La Courtille de Solutré

As you may have noted in previous Blog Postings, eating good food with good friends is a very pleasant pastime for us in Lyon.  We were able to enjoy that last Wednesday.

La Courtille de Solutré is one of our very favorite restaurants.  We discovered it when we were in Lyon for a year (2010-2011).  We had just come down into the village of Solutré-Pouilly after our first climb up the Roche de Solutré.  We were hungry and ready for lunch and our choices were a bar and an auberge with a nice dining area, La Courtille de Solutré.  Luckily, La Courtille had an empty table for us, and we enjoyed a very memorable meal on their terrace.  (Anna proclaimed it the best meal she had ever had.)  We should mention that after our first lunch we discovered that La Courtille de Solutré has a lovely red sign on their door, and they are in the Michelin Red Book. We have made an almost annual pilgrimage up the Roche followed by lunch at La Courtille since.

Roger and David at the entrance

Happy diners on the terrace

We have been touting the restaurant to our good friends, Roger and Dominique, for some years now.  And, this year we were actually able go to lunch there with them.  So David made the reservations, and Wednesday we all piled into their car for the hour plus ride to the village of Solutré-Pouilly. 

The four of us at our table.

We were escorted to our table in their pleasant terrace.  (They also have seating inside.) We sat back and enjoyed beverages while we enjoyed the setting and gazed at the menu. (David and Anna toasted the four of us and the occasion with flutes of champagne.) The menu is presented on chalk boards and gives diners a lot of delicious choices.  Their extensive beverage list is on folders at each table.

The Menu

Roger and Dominique were impressed.  That is really something to say since they have eaten in restaurants in many countries and both of their children are in the restaurant business.  Dominique even announced that they would have lunch there to celebrate their anniversary.

Anna and Dominique
getting ready to make some choices

After lots of discussion and difficult decisions, we each ordered an entrée, a plat (main dish), and dessert.  For our plats David and Dominique both had beef fillet and marrow bones with tapenade and homemade béarnaise sauce, Roger had calf liver with potatoes purée with tapenade and fresh vegetables, and Anna had scallops in the shell with julienne of vegetables, honey, butter, croutons and slices of Basque ham.  All were absolutely delicious!  

Anna's scallops - they were wonderful!

David asked the hostess to choose a wine for us to drink. She made a great choice, and we all enjoyed it. We'll try to find a bottle or two of it in wine shops in Lyon.

Great choice by our Hostess!

We lingered over our coffee with more pleasant conversation. Then it was time to head back to Lyon.  As we walked to the car, we took in a part of the village and surrounding vineyards.  What a very picturesque setting!   On the way back, we made a quick stop at Domaine Thibert, a family-owned and operated estate winery that the four of us had visited before. Each couple took home six bottles to enjoy later. 

Definitely a lovely, memorable day!