Post by Ella
In our corner of Arles, the restaurants open for dinner at 7:30pm. Which is not unusual for a lot of countries.
I booked a table at the intriguing Le QG. All the restaurants are small, it was Friday night and even though we’d seen few tourists, I was guessing this area was popular with the people who live here.
From their website: “At the Le QG restaurant, let yourself be seduced by a cheerful and tasty cuisine, with the combination of flavors as surprising as it is delicious. Our chef brings the classics of French gastronomy up to date, for the happiness of the most fine gourmets. On beautifully prepared plates, taste recipes that breathe freshness and generosity. On the menu, sea bass ceviche and citrus octopus, pan-fried foie gras cutlets with apples and calvados or roasted duck breast stuffed with goat cheese and honey.”
I wondered what made a cuisine “cheerful”…or maybe it was a flaw in the translation.
I took some pics of the interior. It was too dim without a flash but maybe you’ll get the idea. It was warmly decorated.
I had a cocktail I’d never heard of. Caipirinha. It’s Brazilian. cachaça, sugar, lime, and ice. Another delicious find. I wonder if Jubilation in Albuquerque has cachaça.
My entree (forever confusing to me, this is the appetizer): baked Camembert with chorizo chips and a mini salad. I wouldn’t normally volunteer to eat chorizo but the salty, thinly sliced rounds were perfect with the warm, creamy Camembert. The salad had a dressing that wa out of this world good.
Grubb had a kind of pâté (he’s already forgotten but he says maybe duck?) with a mini salad.
My main course was a bib d’angus. The meat was tender but really, it was the shallot gravy that made the dish.
Grubb had a skewer of grilled meats: duck and beef. The duck was great but the beef was stringy and full of gristle.
For dessert, I had a lemon cheese cake that was the lightest, fluffiest ever. Grubb had nougat which he said was divine. Well, no, the word divine is not in Grubb’s vocabulary but whatever it was he said, I remember it being in the “divine” category.
“Entree = appetizer” makes perfect sense. Think “enter,” as “enter into the meal.” I don’t know how it came to mean a main course in (American) English. In Britain it means what it means in French.
Unrelated to your post: I know Ella hates to visit churches, but you HAVE to go to St. Trophime, a masterpiece of Romanesque architecture. If you don’t do it for yourself, do it for Charlie and Wynette, since it is one of the four classic starting points for the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela.
PS I think I would have gone for the roasted duck breast stuffed with goat cheese and honey.
We didn’t make it to St. Trophime or the cloisters or LUMA yesterday having run out of steam after the coliseum/arena, amphitheater, baths, museum, and assorted Picasso hot spots.
There is today or tomorrow.