simon says french food blog

The Lancaster: an ace up my sleeve…

By François Simon

Paris

Sometimes people ask me if I know a sure bet for "a really good dinner." I hesitate, go over all the great names - they're often booked for the best of them - or dull as dishwater for the others. Here's an ace I keep up my sleeve: the Lancaster. Never a disappointment…
The menu. The classification they devised is as brilliant as ever: sourish tinge of dairies, vivacity of wine, pungency of condiments, bright notes of lemons and citrus fruit… You have to admit that arranging dishes like that is quite a feat. It's even remarkably intelligent. Here's the hitch – when you choose a dish, even in a place this civilized, you're like a dog over its bowl. You can't remember more than two words. Picture this: as is often the case when the name of the dish drags on, you end up with a comical scene peculiar to restaurants: "Yes, umm… I'll have the… umm… What was it? The, umm, the periwinkles." Having said that, the pleasure of this cuisine, conceived by Michel Troigros and executed by Julien Roucheteau (fancy that - his name's on the menu! rare and impressive!) lies in its vivacity and incisive lightness, like the John Dory ‘petals’ in rhubarb sauce.
This was followed by a remarkable filet of brill poached in vegetable broth. In cases like this, you oh-so-delicately brush your napkin over your lips, like over a mirage. Excellent. Is it expensive? Taking a look at the bill this morning, The Lancaster is a bit on the steep side: 258€ for an excellent gastronomic experience and a fine bottle of Collioure (Schistes). The restaurant can also be much more affordable, particularly for lunch on the terrace. Do go.
Le Lancaster - 7, rue de Berri, 75008 Paris (01.40.76.40.18). Map

Little Things, Big Neighbors

By Joe Ray

PARIS

Lots of little things going on Chez Ramulaud.

What I love about Paris is that I lived on and off for a year near a place this good and never knew it was there. Then again, I lived even closer to the Bistrot Paul Bert, which got all the little things right and costs the same; Ramulaud is more of a mixed bag.

Walk in and there’s a funny feeling like the place has both been there for a while and that they’ve just moved in because the walls are too white and the lights too bright. Appetizers are good ideas that just miss the mark – a tartare of veal, gambas and avocados has lots of fun texture but wades in mayonnaise. ‘Chips’ of pigs’ feet and ears sound fantastic if you’re into that sort of thing, but this thin, they just taste greasy. Vegetable preparations are well thought-out yet the raw products seem like they’re from the cheap grocery store down the street.

From here on out, however, the problems are erased. Sautéed slices of andouillette atop a salad are crowned with a poached egg. There’s great play between the offal, the mustard-y vinaigrette and hidden lardons and lightly caramelized red onions. Lamb chops are dredged in Parmesan and pink on the inside. A beautiful Fleurie dispatches doubts about Beaujolais.

Dessert sums it up: a chocolate cake drools salted caramel, the underside just slightly (and wonderfully) scorched; my companion starts moaning with pleasure. Meanwhile, I can’t figure out why the top of my otherwise tasty crème brulée isn’t scorched enough. At the next table, someone has ordered a skimpy-looking Paris-Brest, Paul Bert’s incredible signature dessert.

I enjoyed the meal more than it sounds, but can’t think of a better way to remind customers of the better place to eat.

 

Chez Ramulaud - MAP
269 rue Faubourg St Antoine
75011 PARIS
www.chez-ramulaud.com
+33 (0)1 43 72 23 29

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.

 

 

 

BLOWING OFF THE ZEPHYR

By Joe Ray

PARIS

I recently moved to a neighborhood where I don’t know where to eat… disconcerting for a food writer.

At the end of a rainy Monday in the center of town, both places I wanted to go for steak frites were closed. I retreated to my neighborhood, dragging my friend behind me and getting to the point where we couldn’t make a decision.

We circled two places, exhausted and not really caring anymore, finally settling on a place that seemed pretty but expensive (Belleville’s Le Zephyr, for the curious).

We sat and picked out our steaks and I did the math; it was going to cost 80 euros for a meal we really didn’t care about.

I looked across the table and said: “Chinese takeout and cheap beer?”

We got up immediately.

Best decision of the week.

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.

PASS THE MATÉ

By Joe Ray

PARIS

Le Fumoir is a melting pot for the mid-level hoi-polloi. At any given point, you might bump into the waitress who couldn’t care less, the impeccably-dressed writer who’s actually getting something done, the maître d’ who says ‘I am a snob’ simply in the way he adjusts the blinds, smiling bartenders, tourists who realized they’ve lucked into a good find and a woman who’s got a good 25 years on her lover, both looking happy as clams. (I’ve recently learned that her breed is known as a cougar. Rrrow!)

There are lots of non-client quirks for better and for worse: a Costes-brothers-of-the-1950s style space with big, beautiful lacquered bathrooms, paired with a vaguely Asian menu theme. And maté. Surprisingly good maté, served in a big gourd with a bombilla and a big iron teapot of hot water.

Most places have a clientele you can lump into a group, but here in the middle of town, a stone’s throw from the Louvre’s Cour Carré, it’s what the French would call Le Melting Pot.

It shoudn’t stick.

It sticks.

Pass the maté.

Le Fumoir – MAP www.lefumoir.com 6 Rue de l'Amiral de Coligny Paris +33 (0)1 42 92 00 24‎

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.

PIZZA NEUF

 

By Joe Ray

PARIS – Grey day. The kind that makes you wear extravagant clothing in hopes they’ll create a break in the clouds. Parisians, a thin-blooded lot who put on cold-weather clothing at the drop of a hat, use days like this to break out their scarves and winter coats while the rest of us are fine in a long-sleeved shirt.

If you go out on a day like this, you tend not to stray too far. I rode my bike to meet a friend for lunch at pizzeria Maria Luisa behind the Canal Saint Martin, an area larded with good neighborhood restaurants.

It poured once we were inside, but it didn’t matter. The pizza (red sauce, mozz, anchovy) chased clouds and when I took a spin around the restaurant floor, all the different pies looked just as good. A kid at the table next to us got a kid-sized pizza and I’m pretty sure I didn’t see that on the menu. Nice touch.

Nitpicks: my crust could have been done underneath a bit more, my friend’s salad came with a ricotta that, curiously and distractingly, was slightly sweet. Avoid or refuse the table shoehorned into a dead space by the bathroom.

But these are little things. Using my Sicilian scale, this would have been a very respectable Pizza Sette, on a Parisian scale, however, Pizza Neuf.

Maria Luisa – Pizzeria Napoletana - MAP
2 rue Marie et Louise
75010 Paris
+33 1 44 84 04 04

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.

 

STARING AWAY FROM THE FRESCO

By Joe Ray

PARIS

I love a good place hidden in plain sight. I’d walked by La Fresque, smack in the center of Les Halles, 100 times before a neighborhood friend proposed dinner there a few years back. I still remember trying and ostrich steak for the first time – a perfect presentation to get you over the hump and make you want to try it again because you like it. I also liked the idea of everyone walking by, oblivious to a good find.

A little while ago, we went back for lunch and a 14-euro menu included a light pumpkin flan with a curry cream sauce and a decent steak. My friend, a stickler for a good chevre chaud salad, wasn’t doing cartwheels, but pronounced herself satisfied.

More than that, I liked sitting under the big awning, protected from the rain and watching the world go by.

La Fresque
100, rue Rambuteau

+33 (0)1 42 33 17 56

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.

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

BROTHERS IN CLAMS

By Joe Ray

ILE DE RE, France

I’d trade a friend in a high place for one who knows where to eat.

Spend a bit of time on this island and you’ll inevitably end up at the Café du Commerce in Ars en Ré. It’s one of the few places open all year, a good place to socialize and renew your love for bric-a-brac, but I don’t remember a thing I’ve eaten there.

Visit a few times, however, and a friend might start bringing you to their favorite places.

Olivier and Moumoune (his ‘Mama’) brought me out to Aux Frères de la Côte which sits on a seawall – la digue – at the end of the road in Ars en Ré. If I’m going to splurge and get a plate full of seafood or a dish of oysters, the edge of the sea is where I want them.

Service is flighty but friendly, wine is chilled in a plastic beach bucket and the fries on the neighboring table look so good, we order a plate for ourselves.

Star of the meal? Tiny, plump clams known as palourdes, served raw in their unopened shell; it’s up to you to liberate them with a knife and their sweet, briny and fresh flavor are worth the trip.

Count on 20-40€.

Aux Frères de la Côte - MAP
Route de La Grange
Ars en Ré
+33 (0)5 46 29 04 54
Warm months only.

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.

 

Biarritz, les Rosiers, of course….

By François Simon

It’s funny, but sometimes the Michelin guide becomes so conventional in its judgments that it regularly runs into problems. The most flagrant example is in Biarritz where all of a sudden the worthy Sissinou has lost his star (which he never asked for), while the novice Rosiers has been awarded one just like that.

Andree and Stephane Rosier recently took over Les Platanes (formerly successfully presided over by Arnaud Daguin) and quickly got down to business by snaring a Michelin star. It should be said that the guide wasn’t taking much of a risk as Andree Rosier is the first woman to have won the title of “Best Worker in France,” which ought to guarantee a cuisine that’s technically proficient (although the pre-cooked risotto was served after 6 minutes instead of the required 22), and solid like this crab aspic (a little clumsily done, to be honest).

Pleasant for all that, like the service that’s just a smidgeon too familiar. Decent fish (monkfish piperade) but it’s missing that certain something you expect.

32, avenue Beau Soleil, 64200 Biarritz (05.59.23.13.68) ; www.restaurant-lesrosiers.fr  Map Figure 40 euros.

THE RAW AND THE BEAUTIFUL

By Joe Ray

BARCELONA

Take a walk through La Boqueria food market and you can’t help but get the feeling that Barcelona should be a sushi-lover’s paradise, yet I never found proof. I’ve had good Asian at Ly Leap’s Indochine restaurants and Ferran Adria apparently swears by Shunka, but still, no sushi for me.

Then I went to Ken Restaurante – bristling with sushi potential – and nobody ordered sushi.

A plate of tasty noodles came out, adorned with ultrathin feathers of dried, smoked tuna that fluttered in the heat, and there were tasty (though heavy) shrimp and veg tempuras, but nothing to write home about.

Ken came out to say hello to the family I was with and perhaps he saw the sadness in my eyes, because after that the raw and the beautiful started appearing.

A set of breaded cherry tomatoes appeared which were cored and gently stuffed with salmon eggs then flash fried and served with a delicious, mayonnaise-y secret sauce. A bite is sweet and salty, crisp and bursting. Pop a few of these and down them with a glass of Cava at the beginning of a date and your sweetie will be putty in your hands for the rest of the evening.

The dessert menu came and I panicked. I looked frantically around the table for support and found a taker in the patriarch. I don’t think he was hungry, it was probably just foodie pity. I didn’t care.

“Sushi plate please!” I said to a perplexed waitress.

Know that sound Homer Simpson makes while drooling over a bowl of chili? Nnnghhhh!!! That was me.

Each piece had its own, distinct flavor and firm texture, including a tuna belly reminiscent of the other night at Inopia.

Sushi in Barcelona? I knew I’d find it.

Ken Restaurante MAP
C/ Benet Mateu 53

Get Directions

+34 932 032 044

 

 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.

 

SPUDS AND ROCKS - BRAVAS PART II

 

By Joe Ray

BARCELONA

Before revisiting this classic, I check directions and find an online guide to Barna that says I might be the only tourist in the place.

Fat chance. Two ladies in the back are flipping through a Time Out guide and above the bar, there’s a framed, two-page spread from the Wall Street Journal about Bar Tomas’ raison d’être: “Splendid Spuds: Spain’s Obsession with Patatas Bravas.”

No matter. For spuds this good, I’m willing to share.

Just remember the Two B’s: Bravas and Beer. Like seafood in Omaha, most of the rest of the offerings (save Coke and Fanta in glass bottles) can be ignored.

The spuds are downy on the inside, crisp on the outside and partially submerged under a blob of aioli from heaven and served by a guy whose voice sounds like a yard of rocks in a cement mixer.

Perfect.

Bar Tomás – MAP
C/ Major De Sarrià 49
08017 Barcelona
932 031 077

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.

WILL RIDE FOR BRAVAS

By Joe Ray

BARCELONA – While the Tour de France approached Barcelona today, I took a different sort of bike ride – The Tour Gastronomico.

The tour was hosted by a food group called Cassaques – a band of guys who get together, blow loads of money on incredible food, jump around in circles and do a call and answer that goes: “Festiiii….” “….valll!!!!!” Apparently, they once went to El Bulli together dressed as a bunch of toreadors.

Umm… ¡Olé!

Today’s buckets of rain ride stopped at a host of Barcelona foodie hotspots; most worth noting was a sneak peek at chef Carles Abellan’s new digs – the appropriately-named Velódromo – which is supposed to officially open today.

Chef should make a lot of money here as it’s well decked out and the papas bravas – these shaped like fat French fries with a tasty, sweet aioli and an addictive saltiness – are very tasty. I’m guessing a high turnover of beautiful people.

Other Tour highlights included bacalao bunyoles at Fonda Gaig – which is saying a lot, as I’m still on the fence about bacalao, but not about these.

Favorite part of the day? Hoisting Joanito Bayen of Pinotxo at La Boqueria on our shoulders. The guy’s in his mid seventies and should UNESCO classified.
…
Two separate BCN notes I discovered today on a run – restaurant Xemei in Poble Sec bumped out into an adjoining bar-like space where they’re specializing in drinks and tapas while still offering a full menu.

Further up, at the top of Montjuic – the city’s monster green space and home of the ‘92 summer Olympics - I found La Caseta del Migdia, a world away from the city and a great spot to grab a drink or enjoy cheap – 10 euro – barbecue. I’m heading back this weekend to have a drink and watch the world go by.

Velódromo - MAP
Muntaner 213
+34 93 430 6022

La Caseta del Migdia - MAP
Passeig del Migdia
+34 617 956 572
NOTE: open Thursday through Sunday – call ahead for hours

Fonda Gaig - MAP
C/ Còrsega 200
934 532 020
www.fondagaig.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.

SEX FOOD 3: TAPAS OF THE STARS

By Joe Ray

BARCELONA – Go to Inopia on any given night and despite the bright lights and bustle typical of many tapas bars, there’s also something a bit bizarre: a bouncer.

It’s a little weird, but though I’m sure there’s a bit of favoritism, the bouncer is mostly there to keep the inside full without drowning the chefs and waitstaff.

Then night we’re there, Tapas 24 and Comerc 24 chef Carles Abellan, along with a chunk of the local 7 Canibales food writers are all waiting in line with the rest of us.

Inside, the lights glare and four of us sit on stools facing some sort of hen/bachelorette party, yet the Cava arrives and tickles our palates and a plate or two of food lands in front of us and is gobbled up – we take on our own momentum.

A cutting board of thin-sliced cooked ham appears and disappears, fried artichoke hearts cradle a quail’s egg and raw fish eggs.

This is before they bring out the big guns.

Lomo de atún a la parrilla con mojo should just be called ‘Kobe tuna.’ The mojo sauce is lost in the shuffle, but the fish, wonderfully fatty, marbled and full of flavor has been grilled, making it smoky, meaty, carnal and crisp.

At dessert, the waiter sprays an anise liquor over a bowl of cherries. There’s a sweet and almost vegetable flavor of the spray, followed by the explosion of the taut cherry skin. The fruit’s sweet and acidic flavors compete for your attention as they fill your mouth and dribble down your chin.

RRRRRowwwww!!! No mas! No mas!!!!

Count on 10-15 euros if you're feeling peckish and upwards of 40 if you're hungry and thirsty.

Inopia - MAP
www.barinopia.com
C/Tamarit 104
08015 Barcelona
+34 934 245 231

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.

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

NEW AND DIVIN(E) IN BELLEVILLE

By Joe Ray

PARIS

Paris is good to my comings and goings – little things to welcome me back or make me miss her when I go.

Before heading out for the summer, I bumped into Fred Valade in the northern reaches of Belleville while looking for my last lunch in Paris and asked where to get a good steak tartare in the neighborhood. He gave me a ‘no-can-do’ shrug and instead pointed me toward the new divin restaurant – a shiny, new and unfettered by capital letters.

The concept isn’t new, but there’s nothing to be tired of: a product-centric menu that cleverly goes easy on the chef at service time and a host of good organic and natural production wines. The restaurant is run by a pair of brothers, but divin is a direct cousin of the likes of La Crèmerie and Le Verre Volé; the more the merrier for this kind of place.

I had a thick slab of chunky pâté, full of deep, meaty and wonderfully liver-y flavor, all protected by a snow-white layer of fat and served with big, plump capers and good bread.

I washed it down with a (well-recommended) Côtes du Rhône, smacked my lips and headed to the airport with a smile.

Count on 10 - 20€ for your meal.

divin – MAP
35 rue des Annelets
75019 Paris
+33 1 40 40 79 41 

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.

Photo note: lacking my camera at divin, I've substituted a shot of organic and natural production wines at the Crus et Decouvertes wine shop in the 11th.

Hegia - with composers of melancholy and exuberance

 By François Simon

If you’re looking for an existential shock, a veritable gastronomic voyage, then you’ve got to reserve a stay at Hegia (only full room and board) with Véronique and Arnaud Daguin.

Spectacular countryside, a traditional house but definitely modernized with dazzling design in the rooms (check out the website, which shows off the results of architect Xavier Leibar’s collaboration with regional artisans), and an atmosphere enhanced by the music of Estonian composer Arvo Part, Eric Truffaz… In the evening, you dine in the kitchen in a little group (there are just 5 rooms), enjoying the exuberant, inspired creations of Arnaud that use market-bought products (freshly-caught fish, vegetables in abundance, poached foie gras etc…).

Véronique emerges from the cellar with wines precisely chosen yet entirely unexpected. Sumptuous nights spent in a glorious natural setting. Bliss. 650 euros for dinner, a room for one night, breakfast and wine, 600 euros from two nights.

Hegia : Kurutxetako bidea, Zelai 64240 Hazparne (05.59.29.67.86) ; Map www.hegia.com.

 

SWING AT THE FIRST PITCH

By Joe Ray

CEFALÙ, Sicily – Baseball wisdom advises against swinging at the first pitch. See what they’ve got, and work the pitcher for something you can turn into a hit.

Driving into Cefalù, I had a restaurant I’d tried before and a couple new recommendations on where to eat written on a scrap of paper in my pocket.

It was also Time To Eat, and pulling into the back side of town, we saw a roadside tavola calda (think buffet, but good) with a nice deck, sun and shade, ficus and palms.

God knows how much time I’ve frittered away tracking down a lead or looking for that next good spot when a place like this presented itself, but here, I didn’t even ask – I just pulled into a parking spot.

It didn’t look like much on the inside, but that didn’t matter on the deck, where, once you had ordered, runners in gas-station style green and blue jumpsuits and white caps hustled orders out to the tables.

Everything was tasty – a seafood and vegetable salad, great roast potatoes with rosemary goodness and good, local-style arancini – stuffed and breaded rice balls that make a quick meal on their own. ‘Local-style’ apparently means that they don’t have a red sauce in with the filling and mom asks me to get some.

My Italian can be painfully bad, but despite a passable attempt for the desired sugo, the waiter looks at me with the blankest of faces.

I re-explain, stressing the maternal need and appealing to his inner momma’s boy. He sweetly replies that though they don’t do it like that in these parts, he’ll get some.

Long enough time elapses to think he’s forgotten, but right when we’re wrapping up, he reappears with a piping hot, custom-made arancini in his hands.

“For mamma,” he says. “A regalo.”

A gift.

A home run.

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.

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

Taste of Amsterdam

By Mara Grimm

 

The most delicious way to kick off the summer is by attending Taste of Amsterdam this weekend. After the success of Taste of London, Taste of Sydney and Taste of Capetown, now Amsterdam’s top chefs will get a chance to show off their best tricks at the food fair in the city’s Amstelpark.

Expect lots of stands where you can sample signature dishes, participate in wine tastings and cooking demonstrations, and stroll through a fine food market. Last night's opening was extremely promising: tons of chefs, producers and even more food lovers enjoying sun, wines and sophisticated dishes.

The highlights? Toscanini’s chef Leonardo Pacenti’s razor clams with potatoes, chef Ron Blaauw's ** soft shell crab tempura with sweet & sour vegetables and of course the vertical (!) Petrus wine tasting on Sunday where five years of Petrus will be compared, attended by winemaker Olivier Berrouet. Who said festivals are only fun for teenagers?

www.tasteofamsterdam.com

Mara Grimm is the editor of Holland's biggest restaurant guide: Lekker. She also writes about new restaurants, shops and culinary trends in Delicious Magazine and has a monthly column on kids and food.

Basque country, day one Chez Mattin: bingo!

By François Simon
 

Following my trip to Seoul (and during the wait before trips to Pouliguen, Sao Paolo, New-York and Hanoi), here’s an account of my little romp in the Basque country with five or six eminently recommendable places.
As soon as I arrived, I hopped in a rental car and headed off for lunch at Chez Mattin. If you're looking for pure, unadulterated authenticity in an atmosphere of real appreciation and enjoyment of eating, then this is your place.  There's a working-class clientele made up of sailors with sunburned faces, retired people with porcelain features, families and groups of friends.  Try the exquisite and famous le toro, a soup with a base of monkfish, mussels, and langoustines. Taste it with an eye towards appreciating the nobility of a concoction with a silky texture and seasoning that precisely accents the flavors.  It was enough to set my toes tapping.  I also had a coffee dessert that was awfully good…Always some nice surprises when you order off-menu.
Chez Mattin 63, rue Evariste Baignol, at Ciboure (05.59.47.19.52). Figure 30 euros. Map

Photo F Simon