Hungry T's Eating Journal

Eating in France (Part 1 of 2)

OK. I'm back from France. No photos of the food, but I'll try to pepper this post with a few other choice shots...

All right. Here we go...

Sat, Feb 4 - Dinner in Champagne. We get into Paris at around noon, and drive straight to Champagne, check into our hotel, and go to our first supplier, A. Soutiran (the same Champagne I celebrated my new house purchase with, and also brought to the Libra party). Tour some vineyards, 'taste' some bubbles, and eat from a nice spread of roast beef, ham, couscous, bread, terrine en croute.

Sun, Feb 5 - Petite dejeuner at hotel (coffee, cereal, croissant, etc).

Sun, Feb 5 - Dinner in Zellenberg (Alsace) with Anne-Marie and Marc Tempe. Chicken consomme with a piece of floated toast, Pot au Feu en France with shaved beets, cabbage, carrots, and celery root, a lovely salad, and a composed cheese plate of Muenster, fromage blanc, and potato (traditional in Alsace). Great mean and amazing wines (and a crazy cat who kept climbing the walls!! ).

Mon, Feb 6 - Petite dejeuner at Tempe's as well. Ham, Compte de Vosges, bread, coffee, homemade marmalade and preserves from Anne-Marie's mother, and juice.

Mon, Feb 6 - Dinner at the home of Jean-Pierre Charlot, owner and winemaker at Voillot. Gougere, pork on a toothpick, cashews, ham with carrots, onion, and cabbage, and a great big cheese plate. At this dinner, we had a 1978 Pommard Rugiens and a 1966 Volnay Champons. There were suggestions that we might be fed tete de veau. You know tete de veau? As I understand it, it's the entire head of a calf, boiled, sliced, eyes and everything. Some recipes say it's the jowl meat wrapped in the face, some call for tongue and brain. You all know I'm an omnivore, and would love to taste a little bit of this, but come on. At the home of a winemaker, you HAVE to eat what you are given, and clean the plate. The thought of this almost made me play sick and skip dinner, but I went, and thankfully, no tete de veau. (The photo is of some super old bottles in Charlot's cellar)

Tues, Feb 7 - Petite dejeuner at the Hotel des Ramparts in Beaune. The standard, croissant, coffee, juice.

Tues, Feb 7 - Lunch at Domaine DeMoor (in their SUPER cold cellars). 2 quiches (one mushroom, and one goat cheese with herbs), bread, a killer selection of cheeses, and, of course, wine. Super cool folks, too. Alice and Oliver were fantastic! And such amazing wines! When the 2004 vintage hits the market later this year (late fall, early summer), you should seek out these wines! St. Bris (a Sauvignon Blanc from the Chablis region), super old vine Aligote (planted in 1902), and a trio of stunning Chablis. (Photo of the cellar at DeMoor. The counteryou see here is where the food was spread out for us...)

Tues, Feb 7 - Dinner at Dom Boissieu in Beaujolais. Salad, terrine of foie gras, and caramelized onions with mustard with a Monbazillac wine as a first course. Beef bourgogne over rice as a main course, a cheese plate, tarte tatin, and chocolate. And lots of wine... Crazy old 'chateau' mansion in Beaujolais that had in in the same family (Lavernette) since 1596, and before that, was an abbey for Monks.

Wed, Feb 8 - Petite dejeuner at the hotel in Julienas, the typical croissant and coffee.

Wed, Feb 8 - Lunch with winemaker Louis Cheze at Le Bateau d'Emile in St. Joseph. Blood sausage, country pate, bread, salad, noodles with beef and sauce. Old St. Joseph, a vertical from 2001 back to 1996. Nice array of wines...

Wed, Feb 8 - Dinner at the home of the Saurel's in Vacqueyras. Lots of seafood is all I remember. I'm not a seafood fan, but I totally powered though it. You have to, you know? Oh, nice wines too. White and rose Vacq too. Don't see many of those. These guys are uber-biodynamic, so I knew their food would be organic and healthy...

Thurs, Feb 9 - Petite dejeuner at the hotel in Vacq.

Thurs, Feb 9 - Lunch with Louis Barroul at Ch. Saint Cosme. The lunch I'd been wanting all week thus far, salami, cheese, bread, wine, and fruit. Fantastic. And, a magnum of 2001 Gigondas Valbelle to drink! (Photo of some concrete tanks in the cave of St. Cosme. Concrete tanks/vats are pretty common in this part of France)

Thurs, Feb 9 - Dinner at Coupe Roses. This will be the subject of a separate post, it was so amazing.

Fri, Feb 10 - Lunch at Ch. Caladroy, bread, salad, roaster red peppers, sardines, sausage, lamb, cake, wine, cheese.

Fri, Feb 10 - Dinner at Hotel Bellevue in Puy l'Eveque, in the region of Cahors. Amuse of clam, potato chip, cucumber, and berry (separate, but on one plate). Goat cavocadovacado terrine with a tomato relish and olive bread. Pork cheeks with grilled pear (my first time eating . Dark chocolate cake. And, LOTS of Cahors wine (very dark, very structured. Could have used beef instead of pork, but at least I didn't get chicken or seafood, like some people in the group). (Photo of me, across the Lot river from the town of Puy l'Eveque)

Sat, Feb 11 - Brekky at the Hotel Bellevue, croissant, coffee, etc.

Sat, Feb 11 - Lunch, salami and bread in an old village atop a hill between Cahors and Bordeaux.

Sat, Feb 11 - Dinner, at a restaurant recommended by a supplier. Food was OK, but the service wasn't good, nor was the wine list. We couldn't figure out why this was recommended. I had a steak, cheese, scallops, and dark chocolate dessert.

Sun, Feb 12 - Brekky at the hotel, cereal, croissant, OJ, tea.

Sun, Feb 12 - Lunch at a restaurant in St. Emilion, I get a little charcuterie plate. We have some Bordeaux recommended by the waiter, and find it to be a little overdone (allright, a lot overdone). Lots of wood, jammy fruit, and extraction. Exactly what the French think Americans want (and they are mostly correct, but not with our group. We wanted elegance, style, and finesse. We got oak, power, and gobs of fruit).

Sun, Feb 12 - Dinner at the home of Alain Moueix (as near to Bordeaux royalty as you can get. His uncle Christian owns Petrus and Dominus). Pork tenderloin, potatoes, cheese, fruit tartes. A very nice last meal in France. We tried wines from Alain's winery in South Africa as well as some of his Bordeaux from 1990. Good stuff. ANd no offense to Madame Moueix' cooking, but the real treat of the meal was an amazingly aged chuck of Compte. Granular, nutty, amazing...

And that's it. Sunday was all airport food. I'll spare you the horrors. Keep an eye out for the post on dinner at Coupe Roses. You won't want to miss it.

posted by Hungry T @ 9:51 AM