Givry

Le Bouchon Givrotin
5 rue République
71640 Givry
Tél. 03 85 44 31 84

our house red wine

A while ago, I abandoned posting about our adventures in France, but after transforming my taste buds back to France through Zinc Brasserie, I have been having fun thinking about France, so I am going to go ahead a try to remember what I can about the rest of our trip and the lovely little town restaurant we ate in. This part of our trip, it was pouring rain, and we were making our way back from Belleville and the freezing cold bike race to St. Surnin du Plain. About 1/2 way back we were getting really hungry, it was about 8 p.m. and we needed to stop and eat before all the restaurants in the little Bourgogne towns were to close for the evening.

1st course snails in Bourgogne sauce

We stopped in Givry, a small town with about 1 block for the center of town, and about 3 restaurants that we could see. Le Bouchon Givrotin looked interesting, and the sign said it was a Spanish Tapas restaurant. After all the French style food we had been eating, we thought this would be a fun way to taste a French interpretation of Spanish Tapas. I have only had USA interpretations of Spanish Tapas, so a French Tapas adventure would be new and fun. We stepped in out of the rain, and the restaurant was fairly empty except for 2 regulars at the bar, one table of 4, which was wrapping up their dinner. Over the restaurant PA system was James Brown, Live at the Apollo, which we enjoyed. The restaurant was painted a dark yellow with some orange and brown, which reminded me of the bright sun you might find in Spain. The art work were of matidors fighting bulls, which is supposed to remind us of Spain.

beef with marrow in Bourgogne sauce

When we looked at the menu, the menu was not of Spain, rather it was all very similar to French Bourgogne cooking, and the menu was arranged like French menus with 3 and 4 course meals available, or a few of the entrees a la carte. We both decided on a 4-course menu. We both started wihth a cassollette d'escargot. The snails reminded me of clams, and they looked like land clams. The sauce was a Bourgogne red wine sauce, most likely pinot noir. I tried to eat slowly to savor each and every delicious snail. This was a simple dish, and the simplicity really let the few ingredients speak for themselves. One of the French podcast teachers was saying that snails are treated inhumanely before being cooked for consumption, and that is why she does not eat snails. She said that snails are fed some sort of grain to clean out their systems, and then they are starved for days in a dark box away from light, so they excrete all their waste, and after so many days to insure that all the waste is out of the snail, they are cooked. This is probably one of a few times I would be trying snails, so I opted for snails despite what I know about how they are processed.

Before our main courses came, the other table paid and the bar friends put their motorcycle helmets on to brave the rain that had slowed to a drizzle. We were the only ones left. Since we were the only ones left, we realized the bar man, who was our waiter, was also the cook. He was doing it all.

For my 2nd and main course, I had filet with bone marrow with a red wine Bourgogne sauce, a roasted tomato and a large mashed potato puff. Oh goodness, this was a devine dish with the rich marrow melting on top of the filet. I really tried to savor this dish too because I have never had a piece of beef with melty marrow. When I got home I bought some soup bones from Mamushi Farms, and I think they are slices of cow shank with round marrow bones in the middle. I am thrilled because I can attempt to make this Givry magic dish at home! I just need to find some really good, simple Bourgogne pinot noir, be able to figure out how to dig out the marrow without breaking it, and get some really great pastured lean beef to saute.

apple tart with vanilla cream

The 3rd course was a small piece of cheese that was a soft cheese, like a fresh goat cheese. I am glad it was a small piece because I was so full already. The portions were much bigger than I would have imagined, after people kept on telling me the French eat small plates. Up to this point, after a full week of vacation, our experience has been that plates were as big as our favorite restaurants in the USA, except for we were eating more by having 3 - 4 courses in France, where we would have only 1 plate in the USA. Anyway, I was so happy to have only 1 thumb sized, normal serving size, piece of cheese! Other placees had 2, 3, or 4 pieces, and that is just too much. Then course #4 came, and we opted for different desserts to share. We got a creme brulee and an apple tart with Creme Anglais. Oh, as full as I was, I managed to eat up bites of both desserts. Delicious.

music video at Bouchon Givrotin

Just in case you are interested, this restaurant hosted a music festival shortly after we left. Here is a video I saw on YouTube that shows the back left corner of the restaurant as you walk in. I bet you these youngster played at the music festival in Givry. Enjoy!