Get Ready For A Wild Ortolan-esque Food Adventure…

On our recent trip through Italy and France, my wife Alex and I had an incredible meal that included a hilarious “homage” to a now-outlawed delicacy – and it involved napkin shields!

This is an Ortolan dish – once coveted, now outlawed.

Do you know the story of how the French bird the Ortolan was cooked?

Here is how the practice was summed up on wikipedia:

“The ortolan is served in French cuisine, typically cooked and eaten whole. Traditionally diners cover their heads with their napkin or a towel while eating the delicacy. The bird is so widely used that its French populations dropped dangerously low, leading to laws restricting its use in 1999.”

With that said, I ended up eating a dish that was an homage to the Ortolan – including the napkin shield!

Welcome to Saint-Emilion!

This is the remains of a retaining wall that sits on the edge of this gorgeous Bordeaux town of just under 2,000 residents. Here’s what’s it looks like in the daytime:

Note the church spire on the left…just in front looming large underneath is the Hotel Pavie, where we stays – here is the view from our room:

The hotel has a terrific Michelin-starred restaurant and it was there that my Ortolan adventure began!

We were greeted warmly by the team, who told us the Ortolan-inspired Pigeon dish was unique, so we said sure – although we were unsure of what was ahead of us – except to be wowed by the artwork of the town on the wall to our left:

The meal got off to an amazing start when I ordered a soft poached egg as a starter…no big deal, right?

A silky smooth broth was added, then the server took a knife and cut it open – revealing:

Caviar Inside The Egg!

Yes, as the yolk flowed out, so did caviar, which was inside the egg!

Cool, creative and delicious!

Speaking of eggs, this led to the “napkin draping” adventure ahead:

I ordered the Pigeon “Ortolan Style” – which meant they presented the bird, then took it away to finalize the preparation, which was indeed “ortolan style”:

OK, ignore the hair – this is a selfie from pandemic times of my bacon-and-egg iPhone cover – it tends to get noticed and that night in Bordeaux was no different……because I was filming our Server bringing my flaming sauce for the Pigeon to my table when he spotted my phone!

Here’s what happened:

After adding a bit of fiery sauce, I am instructed to pick it up carefully and pop it in my mouth – knowing there are a few bones in it!

And to protect my decency, this is what they do while you eat the bite!

Yes, there were a few bones in the leg, but it was delicious and fun – and they had a good time “shielding” me as I ate – just as tradition called for draping a guest who ate Ortolan – a shameful act!

Fans of “Succession” saw this happen hilariously in the show – but while we weren’t draped completely with the napkin, we were shielded as you saw – and I wasn’t alone!

This hilarious process continued for others who ordered the dish in the restaurant as well!

After that fun moment, the rest of the Pigeon was served de-boned and filleted, with a silky green sauce and roasted mushrooms!

Of course, we were in Bordeaux, and that meant we needed to enjoy a great bottle of wine with our meal:

We had a terrific bottle of Clos Fourtet, which we had toured earlier in the day…lush, silky and delicious, this 2015 can sit for decades as well!

Two things made this night even more special:

First, they have a really cool cheese cart and drawer filled with local delicacies – resulting in a perfect way to finish our wine:

And now, who wants an herbal-infused tea – especially when it is served like this!

Yes, this cart is filled with fresh herbs, which are harvested and seeped in hot water for a refreshing palate cleaner to end the meal!

The restaurant at Hotel Pavie is so much fun: creative, delicious food and a team that is just as much fun!

Welcome To. St. Emilion…

As I showed you before, the restaurant and Hotel sit atop a stunning hilltop town that overlooks some of the most coveted vineyards in Bordeaux France…and one of those is Pavie, which also owns the majestic hotel in the heart of the town where we stayed…here is what we saw one morning:

Of course, you can also take long walks through the vineyards like we did – and Iactually came across a classic way they were plowing the vineyards – with horses!

We have been to the Bordeaux region twice and plan for many more visits…even when we got caught in a horse-driven traffic jam:

We always gave them the right of way – they were working!

You can click here for more on the classic way they plow the fields…

We also went to the Burgundy wine region, where the cellars have mold!

These cellars have been around for centuries, and you can see some of our favorite here:

Alex and I love travelling and learning so many new things – like the fact they can grow grapes on the Greek Island of Santorini!

We found out how they do it on an island with NO rain!

Clcik ehre to See their unique winemaking method:

We not only drank wine on Santorini, we watched many a photo shoot taking place right outside our hotel room:

Skaros Rock was right outside our room…it was not only used as a backdrop for incredible photo shoots like this one, but you can climb it too! So we did!

See that terrifying ordeal here: 

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