A summary of my restaurant experiences on a trip to Burgundy in October 2007. Many thanks to those who offered me excellent recommendations in this thread. I also posted here about my non-dining Burgundy experiences. I am not an expert when it comes to Burgundy, so my evaluation of the wine lists was my off-the-cuff take. And the WTN are, of course, a bit impressionistic.
La Bouzerotte Restaurant Gastronomique, 21200 Bouze-les-Beaune, 33 (0)3 80 26 09 37 http://www.labouzerotte.com
The restaurant is located on the right-hand side of the road leading into town from Beaune. It is a small cozy place with an excellent feel to it—rustic wooden tables, intimate setting, small and comfortable. The service was warm, friendly and very helpful with our limited command of French. There are a number of menus to choose from—some cheaper ones during the week with specials of the day, but we were there on a weekend and selected their set menus that came in around 28 euro each. The cuisine here was inventive and the quality of the ingredients was absolutely superb. Some combinations worked amazingly and others, quite frankly, were a better idea in theory than in practice—but it was obvious that the kitchen was fun and experimental in their approach and the food was fresh and exciting, anything but tired.
The selection of cheeses was perhaps my most favorite of all my experiences in Burgundy—a bit more rustic, a bit more fresh, and just felt like a bit closer to the farm. Phenomenal panna cotta for dessert. I liked absolutely everything about this place and would love to return. The wine list was short and casual, but had (to my untrained eye) an interesting selection, including a few half bottles to choose from. So we got a 375 ml bottle of 2005 Christophe Buisson St. Romain (Village: St. Romain [Chardonnay], Côte de Beaune, Burgundy, France). This was quite a wake-up call for me, as it was my first white burgundy in quite a while and ended up being one of my favorites whites of the trip (though to be honest, I think I stylistically prefer the narrower, more mineral, more focused versions). The wine was quite rounded, soft, full of flavor, mouthfilling, packed with all sorts of things yet well-balanced, bit more very fine-grained vanilla oak on the finish than I prefer, but I wonder if that would integrate quite well given more time. In any case, a delicious flavorful wine.
Restaurant Le Chef Coq, Hôtel La Gentilhommiére, 13, Vallée de la Serrée, Direction Meuilley, 21700 Nuits-Saint-Georges, 33 (0)3 80 61 12 06 http://www.lagentilhommiere.fr
This restaurant is located in a hotel located (I believe) just outside the boundaries for Nuits-Saint-Georges. According to their website, the location is a renovated hunting lodge from the 16th century. I absolutely adored the setting—you pass through a kind of hip cocktail area into the dining room set with a funky and integrated combination of a historical feel and postmodern design—absolutely brilliant. Funky lights, stone floor, stained glass – the atmosphere is a treat for the senses. The prices here are high—the set menus start in the 40s of euros and the first and main courses are in the 20s.
The superb quality of ingredients, inventiveness in presentation, close attention to detail, and beautiful contrasts of the dishes were sublime and justified the price for me. The service was quite good and the only complaint, which is less a complaint than an amusing anecdote is that the cheese cart is quite creaky as the waiter drags it around to tables throughout the evening—I think they need to look into a cheese-hovercraft. Top-notch experience here that was worth the splurge.
Very decent winelist with a wide selection, we went for a bottle of the 2004 Jean Luc et Paul Aegerter Santenay Les Gravières (Village: Santenay [Pinot Noir], Côte de Beaune, Burgundy, France). The nose was quite a shock after seeing the light color—it was packed with aroma, quite perfumed and quite interesting. We loved the taste, edged toward minty and medicinal (absolutely adored those qualities in this wine) with an element of minerals. The wine was packed with flavor and went really well with the food. I really liked the wine and approaching it again and again from different angles with different foods and without.
L’Auberge du Guidon, RN 74, 21700 Comblanchien, 33 (0)3 80 62 94 39
And now for something completely different . . . This place is an absolutely wonderful dive located on the western side of the national route 74, on the left as you head north, about 10 minutes or so from Beaune proper. The place was loud and packed with workers coming in from the fields—a definite blue-collar/agricultural feel and my dining companion was the only female in the place who was not a server. Certainly had the feel akin to a truck-stop in the United States. The tables are preset with a bottle of rustic wonderfully-acidic country wine and a Bordeaux-shaped bottle with tap water. There is a menu of the day with basically two choices for about 12 euro. The first course is a buffet of tasty coldcuts, pickled vegetables, eggs, and smoked fish—the bar is packed with men who are eating from the buffet while quaffing rather than taking part in the (presumably more expensive) sit down meal.
The first course buffet was delicious and the main course was good too, excellent frites and some decent turkey slathered in gravy. The desserts were basic but good and the coffee was an excellent finish. The service was an incredible thing to watch—I think the servers at this place have to be some of the most efficient and productive participants in the entire French economy. We absolutely loved the experience here—we had a good lunch and the atmosphere was something for all the senses. What a great departure from the normal Burgundy tourist circuit. This dive was one of my highlights of the trip.
Restaurant Ma Cuisine, Passage Sainte-Hélène, 21200 Beaune, 33 (0)3 80 22 30 22
A small cozy place with the menu and dishes of the day scrawled on the chalkboard and the walls adorned with wine-related posters and the tables incorporating sides from the wooden boxes from Burgundy winemakers. The place is small and intimate and informal as the proprietors mill around and greet folks at their tables and chat. The prices (which are not high) are a screaming value for the quality of the food. The dishes are rustic but divine—I splurged on my first course which was one of the more expensive on the menu but it was absolutely covered with truffles that were of inestimable quality (indeed I think my eyes were more closed than open during the first course). Top quality place, but small and quite popular—reservations are a must.
The wine list is something that probably makes wine geeks weak in the knees—helpfully arranged by red/white burgundy/non-burgundy and then in increasing order according to price (the most rare of which go absolutely into the stratosphere, but the lower end looked very decent to me and there is a lot of stuff on hand which I imagine is just hard to locate at all outside Burgundy).
For dinner we shared the 2001 Anne Gros Chambolle-Musigny La Combe d'Orveau (Village: Chambolle-Musigny [Pinot Noir], Côte de Nuits, Burgundy, France). Wow. That’s pretty much this wine: wow. The texture of this wine made me quiver—delicate, elegant, supreme balance, yet ever-changing. The wine was alive in the glass and passed through many incredible phases throughout our dinner. An absolutely stunning wine and probably my favorite of the trip.
After dessert and cheese, we moved on a 375 ml of the 2004 Jo Pithon Coteaux du Layon Les Quatres Villages (Coteaux du Layon, Anjou-Saumur, Loire Valley, France) as my dining companion had never tried a sweet chenin blanc before and this seemed like a good time. The wine was honeyed, delicate, and interesting on the nose, the taste was a bit less complex, very nice drinkable acidity and pleasant reserved sweetness, not a whole lot of complexity here, but a pleasant drink nonetheless.