Le Bouchon Lustre, Lyon France

I could barely keep my eyes open when we sat down for our first dinner in France.  But somehow, by the end of the meal, I felt re-invigorated.

After a 14-hour journey from Chicago to Lyon (via London and Frankfurt), I was exhausted by the time we made it to the hotel around 3pm.  But of course, the key to beating jetlag is to stay up until a normal bedtime – so we set out to explore the city, walking across the Rhône to the Presqu’île and then across the Saône to Vieux Lyon, checking out the sights and browsing restaurant menus along the way.

At last, when I thought I couldn’t take another step, it was time for dinner.  We re-traced our steps to one of the restaurants we’d passed earlier, Le Bouchon Lustre.

We had our first pastis of the trip here, and a dish of olives and peppers while we read the menu.  It’s a classic Lyonnais bouchon, with all the traditional dishes – from salade Lyonnaise to pied de veau.

We were all in various stages of jetlagged confusion – I think this was my fifth or sixth meal in a row without going to bed – but very hungry.  And we definitely came to the right place.

I started with escargots in puff pastry, with a garlic cream sauce.  Unlike the usual butter-and-garlic escargots, these were quite mild and the earthy flavor of the snails really shone through.  (I think I do prefer the uber-garlicky version, though.)  D had foie gras served with sliced duck, and a tiny glass of Sauternes.  Rich and delicious.  My uncle had the aforementioned pied de veau.

Then I had sublimely delicate belle sole meunière – the traditional accompaniment of steamed potatoes was bland to my palate, but I think this was just another example of the delicate seasoning of French food.

D had another Lyonnais specialty, boudin noir, with a little crock of rich and cheesy potatoes, and my uncle had frogs’ legs.  To wash it all down we had Beaujolais, from Château de Juliénas.

For dessert, D had the local specialty, fromage blanc à la crème, which is a small disc of fresh cheese with the consistency just lighter than cream cheese.  Since it’s unsweetened, you need to pour on a goodly amount of sugar to make it into dessert.  It’s simple and homey and good.

Another after-dinner option, which we didn’t try that night, is a dish called cervelle de canuts.  Literally, it translates to “silk weaver’s brain” (Lyon is a traditional center of silk production in France) – it’s fromage blanc mixed with herbs, shallots, olive oil, and vinegar, and instead of dousing it with sugar you add heaps of black pepper.  At another restaurant, we tried it as a first course – certainly interesting!

Our bouchon dinner fortified me enough to walk home to our hotel, and even enjoy some of the scenery along the Rhône river along the way.  A perfect welcome to Lyon!