Skip to main content

LA FOLLE EPOQUE, MARSEILLE - RESTAURANT REVIEW

We hadn't planned to visit Marseille for another couple of weeks but we needed the notary services available at the US consulate there. So off we went. I didn't investigate possible sites for lunch because I had no idea how long it would take to get there, find the consulate, then find a specific restaurant. Since the US consulate was right next to the prefecture, the government offices of the region, I figured that there would have to be restaurants nearby to handle the hordes of government workers who would descend on the area once the noon bells rang. I was right.

Running up to the prefecture is a pedestrian shopping mall about a kilometer long. The side streets that intersect the mall are littered with restaurants and, at the very top of the mall up against the fountain in front of the prefecture, a handful of restaurants with outdoor spaces, both covered and uncovered, line the sidewalk. We checked out the posted menus, decided to pass on the joint that advertised an Italian hamburger, and settled on La Folle Epoque.

The wait staff was friendly and energetic. They actually seemed to be having a good time. And they had passable English. The menu was comprehensive and diverse. All in all, it was an enjoyable meal. Highlights included house-made gravlox for Cathey, steak tartare with a touch of sweet - perhaps pickle - for me, and a slow-roasted lamb shank for Connie. Well dressed plates, well prepared food, timely service. With soups and salads and wine and coffee and desserts, the tab for three came to a touch over 60 euros. For a blind, shot in the dark meal, very nice.

Read more of my reviews HERE.
Slow cooked and hearty.

Under all that green is a generous serving of gravlax.






Comments

Popular posts from this blog

RESTAURANT TEN, UZES: RESTAURANT REVIEW

Ten sits just off the market square in Uzes, one of the prettiest villages in southern France. The newly renovated space is airy and comfortable with tables of sufficient size and sufficiently spaced to provide for a pleasant dining experience. Service was cheerful, fully bilingual, and attentive without being overbearing. The food presented well to both eye and tongue. And the rate of approximately 30 € per person for a party of five included starters, mains, a dessert or two, two bottles of local wine, and coffees at the finish. Reasonable if not cheap eats.  So why am I hesitant to give an unqualified thumbs up?  It took me a while to figure it out. Uzes is a quintessentially French village in a quintessentially French region of southern France. There are those who will say that the Languedoc is just as beautiful but less crowded and less expensive than its eastern neighbors. I know. I'm one of those people. But the fact remains that for many people, villages like Uzes are t

Kreuz Market vs. Smitty’s Market: Texas Barbecue in Lockhart

I was born and raised in New Jersey. I didn’t taste Texas barbecue until I was twenty-two years old. What the hell do I know about barbecue? And what could I add to the millions of words that have been written on the subject? Well, I know a bit about food. I’ve managed to check out a few of the finer joints in Texas – Sonny Bryan’s Smokehouse in Dallas, Joe Cotton’s in Robstown before the fire, the dear departed Williams Smokehouse in Houston, and the incomparable New Zion Missionary Baptist Church in Huntsville . So I can speak from a reasonably wide experience. This will not be a comprehensive discussion of the relative merits of Texas barbecue as opposed to the fare available in places like Memphis or the Carolinas. It’s simply a take on our recent visits to Lockhart and the relative merits of Smitty’s versus Kreuz from our point of view. I’ll get all over academic in a later post. On our way out to the ranch in Crystal City, we stopped at Smitty’s. You have to look

VINS I LICORS GRAU: LARGEST WINE BOUTIQUE IN EUROPE

One of the regular sporting activities that those of us living in the south of France enjoy is the semi-annual Run to Spain. Most everybody takes part. It's not a track meet, though. It's a shopping run. We go because some items are cheaper in Spain, substantially so. (I buy Cathey's favorite perfume there because it sells for less than in the duty-free shops, much less than in the local French parfumerie . But don't tell Cathey that. It'll be our little secret.) Some items simply are not available locally - a reasonable selection of Spanish wines, a bottle of brandy to feed the Christmas cake. And so, off we go Spain. Just across the border sits La Jonquera, a small Catalonian town whose name is now attached to a massive array of opportunities to spend euros - department stores and specialty shops, garden centers, liquor stores, tobacconists, groceries and butchers. You want it? You can buy it somewhere along the main drag heading south out of the old town. We