We had reservations at Paul Bocuse for that night so we wanted something lighter, or at least something that didn’t require 3 course, for lunch. Also, I wanted to pick up something for dinner the next night. So off to Les Halles we went. I had chosen Aoc based on reviews. We got there around 1:30 and it was still pretty packed.
I ordered the tartare. It was okay, not great. Potatoes were good, but not as good as Le Musee.
Though the food was fine, next time, I would walk through the market first and choose a place based on what looks good. There were plenty of places to eat in Les Halles.
We bought pigeon there for dinner the next night. We also went to a farmers market the next day, where there were also butchers selling pigeon. I was glad we got it at Les Halles, though, because the butchers had time to talk with us, whereas the farmers market was more hectic.
WOW! And wine at a great price, huh? We especially like to do that our last night when we have to get up so, so early. And take some of that good stuff on the plane.
Later on in the trip we drove through Provence, and the price of wines were so reasonable at the wineries, it made me question the crazy prices we pay for California wine.
Gideon Beinstock of Clos Saron pointed out to me that French winemakers often have had their wineries and vineyards in the family for generations, while their California counterparts like him have the added expense of real estate.
Why Californians will pay more for California wines than for imported ones of higher quality, I don’t know, but I saw a similar phenomenon in Italy.
The cost of land, like Robert mentioned, is a factor. Also, when we were there, talking with the wine makers, they explained that each individual winery did not own a filtration system. Instead, one system would go from winery to winery and folks just pay for the service. So there are shared costs that here in California, you would have to purchase yourself.
Not in this order but Croatia, Albania, Montenegro and Slovenia. It’s an escorted tour and we have to struggle to make food more of a focus on these trips. What we have learned is to bail on all the group dinner. Feeding a group of 20-40 with ‘safe’ food doesn’t work for us. So we go off on our own. (Shh. We sold a second home recently and decided to splurge. We’re going business class on Lufthansa on the upper deck of the 747! I’m almost as excited about that as the tour )
I thought of these comments and chuckled. Our last night in Reno was in a nearby hotel with the petsitters ensconced in our house. Here was our dinner eaten on the bed:
Some deli turkey, WF rosemary sourdough, crackers, grilled pork chops and see that potato? Left over baked that I put some Delice de Bourgogne on/in and MWd it. Dang, that was good.
I wanted to leave a day earlier to France but husband really wanted to fly on the new Airbus 380, upper deck. Glad there are folks happy to get on planes. For me, I wish I could go under full anesthesia and just wake me when we’ve landed!
