simon says french food blog

A TASTE OF THE FUTURE

By Joe Ray
LUMMI ISLAND, Washington

I’ve seen the future on a little island in the Pacific Northwest. A few weeks ago, I got a taste of Blaine Wetzel’s cuisine in his new role as executive chef at the Willows Inn.

Who’s Wetzel? You’ll likely be hearing quite a bit about him, particularly if you’re from that neck of the woods. Wetzel, 24, is fresh off a stint at Copenhagen’s noma restaurant, working as the chef de partie for Rene Redzepi. He was there when noma officially went through the roof, knocking El Bulli out of the top slot in San Pellegrino’s Best Restaurant in The World hooplah.

Did they win because he was there? No. Was he taking good notes? You bet.

I was at the Willows to interview Wetzel for a set of upcoming articles and a sneak preview of what to expect when the Willows reopens next month.

A seven-course tasting menu was about six courses more than I needed to know that it was worth the trip. He might be a two-hour drive and five minute ferry ride from both Seattle and Vancouver, but you might want to reserve now.

What’d he serve? Barely poached end gently pickled Hammersley Inlet oysters were one of many surprise ‘snacks,’ but my favorite dish might have been the wild mushrooms, fresh cheese and woodruff. For the latter, he forages some of the mushrooms and woodruff and makes the cheese - rennet’s in a little bottle on a shelf in the fridge. He devotes a whole course to the potatoes inn owner Riley Starks grows at the adjacent Nettles Farm that supplies much of the kitchen’s produce.

Need any more reason to go? A four-course tasting menu will start at $40 and a seven course for $65. The inn and restaurant are closed for a January remodel.

Taste of the future begins in February. Go early.

The Willows Inn - MAP
2579 West Shore Drive

Lummi Island, WA 98262
+1 
(360)758-2620
www.willows-inn.com

For a bit of background on Wetzel’s arrival, click here. ...and for my Boston Globe story on Willows Inn owner Riley Starks, click here.

Food and travel writer and photographer Joe Ray is the 2009 Lowell Thomas Travel Journalist of the Year and author of the blog Eating The Motherland. Follow him on Facebook and on Twitter: @joe_diner.

 

IN BRUGES: LOLLING IN THE COACH HOUSE

By Joe Ray
BRUGES

Finding good accommodations online is as fun as buying a plane ticket. In Bruges, where seemingly every other business is a hotel catering to the legions of tourists who descend on this place in the warmer months, it’s particularly intimidating.

To avoid losing a day, I give myself 15 minutes and a budget, opening tabs left and right off of the helpful brugge.be Web site and doing a quick process of elimination. God bless the off season - I’m now two for two at finding great B&Bs in Belgium.

The full day we’re at ‘t Koetshuis - the one you’d imagine spending all day wandering around one of Europe’s most beautiful cities? Well, the little guest house has a bath, a patio that looks out onto a canal, a fireplace, a big couch and a huge selection of beer; we spend most of the day lolling around, not feeling like we’re missing out at all.

I also like that it’s a pair of professionals - two child psychologists - running the place. Clearly, they don’t need to be doing this, but they’re generous with their time and have plenty of good recommendations for where to go in town.

Next time I’m here, booking will consist of one phone call.

‘t Koetshuis MAP
Sulferbergstraat 38

Bruges
+32 (0)50/348.867
www.gastenkamer.be

One suggestion: go with friends or family: the guesthouse has two rooms upstairs and a the common room (with the fire and the kitchen) downstairs. If the other room was occupied by people you didn’t know, I could imagine the lolling around part being a little awkward.

Follow me on Twitter: @joe_diner and on Facebook.

NEWS FLASH - NOMA SOUS CHEF TO TAKE REINS AT WILLOWS INN

I visited the Willows Inn on Washington state's little-known Lummi Island for an upcoming Boston Globe story a few weeks back - the restaurant is locavore heaven. Proprietor Riley Starks and his partner Joan Olsen catch the salmon in reef nets, grow much of their own produce and raise amazing mangalitsa pigs (above) at their Nettles Farm just up the road, buy incredible spot prawns caught in the water in front of the inn and wonderful lamb raised a few miles down the road. On some nights, even neighboring Bellingham's Boundary Bay Brewery's beautiful Reefnetter Pale Ale is on tap. The whole thing is done so well, they pull off the local thing without the twee thing that often goes with it.

It's about to get even more interesting. Starting August 23, Blaine Wetzel, a Washington native fresh from a stint in the kitchen at Copenhagen's noma - the number one restaurant in the world (if you buy that sort of thing) - will be taking over as executive chef at the inn's restaurant. Very curious to see what happens. noma's chef Rene Redzepi is a big proponent of the New Nordic movement - a group of chefs working to go local even at those higher latitudes, a philosophy that should dovetail very nicely with what Starks and Olsen have done.

The inn is a two-hour drive and five minute ferry ride from Seattle and I'd bet it's worth a trip to see what's cooking ... I'm planning on a visit.

The Willows Inn – MAP
2579 West shore Dr
Lummi Island, WA 98262
888-294-2620
www.willows-inn.com

Food and travel writer and photographer Joe Ray is the 2009 Lowell Thomas Travel Journalist of the Year and author of the blog Eating The Motherland. Twitter: @joe_diner.

NEW - M64 - NOT BAD... NOT BAD AT ALL

By François Simon

PARIS

Quickly making a name for oneself in the hotel/restaurant business isn't easy. Customers first tend use the restaurant as a hideaway to do business, rarely paying attention to the food. You're correct in thinking that the chef does everything he can to content moderate and finicky appetites while offering something memorable and innovative. This place is rather good. Not cheap, but they do have a 35 euro "Menu Passage" that's just perfect!

 

M64 - Map
Hôtel InterContinental
64, avenue Marceau
75008 Paris
+33.1.44.43.36.50). 

 

GEOTHERMAL CUISINE

By Joe Ray

OLOT, Spain

 

The first thing you notice on a tour of the kitchen at Les Cols is that there’s a water garden fed from the heavens in the middle of it. This makes sense. An ardent but not annoying locavore, chef Fina Puigdevall is intent on building your relationship to the ground beneath your feet - this volcanic area where she was born.

She immediately shines spotlights on local ingredients - buckwheat, cured sausage from Olot, wild mushrooms, the cabbage that gives the restaurant its name and even wonderfully fragrant black truffles. One dish features an egg from the black chickens running around outside the window.

The clever thief would begin by swiping Puigdevall’s purveyor list;  in retrospect, what’s odd is that there’s no standout dish, nothing so wildly good that it makes you want to do cartwheels between the tables, yet hers is is food with roots. These are deep and wild flavors, strength pulled up from the soil - a geothermal cuisine. 

Puigdevall is like a wayward member of Rene Redzepi’s New Nordic cuisine gang - you half-expect to find Sigur Ros jamming in the henhouse.

You spend a bit of time like this, thinking of where she fits into the scheme of things - some say she’s the next Carme Ruscalleda but you quickly realize their styles don’t match, give up the ghost and start enjoying things. 

There is pea soup - a bright and happy green canvas supporting tiny cubes of balsamic, a micro-scoop of peanut ice cream, a bright yellow dollop of saffron sauce and a deep orange sea urchin. Squint from above and it looks like abstract art made with a set of Crayolas.

‘Pumpkin in five different ways’ has similar beauty, showcasing an ingredient that deserves the attention. Tendrils might grow from our fingers, roots from our feet. 

In another dish, salt cod floats on brandade, those under spinach and chard everything heating the truffle (see above). You stare, you smell, you think, you hesitate to destroy it with a fork, then you smile. The beauty in the presentation of these dishes is subtle when looked at individually and breathtaking when considered together. 

Equally as sublime is the space.

Using iron, glass and stone, the design of this restaurant hits what they missed at Can Fabes. While spots inside Santi Santamaria’s nearby restaurant can feel like the inside of a tank, Puigdevall clearly spent a long time talking to an architect who listened.

The sliding and pivoting glass doors and arches make the chef’s 13th century home modern and the main dining room are set slightly into the earth, so your eyes are level with the grass. We’re here on one of those winter days where you look at a picture of the backyard in summertime and it’s so green it might as well be another planet, yet even in winter, that subtle shift makes you notice shoots and buds you wouldn’t have seen otherwise. 

When your gaze extends upward, it might linger on clouds clinging to the hills or you might spend two minutes watching a drop of water work its way down the giant window. On any other date, this much time spent gazing outside would signal disaster. Here, you’re simply taking time to reconnect to the world around you.

The hotel rooms here are minimalist glass and metal cubes and I would love to return and spend the whole afternoon - post lunch - in the bathtub with a bottle of wine watching the clouds stick to the hills and contemplating the meal I just ate.

Service is well done, without hovering, and low key. Bravo for the bravery to offer a cart full of very worthy Catalan cheeses. 

A tasting menu is 70 euros plus wine.

Les Cols – MAP
Carretera de la Canya
Olot, Spain
+34 97 226 9209
www.lescols.com

Food and travel writer and photographer Joe Ray is the author of the blog Eating The Motherland and contributes to The Boston Globe's travel blog, Globe-trotting. 

THE NEW YORK CITY BURGER ATTACK – PART II

 

By Joe Ray

Our gang watched late-summer jazz in Madison Square Park, but eyes rolled when we saw the line at the Shake Shack. It snaked hundreds of feet from the order window out through the park gates.

“What about the secret burger place?” said Maria.

We all stared and she smiled and dragged her toe in the dirt like she might not share her secret. It was rather sexy.

We got her to spill the beans and six of us bolted uptown by bike and subway to the … Parker Meridien. A burger joint in one of the city’s fanciest hotels? Hard to figure.

The lobby was everything you’d expect: high ceilings, artwork and fancy bars and restaurants … but it smelled like burgers.

Sure enough. A David Lynch-esque floor-to-ceiling curtain juts out into the lobby concealing the secret space. Approach and you’ll notice a skinny corridor with a neon-sign hamburger and a right-pointing arrow at the end.

Inside, it’s night and day; the space looks like a cross between Arnold’s Drive-In from “Happy Days” and my fraternity house basement. The burgers are great -you get to choose the cooking temperature and usually, you can elbow your way to a just-opened table right when they call your order number.

A good burger joint in one of the city’s fanciest hotels. Go figure.

Count on around $15-20.            

Burger Joint – MAP
119 W 56th St
New York, NY
+1 212-708-7414

Food and travel writer and photographer Joe Ray is author of the blog Eating The Motherland and contributes to The Boston Globe's travel blog, Globe-Trotting.

New York - Hotel Chelsea - mythical and moth-eaten

By François Simon

NEW YORK CITY

New York's mythical Hotel Chelsea isn't intended for tourists, it's for pilgrims: Mark Twain, Tennessee Williams, Eugene O'Neill, Simone de Beauvoir, Vladimir Nabokov, William Burroughs, Andy Warhol, Leonard Cohen, Cartier-Bresson, Sid Vicious, etc. The guest book (dream on, there isn't one) would be the world's most stupefying. Anyway, reception is rough around the edges, the cleanliness is borderline grimy and the carpets worn out. It's best to stay in your fantasy world, conjure up silhouettes from bygone ages to roam the hallways, beached flower power peopled with friendly wrecks, dreamers in ironed jeans and unkempt pseudo-muses… Sometimes it's exciting to just sit in the lobby, but then the effect collapses like bad dope. A mind trip saved by your own mental images… Hotel Chelsea, 222 West 23rd St. (212) 675-5531; rooms starting at $190. www.hotelchelsea.com Map 
 

Ten experiences in New York, starting first thing tomorrow morning...

By François Simon

NEW YORK CITY

Dear friends, get ready for a taste of the Big Apple… Starting tomorrow morning, I'll tell you about a dozen gastronomic experiences in New York. I'll try to check out as many as I can: Corton, Momofuku, Omen, China Town, Katz's, etc. - and Joe Ray is doing the same. Who knows? Maybe we'll cross paths! Fasten your seatbelts, doors to automatic, crosscheck… Ready for take-off! (Photo F Simon from the 59th floor of the Four Seasons Hotel). 
 

SEEN FROM ABOVE

By Joe Ray

NEW YORK CITY

Across from Buddakan, we seek solace on top of Hotel Gansevoort. Fat chance. Up top, a hundred drunk kids in Prada are dancing their brains out while some dude plays drums on a bucket to accompany some loud music. Fun for another night.

We taxi north, walk through the Hudson’s lobby and get in the elevator. It lets us out on a deck halfway up the side of the building and we find a quiet nook. The city floats so calmly at our feet, it doesn’t matter that we’ve ordered another incredibly expensive and poorly-crafted drink. We’re paying for the view and the calm.

Worth every penny.

Hudson Hotel - MAP
356 West 58th Street
New York, NY 10019, United States
+1 212-554-6000
www.hudsonhotel.com

Food and travel writer and photographer Joe Ray is the author of the blog Eating The Motherland and contributes to The Boston Globe's travel blog, Globe-trotting.

Luberon: A Perfect Spot

By Christophe Doré

Provence 

I wasn't sure I wanted to share this address. I almost had to force myself to whisper it into the ears of a few dear friends…

First of all because Le Mourre is the story of a passion... For 15 years, Victorine Canac admired this farm house from afar until one day there was a knock at her door: "Do you still want to buy my house?" Then came the time for financing the project, clearing the gorgeous view over the medieval village of Oppède-le-Vieux and preserving the building's character from the craftsmen who are so used to stripping the walls to reveal the bare stone, since such is the fashion.

The place exudes sincere hospitality and a taste for sharing - particularly, their genuine love of local architecture, the land and what mankind does with it. Personally, I enjoy Le Mourre most in the spring or towards the end of summer, when the light is softer and the heat not so cruel.  

Owners Patrick and Victorine Canac are also baroque music aficionados. For years, they've organized the music festival "Les Musicales du Luberon" and host occasional concerts in their music room. Le Mourre’s single drawback? They're always packed. Be sure to book your reservations well in advance.

Le Mourre, Oppède-le-Vieux (04.90.76.99.31; www.lemourre.com ). Count on 170-270 € Map

Hotel Arraya, the highlight

By François Simon

 

Without doubt the highlight of this little trip.  The village has a disarming charm : "le Fronton" a wall use for playing basque pelota, the terraces, the geraniums.  It’s true that in the summer it’s gets rather crowded.  But once the night rolls around, it’s idyllic. 
The hotel is ideally situated and offers beautiful terraces.  As for the food, it won’t have you doing somersaults, but you’ll find that will win you over immediately: the spirit of a beautiful 16th century Basque residence that’s passed from generation to generation. 
It’s the son of Jean Baptiste Fagoaga who welcomes you and presents you with a wine list that’s rather surprising, with bargain prices (a Sociando Mallet 2001 for 50 euros).  Nice dishes like the salad with lima beans and duck gizzards, then rabbit with honey sauce, and to finish off a curdled sheep’s milk crème brûlée, all in a menu at an unbeatable 23 euros.
Lovely rooms from 80 euros (ask for those that face the rear of the building, where it’s calm).  Exquisite breakfast, this is Basque country at its finest.

Bourg, 64310 Sare (05.59.54.20.46). www.arraya.com Map

Hotel des Pyrenees, stuffy but good

By François Simon

 
After a period of disfavor this solid regional institution has emerged from the wilderness with two stars from the Michelin guide.  It’s a traditional address alternating between an exaggerated provincial formality and the youthfulness of a new generation, evidenced by the presence of Firmin Arrambide’s son Philippe, who’s come back home full of ideas and enthusiasm.
The dishes are turned out with a rare energy and the 40 euro prix-fixe is remarkable: asparagus soup, hake with mussels, and then a coffee parfait.  The à la carte menu is predictable but satisfying.  In the high season it gets quite busy (a bit too busy, in fact).
Overall, it still needs another shot in the arm to step completely into the 21st century. 
Les Pyrénées, 19, place du Général de Gaulle, 64220 Saint Jean Pied de Port (05.59.37.01.01) www.hotel-les-pyrenees.com. Rooms from 100 euros. Map

 

Photos F Simon

Basque country: the genesis of a dish

By François Simon

I’m happy today because I made a reservation at Auberge Basque.

Full disclosure: I’ve known chef Cedric Béchade ever since I was transfixed by his cooking at the Plaza Athénée in Paris. Afterwards we spoke on the phone and he let me know that he was leaving for the Pays Basque. Two years later, he opened his Auberge Basque.

For me, it’s the model of a successful, mature auberge that really hits the mark. You eat really well here, and of particular note is the exceptionally knowledgeable head sommelier, Samuel Ingelaere. The setting is superb, the rooms have a subtly modern décor.

Don’t think that Cedric Béchade has become a friend (we both have enough) - it's more of a cerebral rapport, exchanging thoughts and impressions; good conversations, that’s all. It was during one such discussion that he showed me how he sometimes conceives a dish: an outline, the shapes, ideas, principles.

But in the end my bill is paid in full – no conflicts of interest.

L'Auberge basque D 307, Vieille Route de Saint-Pée, 64310 Helbarron/Saint Pée sur Nivelle (05.59.51.70.50). Figure 45 euros, rooms from 90 to 250 euros. Worth noting is the 23 euro menu on Wednesday and Thursday for lunch. Web Map

ACED

By Joe Ray

Portland, OR

“What’s that cool hotel you were telling me about in Portland?” I asked a buddy.

He couldn’t remember. Or I was asking the wrong buddy.

I typed ‘portland oregon hip hotel’ into Google and there it was – the Ace Hotel.

My reasons for loving it? Along with the high, ceilings and a clean modern-meets-old-school-cool design, there’s a Stumptown Coffee connected to the lobby. There’s also a snack tray in every room with the beautifully-labeled Lurisia fizzy water and next to it, Dutch stroopwaffels – my favorite cookie to have with coffee. I love the idea that, instead of throwing some Lay’s and Kit Kat bars in there, somebody put the effort into sourcing some really good stuff.

Downside? The secret’s out. Canadian families in North Face Jackets are mixing with the dressed-in-black (and talking loudly about their lives as composers and art directors) crowd. Sitting at the big lobby table the morning I’m there is a bossy chump who looks like an extra from “The Matrix” and his doomed, sweet-as-gold girlfriend.

There’s also a grumpy kid who kicked a chair at me when I asked if anyone was sitting there.

“It’s a free country,” he added.

Until the coffee kicked in, I had fantasies of whapping them all with a rolled-up newspaper.

Ace Hotel Portland MAP
1022 SW Stark St
Portland, OR 97205
P: 503-228-2277
F: 503-228-2297
www.acehotel.com/portland

Food and travel writer and photographer Joe Ray is the author of the blog Eating The Motherland and contributes to The Boston Globe's travel blog, Globe-trotting.

EastWest, in every sense.

Geneva
 
By Christophe Doré

 

EastWest can be classed among these boutique hotels replicating across the world, none exactly the same, none entirely different, but always sporting little particularities. In the case of EastWest, that means pillow spray and an open-sky patio with a streaming wall of colored water. Another plus: the Pourcel brothers (from Le Jardin des Sens in Montpellier) have put their imprimatur on the restaurant’s menu, from the room service to the breakfast, which was unfortunately inconsistent from one day to the next.
 
As for the rest, you can almost feel discouraged from going outside, because everything is here to keep you indoors: smart but comfortable design in the rooms, a welcoming library where you can read and work in complete tranquility, free high speed WIFI, a hopping bar in the evenings….  A bit Japanese in spirit, Mediterranean in its cuisine, and very Swiss in its discretion, you shouldn’t go out of your way to visit Geneva just for EastWest, but if you’re in town, it’s a nice alternative to the Palaces that overlook the lake.  Should you spend the night here?  Yes.
 
From 270 Chf for a standard room to 970 Chf for a duplex suite.
EastWest : 6, rue des paquis Geneva Tél : + 41 22 708 17 17 - Fax : + 41 22 708 17 18 -  Map [email protected]

PARADISE IN SKETCHY-VILLE

Brussels

By Joe Ray

The Brussels taxi driver did a double take when I told him the address in the Saint Gilles neighborhood next to the Gare du Midi.

Arriving, I suggested a nighttime drop-off half a block from the B&B to avoid making a loop of one-way streets.

“You sure?” he asked. “Be careful.”

Not exactly what you want to hear when you’re just down the street from the police station.

Go anyway. The Art de la Fugue wipes away the doubts as soon as you walk in the door. Gracious hosts, high ceilings and big, beautiful spaces that cleverly mix modern design and flea market chic immediately make you forget the outside world.

Each room has a theme: Farinelli for the princess, Indochina for a bit of Zen, and Lawrence of Arabia for the travel writer. Don’t worry: all cool, no kitsch.

There are televisions hidden in each room, but it’s doubtful you’ll watch – the atmosphere makes you want to read, write, play the piano or linger over a very tasty breakfast.

The kicker? The price – around 100 euros per room per night.

L'art de la Fugue - MAP
Bed & Breakfast
Rue de Suède 38
1060 Brussels
+32 478 69 59 44
www.lartdelafugue.com

Food and travel writer and photographer Joe Ray is the author of the blog Eating The Motherland and contributes to The Boston Globe's travel blog, Globe-trotting.

An auberge in the Luberon where a river flows

Luberon,

By Christophe Doré

Nothing compares to a second impression.

I’d stayed at this inn for the first time in the spring.  The poppies reddened the prairies of the Luberon and the light, which has such a special quality in this region, sang over the cool river.  The place was simply sublime.  It was Provence in all its bucolic perfection, the scent of thyme, wild orchids, a gentle breeze passing through the trees, lavender….

I came back at the end of the summer.  The hot stones of the tables on the terrace, where L’Auberge de l’Aiguebrun serves salads with vegetables freshly picked from their garden, had only added a few days of intense sun to what was already a century of existence.  The service, showing a bit of fatigue after the tourist season, was a bit spotty in responding to my requests.  But that’s alright.  The olive oil was perfect, the tomatoes juicy, the bread golden and delicious.

Flowing by just a few steps from the terrace of the cozy wooden cabana that I’d chosen, the river brought with it a freshness that I had been longing for.  It was perfect.  Time could have stopped.  Far from the world, I spent my afternoon reading a book by Jean Giono, serenaded by the voice of the chef, Francis Motta, energetically overseeing the preparation of the Provencal beef stew for that evening.

Go see for yourself why a supreme comfort is to be found in this old house built in 1890, once a post house and also at one point owned by the filmmaker Agnès Varda.  And in addition, you’ll find some beautiful Provencal antiques, homemade jams at breakfast, the right to poke your nose into the kitchen to see what the chef is making (excellent, inventive gourmet Provencal cuisine), everything you need for a nearly perfect idyll, at less than five kilometers from Bonnieux and only a short distance from one of the most beautiful hilltop villages in France.

L'Auberge de l'Aiguerbun.  From 140 euros for a double room.  The property can be found off Route Départementale 943.  Tel +33 4.90.04.47.00. Web  Map

L'Hôtel Empire : The art of sober design

Paris,

By Christophe Doré
 

Staying in a small hotel is one of life’s simple pleasures.  While the Palace inclines you to push out your chest and stand a little taller in your shoes, in a small hotel there’s nothing complicated.  The height of the ceilings disposes you to remain yourself, secure in the knowledge that you are a traveler where you belong.  The Empire is just such a hotel.  Occupying an 18th century hôtel particulier (townhouse), it opened its doors a little more than a year ago in an ideal spot: just behind the Louvre and a short Velib ride away from rue Saint Honoré.
 
I enter carrying my bag.  The décor is simple, tranquil, the dimensions are human.  The welcome is cordial, nothing more.  Don’t forget – this is Paris, and smiles aren’t always forthcoming. But that’s okay.
 
The Empire is one of those new four-star hotels that are distinguished by a style that is contemporary, sober, and sometimes a little cold. The walls could use some judiciously chosen artwork.  The hallways are somber.  But once in your room, the balance returns: simple touches (some macaroons, ripe fruit), a bathroom you want to linger in, and, especially, space, at least in the “superior” and “deluxe” rooms (480€ and 880€ respectively).  This quality is rare enough in city hotels that it’s worth noting.  Another asset:  an elegant café where you absolutely must have breakfast.  The ingredients are fresh and there are lots of little gourmet touches.  And even better, the café opens onto the street.  Parisians come here to work, chat, read the newspaper.  It's the ideal airlock where you can decompress before plunging back into the tumult of the city.

L'Empire Paris - 48, rue de l'arbre sec - Métro : Louvre Rivoli, ligne 1 - Tél. +33 (0)1 40 15 06 06 - Fax. +33 (0)1 40 15 06 70 – Map Web

Hotels in London

Ah, I almost forgot some hotels where you can settle down for the evening. 

Brown’s Hotel, the Ritz, Claridge’s, and the Connaught – but if you find the prices violent, my oh-so-British alternative is called the Durrants Hotel; from 125 £ (158 €) for a single room.

George Street, London W1H 5BJ. Tél. : 00.44.20.7935.8131. Web Map