Last summer we sent two weeks in Aix-in-Provence, France, a university town of about 145,000 people, located just over 100 miles from Nice by train through Marseilles. Aix is a beautiful town with modern architecture, especially in its art complex, which is home to the annual art festival, devoted primarily to opera but also includes orchestral and vocal concerts…
Read MoreBack in Nice, France Part 8 - more restaurants along the coast
There are many little towns spread across the Cote d’Azur and they each have amazing restaurants. Here are three more of our favorites.
In the town of Vence, not to be confused with the more touristy nearby town of St. Paul de Vence, sits Le Pigeonnier, a restaurant with about a dozen table in a nice size square in the middle of town. We have been taking the hour long bus ride from Nice up to Vence for about ten years now and always have lunch at Le Pigeonnier. The best thing on the menu is the daube, a beef stew served in a small cast iron pot. They also have fresh fish and pasta. For dessert have the profiteroles, a pate choux pastry stuffed with whipped cream and covered in chocolate sauce. You can find Le Pigeonnier at 3 Place Peyra (+33 4 93 58 03 00)Along the coast from Nice toward Monaco is the tall town of Eze. The bus from Nice drops you off at the bottom of the town and it is a long walk up through the town to the tropical garden at the top. Along the way you pass Chateua Eza, a small hotel with a restaurant with absolutely beautiful views of the Mediterranean and far off St. Jean Cap Ferrat, a beautiful peninsula jutting out into the sea. Chateau Eza is a fancy restaurant. Service is impeccable. Have a glass of champagne and enjoy the scenery. Then follow the recommendations of your server and enjoy one of the best meals you can imagine. Try the carrot medley, yes, it has carrot sorbet, and the duck breast, a thin rare delight. All of the desserts are perfect. End with coffee before you tear yourself away from the view. Chateau Eza is located at 22 rue de La Pise (+33 4 93 41 12 24, www.chateaueza.com).
Another beautiful area is St. Jean Cap Ferrat, that peninsula that juts out into the Mediterranean. In the little town walk down to the harbor and where you’ll find about twenty restaurants lining the port. This time we ate at Brasserie La Goelette. Great seafood of all kinds and you can’t beat the view of the harbor and the surrounding hills. La Goelette is located at the Port Saint Jean (+33 4 93 76 14 38).
Old Miami News Photos
Run down to the History Miami Museum and see the 20ish-photograph outdoor exhibit of journalistic photographs for the old Miami News. Located in the plaza between the North and South buildings these are large, maybe 3 foot by 5 foot, black and white photos that document some interesting Miami history. According to the exhibit, the Miami News had been Miami’s evening newspaper. It ceased publication at the end of 1988 and about 2 million photos and negatives were donated to the History Miami Museum. Some of my favorites are of the Miami Vice TV show actors Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas playing checkers in 1984, Santa arriving by blimp in 1972, elephants parading across Venetian Causeway on their way to the Miami Convention Center In 1986, and a pro-Vietnam march down Flagler Avenue in 1965. It’s a great slice of Miami history and a group of photos documenting unique Miami events. I’m not sure how long the exhibit will be there, so head on down soon.
Back in Nice, France Part 7 - More Restaurants in Nice
Here are three more of our favorites restaurants in Nice.
Along the far side of the port away from downtown, there are about a dozen primarily seafood restaurants lined along the quai. One of our favorites for good, fresh seafood is La Barque Bleu. It calls itself an Italian and pizza restaurant, but we always go for the fresh fish. It is a comfortable place with a nice outdoor area along the harbor. They show you your fish before it is cooked and they serve it fileted with, usually, just some lemon and a few vegetables. It’s a nice place to sit and watch boats motoring in and out of the harbor. La Barque Bleu is located at 7 quai des Deux Emmanuuels (+33 4 93 55 39 74). It’s the best fresh fish along the port.
In the heart of the old town is a very nice Italian restaurant, La Griglia. It’s a small narrow place so it is easy to miss. It is family run and has excellent fresh pasta and grilles meats and fish. We’ve eaten here two or three times and it is always pretty empty, which is difficult to understand given the excellent Italian food served here. Last time we were there, I had the baked whole daurade fish, which was served whole on a plate. But it was very easy to filet. The pasta with seafood is also delicious. If you linger, they may offer you a little lemoncello! La Griglia is located at 33 rue Pairoliere (+33 9 82 57 38 83).
Our arrival to Nice each year, is usually in the evening, so our first meal is traditionally at La Pizza Cresci along the pedestrian area just west of Place Massena. It may not be the best pizza you’ve ever had, but it’s a fun place to hang out. It’s always crowded. In fact it can hard to get a table at peak eating times. But you can’t wrong with the Pizza Margherita (tomato and basil) or the Pizza Aubergines (eggplant slices) and a bottle of the house red. La Pizza Cesci is at 34 rue Massena (+33 4 93 87 70 29, www.crescere.fr) .
Back in Nice, France Part 6 - Provence Cooking
We spent a couple of weeks in the University-town of Aix-in-Provence, about a 3-hour train trip via Marseilles from Nice. Aix is a pleasant town of about 140,000 people. There are excellent restaurants and the town seems to have a more than average number of modern architectural structures. More on both of these in later posts.
One day we decided to take a cooking class celebrating the foods of Provence. We chose Provence Cooking as the vendor of the class and spent a nice day shopping for food and wine, and cooking and eating in a private home about 20 minutes outside of Aix. Provence Cooking is the brain-child of Gilles Conchy, a Frenchman from Marseilles, who runs day long cooking classes in both towns.
Eight of us met Gilles at the tourist office in Aix, introduced ourselves to each other and headed off on foot to local food market in a town square in the heart of Aix. We bought the vegetables we would cook later and our purchases included zucchini flowers (courgettes, in French), eggplant, tomatoes, onions, goat cheese and nectarines. Then we all piled into Gilles’ van and headed to a winery just outside Aix for a tasting and also to purchase wine to drink with our meal.Gilles lives in a single-level house with a large backyard, good size kitchen and large outdoor food prep space. We all gathered around a large table to prepare our meal.
Some of us prepped the zucchini blossoms by puling out the pistils and stuffing them with cheese, some of us scooped out eggplants, onions and tomatoes that would later be filled with a meat stuffing, and the rest of us worked on individual nectarine tartlets with an almond crust. Then we baked ‘petits farcis’, as the stuffed vegetables are known, deep fried the zucchini blossoms that were dipped in batter, and baked the nectarine tartlets. After that we all sat down and ate and drank everything in sight. A very pleasant day – we met at about 9am and Gilles dropped us all off back in Aix at about 5 pm. For a fun experience with the foods of Provence, book a day at www.provence-gourmet.fr.