Another place we visited on the island was the community called Boyardville. It's on the bay side (east side) of the island, just north of the oyster farming area. Boyardville is a resort town with a beach, a yacht basin, and several restaurants. When we went there, we thought we'd be able to take a boat ride over to the city of La Rochelle, but we learned that the harbor at La Rochelle was blockaded by striking fishermen.
"Starboard" menu
[3 courses]
[3 courses]
- Calamari Roman-style (deep-fried)
- 5 "long" Oléron oysters
- Whelks (steamed and served cold with mayonnaise)
- Summer salad
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- Savory buckwheat crêpe with ham, egg, and cheese
- Grilled beefsteak with a side dish
- Mussels cooked in white wine, with French fries
- Chitterling sausage served with grain mustard and a side dish
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- Sweet crêpe with butter and sugar
- Ice cream (2 scoops, your choice of flavors)
May we suggest our...
- Seafood plate (oysters, whelks, shrimp)
- Oysters on the half-shell, served with a glass of wine
(In France, oysters are graded or calibrated according to their weight and given a number between 0 and 5. The higher the number, the smaller the oyster. The ones on this menu are #3, which is medium size. Most commonly on menus you see oysters graded #2 or #3.)
Also try our custom-made ice creams, waffles, and crêpes — table service or take-out. You'll love them!
Same as yesterday, I'll have the 18 oysters #3. Thank you! I'll be back tomorrow for the same.
ReplyDeleteOne year going to France from LA, I had a several hour layover in Houston. I took this opportunity to go to the airport restaurant and ordered oysters. Yuck! They were washed and tasteless. Never again oysters in the States!
DeleteAt the Hyundai Department Store in Seoul, I was able to buy oysters in a plastic bag with sea water. They were very good and I enjoyed them several times.
DeleteLet me know when, chm, I’ll join you. And the next day too!
DeleteBettyAnn, that day may never come. Almost a year after my accident, I still can't walk and I may never be able to go back to France again!
Delete:( :(
DeleteCHM, I remember that you loved the oysters we had in restaurants several times in San Francisco. And I remember that Walt and I feasted on raw oysters in Seattle several times in Seattle back in the 1990s.
DeleteCHM, maybe your middle names is Huitre;-) I admire your courage.
Deletechm, you make me chuckle :)
ReplyDeleteThat seems like a delightful experience-- being in that area, local seafood on the menu, the smell of the salt air.
I'll do the moules frites. Mustard on the side. I trotted out a French dictionary to get through the menu, then scrolled down to see you'd done the heavy lifting for me. Whelks is not a word we hear often in the states. I know these creatures as scungilli, often used for flavor in Italian red sauce.
ReplyDeleteIn North Carolina, where I grew up, whelks were more commonly known as conchs, and were large creatures. We cooked them in stews and chowders. The European whelks are very small in comparison. The ones called bulots in French are the size of land snails and are usually eaten cold after steaming or boiling, with home-made mayonnaise.
DeleteLove these menus, Ken, I will have one of each, thank you very much. Many years ago, a big storm washed up lots of large whelks on the beach in Naples, Florida. We gathered up about a dozen, made scungilli chowder and took it to a party. Everyone loved it. Thanks for reminding me, Diogenes, I hadn’t thought about scungilli in ages.
ReplyDeleteDid you ever eat conch chowder when you lived in North Carolina? It was a staple of our diet when I was growing up.
DeleteI didn’t eat conch chowder in NC, I don’t even recall seeing it on a menu, but I made and ate it in Florida when I lived in Naples.
ReplyDelete