<a target="_blank" href="https://www.autrougascon.fr/fr/">Au Trou Gascon</a>

40 Rue Taine

75012 Paris, France&nbsp;

Tel.&nbsp;+33 1 43 44 34 26

BY IAN D'AGATA | JULY 12, 2019&nbsp;The Food:

Green
Provence asparagus, morel mushrooms steamed in vin de voile, aged Comté cheese, and egg in asparagus shell (Asperges vertes de Provence, morilles
étuvées au vin de voile, vieux Comté, oeuf en coque d’asperge)

Glazed
plaice filet, herb vinaigrette, orzotto pilaf with morel mushrooms (Filet de plie laqueé, vinaigrette d’herbes,
pilaf d’orzotto aux morilles)

Duck
confit, pork, Couenne sausage, lamb and bean cassoulet (Le cassoulet d’haricots de maïs, cuisse de canard confite, côte
d’agneau, couston de porc, et notre saucisse de Couenne)

Farm
goat and sheep milk cheeses from the Oussau Valley (Fromages au lait de chèvre et de brebis, cabécous fermiers et tome de
brebis de la vallée d’Oussau)

Fine,
warm and crusty apple and Armagnac tart from the Landes (tourtière landaise) with salted caramel ice cream and prune (La fine tourtière landaise chaude et
croustillante, glace caramel salé et pruneau bien roulé)

The Wines:

<table>
 <tbody><tr>
 <td>2014
 Uroulat-Charles Hours Jurançon Sec Cuvée Marie</td>
 <td class="wysiwyg-text-align-right">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; 89</td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>2015&nbsp;Château&nbsp;des
 Bachelards-Comtesse de Vazeilles Pouilly-Vinzelles Les Quarts</td>
 <td class="wysiwyg-text-align-right">91</td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>2008 Domaine François Raveneau
 Chablis Montée de Tonnerre Premier Cru</td>
 <td class="wysiwyg-text-align-right">94</td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>1969&nbsp;Château&nbsp;Les Astous
 Jurançon Moelleux </td>
 <td class="wysiwyg-text-align-right">93</td>
 </tr></tbody></table>

<img alt="" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.vinous.com/uploads%2F1562950422052-In+a+quiet+but+pretty+back+water+of+Paris_copy.jpg"> Au Trou Gascon located in a quiet but pretty backwater of Paris Au
Trou Gascon is one my favorite everyday, go-to restaurants in Paris. The
inviting jambon holding court in the
middle of the room, an almost endless choice of great wines and old vintages,
comfortable tables and chairs set spaciously apart from each other, and finely
cooked food from southwestern France make this address tough to beat for a
relaxing and flavorful dinner in the Ville Lumière. About the only thing that
needs fine-tuning is the service, as my inexperienced waiter was neither especially pleasant nor
helpful with explanations. <img alt="" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.vinous.com/uploads%2F1562950552321-asparagus_copy.jpg"> Green Provence asparagus, morel mushrooms steamed in&nbsp;vin de voile, aged Comté cheese, and egg in asparagus shell 

Au
Trou Gascon is a member of the Charming Hotels of the World “Charming Restaurants”
and that’s fitting, given the quality of the food and wine. The restaurant is
owned by Alain Dutournier, who is also at the helm of the much more famous and
glitzier Au Carré des Feuillants in downtown Paris (one of the city’s top ten
restaurants). Both of Dutournier’s very fine dining establishments specialize,
to varying degrees, in the hearty fare of southwestern France, so beans, duck,
pork and Armagnacs (dating back to 1929) are everywhere you turn.<img alt="" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.vinous.com/uploads%2F1562950592034-plaice_copy.jpg"> Glazed plaice filet, herb vinaigrette, orzotto pilaf with morel mushrooms 

At Au Trou Gascon, Dutournier offers a refined
atmosphere in a quiet setting and very good food and wine at a much lower cost
than its more famous stablemate; if in a different way, it supplies just as
rewarding a dining experience. I’ll share a few short but sweet descriptions of
the dishes I enjoyed during my latest dinner, for they were all simply exceptional
and there really isn’t much more to say than that. The crisp, perfumed
asparagus, the duck confit (made that much better thanks to the precious
Tarbais beans, perhaps France’s best), the savory orzotto pilaf, and the
delectable confit were all highly satisfactory, even memorable, in their own
inimitable, very flavorful way (and in fact, I still think about them
regularly). I especially liked the tarte
(or tourtière) landaise, one of my favorite desserts in the world (it’s a heavenly
concoction of oven-baked phyllo pastry, apples, Armagnac, brown sugar, butter and
more ingredients still, depending on how authentic a version you are after).<img alt="" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.vinous.com/uploads%2F1562950621387-cassoulet_copy.jpg"> Duck confit, pork, Couenne sausage, lamb and bean cassoulet 

I
always drink marvelously well at Au Trou Gascon, and it was no different this
time around. The 2014 Uroulat-Charles Hours
Jurançon Sec Cuvée Marie is a can’t-miss aperitif wine from a very talented
producer (whose moelleux or sweet
wines are absolutely memorable, by the way) in which Gros Manseng variety is
helped out by a touch of Petit Corbu. Barrel-fermented and aged 10 months in
mostly used barrels (only 10% of which are new), this is a lip-smackingly good
white wine that has just enough body to appeal to anyone looking for something
fleshier with which to start their meals but also boasts loads of harmonious
acidity that will please those who enjoy their white wines on the lively side.
The lovely 2015&nbsp;Château&nbsp;des Bachelards-Comtesse de Vazeilles Pouilly-Vinzelles Les Quarts&nbsp;helps remind me of all that I love about this
somewhat underrated appellation (among Pouillys, Pouilly-Fuissé is undoubtedly
much more famous than Pouilly-Vinzelles, yet I often find the wines of the
latter appellation to be far superior, fresher and more enjoyable to drink). A
wine of sneaky concentration and enticing purity, this precise, lemony, floral
and mineral 2015 was not just delightful, but a stunning value too. Well done.
The 2008&nbsp;Domaine François Raveneau Chablis Montée de Tonnerre Premier Cru&nbsp;is a work of art, and I downed glass after glass at an
(almost) alarming rate. The wine is luxurious, deep, complex and unforgettable,
displaying an archetypal Chablis note of crushed oyster shell. Last but not
least, the 1969 Chateau Les Astous
Jurançon Moelleux is a marvelously decadent sweet Petit Manseng redolent of
peach, crystallized apricot, white flowers, honey, lemon oil and brown sugar
that is magically well balanced and, at 50 years of age, still incredibly
young. One of Jurançon’s historic estates, with vines situated in an ideal
amphitheater for quality wine production characterized by “poudingue du
Jurançon” soil that helps contribute complexity and flavor intensity, this
really could not have been any better. One sip of this nectar and the words
“they don’t make them like they used to” cannot help but sneak into your
consciousness.<img alt="" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.vinous.com/uploads%2F1562950654608-tourti%C3%A8re+landaise_copy.jpg"> Fine, warm and crusty apple and Armagnac tart from the Landes 

Tucked
away in a Paris backwater, Au Trou Gascon exudes a comfortable, refined air and
offers a lovely neighborhood dining destination that I personally can’t get
enough of. In fact, I always find myself thinking that with an eatery like Au
Trou Gascon available to the lucky denizens of this part of Paris, this is one
neighborhood I’d actually like to move to. Well, one never knows…<img alt="" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.vinous.com/uploads%2F1562950699987-the+wines+2_copy.jpg">

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