<a target="_blank" href="http://www.lhoteldebeaune.com/en/">Bistro de l’Hôtel</a>

5 rue Samuel Legay

21200 Beaune, France

Tel. +33 (0) 3 80 25 94 14

Wines:


<table>
 <tbody><tr>
 <td>
 <a target="_blank" href="http://vinousmedia.com/wines?utf8=%E2%9C%93&amp;q=2010+Raveneau+Chablis+montee">2010
 Raveneau Chablis Montée de Tonnerre 1er Cru</a>
 </td>
 <td>
 95+
 </td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>
 <a target="_blank">2011
 Armand Rousseau Gevrey-Chambertin Les Cazetiers 1er Cru</a> &nbsp; &nbsp;
 </td>
 <td>
 ?
 </td>
 </tr>
</tbody></table>

<img alt="" src="https://allgrapes.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads%2F1390576550898-Bitroarticlewine.jpg"> Food:

Mesclun salad with shaved
parmesan

<img alt="" src="https://allgrapes.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads%2F1390576416526-Bistro+1.jpg"> Line-caught bass; grilled,
with olive oil and lemon

<img alt="" src="https://allgrapes.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads%2F1390576432296-Bistro3.jpg"> Poulard de Bresse for two;
roasted, with mashed potatoes and steamed vegetables

<img alt="" src="https://allgrapes.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads%2F1390576445804-Bistro2.jpg"> Crêpes Suzette<img alt="" src="https://allgrapes.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads%2F1390576454281-Bistro4.jpg"> 

A trip to Burgundy isn’t
complete with a meal or two at the Bistro de l’Hôtel, where proprietor Johan Björklund
serves seasonal cuisine in a gorgeous, intimate setting.

I love being in Burgundy, but
the truth is that the food starts to get a bit heavy after a few days. How much
jambon persillé, escargots and foie gras can a person eat? That is one of the
reasons I enjoy going to the Bistro de l’Hôtel. There are plenty of
opportunities to indulge. At the same time, the Bistro offers a number of
delicious but simpler dishes that make it easy to go back often. One of my
favorites is the mesclun salad with shaved parmesan, which is wonderfully
invigorating after a day of tasting in the cellars. The same salad is available
with shaved black truffles, a marvelous treat to be sure. Our line-caught bass
for two is perfectly cooked. It is also enough food for a small family, but who
are we to complain? It is so refreshing to eat a simple, grilled fish as
opposed to the butter-drenched versions common in this part of the world that
totally cover the essential flavors of the fish itself. The Poularde de Bresse
for two with mashed potatoes and steamed vegetables is comfort food at its very
best. What could be better? I rarely order dessert, but the Crêpes Suzette, a
childhood favorite, are too good to pass up.I bought a fair amount of
Raveneau’s 2010 Chablis Montée de
Tonnerre, as it is my daughter’s birth year, but haven’t tasted it in a
while. Of course the 2010 is much too young, but then again, I rarely see
Raveneau wines in restaurants at prices that are approachable. Still very much
tightly wound, the 2010 hits the palate with a bevy of crushed rocks, slate,
citrus and white stone fruits, all in an energetic style that is going to
require time to settle down. There is a lot to look forward to.

I am intrigued by Rousseau’s 2011 Gevrey-Chambertin Les Cazetiers. I
had just tasted at Rousseau a few days before and had a chance to revisit a
handful of other 2011s from bottle, all of which were drop-dead gorgeous. Plus
I adore wines from Cazetiers, one of the top sites in Gevrey. Sadly, Rousseau’s
2011 Cazetiers is completely reduced at this stage. While that is not totally
surprising in young Burgundy, none of the 2011s I tasted at the domaine exhibited
any reduction at all, which is why I thought ordering the Cazetiers was a safe
choice. It will be interesting to see where the 2011 goes over the coming
years, as there is plenty of depth and resonance in the glass. On this night,
though, the Cazetiers remains too reduced to deliver any pleasure at all.Readers visiting Burgundy
should make a point of checking out the Bistro. At 40 euros a person, the
prix-fixe dinner menu is affordable, and is an option I choose often when
dining alone. Ordering à la carte will raise the bill considerably. The
Bistro’s wine list is extensive, but there aren’t a lot of values to be found.
The most rewarding way to approach the list is to look for wines that have very
limited outside distribution, at which point pricing becomes a secondary
concern. During the summer months, I suggest enjoying the outside terrace, one
of the prettiest and most relaxing spots in Beaune.

-- Antonio Galloni

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