The Return of La Maison

Looking for a Great Meal?  Try This Unique Dining Experience

Living in the Languedoc we are surrounded by an astonishingly lush landscape with an abundance of fresh local products. Luckily we also have many restaurants that make exciting use of our natural abundance and to that list of great restaurants add La Maison. Located in the charming village of Tourbes on the outskirts of Pézenas. It has been a part a focus of Tourbain life for decades and now it has reopened under new management. Guided by the culinary skill of Chef Damian Martin and the solid management experience of his wife Florence, the new La Maison is sure to find its place at the top of the Languedoc’s fine dining list.

Damian and Florence bought the restaurant from its former owners Aurelien and Adeline Houyez and after remodeling re-opened it in late April. They work as a team with Chef Damian running the kitchen while Florence manages the front of the house and coordinates the restaurant’s chambre d’hotes rooms. As the welcoming ‘face’ of La Maison, Florence’s warmth and professionalism--as well as her fluency in French and English--clearly puts guests at ease. “I love meeting people and my work is enhanced by doing my best to ensure that all our customers have a pleasant experience, “she told me. 

The La Maison experience begins with your first bite; the cuisine is inventive, surprisingand daring. Damian riffs on conventional cooking formulas and like a jazz musician drawing on his broad experience guided by intelligence, he spins the spicing or introduces an unexpected ingredient to make something familiar altogether new.

At the heart of Damian’s approach is his short menu. 

Offering just a few dishes allows him to concentrate on each dish and to best express his creativity. Working with the day’s freshest ingredients-red tuna brought to him by a local fisherman or lamb from the Averyon-- he produces his day's fishes. But this pursuit of quality products necessitates a menu offering just two or three entrees, two or three plates and a few desserts. There are no frozen or chilled standby dishes waiting for reheating in the microwave. By limiting the menu Damian can better focus on every dish that leaves his kitchen.

It has been a long journey to La Maison for the Martins. Damian was born in Galway on Ireland’s rugged West coast and grew up in a family immersed in the food trade. “ My father was a butcher and passionately taught me this art,” he explains.”I proudly worked as a butcher for 6 six years before embarking on my culinary apprenticeship. It was at this point I realised my destiny to dedicate my working life to the culinary arts.” 

After receiving his initial culinary training and certification in Galway Damian promptly set off to travel the world and hone his skills, a journey that took him across Asia and Europe. 

Florence comes from a small village in the Averyon and grew up in the restaurant trade. “ My mother worked in our local restaurant and on many occasions I helped her with village fetes and weddings. This was my learning block for organising and delivering quality service.” After receiving her diploma in hospitality, Florence moved to Plymouth, England and a few years later moved to Dublin.

Damian returned to Ireland in 1998 he found work in one of Dublin's finest dining establishments and that is where he met Florence. They fell in love and after many years in Dublin decided to move to Florence’s native Averyon. While Damian worked at local restaurants, Florence got a job with one of France’s top chefs, Michel Bras at his Michelin three-star restaurant Bras, in Aubrac. The couple got to know Bras and Damian recalls that he was touched by the great man’s “simplicity and kindness.” 

Their training and experience shines through at La Maison. Damian’s commitment to quality has paid off and since its opening has developed a loyal following simply by word of mouth recommendations. My wife and I have dined at La Maison manyl times and whether we had fish or meat dishes; everything was superbly prepared and scrumptious. I photographed many of the dishes we had to give readers some idea of Chef Damian’s output.  

Damian Martin says that he has a goal of making his culinary “mark” with La Maison. Judging by the reception he’s gotten so far he’s well on his way to achieving his goal.

La Maison

Restaurant and Chambre d’Hotes

9 Avenue de la Gare

34120 Tourbes

 

Hours: Sunday, Monday, Tuesday Lunch service 12h-14h

           Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Lunch 12h-15h, Dinner 19.30h-21h

           Closed Wednesdays.

 

Dinner menu 30€

 

Reservations are definitely advisable: 04.67.98.86.95

email contact@restaurant-lamaison.fr

Website: www.restaurant-lamaison.fr

 

Sud de France 4.3: 10 Tips for House Hunting French Style

Part 1. Location, Location, Location.

Man cave circa 500 AD

If was a surprise to see the ruin of a 500 A.D. Roman home, with its vaulted ceiling and stone wash basin, in the garage of the house we were looking at. But while I was amazed at this bit of ancient history in the house’s basement, the realtor shrugged and said that it was no big deal, there were ruins all over the place. 

Things like this make searching for a home in France an eye opening experience. We’ve seen about two or three house a day for eight weeks and are still looking for the right place. We’ve learned a lot along the way and I’ve come up with a list of tips for the prospective home buyer wishing to relocate to a cute little village in the vineyards of Sud de France.

Finding the right village for you is the first thing.

Tip 1. Find a village. Even before you look for a house, look for a village. Spend some time in different villages. Get a feel for them hanging out at the local café or bar and walking the streets. Don’t do this on a Sunday or Monday or during the 12-2 lunch break when most towns are totally shut down. Think about how much village you need. Do you want a very small village with only a tabac and a bakery or do you need a larger, more lively place?

A typical big village house with two faces or sides.

Throughout the South of France from April to September there are village festivals, concerts and activities. Around Christmas even the smallest village will have celebrations. It is up to you to choose the place where there’s just enough activity to suit your tastes.

 Tip 2. Village Center Issues. There are 12^th or 13^th century village every couple of miles around here. The houses at their hearts have been renovated dozens of times over the centuries. They are very small spaces. Hilltop villages are particularly compact with narrow streets you can’t get a car down and there is no parking. Seriously consider how much claustrophobia you can handle.

No place to park is the usual state of affairs.

One person we met bought a village house with a garage only to discover that his 4 meter long car could turn in the three meter wide street to get into the garage.

 Tip 3. Look for “à vendre” signs. One of the best ways to find a house is to walk through a village and look for “à vendre” (For Sale) signs. Lots of people sell homes without an agent to avoid fees and you can save thousands of Euros dealing directly with the owner. Most signs list a phone number and it is perfectly okay to call the owner and say that you are standing outside the house and would like to see it. Another resource for finding private sales is the community bulletin board at an area supermarket or at a local convenience store. 

A terrace hemmed in my the neighbors.

Tip. 4 The Old, the Dead and the Mayor. France is undergoing a population shift and young people are leaving the old villages for job opportunities in the cities. When old people go into a retirement center or die, the families usually wants to get rid of the old house as soon as possible. They need cash to pay taxes and are often willing to lower prices just to get rid of a place. A good way to find a place for sale is to go to the mayor’s office as they know who in the village has died or moved.

Tip 5. “Immobiliers” or real estate agent each have their own distinct listings within a region, there’s no multiple listing service in France. If you want to use an agent, consider dealing with half a dozen to get a wider choice. Realtors work for the seller not for you and their commissions are paid by the seller and can add 5000 to 20000 Euros to price of the house.

Many French people prefer not to work with estate agents.

To be continued….

Sud de France 3.7: Puimisson Village Life

We were driving from our small village of Puimisson to Saint-Genies, the next one over, and we had turned a corner scaring the birds that were eating in the vineyards with the noise of our car. The birds exploded into the air, rising up in the thousands, darkening the sky and setting it in motion. The sound of flapping wings filled the air. It was nothing I had ever seen in America. I grabbed my camera but by the time I got a shot off they had mostly settled down again. This photo hardly does the moment justice.

Traveling the single lane country roads of France in autumn you wind your way through hectares of grape vines that have burst into the most astonishing reds and oranges, browns and yellows. Who knew that the leaves of different varieties of grapes would turn different colors? 

Different grape varieties, different colors

Who knew how simply beautiful it would be?
 

Later sitting in a bar, still dazzled by the vineyards, I thought about our move to France, life, the universe and everything.

I turned 65 earlier this year and had a late life crisis. I felt that I wanted things to be different. Easier perhaps or just what’s a good word?--gentler? We had been to the South of France before and decided that if we were ever going to have the good life we wanted, we needed to move here.

Life in America had grown increasingly expensive and brutal. For example although we lived in an idyllic setting it the Northwest surrounded by big trees, deer and friendly neighbors. Neighbors who were nice enough but had big dogs and were armed to the teeth—a good friend had a loaded Uzi he enjoy showing around to folks. These were hard people who didn’t laugh much. They had money and instead of feeling secure they were paranoid.

And we had grown tired of the rat race that was all about more money, more stuff and more more. The striving for more reminds me of a scene from the movie “Key Largo.” At one point good guy, sailboat captain Humphrey Bogart asks bad guy gangster Edward G. Robinson what he wants.

Robinson thinks for a minute and says, “More.”

Bogart replies, “More what?”

Johnny Rocco just wants more

Robinson pauses and then in an annoyed voice responds, “I don’t know. Just more.”

That goes right to the heart of America. What do Americans want? More? More of what? Who knows, just more.  More cars, more homes, more money more home theaters.That’s the big difference here in Sud de France. 

Our village has a bar, a bakery, a butcher and a tabac. And it is sufficient. Villagers don’t want more shops in the middle of town. These few shops and the local winery, provide them the basics of daily French life. There’s a supermarket a couple of miles away and the big city of Beziers is twenty minutes away so it’s not that people don’t have access to stuff.

It’s just that they don’t equate how much you have with how well you live.

Our rental village house has a little kitchen, living room, two bedrooms, two bathrooms and a terrace that overlooks a vineyard filled valley. It is perhaps 700 square feet of living space. It plenty of room for us and our cat and one we use one bedroom mostly for storage. It is a great place to have as a home base and to go out and photograph and write. 

That’s the trick to the French good life for me I think. Getting to that place where you have enough, where you turn off the “more” machine and it’s just okay.

Hanging out Sud De France style