Supper on Rue Thiers
Kerry and I headed down to the Vieux Port last night to have a little wander around before supper. The port was empty save for two competing bands of pan flute South Americans claiming to be Native Americans. [There is a chance they have a French Canadian lineage as La Rochelle traders brought Native Americans back with them to settle in France--but I digress.]
After passing by the performance, I was glad I took all of my tiny money (1, 2 and 5 centime pieces) to the BNP earlier in the day to deposit in my account. We walked on looking for a suitable spot for dinner. Nothing really seemed to fit (and it didn’t help we were undecided on cuisine). After much walking, and being turned away at Brille de Sol, we opted for dinner at Le Cuisine de Jules.
It ended up being a spectacular choice. I started by trying the one thing recommended by everyone about the Charante-Maritime, oysters from Ile de Re!
We were eating dinner a little later than normal and with the three-course plating, knew it was going to be a late night. Luckily, the table next to us was free. John-Paul (with the dark hair) became our friend by trying to toss the bread-basket at the server, in a good-natured way, which made me laugh.
Emma, her husband and John-Paul spent the rest of the dinner chatting with us, sharing their wine and cheese plate with us and being convivial. Not sure if this is because we were American or because they were just being friendly.
Either way, at the end of the meal, John-Paul slides a note over to me, in English, asking for us to come and have some champagne at his bar. As Kerry said, when I was having Camembert thrust forward to me, “Emily, just take it and don’t say no”.
We walked across the street to John-Paul’s Bar L’Alambic. The bar, which closes at 10pm was reopened for our petit fete. I noticed across the street, at Teatro & Accademia (where we normally get pizza), the same type of fete was happening.
Merci Beacoup John-Paul and La Rochelle!! It has been a fun summer!
