AU LAVOIR, COLOMBIERS - RESTAURANT REVIEW

We live in a town that doesn't do very much to encourage growth or tourism. The streets are rough and bumpy, the tinted glass has been broken out of the street light nearest our house since we moved in three years ago, and the fountain in the square was activated this week for the first time since we moved here three years ago. Oddly enough, many of us like it that way. Quarante is a quiet little village, not on a main road to anywhere, but with a fine baker, two excellent butchers, and a bar that serves edible if not exciting food. We could use an ATM (cash point, money wall...) and a gas (petrol) station but otherwise, most of us are happy that Quarante is a backwater.

Colombiers, on the other hand, seems determined to do everything possible to turn itself into a crowded, overdeveloped, cash hungry example of all that folks like us are looking to avoid when we move to the rural south of France. Ugly apartment blocks? Check. Newly constructed condos with a 'view', meaning you can see a tiny slice of the Canal du Midi from the top floors? Check. And detours lasting months...years...to accommodate construction? Check. I was pleased, therefore, to learn that the restaurant to which a friend invited us in Colombiers was not in town center but along the undeveloped section of the Canal just over the little bridge on the road from Montady.

Au Lavoir occupies a pleasant space. There are a few parking spaces for early arrivals in the courtyard and a few outside tables for when the weather warms. Our party of four were greeted inside by servers who took our coats and led us to the table where three of our friends were already seated. Nice room. Nice table.

And then things started to go downhill.

A small tray of amuse-bouches sat mid table, a cup of lucques (olives) and a little bowl of fish dip with a few chips of toast - enough for three, not for seven, and never replenished to fit the size of the party. Service was slow, positively snail-paced at some points in the meal, and for the most part the food was unremarkable. One could almost excuse the pace of service. We dined on a Saturday night - a night that we usually avoid. And our table mates informed us that a second dining room had just been opened to handle the expected crowds as the tourist season began to liven up. So, growing pains. But let's talk about the food.   

The entire table began with foie-gras, a nicely seared slice snuggled between columns of pineapple and topped with a bit of greens. Foie-gras is easy if you buy well and this was good foie-gras. I chose the lamb for my main, Cathey the sole. Both were acceptable if unremarkable. My simple, slow-cooked shank with a bit of reduction was accompanied by what appeared to be pureed fava, the most inventive bit of the evening. The best that can be said for the lamb is that the chef didn't screw it up. Same goes for Cathey's sole with a pistachio crust. Nice piece of fish properly cooked. Nothing more

Others at the table ordered a veal dish and a beef dish and claimed satisfaction. A lobster tail was sent back to be heated.

For dessert, I had the molten chocolate cake. Again, done properly but without any originality. A friend's plate of little pears looked interesting. And a little digestif at the end was cute, a bit of coconut cream with chipped chocolate and a tiny bite of a sweet bread.

The table shared still and gassed water, a bottle of local rose, a bottle of local red, and a demi of viognier. The tab came to 45 euros per person.

For that price, one expects attentive service and thoughtful, inventive renderings. That's too much for ordinary fare.

 

Le New Port Snack Bar, Port Plaisance, Colombiers, France: Restaurant Review

Not far past the town of Colombiers, a couple of dozen kilometers away from us in Quarante, stands Brico Marche, the local equivalent of Home Depot. We travel there often to purchase shelving and hardware and such while we've been setting up housekeeping here in France. Going through Colombiers, you can't help but notice that the town has used its positioning on the Canal du Midi to great advantage. Relatively new and refined port facilities greet the recreational boater with restaurants and shopping, camp grounds, and other amenities. An amphitheater faces the Canal and, on a recent weekend night, saxophonist Pierre Schirrer et l'Orchestre Louisiana performed a free New Orleans jazz concert, playing the music of Sidney Bichet and Louis Armstrong from an old post boat anchored in the Canal. Our friends Simon and Julia invited us to join them for dinner and the show. So follows my review of Le New Port Snack Bar.

Le New Port benefits from its overview of the port, both from inside the glass-enclosed bar/dining area and from the outdoor patio with its bright blue and white striped awnings. It's simply a pleasant space, a place to spend an hour or more lingering over a midday meal.

We didn't see the full menu. Because of the concert, everyone was anticipated to come charging in at the same time. Limited choices were available. For starters, one could choose either a full plate of  garden salad sprinkled with little chunks of cheese that looked a lot like cheddar or else a wedge of country terrine (coarse pate), a couple of thin slices of smoked ham, and a small, less complex side salad. I chose the latter as did the two ladies. We were all pleased. Simon chose the salad and enjoyed the cheese.

For our main course, the choices were either shrimp (in the shells) or duck (braised with olives) with rice or frites on the side.The ladies went for the shrimp, Simon and I took the duck, only Julia chose the rice, and all was satisfactory. The shrimp were a good size and well seasoned. The duck was braised properly without being falling-apart mushy, completely infused with the fresh olives. And the French know their frites.

For dessert, the men had ice cream, Cathey had fruit salad, and Julia tried the fromage blanc, cheese just this side of yogurt. Just OK for all.

The service was cheerful and as responsive as was reasonable given the full house. With a couple of carafes of wine and coffee for Julia and me, we dropped just under 100 Euros. That's a bit much for a fairly simple set menu except for the fact that we had comfortable seats for a concert and stayed for over three hours.

In the final analysis, I'd only choose Le New Port for this type of event. Perfectly satisfactory. But I wouldn't choose to stop for a meal here under ordinary circumstances. Too many fine little cafes in the region offer surprisingly fine dining to have to settle for bar food that's just satisfactory.