Eat local

 

Modane, France, July 17, 2016—

KEES FOUND ANOTHER first-rate restaurant tonight in this unpromising mountain town. You could argue that it was a little presentation-heavy, but the food was local, well sourced and well cooked.

I had the menu du terroir: 

Salade de fromage de chevre de Sollieres (which we'd walked through earlier in the day) toasté au four (in other words, good old baked goat cheese salad); 

Pormonier artisinal de la boucherie Rittaud de Fourneau, sauce a la Mondeuse Rouge de Cruet; Sunday Maurienne: glace vanille, caramel salé au beurre de Lanslebourg, éclats de Daim.

The Pormonier is the local sausage, quite tasty, reminiscent of andouillette even, pungent and hearty; the sauce was deep; the roast potatoes quite perfect.

The ice cream was delicious, too. Éclats de Daim seem to be chokecherries, and are dispensable in my book, but the whipped cream was fabulous.

Bourgogne Haut Cotes-de-Nuit, D. Durand, 2014; very nice.

L'Echappée, 12, rue de la République, Modane, France; +33 (0)4 79 05 42 99