Tatekitchen on the French Riviera: Three Dinners in Nice

Tatekitchen
Written by Tateki Matsuda
 

Bonsoir.

Yes, I just got back from France, and yes, I’m that guy now. I already want to go back.

The trip was for a summit. This post is about what happened after the summit: nine days in Nice, one Airbnb kitchen, and three nights of Tatekitchen on the French Riviera.

Sautéed fish with lemon slices and bay leaves on a green plate, a bowl of octopus behind it: the first Tatekitchen dinner in Nice


Why an Airbnb with a kitchen, not a hotel

We travel with kids. “Let’s just grab something quick at a restaurant” does not exist in our world. A kitchen and a washing machine are non-negotiable, and that alone rules out most hotels.

But the bigger reason was the food itself. The quality and the price of local ingredients, seafood above all, were on a completely different level from Boston.

I’m not talking about some fancy fishmonger. Local markets, sure, but also the ordinary supermarket. You look at the shine on the flesh and you know: this was caught this morning.

A lot of visitors run through the South of France on a packed schedule, eat a salade niçoise, and call it done. Nice has a lot more to offer than that. Out of nine days (seven or eight nights in the apartment), I opened Tatekitchen for about three. Here is the record. If it gives you a new way to enjoy a trip to Europe, I’m happy.

Day 1: Gifts of the Mediterranean — octopus and handmade ravioli

Day one, we hit the old town for souvenirs and groceries. With nothing more than tapenade, olive oil, lemon and salt, the table turned into this: octopus ceviche-style, sautéed swordfish, and handmade ravioli from Maison Barale, an old-school institution.

Nice is famous for tapenade (olive paste) and olive oil. Add Mediterranean lemon and salt, and you are already unbeatable.

Octopus, ceviche-style: fresh octopus rubbed with salt, boiled, and dressed with olive oil

Octopus, ceviche-style: fresh octopus rubbed with salt, boiled, and dressed with olive oil.

Swordfish steak, simply sautéed, with lemon slices

Swordfish steak: simply sautéed.

Fresh mackerel in a baking dish

Mackerel: so fresh I thought, “cure this in vinegar and it’s shime-saba.”

Handmade ravioli from Maison Barale, an old-school institution in Nice

Handmade ravioli from Maison Barale, an old-school institution in Nice

The main was that ravioli. Spinach worked into the dough, filled with ricotta and lemon; another one filled with beef. As a biohacker, I can hear you: “What happened to gluten-free?!” Fair. But when in Rome. Or, in this case, when in Nice.

Which, according to one French local, is a technicality. “Nice used to be Italy. We took it.” Said just like that, casually. I wasn’t sure how to respond, but it does explain why the pizza and pasta here are absurdly good.

Day 2: The guinea fowl I found at the supermarket

Day two was a Sunday. I assumed everything would be closed. Instead, a big supermarket was open, and that is where I found guinea fowl (pintade, in French). I can’t read French, so Google Translate’s image search did the identifying.

Guinea fowl (pintade)

Guinea fowl (pintade)

Firmer than chicken, with a deeper, more savory flavor. Into the oven, whole. Butter, lemon, herbs, nothing else, and a mountain of mushrooms on the side.

Whole roasted guinea fowl with thyme, sautéed spinach and mushrooms on the side

Restaurants are great. But a whole roast at home means nobody has to mind their manners, and you can work every bone clean. The kids were all in, together with the leftover ravioli from the night before.

I also picked up fresh scallops, still with the roe and liver attached, and pan-fried them in butter. In Boston you get them shucked, and you pay for it. In Nice they were about a third of the price.

Scallops with the roe still attached, pan-fried in butter

Day 3: Grass-fed ribeye, and an onion soup built on yesterday’s bones

For the last night: a ribeye that, at one glance, told you it came from a fully grass-fed animal. Next to it, French onion soup made with stock from the previous day’s guinea fowl bones. A bottle of red Bordeaux. That was the closing dinner for Tatekitchen in Nice.

“Ribeye” sounds heavy. But French beef is all about the lean, and I suspect even the senior crowd could polish this off. (The trade-off: getting the doneness right is harder.) And again, about a third of the Boston price.

Grass-fed bone-in ribeye with roasted potatoes and a bottle of Bordeaux

The soup: onions, cooked down patiently until deep amber, then the guinea fowl stock. That’s it. It was outstanding. A mid-range, classic Bordeaux alongside the steak, and dinner was complete.

French onion soup made with guinea fowl stock, the onions cooked down to amber

Live like a local, cook like a Japanese cook

Here is the method, if you want to call it that. Stay in an Airbnb and copy how locals live, instead of a hotel. Then cook with no ego: local salt, local olive oil, lemon and herbs, and let the ingredients do the talking. In Japanese cooking there is an idea that the cook’s job is to draw out what is already inside the ingredient, not to put himself on top of it. Bring that mindset to someone else’s region, and you meet what the place really tastes like.

For a trip you may only take once or twice, that is the style I’d recommend.

Honest disclosure: part of the plan was to save on restaurant bills. What actually happened is that we ate meat and seafood every single night, full surf-and-turf mode, and the grocery line of the budget went through the roof. Worth it.

If you have a trip to Europe coming up, try it. Shop local, cook local.

That’s the whole story: Tatekitchen went to Nice, and it was delicious.

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The Valentine's Protocol: Carbonara de Zucca