From Brooklyn to the Loire(4)

By 2009-3-6 19:20:52

Pouring a Les Capriades Pet'Nat' by Pascal PotaireThat's when Laurent Saillard pointed to several edible delicacies growing in the vineyard that it reminded me that he is indeed a retaurateur and a cook (he unearthed several wild garlic bulbs right after picking the wild lambs' lettuce). And what I ate that day made me think that in addition to learning the vineyard work and ultimately the cellar and vinification part of the job, he jumps at the opportunity to prepare dishes that he didn't have the

opportunity to work on in New York. Laurent prepared a roe deer dish that I will remember for some time. This long cooking time meat dish (probably cooked on the stove) had a beautiful, intense reduced sauce with it and it went beautifully with the 2008 Cot that Noëlla Morantin made from purchased grapes. The region is covered with woods when not with vineyards, and there is an oversupply with all sort of gamey that make it one of the best hunting regions in France (he doesn't hunt, though).
About this French life which comes after so many years in New York, he says that some things here are disconcerting though, like the lack of service, the narrow opening hours of shops, and paradoxally, the relative disinterest of French people for good products, meaning organic and natural. Even in the countryside, people buy their food and vegetables in the supermarket where much of it is industrially made. He tips me about an excellent butcher in Saint-Aignan-sur-Cher where the meat is extra. OK, I'll try it after the saturday market. Of course, there are good products here, but the market stalls here have also lots of ordinary, high yield vegetables and he misses the product authenticity of the farmer's markets where he used to buy his products. Same for the restaurants : in Paris, many Brasseries including the famous ones like La Coupole or Bofinger don't have products as fresh as what you can eat at Balthazar in New York. Of course, this is New York, but still, it is unconceivable that you find more easily good products there, thanks to the farmer's markets than in many parts of France. Same for the eggs with real taste. Take the chicken for example, he has to go to Cour-Cheverny (some 30 kilometers away) at Cazin every three months where he is sure to find real, free run chicken; he'll buy 10 of them because they're really good and tasty, and not industrial, and will put them in the freezer back home. There are still many good, authentic products around here of course but many people still prefer to shop in the supermarkets. Speaking of Balthazar, where he worked several years, that's where he met Jonathan Nossiter. Nossiter was setting up wine lists for restaurants then, and he authored the one at Balthazar. They worked together several years. Actually, Balthazar's wine list was the first at the time to be 100% composed of French wines and it still is, an impressive wine list btw.

Panache, an expat New YorkerPanache is a lovely dog who likes to run around but also to lie down in the sun or near the fireplace. This English Setter is really a quiet, good dog : when I arrived at the old farm and walked along the house looking for someone, it didn't even bark although I learned later that it was inside. Born in august 2007 in Connecticut, it used to run around Prospect Park with Laurent. It seems to fit in its new environment but probably miss the other part of the family, including Laurent's two young sons who stayed in New York.
Speaking of this new life that Laurent is starting here, he says that it has deep roots in the restaurateur job that he loved. In New York, he was an intermediary between the authentic, organic products that he found on the farmer's market and his customers. Now, he wants to live on the other side of the trade and make some of these exceptionnal products, in this matter, wine. The great wine people that he knew in the Loire, like the Puzelat brothers, Olivier Lemasson, Hervé Villemade, Agnès & René Mosse were decisive in his decision to make the jump.

Careful with my old Citroën, Laurent....I usually don't let any one drive my old Citroën Ami8 (38 years old and counting...) but I made an exception here, cause I saw that Laurent really loved it (who doesn't love it at first glance anyway ?). He drove around with Panache on his laps and both came back safe and sound...

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From wineterroirs.co