Biarritz: France's Best Kept Secret

Mr. Broad and I play this stupid game that we apply to anything. Underrated or Overrated. I got the game from my Uncle years ago. Basically you call out a food item, a place, a subject... anything and debate whether it's underrated or overrated. Or sometimes rated just right.

Example:

Ciopillini Onions- Underrated

White Rice- Overrated

Chicken Salad- Rated just right

You get the idea. Yeah, we tend to play it with food items. So where am I going with this? We went to a small town on the border of France- Biarritz. 100% Underrated. Why do more people not know of this area?! Wait. Maybe I'm glad more people don't know about this town. Boutique shops, Fromageries, Chocolatiers, Patisseries, Boulangiers lining the street. This was small town Paris on the Bay of Biscay (Thanks Mr. Broad for that geography lesson). Gorgeous.

Flavored dry mini sausages

We were only there in the town for a day/night but I could have stayed longer. I don't think there's that much to do but Mr. Broad and I were getting pretty used to the "drinking our cafe (coffee) and hanging out" scene.

We stayed in a bed and breakfast and walked the hilly town. Biarritz is in Basque country. Basque country is made up of 7 providences between Spain and France. There's even a different language that has a lot of consonants right next to each other not resembling any European language we've seen.

For dinner that night, our B&B recommended a restaurant a couple blocks away and the name now escapes me. Again, a wonderful, pleasant suprise.

Our waiter spoke English, loved that we were from New York, sharing a story with us when he was there in '95.

We started with the charcuterie plate. I don't remember what everything was. But let's just say ham, chorizio, and more pork.

Really now, have you ever had a charcuterie plate you didn't like?

Mr. Broad went with the steak tartare and pommes frites.

Note he eventually ended up eating steak tartare 3 times while on vacation. This was far and away my favorite steak tartare ever. Hand chopped meat, with not a lot of "addiditives" it didn't have the raw beef taste. And don't start me on the fries. Perfectly crispy, I'd say they were the best fries I've ever had. Yes, I'm going there.

I had grilled squid with rice. And probably some other stuff but I'm forgetting. Also tasty but I could have traded the white rice for... the fries.

We stumbled upon an indoor market the next day. The booths consisted of Fruit, Pastries, Bread, Meat. Repeat.

Cute right??

Not sure what this was, but worthy of a picture.

Kind of felt like a crime scene...

Maybe it was my lack of research on the town. But either way, Biarritz, thank you for this pleasant surprise and your redeeming charm.

Cheers.

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Mon Dieu! What Portions!

So when you think of French food, you think snobby small portions that you can eat in one bite, right? Well stereotype debunked. Here is where quantity equals quality.

This place was one of my favorites. Just a total French atmosphere with a waiter that played the part. Had his nose slightly up in the air because he knew his food was le shit. And I'm pretty sure he spoke English although fronted like he didn't, but that's part of why I loved it. I'm in your country- speak your language.

L'Ambassade d'Auvergne

Truth be told, Mr. Broad stumbled onto this one because it was open on a Sunday night. Apparently Paris is not New York City.

This place was known for it's lentils so at least I knew that going in...

Green Lentil Salad with Bacon

The waiter served it out of this large bowl and then... LEFT the bowl with us to finish it off. We coulda asked for the check by now.

Mr. Broad went with the Ham platter. Which I'm sure it was called something better in French but he savored it all the same.

This was my favorite part of the meal. The waiter who acts as part chef/ensembler puts the mashed potatoes together tableside. They were quite popular so I took a picture. Mr. Broad wouldn't let me take the picture when he did the schtick at our table. Cause hello, tourists.

Now that's elasticity.

Mr. Broad got the country sausage with the mashed potatoes. Holy creamy. Mr. Broad let me in on the secret that it's the cheese and not the cream that makes it hold that elasticity shape.

He loved it.

I don't remember what this is that I had for my main course but something to the affect of a chicken stew with vegetables. I loved it. Have we mentioned that the French love cream?

Aah. I looked up the menu. Cause what was that? Stew Veal with Blue Cheese Sauce

Yum.

Yep. No dessert. We were stuffed. And when the table next to us ordered mouse and they served it out of a large salad bowl and then LEFT the extra on the table?.. There was just no way.

I am still thinking of those mashed potatoes though. And for an even better look back at them- check out the photo on their menu.

Merci!

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They Don't Teach You This in French Class

Before I begin raving about our restaurant, I gotta give it up for our hotel.

The Westin was in a perfect location- right near the Louvre/Tuilleries... and with preferred status we got an upgrade to a $850/room night. (the price was listed on the door).

So while this isn't a "money saving blog", when you pay less than a quarter of the price and get a view of the Louvre, Eiffel Tower, and all the big must-sees... well, I have to advocate the Starwood Credit Card.

Views from our hotel: (there was a mini balcony)

And a view of the Louvre from our hotel room during the day.

A gray day in Paris is better than... ___ (fill in the blank)

Okay. Dinner. First night of dinner, we were a bit jet lagged and took a much needed nap beforehand.

We found this place from Mr. David Lebovitz. Who's kinda like the shit. (Excuse my French... HAH- GET IT?! And it's not French at all!) I think I'll take another post to write about David later.

Aux Lyonnais

Reading over the menu.

Oh Le Shit.

I definitely don't know French.

We didn't want to be *those* Americans and have the waiter translate every item (don't worry we eventually gave in a couple dinners later) so we did our best with my mini English/French Dictionary, my 5 years of French 8 years ago, and Mr. Broad's fluency in Spanish which is kiiiinda similar to French. We tried.

So let me explain what we ate in our English terms cause that's what I know.

Pig something. It came in a jar, was spreadable, and I'm pretty sure it was innards, pate, yet creamy. Mr. Broad chowed down. Il l'aime.

A creamy bacon leek tart

All I knew was that I was getting something with leeks. Yum. But helloo cream! I was getting flashbacks to Meryl Streep adding cream to her dishes a la Julia Child. I never saw the movie but saw enough of the trailers to get the picture. The French like cream.

Blood Sausage

...Sorry Mr. Broad, I didn't know how to say bone marrow (which our neighbors got). No loss though! This blood sausage was easily the best he's ever had. Oh and with amaazing apples on the side. RIGHT! Pomme de terre is potatoes but pommes is apples. I totally knew that. Oops.

Quenelles- fish dumplings. The waiter explained what it was and it was in my mini dictionary so it had to be popular.

An odd texture if I do say so. A dumpling- a creamy one- and my guess was it was like a gefilte fish but well, without the jelly part. (It was just Passover, give me the comparison...) And I don't even like gefilte fish! But this, creamy and really good. Just a bit different.

Dessert. EVERYONE orders dessert. We were stuffed (CREAM much??) but decided to split a dessert (Helloo, it's France) and got the "Areyousureyou'reSPLITTINGadessertandaren'torderingyourown?!" look from our waiter. Yes that's a look.

Introducing the souffle.

The most airy and creamy and soft and delicious souffle I've ever had. Not that I'm a souffle expert but if I was, this was the one. It came with some orange soaked grand marnier thingy which we eventually incorporated.

Mr. Broad and I were adamant that we wouldn't go to any touristy like places. We wanted to go where the locals went- no English menu options and just damn good food. (And wine.) The restaurant lived up to expectations. I think I would brush up on my French if we were to go back. Way too much food envy.

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How did France claim naming rights on French Onion Soup?

Mr. Broad and I were doing our best to have all the necessary "must tries."

Croissants- check
Macaroons- Check
French onion Soup-- Check
French Fries- Check

Mr. Broad and I were doing the tourist thing for a day (The Louvre, Musee D'orsay, Notre Dame...). We were in Les Halles area when we walked by a rather showy restaurant. Mr. Broad recognized it from a recommendation from a friend.

(SEE! NOT ALL our meals are planned out!... Okay but all the Paris dinners were...)

Au Pied de Cochon
Les Halles, Paris

After doing a little googling there's also one in Miami and (gasp!) Atlanta. But don't tell Mr. Broad, and this one is the original from 1946. So at least I feel better now.

It's funny instead of the bread/butter combo, they put out bread and a pork pate of sorts. Oh it was good. And we later learned, this was not the first restaurant to go down this path. They heart the pig.


French Onion Soup
Probably about an inch thick in cheese. And a baquette soaked within the soup, but with minimal onions. But wow that cheese. This was probably the most dense soup I have ever eaten (When does it become a casserole?) and could barely make a dent in it.


Steak Tartare
I'm not the biggest steak tartare fan (One guess who is...) but the waiter does a little schtick where you watch him make it (I mean it is raw beef). This one had extra relish and capers in it. And hello... What's up HUGE portion of raw meat. Cooked hamburgers don't come this large.




You can tell this is a popular brunch place. The white table clothes and all they still admitted me in with my tourist sneakers.

Thanks for the recommendation!

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The vacation in recap

Aah France and Spain.

How I love thee. Our first vacation that didn't *really* involve a beach. But involved plenty of mountains, scenery, wine, great food, and chocolate. And wine.

I took pictures of our meals cause well, helloo you just don't eat like this normally. As I did with our last vacation to Brazil thought I'd do the same and give a list of superlatives. And then you know blog about our vacation to make it seem so much longer than it was. Cause Basque country yeah, you're TOTALLY UNDERRATED.

Days on vacation: 9

Pictures taken: 708

Books read: Mrs. Broad 4; Mr. Broad 48 pages.

Note: The book Sarah's Key: best and most pertinent book to read while in Paris. Whoa.

Saddest movie to watch on a plane: Precious Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire. I think I've finally recovered from it.

Quote from French winemaker we idolized: "Do you drink a bottle of wine a day? I do."

Most prestigious quote from a fellow wine taster: "Aah this wine would go just lovely with a pan fried foie gras."

Mr. Broad's favorite French word: Douche

First biggest blunder on the trip: Mr. Broad booking two tickets to Biarretz in HIS NAME. Les Awesome.

Second biggest blunder: Misreading the euros and how much a bottle of Armagnac was. Thinking it was $45 but learned it was $240 after we paid. Screaming "return-ey!"... "exchange-ay!" to the cashier.

Worst flight ever: Sitting two seats down from a woman on the red eye to Paris as she was violently ill the entire flight. And passing barf bags to her. Les Awesome.

Second worst flight ever: on our way to Biarretz, the woman next to Mr. Broad asked for "le sac." WTF.

How you say barf bag in French: le sac

Craziest thing we ate: brain

Worst thing Mr. Broad ate: fried pig's ear.

The "I'll give it another shot" award: Pig's ear. Mr. Broad proclaimed it was better the 2nd time because it wasn't fried.

Best meal we had: lunch at Asador Etxebarri.

(Thanks Anthony Bourdain for the recommendation- around minute 3:45; we met the sous-chef!)

Oh and pictures.

I know you've all seen the Eiffel Tower. Or Ms. Mona Lisa. So here are the pictures you haven't seen...

Souffle- the French do it right.

Fresh made crepes

The windows of the chocolatiers had fun displays for Easter

Oh chocolate...

A line is forming outside of a popular Boulangiere. Trust me this ain't your Wonder Bread

St. Jean Pied de Port

(I loved saying this town's name)

All the houses in the French countryside were white with red shutters.

So cool.

Biarritz

My new favorite town

I love truffles now.

(Eaten at the best lunch ever)

Small towns in La Rioja region

(My new favorite wine).

San Sebastian

Tapas lining the bar in San Sebastian

Marques de Riscal designed by Frank Gehry: Winerie and Hotel

Speaking of wine

Okay so the trip was a complete success. Even though I pretend to speak more French than I really do. (Mr. Broad was still impressed.) And the Euro sucked. And we almost bought a $250 bottle of alcohol. We absolutely loved it.

I'll leave you with a lasting image. Brain. Turns out it was lamb's brain. No idea on the preparation. Don't worry I'll explain it all in posts to come...

Stay tuned!

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