Part 12 (2/2)

The sti us back to a booth providing sa sandwiches of the same Artisan charcutier Jacky Gruson of Le Carre de Picq s that he raises himself on a diet of corn, barley, and peas He cuts us paper-thin slices of the uettes, a treat as sih to be considered for a last meal

On our way out of the convention center, we pick up a bottle of Bandol, one of our favorite wines, froueloup in Saint-Cyr-sur-Mer The vintner, Richard Prebost, tells us next week is the annual Fete du Vin du Bandol and encourages us to come Bill tells him we'll be in Brazil by then, but will keep it ina solo sa us a merry send-off from the Christmas fair

In contrast to the scene in Arles, the historic center of Les Baux is quiet today, the ain Most of the year, busloads of tourists swarm the place as if they've been invited to a sneak preview of Heaven The towering hilltop location alone lures many of thele's nest, soaring high above the rest of the distinctive local white limestone formations The fabled history also draws in the crowds Celts built the first defensive fortress on the site in the second century BC BC, but the powerful lords of Les Baux, beginning in the eleventh century AD AD, turned it into the ”ies, which didn't fall until Louis XIII laid a royal siege

Even though we have the old streets and sights mostly to ourselves on this blustery day, we find little to detain us for long Right before we leave, Cheryl peers over the city wall next to the castle ruins to search for Mireille in the valley below She spots her and blows a kiss, saying we're on our way home, from where the historic city looks even s

Before dinner, Christine and Philippe tell us about the origin of the name of their inn ”Riboto,” they explain, refers to a co table in the old Provencal dialect In Mistral's epic poeood witch who helps to unite the lowly basket hter Charles Gounod turned the story into an opera that Christine and Philippe once saw in Avignon They swear the set looked exactly like their property

For an appetizer, Bill selects the lamb-sweetbread salad, with crisply tender sweetbreads that Jean-Pierre allows to cool slightly before adding greens and a saffron dressing Cheryl opts for the langoustine ravioli, luscious little pouches of seafood swi in a broth of squid ink and olive oil Both of us folloith a roasted veal sirloin with sauteed cepes and parsley, which coetables As with redients into a spectacular success Philippe matches the veal flawlessly with his wine reco Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Cinsaut grapes

Each of us holds back on the cheese course, sticking with just a wedge of Saint-Marcellin, because we know additional creaside an apple tart, a spiral of roasted apples on buttery pastry, Jean-Pierre scoops a globe of vanilla ice cream churned just minutes before On top of that, he dribbles a sundae crown of golden, light olive oil, which works beautifully Only in Provence

The nextwe drive down the road a couple of miles to drop in on olive-oil producers Jean-Benoit and Catherine Hugues, who make Castelas The couple juht a house and six hectares of trees from a family that had cultivated olives on the land since the seventeenth century The original owners, who had no heirs, would only sell to people who prouesesby the oil they extract

The trees don't deserve all the credit, however The Hugueses press their oil on the same day that they harvest the olives, usually within six hours, and they use a production systened by Jean-Benoit to obtain optiineer with a specialization in auto, he showed us his custoreat pride on a previous trip Jean-Benoit eing olives to the right te A blower dries and destems the fruit and elih a grate just slightly smaller than them, so that they crack but aren't crushed, as happens with stone grinding The next ht tube and a centrifuge drains out the oil, which stays in stainless-steel vats until bottling The label on the final product proclaiine Contro lee (AOC) status, just like French wines enjoy, under the region called the Vallee des Baux de Provence

Just around the corner, Mas de la Dame makes some of the best local AOC wines The old farmhouse looks the way itlimestone block architecture with a faded red tile roof In the tasting roo our two favorites from past experience, the Coin Cache and Le Vallon des A a little of each, Bill buys a bottle of Le Vallon, the longer-lasting of the pair Cheryl starts looking closely at the lovely holiday baskets on display and Bill goes en garde In France, Cheryl sometimes buys and hauls home some of thea fragile, three-foot-high walnut-drying rack that she carried back as checked luggage after begging yards of bubble wrap from shops in Saint-Tropez, of all places This ti unburdened, we drive south a dozen or so kiloe La Pastourello, another of our treasured spots in the area You enter the restaurant through the bar, which Monsieur attends, and pass aroom furnished with a sofa and a TV that's always on and tuned to a game show around the noon hour The proprietors and their family station the room, which Madame oversees, is exuberantly decorated with a collection of antiques and objets (not all d'art) that define the essence of eclectic Wherever you look on the walls and shelves, you see musical instruments, operatic masks, ceraurines, paintings, and kitchen i hearth blazes today at one end of the roourines, paintings, and kitchen i hearth blazes today at one end of the roorandfather clock and a piano

In warmer months, e've come before at lunch, La Pastourello sets out an expansive buffet of Provencal fare In this slower period, the restaurant offers a recited menu of daily specials for a three-course prix fixe meal with house wine Cheryl starts with a ”pizza” on a puff-pastry base with cheese melted over tomato and ham, and Bill leads with a custardlike mussel terrine accompanied by an anchovy-laced salad For a main course, both of us order dorade (sea bream) in pistou, the Provencal equivalent of an Italian pesto Delicious fillets float on creamed chard, and pistou swathes the fish Cheryl chooses the ile flottante ile flottante (floating island) dessert, while Bill has a (floating island) dessert, while Bill has a tarte au citron tarte au citron that's as close to a leue pie as we've ever seen in France At ten minutes until 2:00, the restaurant clears completely as all the other patrons head back to work that's as close to a leue pie as we've ever seen in France At ten minutes until 2:00, the restaurant clears completely as all the other patrons head back to work

In the afternoon, we read lazily, learning later that Christine, Philippe, and Jean-Pierre are toiling hard at the sa with the olive harvest It doesn't diet the saras for an appetizer, followed by roasted macreuse, ras rests on a thin potato cake, crispy and garlicky, and drips dabs of red currant sauce A glass of Muscat frouedoc mates perfectly a cut of beef unfaras rests on a thin potato cake, crispy and garlicky, and drips dabs of red currant sauce A glass of Muscat frouedoc mates perfectly

The macreuse, Philippe tells us, co full beefy flavor, and is cut in a way that increases tenderness Jean-Pierre presents it in medium-rare scallops with a carae of fall vegetables-fennel, baby turnips, green beans, roasted potatoes, and marble-sized Brussels sprouts almost as sweet as fruit As Philippe clears the table, we soet into a discussion of American barbecue sauces The ones he has tried all overwhelm and mask the food, he says, a flae've seen also in some French sauces Jean-Pierre'sflavors because they are reductions of the original juices arlic, wine, and other seasonings

When Christine arrives with the cheese cart, we're still drinking the red e had with the beef, a local 2000 Chateau Romanin that conon To ed sheep cheeses and an Alsatian Muenster Dessert is sauteed pears with a pine-nut praline and intensely fragrant lavender ice crealass of Arnac back to our roos, concluding that the food is as satisfying to us today as most of e've had at three-star restaurants in France in previous years Although the style of the meals is less elaborate, the attention to detail, the overall quality, and the pacing reflect the sa well The conversation leads to a momentous decision that both of us take an oath to uphold: as soon as Bill wins the World Series of Poker, which he says will be any year noe'll retire permanently to La Riboto

The next day, we return to Nice, stopping first at the open-air h co off his left ear The artist paintedthe local trees that still fornarly but elegant plane trees, cut back in winter, cast shade and shadows over the donof personal use fro caps and coats suitable for the weather, ladies' lingerie less heedful of the cold, shoes and boots, books, CDs, Laguiole knives, di the nu only kiwis, another specializing in oysters andchestnuts Other stands boast loads of leeks, turnips, and other root vegetables, chickpeas dried and fresh, walnuts, hazelnuts, eggs, hearty breads, honeys, and sausages flavored with herbs, fennel, and pepper As usual at a Provencal e paella pan full of rice and seafood, an Asian stand offers spring rolls, samosas, and other fried treats, and spits loaded with chickens and meats spin at a rotisserie truck, where the proprietor watches distractedly as he bites off chunks of a baguette to wash doith red wine

In Nice, we drop off our rental car and check in at La Perouse, a seaside hotel in the old center of tohere we've stayed several times before When Bill made the reservation, he requested one of two specific roo reception staff-generally cheery young e Our preferred rooms are slass on two sides A big shutteredopens fully toward the city, and French doors gaze out to the Mediterranean and lead to a standing-room-only balcony that overlooks the whole of the bay, the beach, and the hotel pool The higher of the two rooms, where we land today, abuts the top of La Colline du Chateau and offers exactly the same perspective on the town and the water, a view that virtually every tourist pays to see for a couple of o, we sit and stare at the vista for hours at a time

The hill (colline) and the reured prominently in Nice history In the fourth century BC BC, Greeks routed Ligurians living in the vicinity and established the trading post of Nikaia (the basis of the city's current nae point for protecting the port The residents had built a cathedral on the site by the eleventh century, and next to it, the ruling counts of Provence put their castle, eventually razed in later battles of succession

Control of the strategic city changed a nu sovereignty in 1860 Through the frequent political turmoil, the people of Nice remained remarkably independent of their rulers, as if they owned the fiefdoe of Catherine Segurane, who Nice fro the invaders Maybe she misunderstood Machiavelli, who ainst you, attack from the rear

Shortly after we arrive, we find ourselves on a street named in honor of the heroine It descends froradually expanded around Segurane's era It's always fun to walk the hborhood and that's e do on our first afternoon, afteran initial stop at La Merenda to secure a dinner reservation, which is always necessary despite the restaurant's refusal to install a phone for that purpose In the heart of the old toe wander ai a few stores, and absorbing the food aromas

Almost equally split between local and visitor appeal, the mix of shops fascinates us At one we buy a toddler's backpack for our granddaughter Chloe, engraved with the French spelling of her name with an accent over the last letter Just a block or so ae gape at a boned whole, head-on suckling pig resting in a case in front of a boucherie boucherie It's known as It's known as porquetta, porquetta, a trademark dish of the area stuffed with haetables, and then roasted until the skin is crackling crisp a trademark dish of the area stuffed with haetables, and then roasted until the skin is crackling crisp

Other Nicoise food specialties abound as well, ets a pissaladiere pissaladiere snack to go at the same storefront eatery that Calvin Trillin once raved about in a snack to go at the same storefront eatery that Calvin Trillin once raved about in a Gourmet Gournat pan bagnat Rese a pizza, pissaladiere pissaladiere is flatbread covered with onions cooked down slowly to their essence and then topped with a s of black olives and anchovies is flatbread covered with onions cooked down slowly to their essence and then topped with a snat consists of a split loaf of round bread rubbed with a garlic clove and then filled as a sandith tuna canned in olive oil, lettuce, to slices, and maybe radishes, scallions, celery, artichoke hearts, or anchovies Made simply with chickpea flour and olive oil, consists of a split loaf of round bread rubbed with a garlic clove and then filled as a sandith tuna canned in olive oil, lettuce, to slices, and maybe radishes, scallions, celery, artichoke hearts, or anchovies Made simply with chickpea flour and olive oil, socca socca looks like a giant, thin pancake, and the equally unfussy looks like a giant, thin pancake, and the equally unfussy tourta de blea tourta de blea features chard and pine nuts in a savory pie The original o by that naathered mainly in the hills of Nice, particularly dandelion stalks, purslane, arugula, small bitter lettuces, and chervil features chard and pine nuts in a savory pie The original o by that naathered mainly in the hills of Nice, particularly dandelion stalks, purslane, arugula, small bitter lettuces, and chervil

By dinnertier to eat La Merenda raised eyebrows in the French food world when it opened years ago because chef-owner Doious haute cuisine position heading the kitchen at Chantecler, in Nice's grand Negresco hotel, to start cooking the kind of food he personally likes to eat He has dubbed it ”fa,” but that doesn't translate well in American terms, since few faular e), and stockfish (pungent salt cod soaked for days and cooked with onions, tomatoes, and white wine for a couple of hours) The restaurant also stirred a little indignation at its inauguration by doing two seatings for dinner, at 7:00 and 9:00 Norht At La Merenda, they pace the service to get you out within two hours Dastardly

Pro us and all the other two dozen patrons who can fit knee-to-knee and elbow-to-elbow in the tiny space Tonight, as we know is usual from past visits, the blackboard carte offers six appetizers, a similar number of main courses, an optional cheese course (the server just asks whether you want a goat, sheep, or cow variety), some desserts, and water or house wine to drink The waiter carries the portable uests to choose and order quickly Bill starts with a tarte de Menton tarte de Menton-basically a pissaladiere pissaladiere without the anchovies-so deservedly popular that the night's complete supply disappears by 7:15 Cheryl's house-liatelle with pistou also shi+nes, apasta can and should be: al dente, flavorful itself, and dressed with a perfect amount of basil-rich pistou without the anchovies-so deservedly popular that the night's complete supply disappears by 7:15 Cheryl's house-liatelle with pistou also shi+nes, apasta can and should be: al dente, flavorful itself, and dressed with a perfect amount of basil-rich pistou

For our oes for the daube daube ith panisse panisse (chickpea fries) on the side Our favorite style of beef stew, shalo-Saxon versions, daube must be cooked for hours in an ocean of red wine, as Doe with lentils features a fresh pork (chickpea fries) on the side Our favorite style of beef stew, shalo-Saxon versions, daube must be cooked for hours in an ocean of red wine, as Doe with lentils features a fresh pork saucisson, saucisson, fragrant with fennel and garlic, served a touch soupy in a shalloith plu with cheese-goat for Cheryl and sheep for Bill-we stagger out happily about 9:00 fragrant with fennel and garlic, served a touch soupy in a shalloith plu with cheese-goat for Cheryl and sheep for Bill-we stagger out happily about 9:00

The nexta half-dozen swih we've never been here at Christmas or Carnival, even colder periods, some residents reportedly celebrate those occasions by skinny-dipping in the bay These polar bears today wear regular suits, which they deftly slip off their legs when leaving as they pull on warmer clothes over their heads The beach proers, bikers, Rollerblade enthusiasts, and plenty of walkers,Our strolls around the city frequently lead us to the busy proo below to the uncomfortable beach, fors a week, including this one, a big pedestrian boulevard in Old Nice, cours Saleya, hosts an open-air market, with produce and prepared foods at one end and flowers at the other A over, we find it noticeably slower at this time of the year than in sunnier months, with fewer vendors and visitors both At least the invincible Theresa shows up, looking as striking as ever even bundled up for the weather Chez Theresa has been a mainstay of the market, and a Nice icon, since the 1920s She's not that old herself, being the third Theresa to run the business, but she upholds the legacy with regal pride, selling socca, pissaladiere, pan bagnat, socca, pissaladiere, pan bagnat, and and tourta de blea tourta de blea like they're her croels Her name isn't really Theresa-it's Susy-and she's not from Nice-lived much of her life in Israel actually-but no one complains about food fraud like they're her croels Her name isn't really Theresa-it's Susy-and she's not from Nice-lived much of her life in Israel actually-but no one complains about food fraud

A locala couple of blocks away Our last tih theof his small storefront kitchen when he waved at us to join hi oven, more than seventy-five years old, and de a cart transports the food to thebarrel that sits over a charcoal fire She stations herselfoff her socca with the coy conceit of a new ht across the street from her booth at another Chez, named after Freddy in this case Both of us yearn for local seafood and the restaurant provides gargantuan plates of it Cheryl gets oysters on the half shell and moules fritesa variety of paellas, the house specialty, Bill picks the one with theshellfish, fish, rabbit, chicken, and chorizo The waiter plops it on the table in an iron skillet so loaded with the promised provisions-as well as a thick stew of toarlic-that Bill can hardly locate the rice It's far from a Valencian version, but this is Nice, not Spain, and everything here is distinctly Nicoise (stea a variety of paellas, the house specialty, Bill picks the one with theshellfish, fish, rabbit, chicken, and chorizo The waiter plops it on the table in an iron skillet so loaded with the promised provisions-as well as a thick stew of toarlic-that Bill can hardly locate the rice It's far from a Valencian version, but this is Nice, not Spain, and everything here is distinctly Nicoise

Isabelle and Michel Vernaud always guarantee that at Lou Pistou, our dinner restaurant this evening Next-door neighbors with La Merenda-at the same physical address in fact-it shares much in common with its competitor, from the size of the space to a similar menu of well-executed local classics The two differ primarily in personality, and on that measure we prefer Lou Pistou, a quintessentialby hi calm and collected in an apron-draped T-shi+rt while he es a dozen tasks simultaneously Isabelle, whose hair is so red she seems to be on fire, handles the front of the house alone with boundless energy They love what they do and it makes you love theula salad, which Isabelle tosses at the table with hefty chunks of Parrilled red bell peppers, topped with chopped garlic When Isabelle brings the plate to the table, she hands him a can of olive oil to pour over the appetizer to taste We both folloith daube and pasta, but in two different preparations, with Bill's beef served over tagliatelle and Cheryl's stuffed in ravioli For dessert, we opt for a lelace, full of pistachios and candied fruit It's all superlative, on the saht as our dinner at La Merenda Incredibly, the bill is exactly the same in both places, 76 for three courses each and a bottle of wine

In the er over breakfast, since it's going to be our last meal in town Our hotel sets out a cold buffet daily worthy of indulgence The baguettes, croissants, and pain au chocolat excel, as do the selections of French cheeses and charcuterie Bill dives into the bowl of hard-boiled eggs, while Cheryl favors the quiche and yogurt, both of us leaving ample rooh Old Nice and a shower, it's time to head to the airport

Our taxi driver turns out to be a talkative young woman She asks about our stay and Bill says we've had a wonderful visit, enjoying the food in particular Cheryl tells her about our , bringing us to reement about the culinary bounty Then when she pauses at a red light, she turns and looks at us seriously to say, in a typically feisty Nice way, ”It's not like this in northern France, you know Parisians understand nothing about olive oil Their food is so heavy, theythe rocks on our beach” An apt parting thought, true or not

THE NITTY-GRITTY

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