Having trained at L'Oustau de Baumanière and several other eminent southern
With its magnificent coliseum, tranquil Arles,
so beloved of painter Vincent van Gogh, still proudly shows off its ancient Roman bones
(don't miss the superb archaeological museum on the edge of town).
Curiously, in view of the volume of tourists the city attracts, it's not easy to get a good meal here,
which is why the terrace of the city's most famous hotel, the Hotel Nord Pinus
(a favorite address of Pablo Picasso and Jean Cocteau), is so popular.
On a warm night, it's a treat to sit outside and dine on goat cheese risotto
garnished with zucchini flowers, finely sliced articokes on a bed of salad,
squid sautéed with garlic and parsley, and lamb roasted with garlic.
A glamorous crowd of locals and travelers gives the place a buzz, and during the
winter months, when they serve in the 1930s vintage dining room filled with
bullfighting memorabilia (yes, they fight bulls in Arles too), it's cozy and
just as stylish.
Okay, it's touristy, but when you're poking around on the back roads of Les
Alpilles south of St. Rémy, you'll find yourself yearning to eat the sort of
dishes that Frédéric Mistral, Provence's greatest poet, referenced in his
work. That's why this old stone house surrounded by plane trees has become so
fiercesomely popular with a public that hails from Boston, Berlin, Birmingham,
and Bangkok. The other reason is that the prix-fixe lunch menu is a reasonably
good buy at 36 euros. Every day a different dish is featured, with Provençal
classics like aïoli (salt cod with boiled potatoes and vegetables and the
signature garlic mayonnaise that gives the dish its name), red mullet with
asparagus, rack of lamb, rabbit à la Provençale (cooked with thyme, onions,
and tomatoes) holding pride of place on the blackboard. Excellent local goat
cheese and delicious fruit tarts finish up a meal here, and the house wine,
though overpriced, is perfectly drinkable.
The modern ampitheater-shaped restaurant of the Pourcels,
Jacques and Laurent, is a garden of the senses indeed,
since the twin brothers do some of the nerviest and most generally
satisfying contemporary cooking to be found anywhere in the South of France.
Having worked in many of the country's best kitchens, one brother
(Jacques) specializing in la cuisine sale (savory cooking) and the other
(Laurent) in le sucre (desserts, pastry), the pair set up shop in Montpellier
16 years ago and have since become two of the most famous chefs in France,
rightly acclaimed for their joyous pan-Mediterranean cooking.
A meal at the Pourcels' is memorable for its sudden, sensual shifts between
revved-up cuisine de terroir (Languedoc cooking) and elegant,
urbane concoctions that speak of a self-assured culinary worldliness.
A preparation of the utmost technicality — carpaccio of pig's foot, for example —
might give way to a hearty, earthbound but always delicate preparation of ravioli stuffed
with foie gras and cèpes in a creamy pumpkin soup with Parmesan shavings.
Or consider a similarly thrilling juxtaposition between lasagna of langoustine
tails roasted in orange powder with candied carrots and a citrus-spiked sauce followed by monkfish
tail served with an open tomato tarte dosed with thyme jus and garlic oil.
Olivier Chateau, the third partner at Le Jardin and in the empire that it has spawned, is the wine expert,
and it's a pleasure to leave him carte blanche when it comes to serving the best local wines,
since it's hardly a secret that the once rag-tail wine region of the Languedoc-Roussillon
is now producing some of the most interesting wine to be found anywhere in France.
And even if you're not normally keen on dessert, don't miss the cherries served in three
different ways or the succulent poached apricots stuffed with pistachios.
One of the great country inns of France is located 25 kilometers south of 04-90-54-33-07
Just below the romantic acropolis of Les Baux, once the court of the kings of Provence and their celebrated troubadors,
this exquisite restaurant is the jewel in the crown of the hotel
that chef Jean-Andre Charial has lovingly perfected over the course of the last 30 years.
The elegant dining rooms are warmed by the
toast-colored Provençal stone that's everywhere in the surrounding landscape,
and beautiful wrought iron and flower arrangements create a stylish sense of occasion.
Charial is a passionate Provençal cook, and this comes across not just in stunning dishes like a filet of sea bass
with beurre rouge et olives noire but in almost movingly simple cooking like
his ballade dans notre jardin, a selection of perfectly cooked fresh
vegetables from his own substantial vegetable garden that's easily the sexiest
and most satisfying vegetarian offering to be had anywhere in the South of France.
Charial's petit farcis, assorted vegetables stuffed with veal, herbs, and bread crumbs and a signature dish of Nice,
and roast shoulder of lamb are the definition of each dish,
and the wine list generously proposes affordable local wines alongside grand vintages.
Don't miss the cheese tray brimming with the best of the region, and go for the crepe soufflé with tiny wild
strawberries for dessert.