Yesterday, CHM and I drove the Peugeot over to the Sancerre area. It was a day-long trip. We went to the perched village of Sancerre itself, and also to the wine village of Menetou-Salon, near the city of Bourges. We stopped at Chavignol, famous for the little goat cheeses called crottins. And we drove around in the 17th century planned community of Henrichemont.
One purpose of the trip was to go back to an area that CHM visited back in the early 1940s, when he was a teenager. He had never returned there. The villages he remembered especially were Jars and Le Noyer, among others. At lunchtime we found ourselves in a place called Vailly-sur-Sauldre (pop. 800) near Jars, looking for a restaurant. We found one.
What happened was that I noticed a hand-written sign along the street saying « Repas ouvriers » — workers' meals — with an arrow pointing to a narrow street leading onto the town's main square, next to the church. It looked promising. I parked the car and checked out the blackboard on the front steps of the restaurant to see what they were serving.
It turned out to be a very good meal, I thought — the restaurant was exactly the kind of place I like for everyday French food. I'll write more about what we ate tomorrow. I enjoyed it, but I especially enjoyed the atmosphere and the decor of the restaurant. Here are some pictures.
The cups, dishes, glasses, plates, table coverings, and furniture are really typical of French restaurants in little towns and villages. You can see that the menu, with three choices for the starter course and three main dishes, plus what turned out to be a wide variety of desserts, was priced at 12.50 euros. We ordered some wine in a pitcher, and some tap water in a carafe. I had a coffee (espresso) to finish the meal. More tomorrow...
That's what we call cuisine bourgeoise.
ReplyDeleteLooks good. Cuisine bourgeoise....comfort food, right? I prefer this kind of food, one of my favorties being pot au feu. I had to enlarge that menu picture to read it. I guess a magnifying glass is on the horizon, mdr.
DeleteI assume that the description cuisine bourgeoise is meant to distinguish this kind of home-style food from haute cuisine or fancy restaurant cooking. The Robert-Collins dictionary says cuisine bourgeoise means "good plain cooking or fare."
DeleteI think that I learned the term cuisine bourgeoise from Julia Child's use of it (and/or maybe yours, Ken??), to refer to what you say here, Ken... classic foods of the type cooked in homes, not fancy schmancy. I'm glad that (I guess?) I have been using it correctly-- it's what I tell my students.
DeleteThis all looks just wonderful :)
I'm catching up on my morning reading list -- you are always first, but I sometimes miss my morning reading. It's already Thursday! You've given me some ideas for the next trip down to your area. We love not taking the autoroute, but since we are on them, already, to get out of the Paris region, we tend to stay on them, especially when our objective is to get to Tours (in time for lunch with the machatunim) or to our daughter in the Tarn-et-Garonne. I hope you continue to have great weather for CHM's visit. It looks like today will be wonderful up here in the Paris area and I think the same is predicted down in your area, too.
ReplyDeletethat 4th shot.... just a wow! and the cafe.... i would love to see more coffee pix! i have to say - that is one thing i miss about traveling... the coffee. i do my best here but it is not the same. i have to know - did you get any cheeses?
ReplyDeleteJust the kind of restaurant I love, but they seem harder and harder to find in France. We did find a couple on this trip, but sometimes we just can't find this type of place. One thing I'll always remember is driving along the Canal de Bourgogne many years ago and looking for someplace for lunch. We spied a small restaurant along the canal and pulled over. When we went in the place smelled wonderful, and was full of workers having lunch. Too full; we couldn't get in. I think we passed it on a subsequent trip, but it wasn't lunch time. Maybe one day ....
ReplyDeleteJust what I needed this morning- a trip down memory lane. I love the simple stamped bill, le pichet, those chairs that weigh almost nothing, but are comfy nonetheless, the napkins in the wine glasses.
ReplyDeleteLovely pictures. Thank you for wetting my appetite!
ReplyDelete