we eat our way through Lyon

I awoke with the cold Phil had been suffering from since we landed in Paris- I thought after nine days I was in the clear (just shows how good my resistance is!) but alas-

we are scheduled at the Brasserie Georges for lunch (it is mother's day in France so we were thrilled we had the presence of mind to have reserved ahead of time) - this turned out to be one of our favorite meals - a completely fun place in a big open space near the train station- it dates back to 1836!!!!!

we had escargot and bone marrow - to share and the were both 100% correct- and classically prepared- you can see we liked them so much I forgot to take a photo until all we had were bones and shells- LOL

Phil had the duck with foie gras and breast and raved about it! I got to try the foie and it was crisp on the outside and melted in your mouth once you bit into it!

based upon yesterdays upscale quenelles I decide to try a traditional dish of the same- different than yesterday but wholly fulfilling and extremely light!

the beautiful room erupted with applause whenever a patron celebrated a birthday - The process started with a calliope playing the Happy Birthday song and after it started everyone in the whole restaurant would applaud (not polite applause - real applause!)

the brewery part of the brasserie-

here's how to find it- and you WILL want to find it when you go to Lyon- this an historic place with a real sense of time past....

I guess it was inevitable that as much as we loved the atmosphere and tradition of Brasserie Georges and it's wonderful food - we would be disappointed by dinner- at a Bocuse place - Brasserie Le Nord - which is supposed to have a menu in the style of the bouchon lyonnais-

the food was OK but the service indifferent-

 the interior was lovely - too bad the service wasn't as warm as the decorating-

we had chosen it because it was walking distance from our hotel and it was open on Sunday night- so while it was our least favorite of the places we went to, it served a purpose.  You can see the food was decent- but Lyon is like New Orleans in that way- there is soooo much great food - it is tough to settle for merely good...

fighting the cold - I had hoped for a warm soup course but that was not to be- and I had to ask for a french menu when they gave us a brief English one and we weren't too keen on the offerings on that one- so we opted for the special mother's day menu - Phil was not thrilled with his roasted chicken but I thought the appetizers were quite good....and my mixed seafood/fish main I ended up sharing with him.

we are leaving in the late afternoon tomorrow (having arranged for a 6 PM checkout and  a 7 PM TGV directly to CDG airport) so we only have one more meal here - being under the weather we have seen none of the sights - as I spend the day sleeping - so we know we will have to return and will look forward to it-

but here is the last meal in Lyon and really in France because once we arrive in airportland we know we will not get anything other than airport food (which turned out to be 1000% true- LOL)

anyway- here goes - the godmother of all Lyonnais cooking is La Mere Brazier- an uneducated woman who set all of France on a course to amazing cuisine by training virtually every well known chef in her restaurant- all the biggies studied under her-

and her namesake restaurant still exists and has a high Michelin rating to go with the traditions she began-

we had the menu- Phil started with the terrine and I with the asparagus soup - both excellent-

then I had the fish course and he the duck-

a pre dessert of the best madeleine in history (no kidding- this must have been what Proust ate)

another pre- dessert course of  little sweets-

Phil's dessert of Paris- Brest (one of La Mere's traditional desserts) and my Ile Flottante-

happy campers, we - We took a cab back to the hotel, where I read and Phil napped and we packed for our train trip to CDG and a night at an airport hotel - convenient but overpriced- and headed home the following day... the flight was of course delayed but we were home to complaining cats by late afternoon and at least got our laundry started before collapsing into bed early... typical of our routine on the way home from Europe...

fabulous trip with CBGB and Anna... first rate all around! and yes Lyon is now on my list for returning sooner rather than later so we get to see the beautiful and historic city and continue to discover great eating places!