Road Reports

Dinner is at L'Est, the second of three Paul Bocuse satellite restaurants here in Lyon. This one can be found at the foot of the Gare Batteaux, one of the SNCF train stations in Lyon.

The restaurant has very much a railway feel, complete with an ancient "O" gauge model railway running overhead. The red and blue clad waiters move around with vigor and for a Sunday night the crowd seems very lively. The sheer numbers would be welcome in most San Diego restaurants any night of the week. It has an open kitchen where the activity is like a well rehearsed Chinese fire drill. Surrounding the kitchen is a dining bar and just off to the left, a small bar area.

We begin with the complimentary aperitif, well complimentary if you get a brochure from the hotel concierge that is. Tonight I pop for the Coteaux de Layon from Domaine des Forges. It is a Moelleux which means it is sweet and rich. Is it ever. But with all that sweetness there is a light and terrific aroma of honey blossoms and fruit. On the palate it is lively without being syrupy.

For starters the mussels in saffron cream broth soup and a glass of one of Alsace's best producers, Leon Beyer, and the house's fine Riesling, 1997. On a past trip I had the pleasure of meeting winemaker Mark Beyer and know the efforts he takes to make a natural wine that is rich and long lived. The white wine is one of the richest and most full bodied I've tasted in a good while. Flavors of grapefruit, tropical melons, plus flinty wet stones and minerals. The wine has a light, and typical, petrol nose and a very long finish.

The soup is rich mustard yellow, with fresh mussels and chives breaking through the surface.

My main course is a lamb steak with spinach and the most wonderful pommes frite of the trip. Served with a 1998 Cotes du Rhone from the same producer as this afternoon's Croze Hermitage, Thevenet, you get another rich in your face fruit bomb experience. This is not a wine to think about, it is a wine to down and enjoy for the moment.

Dining in Lyon, one of the most foodie oriented cities can be expensive with menus costing up to 700 FF before wine. With restaurants like L'Est and Le Sud, you can dine very well for less than 180 FF with wine and go home just as happy, full and satiated.

Bon soir mon amis!
Andy