Lyon has long been known as the gastronomic capital of France. More Michelin-starred restaurants, per capita, are in Lyon than any other French city. The city was the birthplace of the French Nouvelle Cuisine movement that was spearheaded by local chef Paul Bocuse and championed by other noted Lyonnais chefs such as Alain Chapel and Eugénie Brazier. With over 2000 restaurants, Lyon is famous for its bouchons - restaurants that feature meat-heavy menus such as roast pork, duck, sausages and beef. There's even a local association - L'Association de Défense des Bouchons Lyonnais (The Association for the Preservation of Lyonnais Bouchons) - that certifies restaurants as authentic bouchons. On our first evening in Lyon during a recent trip to France, we went to one of nearly two dozen bouchons who annually receive the certification from the association - Chabert et Fils.
Chabert et Fils (Chabert and Sons) is part of a four restaurant group that includes Aux Trois Cochons (The Three Pigs), Le Bouchon des Carnivores (basically a butcher shop/steakhouse), and Les 3C - a wine and coffee cafe. The restaurants are owned by Jean-Pierre Gillin, a restaurateur for over 25 years in Lyon. His daughter, Stephanie, and his son-in-law, Xavier Midroit, help with the day-to-day operations of the four restaurants.
Chabert et Fils is located in the heart of Lyon near the Place Bellecour, one of the largest public squares in Europe. (see map) Located on a peninsula between the Saône and the Rhône rivers, Place Bellecour is known to be the central most part of Lyon as the city's four main roads emanate from the square (all distances from Lyon start in the square) and is home to the a large Ferris wheel. Interestingly, the 60 meter high (197 foot) Ferris wheel is only operational in the winter months. It is dismantled in early March - not long after this picture was taken - and reinstalled in late November. A number of shops and cafes are found in the buildings that ring the outdoor space.
It was about a 10 minute walk from our hotel to Chabert et Fils on a beautiful and unseasonably warm evening with a full moon coming up in the eastern sky. In the group were seven of my colleagues and one of the sales managers from our factory. We had reservations for 7 p.m. and we were seated promptly in a back room along a long table. We were each given menus and our host promptly ordered three bottles of Saint-Joseph, a hearty red wine from the northern Rhône wine region near Lyon.
Like many restaurants in the heart of Lyon, Chabert et Fils is not a large place. It featured a number of interesting items on the walls and shelves - antique plates, marionettes (Guignol is a famous French marionette that first originated in Lyon, and the term is now used as the name of marionette shows in France), and old pictures of people and buildings. It was cozy, to say the least.
We started off the meal getting some opening appetizers - or entreés as they're shown on the menu. This encompassed anything from salads, soups, beef and poultry dishes. I like to try foie gras when I'm in France and they had a fresh house-made foie gras served with a fig chutney sauce and a piece of house-made gingerbread that was toasted. I prefer grilled foie-gras more, but this was still so very good - and so very rich. But as good as the foie gras was, the scrumptious fig purée was outstanding. I spread it on the toasted gingerbread along with cuts of the foie gras. The taste sensation was simply out of this world. I could have easily made a full meal out of that.
The colleague next to me got what was basically a poultry liver cake - slices of chicken liver that are baked in a formed cake tin with bread and other stuff. It was served on top of lentils in a cream thyme sauce.
My colleague across the table got this interesting opener of small macaroni noodles topped with a croissant with a chive cream cheese layer in between.
A couple of my colleagues got what was basically a seafood bisque that came with toasted bread and sprinkled with fresh parsley on top. The soup looked creamy and hearty.
The salade Lyonnaise was also a popular choice with some of our guys. It featured fresh lettuce greens topped with house-made croutons, chopped bacon (as in thick bacon) and was topped with a poached egg. As much as I liked my foie gras, both the soup and the salad made me want to try both at some point in time.
For our main course, I got the filét au poivre - a beef tenderloin filet in a pepper sauce with a side of au gratin potatoes. The amount of potatoes they gave me, well, I knew I wouldn't be able to finish them. I offered them up to other people at the table, many of whom happily took some samples. The potatoes were crisp and cheesy, and tasted excellent.
The beef was a good sized filet that was swimming in the wonderful pepper sauce. The filet was tender and had a good beef flavor that was enhanced by the sauce. I was very happy with what I got.
My colleague next to me got the sirloin steak topped with some seasonings and served with a large side of garlic Lyonnaise potatoes. (More on the potatoes in a bit.) He said for a sirloin cut, the beef was pretty tender. And there was a good sized chunk of meat, to boot.
One of my colleagues went basic - he got the hamburger. It wasn't just your basic burger, this was a Lyonnaise-style burger with beef mixed with sausage, topped with Saint-Marcellin cheese, bacon, pickled onions, Savora mustard, and fresh lettuce.
The hit of the night at the table were the garlic Lyonnaise potatoes that a couple three guys got with their meals. They, too, came on a large plate - more than what one person could easily eat. And I'd have to say that they were better than my au gratin potatoes. The garlic Lyonnaise potatoes were crisp on the outside and almost creamy on the inside.
A couple of the guys got the beef filled ravioli dish that came with a red wine sauce. One of the guys got a pork dish with a side of a rice and vegetable medley.
Of course, with a French meal we have to do dessert. And, of course, I had to get the crème brulée. I'm sort of famous in our company for my love of crème brulée and it was a no brainer when I saw it on the dessert menu. It was outstanding - creamy, sweet and, OH! So, very rich!
Above right is a chocolate fudge cake with a side of custard in a caramel sauce. That looked unbelievably sinful. They had 20 different desserts on the menu to choose from at Chabert et Fils including cheese or fruit desserts, prunes in red wine, and a rice pudding in either caramel or pink praline sauce. For those of us who got dessert, we were all pretty happy.
And by the end of the meal, we were all pretty full. It had been a long day of travel and I was ready to head to bed. The walk back to the hotel was slow, savoring the outstanding meal that we had. I didn't understand the concept of what an authentic bouchon was all about until having this wonderful meal at Chabert et Fils. Actually, I don't know if I've ever had a bad meal all the times I've been in Lyon. Being the gastronomic capital of France, the number of great restaurants in the city pretty much assure that you will be able to find an excellent meal anywhere in Lyon. And the meal I had at Chabert et Fils was definitely another memorable one.
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