Lunch in Beaune
C’est l’huere pour un Beaune Déjeuner! We’re in the charming little town of Beaune, 25 miles south of Dijon. It’s time for lunch, (aka “déjeuner”). We had done our homework, so we already had a couple of restaurants in mind. After some wandering around, we found our way to one of them. It looked like our kind of place, so we went in, got seated, and settled in for lunch. The name of the restaurant was Le Conty.
We sat at an outside table, situated alongside a quiet cobblestone pedestrian street. Very nice. The meal we had there was amazing. We started by sharing an appetizer consisting of an assortment of delicious little bites meant to wake up our taste buds. When it arrived, they had split it so we each had our own little plate full of goodies. Everything was soooo good!
We had ordered wine suggested by our server. We just sat there sipping and nibbling away, watching people pass by, having a fine time. It’s at times like these that we think Europeans may have figured out something about living that we’ve forgotten or maybe never knew.
I mean, look at these people taking two hours for lunch, having a glass of wine, chit-chatting away. If I took that long for lunch back home, I’d be going crazy, thinking about all the stuff I’m not getting done. Sure, some of these people are on vacation like us. But even if they’re not, people here just have a slower-paced lifestyle than we do. I could get used to it!
Time to Manger!
Always the health-conscious one, my beautiful and demure Better Half ordered a type of fish known as dorade for lunch. It’s often on menus in this neck of the woods. It’s similar to sea bass. Very tasty.
I, on the other hand, wanted to try a regional specialty called “Andouillette de Bourgogne.” I had forgotten what it was, exactly, but I had seen pictures. It looked really good. I thought it must be related to Andouille sausage, which I like a lot. I went ahead and ordered the Andouillette de Bourgogne for lunch.
After just the right amount of time, (of course), the food showed up. Wow! Both dishes looked good, but the presentation of the dorade was awesome. (See the photo at the top of this post). It tasted amazing, too.
Andouillette de Quoi?
When my Andouillette de Bourgogne showed up, it looked great, too. Not quite like anything I had seen before, but it looked really good. I dug in. It WAS good. Lots of interesting flavors. Fantastic.
I was about halfway though when I noticed some interesting little cylindrical things mixed into my Andouillette. They had a familiar appearance, although I couldn’t put my finger on what it was. They had a texture that was a little “different.” Eventually, I realized those little things were pieces of intestines. Then I remembered that Andouillette de Bourgogne is, in fact, made of pig intestines.
I had read about it. When I realized what I was eating, I remembered what the article said: Andouillette de Bourgogne was not to be confused with Andouille sausage. It’s something else entirely. Sure – NOW I remember. I don’t normally go in for dishes made out of animals’ intestines, but I couldn’t deny that this was really good. I went ahead and finished it off. Well, that was a new experience!
Wine Tasting in Beaune
When we finished lunch, we walked to the tourist office and asked about wine tasting options. The person we spoke with was very helpful. She described one place that sounded particularly interesting, so off we went. Even though it was all the way across town, it was still a short walk. We found the entrance and went in. They offered a number of different ways to do some wine tasting. We picked an option where we just could go on our own.
Before we started on our way, they gave us each a “tastevin.” A tastevin, (pronounced, “taste-vahn”, where “vahn” rhymes with “man”), is a shallow cup with a shiny silver finish. It has a loop for your finger and a place to put your thumb so you can hold it like you would hold an old-fashioned “go-to-bed” candlestick holder. They’re traditionally used here for wine tasting.
Burgundians were the first to use tastevins. Hundreds of years ago, winemakers stored their wine in caves here just as they do now. Back then, of course, caves were lit only by candle light. As the wine aged, winemakers periodically tested the juice to see how it was coming along. Since it was pretty dark down there, they came up with these shiny little metallic holders. The intricate, convex bottom reflects light up through the vino. If you put wine into a tastevin, you can see it surprisingly well, even in dim light. Of course, they’re good for tasting the wine, too, after you’ve eyeballed it. Pretty clever.
Tastevins were used long after they were really needed. Sommeliers in fancy restaurants would use them to check your wine for you. They’d wear a silver tastevin on a chain kind of like a medal. All kinds of really fancy tastevins have been made, as you can imagine. I guess they used to make a fashion statement in certain circles.
But enough of these tidbits about tastevins – let’s go put ‘em to good use!
To be continued…
