{"id":367,"date":"2011-09-19T04:13:55","date_gmt":"2011-09-19T12:13:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/updegrave.com\/blog\/?p=367"},"modified":"2011-09-20T02:00:01","modified_gmt":"2011-09-20T10:00:01","slug":"luscious-lunches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/updegrave.com\/blog\/words\/luscious-lunches\/","title":{"rendered":"Luscious Lunches"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dining in France is truly delightful, as many of you probably know – and others surely suspect. In the last several days I have had two fantastic lunches, detailed below. It is not my intention to torment my readers, yet I suspect that despite this, that will be the effect for some. For this, I apologize in advance.<\/p>\n

While in the Loire Valley late last week, I took a break from touring the famed chateaux of the region and stopped in Vouvray for lunch. I had no specific goal in mind, had done no research on places to eat – I simply stopped at a pleasant-seeming brasserie, which turned out to be a favorite among the local workers who started streaming in a few minutes after I sat down.<\/p>\n

The menu du midi was as follows:<\/p>\n

– Assiette Charcuterie: pate, a smoked porc terrine, lardons and a delightfully crisp little gherkin, served with typically good baguette<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
charcuterie<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

– Boeuf Bourgoignon with rice – simple and delicious<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Boeuf Bourgoignon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

– a small cheese plate, one sheep and one goat – both with firm yet creamy interior and that wonderful almost chalky exterior common in short-aged cheeses
\n– a delicious gateau – light cake with a rich, not too sweet cream filling and creme anglaise<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
gateau<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Accompanying these were a glass of Vouvray petillant (lightly sparkling), a Chinon rouge, with a petit cafe to finish.<\/p>\n

This cost 16\u20ac10 in total, about $23. For four courses, two wines and coffee.<\/p>\n

Yesterday, while torturing myself riding through Burgundy’s Route du Grand Crus (torture because as a solo motorcyclist, I am by definition my own designated driver, so extended wine-tasting is right out, despite the wines of Burgundy being some of my favorites in the world), I stopped in the lovely medieval center of Beaune. Again, no particular goal in mind – I walked around for a few minutes perusing menus before settling in for the midday feast:<\/p>\n

– a complexly layered amuse bouche with jambon and poached vegetables, topped with a savory aspic<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
amuse bouche<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

– a half-dozen escargot, perfect in their salty-buttery-garlicky bath, served with possibly the best bread I’ve had since arriving in France – a little whole wheat flour for a bit more rustic flavor, with a crust that blurred the line between flaky and chewy in a nigh-unto-impossible fashion<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
escargot<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

– Coq au Vin, superb, with pommes de terre gratinee Dauphinoise (potatoes au gratin)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Coq au Vin<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

– red wine poached pears with a sorbet that I think was cassis, and a little salad of fruits topped with chopped almonds and pistachios<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Pear poached in red wine, sorbet, fruit salad<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Accompaniments: Cremant de Bourgogne, a light but elegant Cote du Beaune rouge, and the obligatory cafe.<\/p>\n

This meal was more expensive, understandably, but still well worth it (particularly considering that it was my only major expense of the day other than fuel).<\/p>\n

In short, one could not say that I’m suffering a dearth of gustatory pleasures here in France. But then, those of you who know me well would probably bet against me suffering in that fashion, here or anywhere else.<\/p>\n

Addendum: additional apologies to those of you who speak French for any egregious errors in the post. Je ne parle pas bien Fran\u00e7ais.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dining in France is truly delightful, as many of you probably know – and others surely suspect. In the last several days I have had two fantastic lunches, detailed below. It is not my intention to torment my readers, yet I suspect that despite this, that will be the effect for some. For this, I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-367","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-words"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/updegrave.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/updegrave.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/updegrave.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/updegrave.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/updegrave.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=367"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/updegrave.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/updegrave.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/updegrave.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/updegrave.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}