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La Table d’Augusta, Le Grand Pre and Les Abeilles:
Searching for Soul in
Provence
SAINT PAUL TROIS CHATEAUX --- Let me go on the record.
I believe chefs as businessmen and women should be allowed
to earn as a good a living as possible. But – in
almost all cases – if given a choice between visiting
an offshoot of the chef’s top restaurant where
he or she makes no pretense of being on the premises,
or visiting a restaurant where I am 100% certain the
chef is at the stove and will come to my table to say
hello, I’ll choose the second any day.
So here are cases in point. Just a few weeks ago, Jacques
and Laurent Pourcel – with a bundle of restaurants
to their name, including their Michelin three-star Jardin
des Sens in Montpellier – opened La Table
d’Augusta, a modern hotel-restaurant in northern
Provence.
The place is lovely – with an elegant, spacious
stone terrace decked out in comfortable grey wicker chairs,
lavender tabletops laid with pale pink table runners,
crisp white china, and a bubbling ornamental pool nearby.
It’s the backdrop of a dream setting in Provence.
(Only the dying row of hydrangeas seem totally out of
place in this part of the world.)
The menu, too, is full of all the things we love about
the Pourcel brothers food – very Mediterranean,
with plenty of pesto and raviolis, goat cheese and gazpacho,
zucchini blossoms and fresh seasonal melon. Some
of the dishes we sampled had personality and pep: I loved
the zesty cold gazpacho, served with a trio of goat-cheese
ravioli and a drizzle of olive oil, as well as the copious
portions of Spanish ham served with a melon sorbet.
But the rest of the food, alas, disappointed. Here
we are in a brand new restaurant, and the flavors just
fell flat, seemed stale, as though the chefs were just
sick of cooking the same thing over and over again. The
lettuce was unwashed and full of grit, and much of the
rest of food seemed just formulaic. My zucchini blossoms
were stuffed with a flavorless soufflé-mixture,
and the dish looked and tasted dated. Likewise, a fillet
of veal, served with a fine artichoke purée and
artichoke “chips: lacked vivacity.
Desserts, too, seemed forced. The strawberries were
tasteless, and the updated attempt at a “crumble” reminded
me more of dog food pellets than anything I might have
grown up with. Cherries – served as a soup teamed
up with citrus and a red currant jelly – were totally
denatured. Here we are, top of the season, in the middle
of the region that grows the best cherries and strawberries.
What’s wrong here?
So for a look at chefs who are always
behind the stove, one need search no
further than the kitchens of Raoul
Reichrath of Le Grand Pré in
Roaix and Johannes Sailer of Les Abeilles
in Sablet. I am a regular at
both tables and love just about everything
they do, since both are young, ambitious,
experimental chefs in love with what
they do.
It seems that Raoul almost never
repeats a dish, for in recent months
I’ve loved his sea bass set atop
a bed of artichokes, offset by a creamy
sauce of fresh peas, as well as his
moist, tender rabbit served with lemon
confit and seasoned with both rosemary
and tarragon. His little starter of
salt cod brandade flecked with lemon
confit wakes up the palate and gets
you ready for more to come. Along with
his wife, Flora, a trained sommelier,
Raoul’s little converted farmhouse
by the side of the road is a fine place
to spend a summer’s afternoon
or evening. From Flora’s well-chosen
cellar do try the white Vinsobres from
Chaume-Arnoux, well priced at 20 euros,
as well as the 2000 red Cotes du Rhône
Villages, the Vieilles Vignes from
Amphillanthes, at 34 euros.
Johannes and his wife, Marlies, have
relocated from their village restaurant,
Oustalet, in the center of Gigondas
to their very own restaurant in nearby
Sablet. With a spacious terrace shaded
by ancient plane trees, and a more
sober interior dining room, they’ve
created a fine spot for year-round
dining. A few weeks ago Johannes wooed
us with his all-tomato menu, a fantasy-like
meal that include a mean gazpacho,
an elegant terrine of grilled tomatoes
and fresh goat cheese, and a quick-cooked
shoulder of lamb with a fine tomato
sauce. Even dessert – a tomato
crème brulée – won
hearts and minds and palates. The well-priced
wines to sample here are their house
specials, the 2002 white Sablet from
Château du Trignon (22.5 euro)
and the gusty 2001 Gigondas Reserve
from the same house (23 euros). Note
the restaurant is also open for snacks
through the day and operates as a Chambres
D’Hôtes, with two rooms,
starting at 90 euros a night.
La Table d’Augusta
14, rue du Serre Blanc
26130 Saint Paul Trois Châteaux
Telephone 04 75 97 29 29
Fax: 04 75 97 29 28
email: info@villaaugusta-hotel.com
web: www.villaaugusta-hotel.com
Closed Sunday evening and Monday.
Lunch menus, weekdays only, from
18 to 36 euros, including service
and wine. Dinner menus at 41,51,
and 80 euros, including service but
not wine.
Le Grand Pre
route de Vaison
(D 975)
Telephone: 04 90 46 18 12
Fax: 04 90 46 17 84
email:legrandpre@waika9.com
Closed Tuesday, Wednesday lunch,
and Saturday lunch. 46 euro menu.
A la carte, 45 to 70 euros, including
service but not wine.
Les Abeilles
4, route de Vaison
84110 Sablet
Telephone: 04 90 12 38 98
Fax: 04 90 12 12 70
email: js@abeilles-sablet.com
web: www.Abeilles-sablet.com
Closed Monday. Menus at 45, 55,
and 65 euros. Children’s menu
at 19 euros. A la carte, 55
to 75 euros, including service but
not wine.
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