Topic: TN: Brothel cuisine (Alsace, pt. 6, long, img)
Author: Thor Iverson
Date: 20040921220729

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Paris

The cheese that keeps on giving The lapin not-so-agile

Alsace

Monsieur is a great connoisseur The Beyer necessities Boxler rebellion An unfamiliar malady Pierre, poisson & penguin lust

Agneau day

It’s the third national holiday in the last seven days. Well, we wouldn’t want the French to overwork themselves.

Unfortunately, this results in yet another day of difficult food shopping. None of the bigger markets are open, but our new favorite boucherie in Kaysersberg bucks the trend (at least until noon), and the proprietress waves a blood-streaked and rather lethal-looking knife in the air as she delivers a long and animated lecture on the proper preparation of the gîgot d’angeau we’ve ordered. Vegetables and aromatics, however, prove to be more difficult. There’s nothing in the old village itself, but on a commercial strip along the road ascending from Kaysersberg towards the Lapoutroie and the peaks of the Vosges there are a few businesses open, including a small market full of the worst examples of French industrial food and wine (an Alsatian Sept/Onze, as it were), and table of somewhat variable local produce. We assemble the best of what’s available, drop off the perishables at our gîte, and head northward for a drop-in visit to the historical heart of the northern Haut-Rhin.

Riquewihr is like an old family friend, its familiar streets and shops simultaneously timeworn and timeless. We’ve been here so often, we could navigate the narrow byways in our sleep (and, after the occasional gut-busting dinner of choucroute garnie, we’ve done almost exactly that), but we’re only here for a few minutes, in search of some themed plates from the Musée Hansi to add to our growing collection back in the States. It’s one of the very few places in the village that’s actually open, save a few distillery outlets and the always-welcoming Hugel tasting room.

Piscine the day away

Back at the gîte, nibbling on yet another sun-drenched lunch of wild game saucisson, asparagus, rooster and cheese in the poolside garden, we await the imminent arrival of Robin and Mary Garr while sipping the delicious dregs of the previous evening’s Boxler. Robin and Mary are on their way to someplace far-flung, but they’re spending two quick nights in Alsace along the way. As the Garrs finally pull into our courtyard, we open – what else? – more wine to greet them.

Léon Beyer 1993 Riesling “Les Ecaillers” (Alsace) – From 375 ml. Roasted cashew and peanut, with soft, musty minerality (limestone and chalk); fluffy and on its last legs, at best.

Red stars at night

Whatever sickness I’ve been fighting off for the last few days returns with a vengeance at lunch, and plans for touring are put on hold while I nap for a few hours. Plus, we’re awaiting another pair of guests. Guests who come bearing the culinary and vinous bounty of the entire country of Italy.

Roberto and Pino fail to live up to their Italian heritage in one way – they arrive precisely on time – but exceed it in another, bringing case after case of comestibles down to the gîte’s subterranean wine cave. Fully-unloaded, they join us upstairs for an apéritif (or, I guess, an aperitivo).

Boxler 2000 Sommerberg “Vendange Tardive” (LRVT00) (Alsace) – Focused yet friendly in its fresh-faced youth, with chalk and limestone, lemon curd, and ripe apple, and finishing with a lingering smokiness. Full-bodied yet balanced, this is a wine of spectacular clarity, light pure, sweet summer sunlight in a glass.

We have an enjoyable time conversing with our new Piedmontese pals, but they’ve got plans for dinner, and so do we. A quick change later, we’re taking the short road back to Riquewihr for dinner. A gentle yet persistent rain falls, after days of both predictive and observational threats.

Cats wait for veraison on the Rosacker

There are two Michelin-starred restaurants here, a rather remarkable tally for such a small village – even considering that Alsace is itself loaded with les etoiles – and they provide a fascinating study in contrasts. At the bottom of the village, tucked up against the smooth diagonal of the grand cru Schoenenbourg vineyard, Auberge du Schoenenbourg is pure French modern classicism, conservative and precise in all its windowed and white-draped glory. But it’s a dull excellence, buffed to a mirrored shine but entirely reflective, and while meals there are never less than very good, the result is somewhat emotionally unsatisfying.

Tucked into a traditional half-timbered building inside the town’s enclosing wall, Table du Gourmet makes a great show of traditional rusticity; low ceilings and geometrically-haphazard proportions, every inch calling back to an Alsace full of rich slabs of pâté de foie gras and toppling piles of choucroute. Except that the restaurant serves nothing of the sort, instead forging ahead with a modernistic fusion of interesting ingredients that would be tricky almost anywhere, but must be simply shocking to residents of the heart of Alsace.

Also, everything except the food is red. A deep, dark, luxurious and sexy red. It’s an exciting color, for an exciting cuisine, but it does allow the place to ride the fine visual line between temple of cuisine and brothel.

What all this experimentation means, however, is that the restaurant is capable of great heights, but also of stumbling missteps. Not everything here is of the level of excellence one might expect from a starred kitchen, and lovers of consistency and uniformity will loathe this establishment. Yet for me, the pinnacles – this night, a creamy and tender filet of St-Pierre with braised lettuce hearts and a rich cinnamon and coconut-enhanced stock – are worth the visit.

The cats(‘) shed

From an excellent and somewhat adventurous wine list, we select two familiar names; one halfway to maturity, one still in its infancy.

Josmeyer 1995 Riesling “l’Exception” (Alsace) – Beautiful spiced rocks with the beginnings of a tell-tale aged riesling creaminess. A lovely expression of pure variety-plus-terroir minerality, persistent and wonderful.

Trimbach 1998 Pinot Gris “Réserve Personelle” (Alsace) – Ripe pear and even riper red apple with terrific acidity, long and flawlessly balanced and still yet to show more than the first stirrings of youth. This is a monumental wine with decades of development ahead of it.

Our dinner takes place in a nearly-abandoned dining room – whether it’s the holiday or the avant-garde cuisine, there’s no telling – and so it goes a little more quickly than we’d expected. Which is probably better for me, as I afterwards collapse onto our living room sofa for yet another night of solitary wheezing, coughing, and sniffling. This illness, whatever it is, is annoyingly persistent, and I desperately hope it goes away before tomorrow. Because tomorrow’s a big day. One that will begin with a box of rocks, and end in an orgy of lard.

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