Palomas

Palomas
2 rue du Colonel Chambonnet 69002 Lyon, France

04 78 37 74 60

 

Before heading up on the fornicular to visit the old part of Lyon, we stopped into Palomas to grab a few snacks. Palomas is a master chocolate and confectionary maker, which originally opened in 1917. The shop sells all kinds of sweet treats but it was the mont blanc that I spotted in the window display that really interested me.

 

 

Not everyone likes chestnut but I've kind of grown a taste for it. If you've never had a Mont Blanc before, the main ingredient is chestnuts that are sweetened and pureed. There's usually a cookie or some kind of biscuit on the bottom that is then topped with the chestnut in a vermicelli-like mound along with some whipped cream. The dessert was named after the Mont Blanc mountain top in the Alps, as it resembles a snow-capped mountain.

 



After we finished paying at Palomas, I grabbed this shot of the city square. You can see the church in the background perched on top of the hill that we later traveled up via the fornicular just minutes later.

 

Maison Rousseau

Maison Rousseau
102 Cours Lafayette, 69003 Lyon, France 
+33 4 78 62 37 65

As I previously mentioned in my post about dining at Paul Bocuse, there's a large marketplace or "les halles" located in the Part-Dieu neighborhood of Lyon that is quite simply a food lover's paradise. The marketplace is named in honor of the legendary Paul Bocuse, and under one roof you will find an array of different vendors selling some of the highest quality products and ingredients on the planet - and I don't think that that's an exaggeration. The marketplace is home to artisanal cheese makers, butchers, bread makers, pastry shops, wine shops, seafood stalls, restaurants - you name it.

We visited the marketplace in the late afternoon on the same day we were visiting Paul Bocuse's L'Auberge du Pont de Collonges. It was a bit of a shame since we didn't really take advantage of our time at the market. We didn't try much of anything since we knew we were in for a huge, multi-course meal later that night and didn't want to ruin our appetites. We couldn't go without having anything, however, so we stopped at Maison Rousseau for some oysters.

Maison Rousseau is a seafood purveyor where you can buy all kinds of fresh seafood to take home. There's also a shop keeper at the counter who will kindly shuck oysters or other crustaceans for you, which is what we opted for.

 

 

After sharing a dozen oysters, we also stopped by the shop of La Mere Richard to grab some cheese before heading back to the hotel. Lyon is most famous for its Saint-Marcellin cheese, which is a soft textured cow's milk cheese, and this is the one we bought. Funny enough, later that night we found out that cheese from La Mere Richard is served at L'Auberge du Pont de Collonges.

La Ferme de St Hubert

La Ferme de St Hubert
36 Rue de Rochechouart, 75009 Paris, France
+33 1 45 53 15 77

On one of our last days in Paris, we had already checked out most of the major sites and decided to head north to check out the Basilica of the Sacre Couer in Montmartre. The Basilica is essentially a large white-domed Roman Catholic church that has become a famous Paris landmark. Religion and architecture are a few reasons for visiting, but the site also offers wonderful views of Paris, as it's the highest point in the city. We went in the late morning but I've been told that the views in the late afternoon of the sun setting are spectacular.

After checking out the Basilica, we started walking south to head back to the central part of Paris. We didn't have any specific plan or agenda, and it was by pure luck that we happened to pass by a really interesting looking shop named La Ferme de St Hubert. Since we hadn't eaten lunch yet, we decided to stop in and pick up a few items for a quick, picnic style lunch.

Upon entering, my wife and I were completely awestruck by the truly impressive selection of cheeses. My wife and I had never seen anything like it before. It was a bit overwhelming to be honest. In addition to selling cheeses, there were charcuterie, wine, and all kinds of specialty items on display.

As in many shops in Paris, the shop keeper only spoke French, except for a few English phrases. Luckily, it was just barely enough for us to communicate with each other. With all the cheeses labeled in French, we really had no clue what to order but knew that we wanted to try as many as possible. The shop keeper was extremely friendly and accomodating, and to help us identify which types of cheeses we were interested in, he brought out small plastic replicas of a cow, sheep, and goat. We pointed at all three and let him decide which cheeses to choose for us.

The shopkeeper cut three good sized chunks of cheese for us as well as some paper thin slices of charcuterie. I would have loved to try even more cheeses, but other customers had entered the store and were waiting to be served, so I didn't want to be even more of a hassle than I already likely was. The shopkeeper noticed we were tourists and asked if we wanted him to vacuum seal the cheeses (for later transportation). We declined since we were going to eat them right away, but it was a useful bit of information to pick up for the future.

Right next door to the fromagerie was a boulangerie where we picked up some hot, fresh baked baguette. We walked over to a small park where some kids were playing soccer and then sat down to enjoy our spread of food.

My wife likes more mild cheeses, but I'm all about the strong, full-flavored ones. A little funk is what makes cheese interesting in my opinion. The stinkier, the better. I can't remember if the first and second cheeses were goat or sheep but both I enjoyed alot. The third was my wife's favorite and was soft in texture and mild in flavor. It reminded me a little of a cream cheese.

 

We certainly had some great sit-down meals at very upscale, fancy restaurants in France but some of my fondest memories of our trip were of the times when we picked up some cheeses, bread, charcuterie and prepared salads and had a quick, informal picnic. It's extremely affordable and the quality and freshness of the products will knock your socks off.

Le Bouchon de Carnivores

Le Bouchon de Carnivores
8 Rue des Marronniers, 69002 Lyon, France
+33 4 78 42 97 69

During our first day in Lyon, we arrived and dropped off our luggage at the hotel, which was near the Contemporary Art Museum. Lyon doesn't have a subway system, so we took a bus into the city to grab some food, stopping near Place Bellacour.

Lyon is most known for its bouchons, which are restaurants that specialize in traditional Lyonaisse dishes. Lyonaisse dishes tend to be pretty rich and hearty, featuring lots of meat. This is in contrast to nouvelle cuisine, which as mentioned in a previous post focuses on freshness of ingredients and lighter preparations. Bouchons also tend to have a more casual atmosphere compared with restaurants serving "haute cuisine".

Right near Place Bellacour, there's a street called Marronniers that is lined with bouchons. All of the bouchons appeared to offer pre-fixe menus with various choices for each course. We looked at a few menus and then picked a place we liked, which ended up being Le Bouchon de Carnivores.

To start the meal, the waitress brought over some bread and this freebie, which comprised some cured meat and fried pork fat. Yep, I said it. Fried pork fat.

For our first courses, I went with the hunter's sausage served with a red wine sauce...

...and my wife ordered the Lyonnaise salad, featuring a poached egg, bacon lardons, croutons, and frisee salad.

For our mains, we wanted to try something a bit out of the box and went with this liver cake. It came served in a tomato sauce and chunks of a soft, mild cheese. I generally like liver alot but I wasn't a huge fan of this dish.

The other main we tried was fried pork trotters. The pork trotters were coated and fried til crispy. The trotters were gelatinous as you would imagine but overall, the dish was a bit greasy.

For dessert, we ordered the chestnut cake....

...and prunes marinated in some lemon, syrup and red wine.

The chestnut cake was actually pretty good. Chestnut is served all over France and is used in alot of different pastries and desserts. The cake itself wasn't overly sweet, which I liked. The marinated prunes were nothing special.

As a whole, the lunch was enjoyable but nothing incredibly memorable. The amuse bouche of the fried pork fat was the highlight for me, followed by the starter courses of the sausage and Lyonnaise salad. If I recall correctly, the pre-set menu wasn't more than 15-20 euro a person, so it was decent value overall for lunch.

Aux Marsilloux

Aux Marsilloux
Near Rue Cler, Paris, France

On our way back to the hotel after walking around Rue Cler and the surrounding area, we passed by a small pastry shop that looked interesting and decided to check it out. I'm not sure if I got the shop's name exactly right but I believe it was called Aux Marsilloux. The shop has large windows where you can see into the bakery and all the baked goods on display. This place seemed to specialize in only one type of pastry, although they were shaped in different forms and sizes.

The shop keepers didn't speak very much English, so we ended up just pointing at what looked interesting to us. I don't even know what the pastry is called, although the small versions of the pastries were advertised as damiers. That could be just referring to the black and white arrangement of the pastries in the box, resembling a checkerboard.

We opted for the dark chocolate version, although a vanilla and white chocolate version was also available. I didn't take pictures of the inside of the pastry but it was essentially a baked meringue topped with whipped cream and chocolate shavings. The meringue was crispy and light, adding the textural component to the otherwise soft remainder of the pastry. This was a great treat during our walk back to the hotel.

Le Paradis du Fruit

Le Paradis du Fruit

47 Avenue George V, 75008 Paris, France

+33 1 47 20 74 00

 

On the same night we tried to grab dessert at Laduree and came up empty, we eventually ended up at Le Paradis du Fruit, a small cafe located a few blocks away from our hotel. It's a very casual place, nothing fancy about it at all. Lots of younger kids and couples on dates were hanging out here, sharing a drink, coffee, or dessert. Le Paradis du Fruit has a pretty large menu with lots of different pastries, fruit smoohies, frozen treats and desserts, which was exactly what we were looking for. We just wanted an affordable bite of something sweet before calling it a night.

 

My wife and I both shared this huge baba au rhum dish, which was definitely large enough for two. Babas are small yeast cakes, typically saturated in hard liquor like rum. Think of a really rich brioche. Here it was served with some fresh berries, a creme anglaise, and some whipped cream.



 

 

The baba was really delicious. The French obviously know how to do pastry really well. The cool thing about Paris is that quality pastry is everywhere, accessible to both the rich and poor. Paris is by no means cheap but you can still taste some great items without spending a fortune. There are chains like Brioche Doree all around Paris and in the train stations that serve croissants and apple tarts that are cheap but really quite good. Places like Paradis du Fruit are less stuffy than more famous spots like Laduree but you can still get great items to enjoy.

Fabien Ledoux

Fabien Ledoux
Rue Cler, 75007 Paris, France

After visiting the Eiffel Tower, we walked east to check out Rue Cler, which was recommended by many different travel websites and sources. Rue Cler is a really happening street with all kinds of different shops - patisseries, cafes, fromageries, charcuteries, shops selling fresh produce, nuts...you name it.

Before grabbing a coffee at Cafe du Marche directly across the street, we stopped into Fabien Ledoux, one of the many patisseries all over Paris. The staff at Fabien Ledoux really isn't very friendly at all but that's not what we were there for. I noticed that most shop keepers and staff across Paris really don't like Americans, and they aren't afraid to show it at all. They show a little more warmth if you try to speak a little French, but it doesn't make a whole lot of difference to be honest. Oh well. If I were French, I'd probably be irritated by an English-speaking American tourist as well.

On the bright side, the pastries were great. There was a whole case full of goodies but we only sampled a few items.

One of the items we tried was the paris brest. It's made from pate choux pastry, used in many different forms such as profiteroles, eclairs, and beignets (among other things). The pastry is then filled with a whipped cream flavored with praline, typically almonds and caramelized sugar. Some variations use chestnut I believe, but almond is most widely used.

The second pastry we tried had layers of baked, caramelized puff pastry layered with a smooth chocolate filling and a pistachio mousse.

The French have the best pastries and desserts in the world in my opinion. Both pastries were great and hit the spot after an afternoon of walking. I wish I could have tried some of the other items. There were just so many delicious looking pastries to try! Next time.

L'Ardoise

L'Ardoise
28 Rue du Mont Thabor, 75001 Paris, France
+33 1 42 96 28 18

On one of our last nights in Paris, we had dinner at L'Ardoise, a small restaurant located near the Tuileries Garden. I learned about this place through one of the travel guides - I think it was Frommer's or Fodor's. For the record, I don't usually get restaurant recommendations from guide books (hurting my street cred here!) but the restaurant got an endorsement from a hotel staff member who previously gave us some reliable recommendations, so we figured we'd give it a try.

When we got to the restaurant, the whole restaurant (admittedly not large) was filled with Americans except for maybe one or two tables. This typically again isn't a great sign but we sat down anyway. It was later in the evening by then and we didn't have reservations for anywhere else. Apparently all the other Americans traveling in Paris had read the travel guide too!

In any case, the food turned out to be great. It was a tremendous value too. My wife and I both went for the pre-set menu option that featured your choice of three courses, and it was around $30 euros a person. That's pretty good for Parisian standards.

My wife's first course was a crab croquette with an avocado mousse and simple salad. The croquettes were nicely fried and crisp with a delicate mixture of crab inside.

My first course was a poached tuna with an olive tapenade and red peppers. I don't generally like cooked tuna but it was cooked gently enough so that it retained some moisture. The mediterranean flavors were also nice.

For my second course, I chose the wild rabbit with mixed mushrooms. Since it was November at the time, alot of hunting was going on, and we saw rabbit available on alot of menus. The rabbit was cooked perfectly, and the mushrooms added earthiness to the dish. Alot of people don't like rabbit or get a bit squeamish whenever it's mentioned for reasons I cannot understand. Maybe because some people had it as a pet growing up? Who knows. It's like the best chicken you'll eat in your life.

My wife ordered the cod for her second course, which was served with a tomatoey sauce and potatoes. Again, really good flavors and the fish was cooked perfectly. No complaints here.

Finally came the desserts, which were the bomb - probably our favorite part of the meal. One was a chocolate dome served with passion fruit sorbet. The slight tartness from the passion fruit paired nicely with the really rich chocolate.

The other dessert was a white chocolate mousse with a raspberry sauce laced throughout it and a quenelle of raspberry sorbet served on top. The top layer of the mousse was also bruleed with a little sugar. Really delicious.

Who knows if L'Ardoise will still have the pre-fixe deal going on in the future, but if it does, I think it's a tremendous overall value and should certainly be considered for a night out in Paris. Despite all the signs of this being a bad spot to go, the food was fantastic. We paid alot more for other meals in Paris and did not get the same quality or quantity.

Berthillon

Berthillon
31 Rue Saint-Louis en l'Île, 75004 Paris, France 
+33 1 43 54 31 61

On the second day of our trip in Paris, my wife signed us up for a night bike tour with Fat Bike Tours. I was a little skeptical at first when my wife told me but after experiencing the tour, it was really great actually.

You meet at the bottom of the Eiffel Tower at night, grab bikes from the company's office, and then follow an American-based set of tour guides through the streets of Paris, visiting all the major sites in each neighborhood over the course of a few hours. Riding the bike is pretty fun and you get to cover alot of ground, which is key since Paris is so large and spread out. One stop on the tour is the Louvre and since it's at night, there's no one around. It provides for some really great photo ops since usually during the day the whole courtyard area is mobbed. The tour overall is a great way to get an overview of the entire city and determine which areas you want to come back to for further exploration - a perfect way to start a trip in Paris. The night culminates with a Baton-Mouches boat tour down the Seine River.

One of the other stops during the tour is Berthillon, the famous ice cream shop located on the Ile Saint-Louis. The first store was opened in the 1950s, and many consider its ice-cream the best in Paris. Berthillon uses only natural ingredients without any preservatives or stabilizers. Even on a cold night in November, my wife and I both really enjoyed the ice-cream. It's super creamy and silky smooth. The flavors shine through despite the all the eggs, cream and milk that I'm sure they use in its base. We enjoyed the ice-cream so much we returned again when we were in the area visiting the Notre Dame Cathedral, which is just across the bridge from the ice-cream shop. Definitely check this place out.

French Maracrons: Laduree, Fauchon, Sadaharu Aoki

Just like crepes, macarons are omnipresent in France. They're all over the place but a few stores in Paris are most well-known for making them. Macarons are typically made from egg whites, sugar, and almond powder. The hotel we stayed at was right near the Arc de Triomphe, and the first day we arrived in Paris, we start at the Arc and walked down the Champs Elysees. A few blocks in we bumped right into Laduree, probably the most famous macaron shop in all of Paris.

Inside Laduree, there's what I'll call a large bar area where all the macarons and other pastries are displayed. Customers line up and wait to be served at the counter by one of several staff members filling orders. Then on the right side of the space, there's the sit down restaurant area where you can order tea, pastries, and actual food like salads and sandwiches. We actually came back on another occassion at night and tried ordering dessert in the restaurant but they were completely sold out of everything. We ended up leaving, and it turned out for the best because the prices they charge are a bit ridiculous. It's mainly the brand and name that you're paying for.

After we ordered and got our macarons, we walked around Paris for awhile and didn't eat any of the macarons until late in the afternoon, so the macarons got a little beat up in transit. They were in much better shape at the shop I assure you. Laduree has a whole assortment of different flavors - they have a little pamphlet they print out and give to you as you wait in line so you can decide what to order.

As I mentioned earlier, macarons are everywhere, and we even found them in a Haagen-Dazs ice cream shop. Of course the twist here is that the macarons are filled with ice cream instead of your typical jam or buttercream.

Another big brand is Fauchon, and their macarons are sold in the city as well as at the airport in the duty free shops. We picked up some as gifts for friends and family before we left to come back home.

The last macaron shop we tried macarons from was Sadaharu Aoki. Aoki is from Japan and adds a Japanese twist to the macarons using flavors like green tea, black sesame, and yuzu.

 

Of all the macarons we tried, we liked the ones from Sadaharu Aoki the best. I personally think the best part of any macaron is the filling, and Aoki's fillings were the most generous in terms of quantity. The flavors were great as well and seemed more pronounced than the ones at the other pastry shops. As for the macarons themselves, each of the brands were relatively similar with a crisp exterior layer giving way to a slightly chewy interior. Prices varied at each shop but were roughly in the range of 1.50-2.00+ euros per macaron, which is pretty steep.

Breizh Cafe

Breizh Cafe
109 Rue Vieille du Temple, 75003 Paris, France 
+33 1 42 72 13 77

As soon as friends, relatives, and co-workers found out we'd be going to France for our honeymoon, they all told us to go eat a crepe. It's one of those touristy things that you just have to do while you're there. While we saw plenty of vendors selling them on the street on carts or at stands, the best crepes we had were at a small cafe called Breizh Cafe.

In France, there are two types of crepes - sweet and savory. Sweet crepes are made with wheat flour and are slightly sweetened while savory ones, often referred to as galettes, are made with buckwheat flour. The name "galette" comes from the French word galet, meaning pebble, as the first versions of these crepes were made on a large stone heated over a fire.

One afternoon after some sight-seeing, we took a rest break and stopped into Breizh Cafe to try one of each of these two types of crepes. The sweet crepe with wheat flour came served with fresh banana, caramel, and vanilla ice-cream. The buckwheat crepe came served with buckwheat honey and buckwheat ice cream.

Both crepes were delicious. The wheat flour variety is what most people are accustomed to eating. The batter was really light and thin but flavorful. The buckwheat crepe was different but also tasty. I liked it mainly because of the texture, which was slightly toasty, crispy, and chewy. The buckwheat gives it a flavor similiar to a really intense, almost bitter, hoppy beer.

I didn't realize so many different products could be produced from buckwheat. After doing some research, I learned that buckwheat is actually the seed of a flowering fruit that is related to rhubarb and sorrel. The plant also has flowers which attract bees which produce honey. Who knew.

In any case, if you're ever in Paris, definitely hit up Breizh Cafe. You can certainly try a crepe from one of the stands or carts, which are perfectly fine and very convenient, but the ones at Breizh are a step up in my opinion and worth a trip.

Paul Bocuse, L'Auberge du Pont De Collonges

After about a week in Paris, my wife and I headed south by train to Lyon to spend a few days in what is considered France's food capital. Lyon isn't a large city but there is enough to see and do for about a day or two but not more than that. The highlights were probably visiting the La Parc de Tet D'or, Fourviere Basilica, and the old city. To be honest, the part I enjoyed most about Lyon was the food. Lyon is most known for its bouchons, which are these small restaurants that serve traditional Lyonnaise cuisine, but I'll write a separate post about them. This post is dedicated to our meal at Paul Bocuse, the three star Michelin restaurant named after and owned by the legend himself.

If you've never heard of Paul Bocuse, he's one of the most prominent chefs in French gastronomy and is most often associated with the nouvelle cuisine movement. Modernist Cuisine actually has a good overview of the history of French gastronomy, which talks about the era of Careme and Escoffier and then the rise of the nouvelle cuisine movement in the 50's and 60's. Nouvelle cuisine emphasized fresher ingredients, lighter preparations, and vegetable purees instead of lots of fats and heavy roux-based sauces that were hallmarks of Escoffier's age. Followers of nouvelle cuisine also plated dishes in the kitchen as opposed to at the dinner table by the waiter. I found this particularly interesting since everyone nowadays assumes dishes are plated by the chef in the kitchen, but this wasn't always the case.

Bocuse has won many awards over the course of his career, and since 1987, the Bocuse d'Or has been regarded as the most prestigious award for chefs in the world. It is sometimes seen as the unofficial world championship for chefs. In the recent 2013 Bocuse d'Or, France took gold while the USA team, coached and mentored by Achatz, Keller, and Boulud, placed seventh. USA has never placed higher than sixth.

There's even a huge marketplace in the center of the city named after him with all kinds of artisan cheese makers, oyster stands, butcher shops, pastry makers - you name it. Given the man's place in history, to say that we were looking forward to the meal at Bocuse would be an understatement. We didn't end up booking reservations until a few weeks before our trip since we were so busy from wedding planning, so I was worried we wouldn't be able to get in. As luck would have it though, my wife found us a spot.

Paul Bocuse, also known as L'Auberge du Pont de Collonges, is located in Collonges-au-Mont-d'Or, which is just outside of Lyon. It was roughly a 15-20 minute cab ride from our hotel in Lyon and getting there, while for the most part uneventful, had a few interesting memories. The streets were incredibly narrow, and there was one point where the road was so narrow that two cars going in the opposite direction could not pass. Our taxi driver had to back up and let a few cars go before proceeding.

Once you arrive, the actual building looks like a small inn but has a very colorful exterior with ornate decoration in tones of green, red, and gold. On the top of the building illuminated in bright white lights stands a sign with Paul Bocuse's name on it.

When we sat down, we were presented with a menu with two different options. We decided to go with the menu bourgeois, featuring roughly 6 different courses. It was the cheaper of the two tasting menus. Even so, it was 190 euros per person! We decided to go with this menu since we could choose the items for each course while the other menu was pre-set. We figured we could try more dishes this way.

To start the meal, we were presented with the amuse bouche, which was a squash soup with a buttery cheese puff.

Next up, I ordered the scallop of foie gras, pan cooked and served with verjus sauce. Really rich, luxurious foie - need I say more?

 



My wife ordered the Maine lobster salad "a la francaise" for her first course. It's a bit absurd to think that they fly in Maine lobsters to Lyon every day, but this is apparently what they do and part of the reason why this meal is so damn expensive. It was served cold with a lobstery mayo and a fresh herb oil. 

 

Next up was the red mullet dressed in crusty potato scales, served with a butter sauce. Again, really rich. Where are all the light, fresh preparations that I was told nouvelle cuisine was all about? ha!

For her course, my wife got the pan-seared scallops with beurre blanc, soufleed potatoes, and black truffle sauce. This was another really delicious, albeit rich and over-the-top dish.

To freshen up the palette, we got this sherbet made from Beaujolais wine. After eating all the butter-laden, rich dishes, this was welcomed.

For our third course, my wife got the rack of lamb served with vegetables and a puff pastry filled with caramelized fennel. This was carved and plated tableside. This was not on the menu and something the waiter offered up to her. Score!

 

For my third course, I got the pigeon in puff pastry with young cabbage. The pigeon was cooked perfectly and a real treat since it's not something I normally get to order. The puff pastry was delicious as well, filled with....foie gras!

By this point, my wife and I were starting to get pretty damn full but we kept plugging away. Next up was the cheese course and just as they did at Taillevant, the staff brought up over a huge board of cheeses. Unlike Taillevant though, the staff at Bocuse left us try as many as we wanted. A good tip coming up here: some of the cheeses Bocuse serves are from Richard Mere who also has a stall in Bocuse's marketplace - grab some cheese there and enjoy with a bottle of wine for an affordable picnic.

With cheese out of the way, finally came the wave of desserts. First up was this decadent chocolate mousse - fantasticly smooth, rich and creamy. Wonderful texture.

 



The waiter also dropped off this collection of petit fours, candies, chocolates, and truffles.

 



The staff then proceeded to wheel over two carts filled with all kinds of desserts and pastries. They encourage you to have as many as you want.

We were already really full at this point, and my wife was down for the count after having a few madeleines, but I pressed on. I was determined to try at least a few bites of most of these desserts. After all, we came all this way and paid all this money!

Above was the Ile Flotante, or "floating island" - a very traditional French dessert that features a mound of baked meringue covered with fruits, nuts and caramel and sitting on top a pool of creme anglaise. This was probably my least favorite of the desserts.

I also tried this chocolate cake with a raspberry filling. It was served with some fresh berries and a scoop of both vanilla and strawbeery ice cream because I asked for it.

Below was the last dessert I tried - the very classic and traditional tarte tatin. This is still one of my favorite desserts of all time. The apples were caramelized perfectly, nearly all the way through from edge to edge. Really impressive.

 

After the meal, Paul Bocuse came out of the kitchen and greeted us at our table. The man is so old now and he doesn't do any of the cooking, but he's still in great shape. He still proudly wears his chef's coat and high top hat. We asked for a picture with him, and he gladly obliged.

 

Not everyone has the opportunity to travel and eat at a restaurant of this caliber, so for that I'm truly appreciative. Meeting Bocuse and having a picture taken was another great treat, as was the staff offering up a copy of the menu to us to take home as a keepsake. The food was the definition of classical French cuisine. While absolutely delicious, it wasn't overly inventive...but it wasn't trying to be. Sometimes tradition is wonderful too.