Food + Wine in France

by Liz Dowling

Holidays are over. Coming up for air! All I have done is eat, decorate the apartment, cook, drink, entertain, do laundry, decorate the apartment, do my daughters laundry, cook, eat and de-Christmas the apartment.


So, with that said, let’s talk about food and wine! Tim and I left Paris for two days in Burgundy and WINE. We stayed at the lovely Hotel Le Cep in Beaune. The hotel is very pretty, but reminded both of us of Beauty and the Beast. Dark rooms, giant wooden furniture and lots of staff hanging around staring at us.


Here is the stairway to our room. Also, our attempt to cheer up the space with some champagne and cheese! Check out the giant desk…


The courtyard outside our window was a lovely place to have coffee and breakfast – and escape the staring staff!


Wine was on the menu and Burgundy was the perfect place to do that.


We did a gorgeous wine tour for a whole day, exploring some beautiful vineyards in and around Beaune.


The history of the vineyards is fascinating. The family dynamics, who produces what, the local competition between families, stories about deals made to buy up a whole vintage. Good French gossip.


Time to try some wine. Down into the caves for a tour and a tasting of six yummy Burgundy classics.


Mustard was also on the menu! We did a tour of the Edmond Fallot mustard factory (Tim in the cutout). It was DELICIOUS! We left with six flavors: horseradish dijon, honey & balsamic, tarragon dijon, walnut dijon, moutarde de Bourgogne with Burgundy white wine and truffle. It is so good, I could eat it with a spoon!


We went to the local farmers market to get cheese and bread to eat with our newly acquired mustard.


We ate at a few local restaurants; Le Benaton and Le Comptoir des Tontons were our fav. Both delicious!


Time to leave this beautiful part of the country and back to Paris!


We ate at some fabulous restaurants when we got back to Paris. Cafe Lignac is delicious, quiet, very French.


Chez Fernand is one of my all time favorites! Cozy, yummy, tiny. I always try to carve out a night to eat here. We had a memorable dinner a few years ago in January when is was snowing, enchanting. On Rue Christine.


Avant Le Comptoir is a no miss for the HAM! The best I have every had, smeared with mustard and some cold white wine. Part of Le Relais Saint Germain on Carre de l’Odeon.


Nesle is next to the Hotel d’Aubusson and perfect for a light bite. Breakfast, fries, snails ~ whatever you want!


We didn’t make any lunch reservations, but the two times we did, we went to Le Cherche Midi to have lunch with my old NYC roomate and Cafe Marley at the Louvre. Fabulous people watching and music at Cafe Marley! Otherwise, we would just stop along the way on our walks and park ourselves at a local bistro.


Paul is always good for breakfast and the markets are good for everything else!


Freddy’s, Hotel Costes and Cafe Laurent were our favorite places for some after dinner cocktails. We met an old friend and her son for drinks at Hotel Costes. There is nothing better than the giant silver candelabras on all of the tables and the best French music EVER!


the wry home

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