Just Opened: The New Paradou

*All photo captions appear at the end of the text.

For anyone who asks me where to eat in Provence, the Bistrot du Paradou has been my secret weapon for years. (Around here the big question is not Is there a God? or What’s the meaning of life? but rather, Where should we eat?) Not that it’s secret by any means—Paradou is one of the most popular places around—but it’s a no brainer, a guaranteed great experience at lunch or dinner, year round. The food at Paradou is hearty, homemade, Provençal rustic, perfectly prepared, comforting...and superb. Plus, it’s different from just about anywhere else...in the concept, service and vibe. “We’ve never found anything like Paradou, anywhere in the world,” says my friend Sandra Peskin, who calls it her go-to, her local, her home away from home. When she has guests, Sandra always takes them or sends them to Paradou, calling it “not a maybe but a must.” A couple years ago I had clients (a large group of food pros from New Orleans) who ate at Paradou three times in one week, asking me to cancel two other dinners in order to make that happen. Nobody doesn’t like Paradou!

So we’re all pretty excited that Paradou owner Vincent Quenin has finally opened his second restaurant, this one in St. Remy. It’s called Le Bistrot de Saint-Remy and it’s on the site of the former Cafe du Lezard, on avenue Gambetta or what locals call “the bottom of the circle.” It opened for lunch and dinner on Monday.

While no restaurant opening is easy, this one was probably harder than most. Renovation of the space began last year but came to a screeching halt on March 14 (when Covid shut down all non-essential business in France), and couldn’t resume until June 2, the day our restaurant lock down was lifted. Vincent completely gutted and rebuilt the interior, replicating the charming old Provençal ambiance of its predecessor but with all new furniture, fixtures and equipment. “When you come, you’ll remember what was here before—the decor is similar,” Vincent says. “But everything was very very old. And now everything still feels old but it’s completely clean and new.”

The new restaurant seats 40 inside and another 40 or so on the terrace.

Vincent’s partner in the venture is Bastien Maltagliati, who was a server at Paradou for many years...and who’s just as beloved around here as Vincent is. Bastien will run the Bistrot and continue to run the Le Bar Divin next door, the popular St. Remy hangout that he and Vincent also took over last year. “I wasn’t planning to buy two places but when they both became available, I knew I should,” Vincent says. “One bar, one restaurant, one big terrace...right next to each other....it made sense.” Bastien and his father did much of the renovation work themselves.

The Bar Divin specializes in beautiful, classic and creative cocktails made from fresh and unusual ingredients. The beauty of the space is that the comfy terrace tables can easily be used for drinks both before and after dinner. There’s live music on Friday and Saturday nights and the crowd often spills onto the street.

Now that word is spreading that Vincent has opened in St. Remy, I notice the first thing people ask me is “Is it like Paradou?”

What they mean is, is it that same wonderful food, at one set price for everything?

The answer is yes, sort of...at least at dinner, where for €49 (compared to €60 at Paradou) you’ll get a starter, main course, cheese course, dessert and all the wine you care to drink. Coffee and bottled water are extra.

At Paradou, the main dish at dinner alternates between lamb and chicken. Here, it will change daily but choices will be limited:  two starters, two mains (one fish and one meat) and a handful of desserts. You can always call ahead to check what the plat du jour is...and eventually there may be a weekly rotation just like at Paradou at lunch, where it’s usually tête de veau on Tuesday, chicken on Thursday, soupe au pistou and aïoli on Friday, lamb on Saturday, a fantastic cassoulet on Wednesday in winter... and so forth.

Just like at Paradou, the house wine in St. Remy is Château Mont-Redon from Châteauneuf-du-Pape (one of the oldest estates in the Southern Rhône); it’s included in the set price at dinner but not at lunch. They put the bottle on your table and replace it whenever its empty. It’s nice to know you can have as much or little red, white or rosé as you like...and for those who don’t know the wines of the region it eliminates having to choose. Plus, people know that if it’s the house wine at Paradou, it’s going to be good. For those who want a different label, there’s a full list and you pay accordingly.  

At lunch, Vincent will veer further from the Paradou format, in the style of cuisine, the timing and price. “That format, that country cooking, has been working at Paradou forever,” he says, “and people don’t want that to change. They know what we serve and that’s what they come for. Early on I tried to change the food there and my regulars were like, ‘Vincent, what the f*ck?’”

But Vincent knew that the “long lunch in the country” idea isn’t the best for a setting in the heart of a busy village.  “Here we need more choice, something lighter, faster and cheaper,” he explains. “This menu’s designed for people who are working in the bank, the insurance office, the shops...lighter, fresher, more brasserie-style. We’ll do tomato mozzarella salad or a tomato filled with straciatella,” he says, referring to the soup and not the ice cream, of course. “We’re doing homemade gazpacho, a proper carpaccio, a proper tartare we make ourselves.”

The lunch menu yesterday also showed foie gras stuffed with truffles, a homemade terrine, quesadillas (with tomato, pepper, avocado and cheddar), a croustillant of boudin noir and those fabulous snails in garlic butter that everyone goes crazy for at Paradou.

Vincent loves the famous Bouchon-style restaurants of Lyon and will pull some lunch dishes from those menus as well: duck pâté, roast pork, sausages and the like. A three-course lunch (starter, main, dessert) is €29; cheese, wine and coffee are extra. Or have a starter and main...or a main and dessert...with a glass of wine for €27. 

If Paradou had a signature dish it would have to be the spit-roasted poulet de Bresse...and you’ll definitely find it here, circling in and out of rotation. My friend Philippe Goninet calls Paradou “my Madeleine de Proust” because it reminds him of family dinners as a kid. And he gives the chicken his ultimate compliment, calling it “almost as good as my grandmother’s!”

Born and raised in Arles, Vincent went to London after high school, primarily, he says, to learn English. Then he lived for a while in Thailand before coming home to Provence to stay. In 1997, he went to work at Paradou as a waiter, for then-owner Jean-Louis Pons; the two became like father and son. When Jean-Louis decided to retire in 2010, Vincent bought the restaurant...and has run it with his brother Pierre ever since. The two are extremely close.  

Set in an 1832 relais de poste or relais de diligence, the Bistrot du Paradou was originally built to accommodate travellers with horses and stagecoaches, a stopover on the route from Salon de Provence to Arles. “It was a place for people to eat, sleep and dance,” Vincent says, “a crossroads, a rest along the way. And later it was a village bar, a place to buy drinks and cigarettes, a place where people were looked after. Pierre is more mystic than me and has always said there’s a special energy there.”

Once he bought Paradou, Vincent decided he better learn how to cook. “I realized if I ever lost my chef, I’d be in serious trouble with no one to look after the kitchen,” he remembers. “So I started to work with Marie (chef Marie-Laurence Souici.) I really didn’t want to leave the front of the house—I loved the atmosphere in the dining room—and back in the kitchen I was a bit sad! Luckily Marie never left but I got used to the kitchen and stayed, working with her side by side.”

In St. Remy, Bastien is the operating partner, overseeing both bar and restaurant. But until the new restaurant finds its footing, Vincent will be at the stove, with a young Paradou chef named Joan Laget as his #2. “We need to learn who our customers are, figure out what works best,” Vincent told me. “And of course I want to be there.”

And while Vincent gets St. Remy off the ground, Pierre's in Paradou running the show. "If he weren't there," Vincent says, "I could never have opened in St. Remy."

One of the many reasons we all love Paradou is their “whatever, whenever” attitude. There’s one seating a night, starting at 8 pm, so you stay as long as you like. You want to start your meal inside then move out for dessert, coffee, Cognac, more wine? No problem! You want seconds? If they have enough, you can. You want to bring in a cake, send in a stripper, belt out a song, get up and dance? Seriously, nothing fazes anyone here. The servers are all fast, efficient, charming, funny, handsome and unflappable.

“I’ve definitely got a dream team,” Vincent says. “They always do a great job.”

Arriving at Paradou, you’ll smell the intoxicating aroma of good cooking wafting from the open kitchen. And you’ll find a nicely dressed, refined-looking crowd: couples on dates, families with kids, ladies who lunch, winemakers from down the road. There’s often a celebrity or two, who everyone pretends to ignore. But soon any semblance of French-restaurant formality falls away as people start greeting friends and making introductions, table hopping and switching seats, ambling in and out to smoke, gesturing for more wine. The music gets louder, the staff gets looser and that low-level buzz of polite conversation becomes more like a full-on party.

While writing this story I reached out to a few friends, all of them big Paradou fans, asking why they love it so much. My friend Neassa Grennan Hunt texted back quickly:  “Can’t talk now...I’m having dinner at Paradou!” I asked what was happening there and she said “not much yet...but it’s early!”

The next day she came back with this: “Paradou is our #1 restaurant by far and we tell all our clients it’s a must-do. But we never go on a ‘school night’ because the next morning can definitely be a bit rough!”

More than once my friends and I were still hanging out on the terrace when the staff was ready to head home after lunch service. They brought wine and water, said a bientot, locked the doors and left. (Where else would that ever happen?) And there were definitely times when we were still there when they came back to set up for the evening.

When the summer crowds converge, Paradou is packed, inside and out. On a typical summer day they’ll serve 100 at lunch and 100 at dinner...or more. In winter they’ll do half as many; everyone eats together inside and the crowd is heavily local. Vincent tells me that winter is his favorite season and that's when he feels his restaurant is at its finest. “Winter is when that energy Pierre talks about is the strongest,” he says.

One evening at dinner this winter, Jean-Baptiste Bert—who worked at Paradou for many years but left to open his own place a few miles down the road—came through the doorway and the whole room burst into applause. Again, where else would something like that happen? (Read my story about Jean-Baptiste's Le Relais du Castelet here.)

Earlier that same winter evening I saw Sandra Peskin hobble in, having had serious foot surgery just a few weeks before. “This is my first night out!” she said, sounding sort of guilty. “But I couldn’t wait any longer. I had to get out and of course it had to be Paradou! “

Just like at any super-popular restaurant, getting a table at Paradou takes a bit of strategy. If they happen to have space they’ll happily seat walk-ins but it’s always best to book. Reservations are by phone or Facebook messenger and you may have to try more than once. And very soon at the Bistrot de Saint Remy, I'm sure it will be just the same.

“Paradou is my favorite restaurant on the planet,” says Sandra’s husband Andrew, who could have easily bought the place with what he’s spent there over the years. “The welcome, the escargot, the value for money, the staff, the attention to detail, the buzz. I can’t tell you how excited I am about Vincent opening in St Rémy.”

The Bistrot de Saint-Remy (This info updated March, 2023)

12 blvd. Gambetta

13210 St. Remy de Provence

To reserve: +33 (0)4-90-21-11-59.

No website but they're on Trip Advisor.

Closed Tuesday and Wednesday.

Three-course lunch €39. 

Four-course dinner with wine €59.

The Bistrot du Paradou

57 ave de la Vallee des Baux

13520 Paradou

To reserve: +33 (0)4-90-54-32-70. 
Also find them on Facebook, TripAdvisor and Instagram.

Lunch and dinner Tuesday through Saturday in Summer; closed weekdays for dinner in Winter.

Four courses with wine: €55 at lunch, €60 at dinner.

Photos: (1) Bastien Maltagliati (left) and Vincent Quenin in St. Remy. Bastien is the operating partner and he oversees both the Bistrot de Saint Remy and the next-door Bar Divin. Vincent will be in the kitchen, at least for the summer, while his brother Pierre runs Paradou. (2) Seating in both the bar and the restaurant spills out onto the street. Pictured here, the new restaurant at dusk. (3) Before the restaurant opened this week, large "planchas" of nibbles, served in the bar and designed for sharing, could easily make a small meal. (4) The Divin crew with Bastien at the center back and Vincent's sous chef, Joan Laget, second from the right, in black. (5) Divin has happy hour with drink specials daily and live music on weekends. (6) I had to try the cocktail called Passion à Saint Remy: rum, lemon juice, passion fruit purée, fresh coriander and fresh ginger. Excellent! (7) Dining tables in St. Remy are well spaced to allow for distancing...and the servers are all in masks. (8-10) Lunch dishes include caviar of aubergine, pasta pesto with gambas roti and a dessert that looked amazing on a hot day. When I popped in today, they were also serving chicken with mashed potatoes and artichaux barigoule...and gazpacho. (11-15) Paradou's greatest hits will be part of the dinner rotation in St. Remy but not so much at lunch. Pictured: salade frisée with lardons, snails in garlic butter, soupe au pistou, Bresse chicken with fresh pasta and morel sauce, cassoulet. (16) Save room for cheese! Paradou's famous serve-yourself tray (with accoutrements) is plunked down on every table at lunch and dinner, always eliciting lots of ooh-la-la!  (17) A battalion of bottles, open and ready for action. Mont-Redon is the house red, white and rosé at both restaurants. (18) Vincent and longtime Paradou chef Marie-Laurence Souici, photo courtesy of Via-Selection. (19, 20) The terrace at Paradou (ready for action in summer) and the dining room filling up in winter, when Vincent says the restaurant is its best version of itself. (21) Foodies love the kitchen table at Paradou. (22) Kids welcome! A pretty Provencal mural at Paradou, with high chairs at the ready. (23)  Everyone loves Paradou aprons! These aren't for sale but newer ones, with the escargot logo, are €30 at the restaurant. (24) Vincent calls the staff at Paradou "a dream team." (Thanks to Michel Augsburger for letting me pull some of the photos above from his blog.)

One Restaurant I Love: A Guest Post

You can't live in Provence and not be passionate about food.  The cliché is that the French spend much of each meal talking about what they ate at their last meal or what they'll eat at the next. The produce here is so good...and there's so much culinary talent...there aren't enough days in a month to try a fraction of the restaurants I'd like to. Many of my friends feel the same way so of course we trade notes constantly. Periodically someone will rave so enthusiastically about a meal that I'll ask them to share the info with all of us, through a guest post.  And since it had been a few years since I wrote about Jean-Luc Rabanel (one of my favorite chefs) and his outstanding restaurant, L'atelier, in Arles, I was delighted when Keith Van Sickle suggested a guest post about a recent meal there. Keith's bio appears at the end of this text; read on for his Rabanel review!

There are a lot of great restaurants in Provence, with Michelin stars galore like Le Petit Nice in Marseille and Baumanière in Les Baux. But for my money, the best fine dining in Provence is at L’atelier de Jean-Luc Rabanel in Arles.

In 1999, Rabanel became the first chef in France to earn a Michelin star for an organic restaurant, Coté Garonne in the small town of Tonneins in southwest France. He later closed that restaurant and moved to Provence, renowned for its fresh produce, and opened L’atelier in 2007.  

On a quiet street just off the Place de la Republique, Rabanel works his magic. He calls his approach “Greenstronomie” – light on the meat and heavy on the abundance of Provence. As he puts it, “At the center of my cuisine is emotion and taste, a philosophy based on the vegetable. Vegetables, roots, plants, leaves, flowers and wild herbs thus become the main actors of my creations.”

L’atelier offers you just two choices: the six-course menu (95€) or the nine-course menu (123€). That’s it. On certain days, there's also a three-course option for lunch (55€). You can order wine by the glass, by the bottle, or pick one of the wine pairings chosen by the sommelier (three glasses, 45€; five glasses, 65€). 

The server will ask if you have any food allergies, which is a nice touch. I can’t eat gluten and I normally have to bring up the subject myself, which can make for an awkward moment. I appreciate that L’atelier made this discussion a comfortable one.

My wife and I went to L’atelier recently for her birthday, as it's our special occasion restaurant of choice. We usually order the six-course menu. The courses are small but you always get more than advertised (this year we counted eight courses) so there's no risk of going hungry. 

Plus there's the bread - you're served a selection of five different freshly baked varieties. And lucky me, I enjoyed the best gluten-free bread I’ve ever had.

After a glass of Champagne, the plates started arriving. My wife says that each plate is like a work of art you get to enjoy twice. First you appreciate its beauty, and then you savor the tastes. 

Our meal began with a piece of raw tuna marinated in sesame oil and laid atop sliced celery root and basil. This was sprinkled with a peanut crumble. Oh yes, there were also little pieces of smoky lardon hiding in there. And the flower on top was spicy. All those flavors were nice way to wake up the taste buds!

Next came the sweetest peas I’ve ever eaten, mixed into a fava bean puree and topped by Parmesan foam and a shrimp that had been dipped in ginger and grilled.

After that came mackerel over fava beans and then asparagus with morel mushrooms and white garlic ice cream.

While the menu changes regularly, we were thrilled to be able to enjoy one of Rabanel’s signature dishes. This is an impossibly tender filet mignon of taureau de Camargue (bull) topped with an egg yolk that's been marinated in soy sauce and rice vinegar. The combination is to die for!  It was accompanied by too many kinds of vegetable to count.

Then came the desserts, three different ones. The first was a jelly of verbena, topped by pureed Jerusalem artichoke hearts and macha ice cream. The second was a combination of fresh and sautéed fruits with tarragon sorbet. Then came the black-olive cookies and citrus macarons.

L’atelier has two Michelin stars and is unlikely to get a third, even though the food is as good as it gets. Why? Because to get a rare and coveted third star usually means you have to invest millions of dollars in the décor. Rabanel has chosen to keep the décor simple, the staff relatively young, and the focus on the food.

This is the reason that the Gault Millau guide, which rates purely on food quality, has given L’Atelier 5 toques and a score of 19 out of 20. These stratospheric ratings make it one of the top restaurants in France.

Since he first opened in Arles, Jean-Luc has grown the business organically. Once L'atelier was up and running he opened a bistro next door, called À Côté, which remains extremely popular. Then he opened a seafood spot called Iode, which has since closed. 

He also expanded L'atelier, doubling the dining space and adding accommodations. Today you can rent rooms in two flavors: “Les Confidentielles” which is a guestroom plus meals if you want them (breakfast + either lunch or dinner) and “Les Appartés,” which is four rooms with a common living-room area...which you can rent by the room or as a whole.  If you're staying in Les Appartés you can request cooking classes for your group there; classes are also available in the restaurant in the morning for would-be sous chefs who want to cook along with the restaurant's brigade. All the details are on the restaurant's website here.

So if you have a special occasion coming up, or want to taste the best that Provence has to offer, consider a meal at L’atelier in Arles. You won’t be sorry.

L'Atelier de Jean-Luc Rabanel
7, rue des Carmes
13200 Arles, France
Phone: +33 4 90 91 07 69
rabanel.com

Photos: (1-3) A few dishes from Keith and Val's recent meal: raw, marinated tuna on celery root with smoky lardon, a sprinkle of peanut crumble and an edible, spicy flower; 
sweet-pea and a fava-bean puree topped with Parmesan foam and a grilled shrimp; and a Rabanel signature: filet mignon of taureau de Camargue (bull) topped with an egg yolk that's been marinated in soy sauce and rice vinegar, accompanied by "too many kinds of vegetable to count."  (4) Jean-Luc with a few of his favorite things. The ingredients are all organic and many are grown specifically for him by friends. Photo courtesy of Le Figaro. (5) The dining room is striking but simple, meant to keep the focus on the food. (6) You'll find hearty, Spanish-influenced bistro fare at Rabanel's restaurant À Côté, which is right next door. (7) The rental accommodation called Les Appartés. (8) One of Jean-Luc's many cookbooks. (10) Val and Keith in front of the Château de Vauvenargues (wondering, no doubt, where they should have lunch).

Keith Van Sickle is the author of "One Sip at a Time: Learning to Live in Provence," which was published in January, 2017 and is available on Amazon here. He grew up in Alameda, California, and got his first taste of overseas life during a college term in England and later, a six-month backpacking sojourn. Grateful for the scholarships that helped him pay for college, in 1987 he started a foundation that helps students from Alameda pursue their own educations. His career has been in tech, primarily on the finance side. During a five-year work assignment in Switzerland, where they lived in a village with more cows than people, Keith and his wife Val fell in love with the European expat lifestyle.  After returning to the US, Keith helped start a company whose product was so geeky he says he still doesn’t quite understand it. When the couple decided they wanted to live abroad again but were unable to find another expat gig, they decided to invent their own. Now they and their trusty dog split their time between Silicon Valley and Provence, where Keith does financial consulting for startups and Val consults in a variety of fields. Keith publishes a blog called Life in Provence and you can follow him on Twitter,  Facebook and Medium.

One Restaurant I Love: Le Relais du Castelet

In a renovated hunting lodge on a gorgeous property originally owned by his grandfather’s grandfather, chef Jean-Baptiste Bert has opened LeRelais du Castelet, welcoming the public for lunch and dinner...and private groups for special occasions. He’s cooking from old family recipes, using serving pieces that have been in the family for years and working with a small group of friends and family which creates a festive, party-like mood. Rather than a restaurant, he calls it a "Table Privée."

Located just 7 km from Arles--between the village of Fontvieille and the Abbaye de Montmajour--the 50-hectare property is known as Le Castelet...and it has a remarkably rich history dating to prehistoric times.

Locals all know it as the site of the Hypogee (or Hypogeum) du Castelet, an overgrown stone trench dating to the Megalithic period. In the 1^st century, limestone quarried here was used to build the famous amphitheatre in Arles. The property was mentioned in the stories of both Frederic Mistral and Alphonse Daudet, two of the area’s most-beloved authors. (Daudet’s famous windmill, from Letters from My Windmill, is just down the road in Fontvieille.)

In July of 1888, while living in Arles, Vincent Van Gogh found his way to Le Castelet and painted Coucher de Soleil à Montmajour here. A letter on the restaurant wall, from the curator of the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, authenticates this fact while a print of the painting sits on the hearth, alongside other historic photos.

The fifth generation to grow up here (his son Marcel, aged 2, is the sixth), Jean-Baptiste left home at 16 and went off to Portugal to learn horse training. He came home and then left again, this time for food-and-wine jobs in London.  He returned to Provence in 2007 and settled in at the Bistro du Paradou, a well-known and wildly popular local restaurant, working in both the dining room and the kitchen.

Finally, Jean-Baptiste decided he wanted his own place and that his family land—with its rustic relais or hunting lodge at its center--would be the perfect setting. From what Jean-Baptiste says it was more like a shack than a lodge...a simple place where family, friends and neighbors hung out to eat and drink before and after hunting. "And it was really more dirty than rustic," he says with a laugh.

So he and his family completely re-did it in May 2016, using traditional Provencal materials and pretty furniture bought at local antique markets. They started hosting private functions last summer and then expanded to more traditional dining: lunch Tuesday through Saturday; dinner on Friday and Saturday nights. A large open kitchen lets guests see all the action and perfumes the dining room with fantastic smells. Tables are indoors and out...the terrace is strung with pretty lights...friends pop in and out of the kitchen...kids run around...and the vibe is totally relaxed.

Dinner meals are prix-fixe: 47€ for a starter, main, cheese and dessert. Weekday lunch is either a 37€ prix-fixe (starter, main, dessert) or ordered a la carte. Lunch on Saturday is 47€ and lunch on Sunday, 60€. [Note, these prices are current as of July 2020.]

There aren't a lot of choices but the blackboard menu changes just about every day so you'll be eating what’s in season, what was best in the market that day and what Jean-Baptiste was most in the mood to cook!

Popular starters include crab soup, mussel soup with saffron, stuffed vegetables and traditional Provencal pistou, which you serve yourself from a lovely terrine on your table.

Main courses might be a rich daube (the beloved local bull stew) served with wild red rice, suckling pig, roast leg of lamb or a fish such as red mullet or salt-crusted sea bream. On special request Jean-Baptiste will make a bourride or a bouillabaisse, using his grandmere’s recipe.

Popular desserts include poached peaches with verbena syrup and almond biscuits, saffon pears with roasted hazelnuts and green tomato jam, chocolate mousse with walnuts, a simple apple crumble with vanilla ice cream and tarte tatin.

Wine and other drinks are extra; there’s an impressive cellar, a full bar and knowledgeable help to guide you.

Before or after your meal, you're welcome to wander the beautiful property, where you'll see 2000 or so olive trees, a large vegetable garden, horses...and all sorts of wildlife ranging from rabbits to game birds to wild boar.  

Want to hang out here a while?  You're in luck: there's a large vacation villa on the property that's available for weekly rental year round. Crafted from an 11th or 12th-century sheepfold, it was fully rebuilt and renovated in 1984. Today "La Bergerie" has three bedrooms, a huge dining room, an original fireplace, stone archways, a summer kitchen, a large pool, an outdoor living room and drop-dead views. For the rental info, click here. [Note, the villa is currently unavailable for rental.]

Le Relais still has the delicious feel of an insiders' secret...that place that's sort of private but not really because they'll let you in if you know how to ask. The sign on the road (the D17) is easy to miss, you can't see the restaurant from the road and it's highly unlikely anyone would just wander by and stop in. But the Berts know everyone and the word has spread and the dining room is full and event bookings are strong. So far they've hosted weddings, birthdays, business meetings, winemaker dinners, a truffle dinner and "lots of people who just wanted an excuse to share a moment with family and friends," Jean-Baptiste says.

Last fall, a Chicago chef friend of mine, Carrie Nahabedian, came to Provence with a group...and their tour guide, Sébastien Lopez, arranged a lunch party at Le Relais.  "Our afternoon was beyond stunning!" Carrie remembers "just so flawless and so Provence! Such idyllic surroundings...an amazing lunch in an incredibly memorable setting. We were overwhelmed with the French hospitality and the lusciousness of the food! I can still taste that crab bisque with croutons...I wish I were there right now..."

Le Relais du Castelet

Mas Castelet

13990 Fontvieille, France

+33 (0)9 80 40 74 81 

To see Le Relais on Instagram, click here and on Facebook, here.

For a map, click here.
GPS: 43.71346, 4.68101
Lunch served Tuesday through Sunday; Dinner served Tuesday through Saturday. 
Closed Sunday dinner and all day Monday.

Photos: (1) Welcome! Jean-Baptiste with his girlfriend Fanny Martin. Fanny's grandfather founded the well-known Provencal food company Jean Martin in 1920...today Fanny runs the family's large boutique in Maussane. The couple have an adorable son name Marcel, aged two. (2) This is the sign you need to look for when coming from either direction on the D17. (3) Whether you eat inside by the crackling fire in winter...or outside on the terrace with the chirping cigales in summer...the atmosphere is laid-back, super friendly and totally Provencal. (4) The daily blackboard dinner menu.  (5, 6) The sunset I saw when I last went for dinner...and the sunset Van Gogh painted here in 1888. In his painting, "Coucher de Soleil à Montmajour" you can see the famous Abbaye de Montmajour at the back left. (7) The Relais just after renovation was finished last year. (8) The kitchen door is always open. (9) Slicing roast lamb. (10) Mussel soup with saffron. (11) Cote de Boeuf ready for the grill. (12) Party's over for these two little piggies...but it's just about to begin in the dining room. (13) Friends clowning around at dinner. (14) Sea bream in a salt crust. (15) Sardines on Camargue rice with chorizo and pata negra.(16) Jean-Baptiste loves to serve artichokes as either a starter or a side. (17) Guests serve themselves from a generous cheese platter plunked onto the table, with all the acoutrements. (18) All desserts are homemade, such as this apricot and almond tart. (19) As the song says, these are a few of his favorite things! Jean-Baptiste serves a small selection of top-quality local labels, many of them made by friends. (20) Can't decide what to drink? Smiling help is at hand, from Jean-Baptiste's cousin Julien.  (21) The terrace set for a party; Le Relais can handle 45 seated inside and 200 outside. (22, 23) Two shots from the Bergerie, the rental villa on the property.  (24) The area is heavily agricultural, very beautiful and very rich in history. The Abbaye is a major draw, as is the nearby Aqueduct de Barbegal, where flour was milled in the 1st century. Arles, with its world-class collection of Roman monuments, is just 7 km away; stone for the Roman amphitheater there was quarried here on the Bert family land.