After wandering around the beautiful streets of La Baule, an extremely popular seaside destination…read morefor many French people, AT and I arrived at Le Vieux Carillon for lunch with his family. He and his family had been talking about raclette so much and it was finally my chance to learn what it was all about.
Except I had been eating SO much in the days leading up to our visit here that I just watched the family chow down on raclette, while I ordered something else. Raclette seems to be trending now in the States and I always feel a smile creep up on my face when I see raclette cheese wedges at the local farmers markets. Anyway, since we came during the end-of-year celebrations, there was no shortage of food and whatever I ate had copious amounts of butter, cream, and meat. I was about to blow up and I actually felt like my body was begging for some fruits and veggies. Seriously.
I don't speak French, mostly because I feel super self-conscious about my poor pronunciation, so I can't tell you exactly the banter exchanged between the waitstaff and AT and my in-laws, but they all seemed to have a great time and our wait for food was minimal. I will say that service at restaurants outside of Paris is much friendlier, though you also risk the chance of finding anyone who speaks even a line of English being crazy low. Anyway, I started off with a bowl of creamy cauliflower soup, which was delightful! It was followed by a medium steak with salad and sautéed vegetables. I told you I needed some non-meat comestible in my body. The rest of the family got delivered metal pails of boiled potatoes, platters of charcuterie, and a ginormous hunk of cheese, with hot metal plates that melt the cheese. As the cheese melts, those participating in eating raclette scrape it off and the hot plates adjust to continue melting the dwindling piece of cheese. See my photos to understand better.
Next time, I'll pace myself better and ask for a heads-up before we come eat at Le Vieux Carillon again so that I can partake in having potatoes, cured meat, and cheese. AT's family goes regularly and his sister loves sending me photos of them all eating to their hearts' content. I'm sure we'll get little AT into this indigenous Swiss eating custom too.
[#Yelp365: 12/365]
