RoadTrip: Basquelandia #2
On eating... Who is more important that Where.
Unsurprisingly, choosing restaurants for the Basquelandia RoadTrip is super important. After all, this is a journey that moves, like Napoleon’s troops, on its collective stomach. And rather than write restaurant reviews, although you can easily read between the lines here, I want to talk about how I choose where we eat. Why do we eat where we eat-- and with whom? First, I come to the sea to eat sea—food.
La Cuisinier Voyageur
This is my criteria for choosing where we eat in St. Jean de Luz. An active fishing port, I wanted to taste the Basque Coast and all it meant to me. I wanted the first meals here in Basquelandia (my made-up name for the Basque Countries or Euskal Herria) to be surprising, intimate, traditional… and special. I looked at my favorite haunts and counted the meals— two lunches and two dinners. The first night had to be extra special, like I was inviting friends to my own kitchen table; I wanted a quieter atmosphere so we could talk and get to know each other and a place we could walk to from our charming digs at La Devinière in the center of town. Next, the food, hyper-local, had to reflect the sea at our doorsteps and act as an introduction to what Basque cooking might be but wasn’t expected to be. Like a good host, I wanted us to be welcomed and spoiled. Sounds like a tall order? Read on…