An eater's guide to Lyon
The salad I still dream about, and...is this the world's best wine shop?
Hello!
It’s been awhile, but I’m back with a guide to a city I expected to like, but ended up loving. Enjoy!
Travel for the Food - Lyon, France
Last year at this time, Nathan and I were finishing up our walk through Provence and heading to Lyon for the last few days of our honeymoon. We were going there almost solely because of Bill Buford’s book “Dirt.” Buford moved to Lyon, known as the gastronomic heart of France and the birthplace of numerous famous chefs including Paul Bocuse, to master French cooking. The book is part travelogue, part historical text, part cookbook. I dare you to read it and not want to book a trip immediately.
Lyon is home to the bouchon, a casual and charming style of restaurant serving traditional cuisine such as salade lyonnaise, terrine, pâté, sausages, beef smothered in heavy reductions, coq au vin, potatoes with pounds of cheese and butter, and fish quenelle. The dishes are generally meat-focused and heavy. It’s not my favorite food style to be honest, but there was still a lot to love in Lyon. I realize I am in the minority on this. If you’re a big meat eater, this is your place.
We ate and walked and ate and walked and ate. These are the places I’m still thinking about a year later:
Coffee/Croissants
Bouchons
Daniel et Denise–A very traditional, certified bouchon.
Le Bouchon des Filles - Owners Isabelle and Laura wanted to preserve the traditions of the Bouchon’s formidable female chefs (les mères lyonnaises - read about them in “Dirt”), so they opened their own restaurant. It has all the charm of an old school Bouchon, but with contemporary touches and a slightly brighter menu.
Fine Dining
Les Apothicaires–Where I ate the best salad of my life. I talk about this salad, a salad lyonnaise, almost every time I order a salad anywhere else. It was perfect. As was everything else at this Michelin-starred restaurant, including the wine pairings and service. We went for a long lunch.
La Table Wei–Three graduates of the Paul Bocuse Institute opened this French-Chinese restaurant, which has a very reasonably priced tasting menu.
Shop
Les Halles de Lyon Paul Bocuse, where you can stock up on soft cheeses and all other food souvenirs imaginable, (and where you can find several fish stalls and oyster bars if all the heavy dishes are getting to you).
Dessert
Lyon is famous for pink praline, as delicious as it is pretty. Get it in brioche at Patisserie Maison Antoine.
Do
Walk through the beautiful Parc de la Tete d’Or.
Visit the Museum of Fine Arts. Picasso, Monet, Matisse–they’re all there in force.
Travel at Home
If you’re in Chicago and not planning a trip to Lyon anytime soon, get coffee and baked goods at La Boulangerie, and a Lyonnaise-style meal at Le Bouchon.
Wine of the Week
Lyon sits between Burgundy and the Rhône Valley. Bouchons will serve carafes of Beaujolais, but at wine bars you can find a huge selection from all over the country. Drink at Table et Vins d’Ainay, where you can give a rough idea of the kind of wine you want and the staff will bring you glasses you might never have heard of or ordered otherwise. They’re super knowledgeable and not pretentious. La Cave des Voyageurs is also fun, and claims to be the oldest wine bar in the city.
Antic Wine is potentially the best wine store I have ever set foot inside (outside of the amazing one I work at!). Antic has a phenomenal selection of wines, from the very rare and pricey to the laughably affordable for the quality, when compared to American prices. The owner apparently used to select wines for the French president and is an energetic man whose raison d'être seems to be finding the perfect bottle for each customer. We asked for a few bottles to drink right away, a few to take home as gifts, and one to drink on our 10-year anniversary.
He came through, and also pressed glasses into our hands to sip while browsing and happily answered my many questions. Shop here!
All The Links
Yesterday was Voter Registration Day. I wrote last year about how voting impacts travel.
In awe of these brave women in Iran
Related to last week’s newsletter: this is a thread I think about a lot. (And of course I should have included that far more impactful than people not traveling to the South would be hotel chains and other big businesses refusing to do business there.)
Inside the mind-boggling world of the antiquities theft task force (this was a delight!)
Humans have a long history of making ‘very bad decisions’ to save animals
How to pack a go bag for every type of climate disaster
Let Puerto Rico be free (I learned a lot from this piece.)
Be still my heart
Other Things
Cook: I made this sweet corn pasta last night. Alongside sliced tomatoes with salt and basil it was the perfect end of summer meal.
Read: Dirt! And also Heat, Buford’s book about cooking in Italy. If you don’t want to commit to a book, you can also read this excerpt from Dirt, an ode to a baker and his boulangerie, in The New Yorker.
Watch: This Lebanese group win America’s Got Talent
Lol:
Next time: We’re going to Iraqi Kurdistan! (You can also send me any questions you have about Kurdistan/Iraq before next week and I’ll try to address them.)
If you liked the newsletter today, please pass it to someone you know who’d enjoy it, and tap the heart icon above, which helps me reach more readers. Back in your inbox in two weeks.
–Rebecca 💛
Congrats and good luck!
Best wishes to you on moving forward with Substack to having a paid option. I am sure you will do well. At some point my Substack will have an option. It’s still early days but the plans are coming together!