WE’RE FROM FRANCE

I had a list of food I wanted to eat while we were in France.

We were making this road trip to see Toto at a concert in Albi, a town in southwestern France and the actual birthplace of Toulouse Lautrec. (The nearby town must have had a better Chamber of Commerce.) We had only six nights … bracketed with visits from friends … and I routed us on what I called classic Southern France. Instead of 6 one-night stands, I mixed it up. One, two, one, two … but it was a schlep and a half.

Back to my list. Bread … arguably the best bread in the world. The interior crumb is soft and subtly chewy and light, the crust is crispy and crunchy and not too hard. When you cut it, it makes a lovely crackly sound … if you tear it, the better to see its irregular shape full of irregular air bubbles. (The bread bar is set high … I grew up in the state that invented sourdough … I’ve made a pilgrimage to Poulin in Paris … we now we live in an area where they grow old wheat that is stone-ground, then made into bread baked in wood ovens.) Croissants. Pain au chocolat … the perfect food. Maybe frites … poissons sauteed in butter … moules because my dad, a Francophile, loved them.

We began our trip in Cannes. We were staying at what turned out to be a mediocre hotel in an excellent location, a few vibrant blocks from the beach. (I would have said the place “sucked,” but the breakfast was very good, which pulled it back from the cliff.) The free wi-fi never reached us on the 3rd floor. Air conditioning … ha ha ha. The temperature was unchangeable at a still-too-hot number and with the fan on the highest setting, you could only feel it, a soupçon, when you stood right in front of it … oh so comfortably in front of the bathroom door. C’est dròle. When we complained, the twat of a concierge said that one had to insert the key card into the slot. Well, duh, without the key card, there’d be no electricity in the room. She paid for being a twat with our 1-star rating.

We’ve had good luck finding restaurants on Google, so we were trying again. Today, it led us to L’ÉPICURIEUX (on rue frères Casanova), where owner Patrick and his sidekick, Jules, guided us on our first supper. What we liked immediately was the music … throughout the evening, it proved to be a great playlist. I knew every lyric to every song.

David ordered a chablis … Domaine Chevallier … a quintessential French classic. But … NFW … can this really be the Chardonnay grape? I kept reading websites, hoping I’d find that it was blended with some really good grape. But no, it was 100% Chardo-no-way. It was dry and light and, shhh, enjoyable.

Then. The basket of bread arrived.

Ah French bread, you seductive, wheaty wench. That first piece, slathered with butter, eaten slowly … was perfection.

Our antipasto … oops, hors d’œuvres … was Caesar salad with tender chicken, parmesan, romaine, and balsamic glaze vinaigrette. I laughed that we were eating a dish created in Tijuana … and when Patrick and Jules were skeptical about the Baja California origins, I showed the guys. While the salad was too much as a starter, it was delicious, and would make a delicious déjeuner.

As we ate, we heard the distinctive sound of American accents from a nearby table, traveling above the music. A motley crew of four. A guy, shirt unbuttoned to the waist … a girl with a headful of red curls … a girl with braided pigtails and a gold sequin halter, backless top … a girl with a shoulder tattoo that had a rhinestone at its center. We were to find out it was Rob, with his girlfriend and her two girlfriends … in France for a couple of weddings.

Our secondo … le plat principal … was salmon tartar. The fish was chopped and mixed with small dice of dill, scallions, and cucumbers. Alongside were absolutely fabulous frites. They were thick cut, twice-fried in sunflower oil (Patrick told us with pride) … making them softly chewy and perfect. To finish, a salad of wild greens in vinaigrette.

Dessert, of course. Two. The Tarte Tatin (which should have been on my list) was warm, melt-in-the-mouth apples on slightly chewy crust, anointed with a soupçon of whipped cream on the side. The warm chocolate cake was indulgent and intense, and the dollops of whipped cream … on both desserts … gave me the hot and cold combo that I love.

Patrick then challenged our palates. This is a wine made from an unusual fruit, he said. After we guessed the more esoteric exotics … guava, passionfruit, papaya, mango … David said, “kiwi?” “Oui, c’est kiwi.” Does David have a good palate or what?!

Hotel Mediocre had a classic breakfast (and saved the rating from being negative stars). We enjoyed a large piece of pain, butter, a delicious and flaky croissant, cafe au lait, yogurt, orange juice … in a light, bright first floor room.

We bid our hasty adieu to Concierge Ratched … and were soon on our way to Aix-en-Provence. We would spend two nights there, and I was looking forward to seeing the area … my last visit to this beautiful region was with many years ago. (Paris called me in my 20s … and I answered.)

We were staying at the modern HÔTEL LE NÉLIÖ, about 10 minutes from town. The pool looked particularly appealing … colorful floaties bobbing and inviting umbrellas on the side … as we walked into the lobby.

Our room wasn’t quite ready, so we decided to have lunch there rather than more driving to find a place. The large dining room … with poster-size paintings of international celebrities … was filled with business people, and the dishes we saw come and go looked good.

We are on vacation .. we had a carafe of white wine.

And the basket of bread arrived.

I ordered octopus salad on mixed greens. There were big chunks of tender octopus, and I particularly enjoyed it because the dressing reminded me of vinaigrette my dad made for the salads we ate every night for dinner (French-style, after the main course). Memories of things past. David had Thai chicken salad which had a big skewer of tender chicken on a salad of wild greens with peanuts and julienne vegetables in a sesame-ginger vinaigrette.

Coffee came with a tender Madeleine that had a hint of lemon.

Dinner found us back at the hotel … because we were told that there would be a big group of Italians. How fun! But it was a surprisingly sedate group … barely a ciao or buona sera … so rather than having a festa with them, we enjoyed a quiet dinner.

David picked a local white wine, from Chateau La Coste, a winery less than 30 minutes away … and the bottle told the story. The grapes were Vermentino. It was lightly fruity and refreshing. If we had time tomorrow, we might make a detour to the winery.

And the basket of bread arrived.

It was during this meal that my camera went crazy. It couldn’t focus. Not good. I could take pictures across the room, but close ups were fuzzy. (No, it was not the wine. Very funny.) I was going to grab David’s phone, but decided I could take long shots, then crop them. And I googled how to fix the problem … shake the camera. Ah yes, the Fonzie method.

I had grilled salmon served with jasmine rice and vegetable salsa on top. The fish was flavorful and fork tender, with a nicely seared crust (I got to eat it all, rather than save some as a kitty treat … but it made me miss our fur babies). David ordered sausage from nearby Marseilles … it was grilled, delicious and full of flavor. There were yummy frites … David shared a few … plus a salad of field greens for each of us.

Desserts, oui, we had two. One was classically French … cafe gourmand. It’s a cup of espresso with an assortment of mini-goodies sharing the plate. Here it was dark chocolate mousse in a pastry shell, mango puree, lemon cake with raspberry coulis, and a rosette of whipped cream. All very good with varied flavors, my fave was the chocolate. My pick was a slice of delicate vanilla cake topped with a thick layer of oh-so-creamy milk chocolate mousse and a crispy oval-shaped pirouette.

Sweet dreams … bon nuits.

… to be continued …

COCOA RICOTTA LOAF

1 cup ricotta
2 eggs
1-⅓ cup milk
2 tsp. vanilla extract
¼ cup olive oil
⅔ c. cocoa
2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
¾ cup walnuts, coarsely chopped
¾ cup raisins
8 walnut halves

- Preheat oven to 350° F (170° C).
- Grease 4 mini-loaf pans.
- In large bowl, whisk ricotta and eggs. Add milk, vanilla, oil, and cocoa … mix well.
- Stir in dry ingredients, then the chopped walnuts and raisins.
- Pour batter into prepared pans.
- Place two walnut halves on top of each loaf … or more, if you want.
- Bake for 25–30 minutes, until done. DO NOT OVERBAKE (a little under-baked will give it a creamy core).
- Serve at any temperature.
Enjoy!