2ND STOP: NICE, FRANCE

Oh Nice, what a beautiful city. It’s got incredible food, beaches and sights.

This is the view from where I was staying, Altea Hostel. So pretty. I met a few other girls in my room, two Brits and one Bostonian! Unfortunately, none of us speak French so we decided to take the more comfortable route and go out to an Irish pub that night.

I was drinking a Desperados, a tequila flavored beer. I know it sounds awful, but it was actually pretty good.

The next night, Boston girl was gone so the Brits and I went out to dinner at an admittedly touristy place called Bistro del Opera. Surprisingly, it was pretty awesome.

Here’s my huge crazy Paysanne salad. Tons of baby greens with tomato, endive, Roquefort, croutons, bacon lardons, kalamata olives and hard boiled eggs. There were also overcooked green beans in there, but I didn’t mind too much since everything else was good and the portion was generous.

Their crème brulee kicked ass. They must have used real vanilla bean in it because it was super fragrant and had those little black specks in it. The bill came out to €26 each.

I was on my own the next day so I decided to spend some time enjoying the French Riviera.

Not bad.

My chef spent a lot of time in Nice during his youth so I was really excited to ask him for suggestions about places to eat. Sadly, most of his restaurant recommendations were closed for August- A pretty common practice in France. I ended up exploring and choosing a little place that served classic French food with Italian influences. It was called Chat Blanc Chat Noir in the Old Town.

Such a good decision.

I sat outside on a narrow little street and was greeted by a friendly waiter (who is also the pastry chef!) with very good English. He introduced me to two Parisian girls eating at the table next to me, one of whom goes to NYU! We got to chatting for a while until my first course came out- Foie gras torchon. It was a pretty hefty portion, probably about 4oz.

By the way- For those who also don’t speak French, entrée (in French) = appetizer. Confusing, I know.

The torchon was crazy flavorful. I don’t know what I expected, eating foie gras in France, but it kind of blew me away. Definitely some of the best I’ve ever had. I would’ve snapped a picture, but I got too distracted by the chef who came out to talk to me while I was eating.

When I told him that I cook French food in the US, he invited me into the kitchen to show me how he was going to make my steak tartare!

He showed me around their little restaurant, where on a busy night they will serve 70 customers at most.

And here’s the chef himself who goes by the name of Giorgio Grilenzoni. He’s a great guy, comes from Italy but has been cooking in Nice for 3 years.

He gave me tastes of just about everything on the menu, it was awesome:

-Caponata: Eggplant roasted with garlic, onion and celery finished with basil, mint, tomato sauce, capers and olives. He throws some pistachios in right before serving for texture. The caponata goes with their rabbit confit.

– I really don’t know what this bit of meat is called, he was giving me a lot of food really fast. All I know is that they cure it themselves and it was salty and delicious.

– Watermelon, feta, kalamata make up a salad which comes with the swordfish.

– Roasted artichoke which I didn’t get a picture of because I was too busy pretending my taste buds weren’t getting singed since it was right out of the oven and I was overeager.

For my steak tartare, he coats the meat in a mixture of parsley, garlic, anchovies and capers. Then instead of a straight up raw yolk, he lightly poaches is so it’s a bit thicker and sticks to the meat more. When he finished plating it I just grabbed it and happily brought it back to my table.

After I cracked the yolk:

I should also mention that those fries were way above average. Crispy and delicious.

Explaining to me how and why he’s preparing and plating dishes for other customers.

What an awesome dinner. Getting to hang out in the kitchen was totally unexpected and was probably the coolest part of my trip to Nice.

My last morning in Nice I got up early to visit the market my chef used to go to every day when he lived there, Marche su Fleurs. There was produce, cheese, meat, flowers, herbs, oils, etc. It was gorgeous and had that lively bustling feel that make markets so fun and unique.

Finally, I visited the museum of contemporary art. Here’s the view from the rooftop terrace:

Definitely doesn’t suck.

Nice kicked so much ass. If you ever get the chance, please go there. The food is awesome, the people were friendly(-er than Marseille) and it’s the prettiest town I’ve seen so far.

We exchanged contact info before I left because hey- you never know! Maybe one day I’ll need a job in France 🙂

Next stop: Roma!