Le Palais – Belle Ile, France By Joe Ray 
I spoke too soon. Belle-Ile chef Pacôme Epron has brought me back in from the seawall with one dish.
Though the man has mastered roasting turbot at La Desirade, it was his dish based around cockles (cockles!) that brought me in. His recent millefeuille de coques, rosace de pomme de terre et courgettes au thym, jus viande au foie gras might be a little long in name, but what’s most important is the mix of cockles and meat jus. Some here will cry heresy at the idea of mixing of meat and fish, but theirs is a waste of hot air.
Pouring what tastes like the delicious fond from the bottom of a roast beef pan over the dish turns it from a dainty seafood course to something almost carnal – I wish I was eating this on a date.
Francois Mitterand might have preferred the frou-frou of the nearby Castel Clara (think: thalassotherapy, buffet tables and crisp white jackets), but I like Epron’s and La Table’s simplicity.
La Table de La Desirade – “Le Petit Cosquet – 56360 Belle-Ile-En-Mer - +33 (0)2 97 31 70 70
Food and travel writer and photographer Joe Ray contributes to The Boston Globe's travel blog, Globe-trotting.
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