The Sunny Terrace of Le P’tit Bar: A Place to Pause

There’s a delightful little neighborhood called Saint Seurin Croix Blanche located beyond Rue Abbe de l’Epee, around the Place des Martyrs de la Résistance, behind our street. This neighborhood rocks. Gorgeous, super-traditional, Bordeaux-style limestone houses all in a row, the perfect park surrounding a beautiful church, a little wine bar called La CUV Saint-Seurin with an adorable red facade,…

A Light and Airy Vegetarian Brunch at Kitchen Garden

I’ve been spoiled since living in Bordeaux by the occasional weekend road trip out to Angouleme to spend time with my French beau’s French mother, who happens to be an excellent home cook and a very warm, inviting and kind individual in general. Her green thumb is quite evident, with all kinds of flowers, ferns,…

An Early Autumn Dinner at MILES in Bordeaux

MILES is a culinary gem in Bordeaux, highly recommended by pretty much everyone who has been there. And despite the quality of the experience, it’s surprisingly accessible. We made our Friday night reservation just two weeks in advance for the restaurant’s signature 5-course tasting menu, very reasonably priced at 43 euros per person. Upon arrival, we…

Lunch at Les Halles de Bacalan

Now that the grades are in and my time as a student has come to its ultimate end, nostalgia has been creeping up on me. And besides the friends, the wines and the actual learning, I’m starting to miss all of those lunches together on the terrace of Hangars 16 and 18. I miss the makeshift…

A Cozy Pan of Truffade at L’Auberge de l’Âne

After some time melting my sins away in the dry sauna of our Saint Nectaire hotel, I shocked my senses awake with an ice-cold shower before suiting up in sweater, coat and Uggs and heading out again for dinner. We had made a reservation at L’Auberge de l’Âne, a charming, rustic tavern-type restaurant at an…

Les Flots | Indulgence on the Coast of La Rochelle

A very rainy hour-and-a-half drive up along the coast in a rented cherry-red Fiat 500 brought us to La Rochelle, the picture-perfect capital of Charente Maritime. Two solid months of non-stop rain and all of the emotional ups and downs that come with such weather had ignited our cabin fever to the point where we…

A Night of Meat and Wine at El Nacional

Arriving just in time for our Saturday night reservation at El Nacional, I was already quite certain I’d be in for a great piece of meat – an entraña, a vacio or costilleras imported from Argentina or Uruguay, some chimichurri tapped gently on, nothing on the side. I had heard rumors that they serve Salta-style…

Treating Ourselves at Chez Boulan

There had been a lot going on in the month of October with a trip to Barcelona, getting back to work, back to school, going to Rioja with school, and the next day leaving to Boston with a 22-hour layover in Lisbon. Somewhere in the middle of all that I met a friend from work…

Winery Tour and Lunch at Chateau la Coste

I didn’t know Provence too well before embarking on a road trip there recently with a good friend of mine. We – well, she (I still don’t have a license) – drove from Montpellier to Avignon to Château Sainte Roseline winery, then to the coastal city of Sainte Martine and back to our rural stay…