine du jour, entrecote, andouillete) with a few specials (pleurotte mushrooms, a couple of fish) and an excellent value prix-fixe menu for 19.50 euros. We order a quintessential Salade aux Lardons with excellent homemade croutons, a perfectly poached egg and meaty lardons. There is also a pleasant salade composée with lightly smoked chicken and roasted vegetables. The prix-fixe menu starts with a flan or gratin of green figs and chevre; this is a great idea, with the ripe green figs sitting in a savory custard and topped with slightly browned and crusted goat cheese. A nice Lapin a la Moutarde follows, less mustardy and more winey than the one I make at home. Then a gratin des fruits rouges, juicy and tangy with a slightly frothy egg white sauce. We add a Montblanc with chestnut purée, caramel ice cream and whipped cream. The house St. Pourcain is dull on the nose, but well-balanced and rather Macon-like on the palate with a slight tangy edge. Friendly service, mostly local clients despite its location near Berthillon. Perhaps not worth a special trip, but good value when you want a classic bistro or are in the neighborhood.
Patisserie Pain de Sucre, 14 Rue Rambuteau Paris 3rd. Paris seems to be obsessed with macarons these days, nearly every patisserie and confiserie features them. But these are a step up - insanely good macarons with everything made from pristine fresh ingredients. For instance the chocolat-menthe features a thin slice of intensely bittersweet chocolate in the middle and is redolent with fresh minced mint. The lemon is acutely lemony with a bit of skin. The passionfruit’s center is remniscent of a top quality pate de fruit. This store also features innovative patisserie and tarts using classic techniques, some interesting savory treats and breads and very good sandwiches du jour.