A Perfect Day in Provence

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This was the last day with the car and we were headed for Grasse, 2 hours from Aix, above the French Riviera. I didn’t mention that our room was not actually in the hotel, it was down the street by the Church and Museum in a separate building, once a single-family residence, now about 6 apartment style rooms owned by the hotel. To get to breakfast we had to walk the grueling ½ a block to the main hotel. We sat at the only table for two to have our coffee, croissant and cheese. At the table next to us was a trio of retired women, discussing their children. One of them kept mention Prineville Oregon, so on our way, out I asked if she was from Oregon, she was in fact from Prineville, said I was originally from Portland Oregon, strange to hear those words out loud. One of the women then asked do you know each other, like Oregon is some tiny state and we all know each other, especially when one is from the vast eastern side of the state and the other from the blub bubble of Portland.

Grasse

Breakfast done, we headed to the car and to the rental company to see what the damage was. There was in fact no damage, they just allowed us to extend for the day and at a lower price than the car I originally reserved for the day. It wasn’t even difficult back to the rental office; we have now mastered the GPS system so no more getting lost or stress driving into a new city. With the car taken care of we were off to Grasse.

We took the A road (toll) more expensive but definitely faster when you have limited time. We exited the A road just before Nice and above Cannes. We got a quick glimpse of the Mediterranean Sea. Grasse was a short 15 minutes above the Mediterranean. It was also much hillier that we thought. The GPS did manage to get us a bit lost on the way to the parking lot, the road it wanted us to go down, no car could actually navigate, it was a road, but pedestrians could barely get through let alone a car, even a small one. We managed to get turned around, redirected and found the parking lot. Which was right next to where we wanted to be, the one any only thing we were seeing here, the view from the cathedral.

Grasse is of course famous for perfume, all of the major houses are located here in some form, Channel, Dior, etc. We visited none of them, because well, it is not our thing. We took our pictures and were off to lunch in the country.

Auberge Des Gorge de Loup

We set the GPS for our lunch destination, it was about a 30-minute drive from Grasse, through small villages and the countryside. It was, as the name implies, in a gorge. It was a beautiful sunny Saturday and the bikers (perhaps in training for the tour de France) were everywhere. We found out lunch spot easily and even arrived a bit early. Jerry took a few pictures before we went to the terrace for lunch. It was such a beautiful day, we decided to eat outside so we could fully enjoy the country side and fresh air. Didn’t enjoy the very large bumble be, but he didn’t seem very interested in us either.

There were several prefix menus you could choose from 3 to 5 courses, we choose the smaller and lighter three course, we still had to drive back to Aix, so didn’t want to be in a food coma. Since we are in the Provence area, we of course started with a very nice Cote de Provence, nice and dry Rose.

I started with L’Assiestte de Charcuterie, and very nice entrée with country style pate, jamon, and salami. Jerry started with a nice salad, with a very good mustard vinaigrette. We shared both. We took our time, as we had no place to be, but right where we were. There is also a very reasonably priced hotel connected to the restaurant, if we ate to much, we could just get a room and take a nap, if only we didn’t have to have the car back by six.

As we enjoyed our starters, wine and the countryside, we spotted a couple of hang gliders high in the air at the top of the gorge, I am sure the view is spectacular, but something I will not be doing in this lifetime.

Our starters cleared we moved on to our plats. Jerry ordered the trout in lemon sauce, it came out hole so he had to use the special fish fork to debone, he didn’t a very good job of it. I had chicken breasts stuffed with ceps (a type of mushroom) and sausage, in a very light mustard sauce. The skin on the breast was nice and crispy and the stuffing moist and delectable. I even tried some of Jerry’s trout, and yep still don’t like it. He loved it. We both had the same side vegetable a really excellent ratatouille, with Herbs de Provence. I even ate the eggplant, what little there was, Jerry picked it out.

For dessert we both had a lemon tart with méringue. I know you are thinking lemon méringue pie, but this was not grandma’s pie, from the crust to the filling to the méringue it was the best ever.

Finally, I had an espresso to give me a jolt for the drive back to Aix.

It was really a very lovely day in the French countryside, away from the crowds and the only noise was the soft roar, almost purr, of the nearby waterfall.

It took about two hours to drive back in to Aix, didn’t get lost once and drove directly to the car rental office, returned our car with out incident and walked back to our hotel. We did have an interesting experience while we were in the Monoprix buying some water and wine for later. While we were in line a man approached us with one bottle of water, we only had six items and were next in line, he wanted to cut ahead of us, not sure what his hurry was, but we politely said no we had already been in line for a bit. He started in French, but then switched to English, we at first responded in French that we did not speak the language, that is when he switched to English and decided to insult us. “you are from America.”

“Qui”

“Why don’t you speak French, you aren’t very clever”

Jerry: “We never said we were clever”

“Not very clever Americans at all”

He went on for a bit more, we just ignored him, what I wanted to say was, “we may not be clever, but you are the stereotypical rude Frenchman.” I refrained.

The interesting thing is that in the seven times we have been to France, 8 for me, we have never really run across anyone, other than this man, that is in fact rude. Yes, a bit of Parisian attitude now and then, but never the rude French. Maybe because we are not the “Ugly American” tourist and at least try, all be it very badly, to speak some French; or maybe we just have positive energy around us, whatever the reason, we just do not usually have any issues where ever we travel. Ok, someone tried to pick my pocket in Paris, but that really can happen just as easily in Des Moines, Iowa.

Moving on, we got back to the room around 4 so plenty of time to catch up on blogs, enjoy our terrace and wine before dinner at 8:30.

Jardin Mazarin

We discovered this restaurant when we were here 7 years ago. It is just down the street from our hotel off the square with the dolphin fountain, I didn’t right the name in French so I can not tell you the proper name. It is just off the square on 14 Rue du 4 Septembre. It is one of the more upscale establishments in the old city and definitely not a tourist destination. They do speak English and have English menus for those of us that are French impaired.

I will get the negative aspects of the evening out of the way quickly. It was a wonderful evening and great meal, but there were just a few things that could have been better. First, it was a bit warm, a cracked window would have been nice. However, it does seem that the French have something in common with New Yorkers, they run cold. It has been fantastic weather every day we have been in France, not cold, not hot, but just right, but they still have their scarfs wrapped around their necks and there winter coats on, just like the average New Yorker.

Second issue, do not ever and I mean ever, sit a couple with a three old at the table next to me when I am only half way through my dinner. Especially when there is a perfectly could table across the room, that was next to on one. I was kicked three times by the “charming” toddler.

Finally, Jerry had the bad side of the table, not enough space between him and the next table, so was bumped must about every time a waiter went by. All of that was overcome by the food and the best bottle of wine we have had on this trip.

When we travel, I have a small notebook that I always have on me when we go to a restaurant, you do not think I really remember all of this off the top of my head? Tonight, was no different, I was busy writing down what we were going to have that night and the owner and our waiter both saw me scratching a way at my pad. We think they might have thought we were some type of food critique for a big magazine, because for about an hour they treated us very well, they did not ever treat us bad, but the attention paid to us was very different than other places. I even pulled it out at one point later in the dinner to make a note about the child, they saw me writing again, and seemed concerned. It was just an interesting observation.

So, what did we eat? It was definitely one of the top three meals of the trip so far.

There were several really good entrées to choose from, we both were drawn to the same one, but only one can have it, as we want to be able to taste as many different things as possible. Jerry had the Green asparagus 2 ways, a gazpacho with duck breast tartar with pinons and cheep chees quenelles, the second preparation was two steamed asparagus laid over the top of the gazpacho. It was very good and inventive.

I had he Sea Bream Ceviche, with seared scallops (not sure how they were seared they seemed raw to me) with coconut, grapefruit and chopped spring onions. It was really over the top in taste and presentation.

Of course, we had a glass of Brut Champagne to go with this. Service was typical French here. No rush between courses, allowing time to talk, sip your wine, and people watch.

The plats were also difficult to choose from, they had two very good beef specials in addition to the main menu. We decided to go off the menu because they two dishes we wanted just sounded to good to pass up.

Jerry was torn between a spicy crusted Salmon and crawfish tails wrapped in Sole. He went with the Crawfish. The full description of Jerry’s dish is as follows: Crayfish tail wrapped in sole, with bisque mousse cream with ginger and a vegetable risotto. (The vegetable risotto were very nicely prepared potatoes that were in the bisque mousse cream.

I had a thick cut baked veal chop. The sauce on the veal was the star. It was served with mashed parsnips with truffles and sautéed vegetables (a nice mix of pea shells and green beans). It was very good and good a perfect medium rare. It literally melted in my mouth.

The star of the night and the dish of the day, in this case the Wine of the trip, was a bottle of 2015 Domaine L’Obilbaux. Provence is famous for their rose, who knew they made one of the best reds we have tasted in a very long time. It was full bodied, had legs that lasted the entire glass and just the right amount of tannins. It is a wine that is good now and, in a few years, will likely be unbelievable.

The place was really busy, of course it was Saturday night. There were celebrations, dates, and people like us just looking for a great meal to end their Saturday. It was not a disappointment, and we will return time and time again. Dinner is not over; I have not even discussed dessert yet.

Jerry was again torn between two desserts a baba limoncello or a frozen Grand Marnier souffle, the souffle won out. It literally was a perfect souffle that had been frozen, it was still light as air and the bottom a bit denser with carnalized pineapple. I am not sure how they accomplished this, but it was such a surprise dish.

While the wine may have been the dish of the day, my dessert was truly the dessert of the trip. A perfectly caramelized pain perdu, with caramel ice cream and a salted butter caramel sauce. We still are not done, the meal ended as if we were in Italy, limoncello. The manager/owner was Italian and it showed in his after dinner offering of limoncello, he also loved New York, we said we would be happy to trade living locations with him.

As we left for the evening, the owner, and servers all shook our hands and wished us a bon nuit, I still think they thought we were food critics, but who knows. It definitely gets two thumbs up from us.

We strolled back to the hotel and a night cap and again enjoyed the terrace and brisk night air. It really was a prefect day and a great wine day from lunch through dinner.

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