Young, hopeful and totally carefree is how we felt as we zipped down the A6 towards the vineyards of the Côte-d’Or in our Burgundy-red Fiat 500. A cherished friend I had not seen for 3 years at the wheel, cool and at ease, and surprisingly so for a person who had not driven stick for…
Just across the River Touques from the city of Deauville, in the Calvados department of Normandy, France is the picturesque port city of Trouville-sur-Mer, dubbed “the 21st arrondissement of Paris” by Vitamin D deficient Parisiens et Parisiennes who flood its long, sandy beaches each summer. During the winter months, the vibe is a bit more…
Another neighborhood favorite of mine is Cafe Eriu, a delightful little restaurant on Rue Fondaudege serving up seasonal cuisine with an Irish twist. A tastefully designed coffee bar clad in dark green tile, a homey dining area, an open kitchen in the back. Brunch is great here, with both sweet and salty options. Lunch is…
It was tough to leave Pontevedra after just two nights spent there. More than any other stop on our Galician roadtrip, this city served as our home-base. From the rustic-chic comfort of our room at the Parador of Pontevedra, we set out on day trips to Vigo and the picturesque fisherman’s town of Combarro. We…
Saintly and serious Santiago de Compostela was a cool gray on our second morning there. We toured the verdant Parque de Alameda and explored the magnificent Cathedral complex, around which the entire city was constructed. We peeked at scallop-shell-clad and visibly exhausted peregrinos tumbling dramatically to their hands and knees on the cobblestoned floors of…
The city of Léon was a last-minute addition to our roadtrip to Galicia, a stop-over on the way back to shorten the drive. As we crossed the hilly wine country of Bierzo and the flat, red dessert landscape of Castilla y Léon, we had no idea what to expect of our next destination. We certainly…
Rarely am I as hungry as I was arriving in Santiago de Compostela on the second night of our recent roadtrip to Northwest Spain. Earlier that day we had toured the city of Gijon, driven along the Asturian coastline to the magnificent Praia das Catedrais, lain out on the beach for a couple of hours…
As the French and Spanish border grew closer on the horizon, I reached nervously towards my bag, where the folded-up results of our PCR tests were tucked neatly between my Hungarian and US passports. Not that I was worried about not getting through. I was more concerned with missing our reservation at Petritegi and our…
A pint-sized Venezuelan joint named El Budare has opened its doors this week in my neighborhood and I couldn’t be happier about it. We met the very nice couple – Paula from Venezuela and French-Réunionese Florian – when we stuck our noses in to check the menu last weekend, as they were busy setting up.…
It’s only mid-March and already “Sleeping Beauty” Bordeaux seems to be waking from her winter slumber, shaking off confinement, curfew and coronavirus like a bad dream. Despite 3 million currently infected in France and an excruciatingly slow start to the vaccine rollout, a 20°C sunny day will send hordes of Bordelais out to the Garonne…
Well, it finally happened. After 4 years spent living just 100 meters from TentaziOni, I finally decided I couldn’t survive another day without eating there. I had heard just about every one of my Italian friends praise the restaurant’s menu with a kind of passion they normally reserve for denouncing “pâte à la carbonara à…
I know I’m not alone in feeling this way. Unmotivated, lethargic, unhappy. Stuck in an enforced hibernation in my lonesome Bordeaux bubble with a soul-crushing curfew, starving for places and faces, both familiar and new. I sometimes re-read my old articles about the street food of Mongkok, the asados in Argentina, the 18-course tasting menu…
My favorite meal of 2020 was by far this lunch at Restaurant Les Clos de Paulliles in Port-Vendres on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. Just a half hour before being handed our menus my travel companion and I had been stretched out on sun loungers on the pool deck of our Argelès-sur-Mer resort, an…
Cooped up in Bordeaux for Confinement: Part II during autumn, the season that already makes me particularly homesick each year, I’ve been thinking about my last trip to the US in February. My annual visit to the Harvard Square T-Mobile for a temporary SIM card with a side of deliciously smiley American customer service. An…
One of my favorite new discoveries in the neighborhood is HEIKO on Rue Fondaudège, perfect for a quick solitary lunch on work-from-home Wednesdays. They specialize in poke bowls and “sushi burritos” inspired by Hawaiian, Japanese and Mexican flavors. At 11.90€ a bowl and 10.90€ a burrito, this is a pretty great deal. (Considering the quantity…
That Best Bite 