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The French Winophiles Recreate a Favorite Café Lunch
The July theme for our French Winophiles writers is “Lunch in a French Café”, complete with a favorite dish and, of course, a wine choice to pair. What would be your pick be? Perhaps one of our writers shares your taste! Take a look further down in this post for links to all our entries. I couldn’t resist, take a look above at a few photos from a recent lunch at our favorite French café, Monique Boire et Manger in Dijon.

My favorite Quiche
In this post, I’ll be sharing just the highlights of my cooking adventure over the last six months: “The Quiche Project”. After trying a wide variety of quiche recipes, I’ve landed on my favorite. I’ve experimented with multiple crusts and even more fillings. Now back in the US (we spend half the year in France), I’ve also had a chance to use American ingredients, cookware and oven. Expect to see a couple of follow-on posts with more cooking details, and perhaps a suggestion to make quiche one of your “recipes-I-know-by-heart”.

Quiche – A Simple Dish of Endless Variety
The fundamental ingredients for quiche are a flour crust (pâte brisée), filled with a mixture of milk, cream, and eggs. Cheese or no cheese, meat or no meat, vegetables or none; or some combination of all these choices. Classic Quiche Lorraine limits the additions to lardon fumé (smoked pork belly), eggs, and cream. No milk, no cheese. The classic accompaniment is a simple salad of tossed greens in a light vinaigrette. Over the last few months, we have tried many variations. We asked friends for their favorites, looked at classic recipes, and even rummaged around the fridge for what we had on hand. Our favorite emerged as a crust with just the right ratio of flour to butter, dried herbs mixed into the dough for interest, a combination of sautéed leeks, mushrooms, red pepper and canadian bacon (poireaux, champignons, poivron rouge, et bacon), topped with shredded Comté cheese, and a mixture of eggs, cream and whole milk.

Chanterêves Bourgogne Aligoté AOC “Miarlons du Bas” 2023 (€50 locally in France) 12%abv
Long neglected in Bourgogne, Aligoté has recently been receiving attention and respect from winegrowers in the region. It shines as an alternative to Chardonnay, often accenting its bright acidity and fresh aromas. Chanterêves white wines are fermented and aged in old oak barrels, utilizing ambient yeasts. Wines are are unfined and unfiltered and are bottled with minimal SO₂.
Eye: Pale gold
Nose: Medium intensity aromas of fresh ripe pear, hints of lime, a touch of salt air
Mouth: Dry, refreshing high acidity, medium minus body with a soft texture, medium alcohol, medium intensity flavors, medium plus finish. Flavors follow the nose with pear notes being most notable.
Observations: Many Aligoté wines are fermented and aged in stainless steel, so they retain their sharp corners and bright impression. Chanterêves Aligoté takes advantage of fermenting and aging in old oak to soften the texture while retaining acidity, a nice touch. Old oak barrels add very little flavor of their own.

Chanterêves Maison de Vin
Chanterêves is a small winery in Bourgogne started in 2010 by Tomoko Kuriyama and Guillaume Bott. They own and farm several plots in the Hautes Côtes de Beaune, as well as purchasing grapes. They manage their vines organically, and are using phytotherapy (herbal products) to reduce the use of copper and sulfur. They employ regenerative techniques as well. Plowing and tilling are limited and are done by horse with immediate seeding of cover crops. They share their work frequently on Instagram and are well worth a follow! They are imported into the US, though they may be a bit of a challenge to find. They’re not easy to find in France!

Wine to Pair with Quiche
Given that major elements in quiche include eggs, cream and cheese, I have typically chosen lighter body wines. Muscadet Sèvre et Main sur lie, Romarantin from the Loire valley, Aligoté, Bandol rosé. Lighter reds as well: Côtes du Jura Poulsard, Gamay Noir from southern Bourgogne, Pinot Noir from the Fixin AOC in Bourgogne, and Pinot Noir from Alsace. Now I’m thinking about what kind of quiche would pair well with a big red wine? A quiche version of steak and eggs?

French Winophiles Imagine Lunch in a French Café
If all these dishes were available at a single café, you would be hard pressed to pick one for lunch! Look through the list, you’re sure to find something interesting to eat and drink!
• Terri at Our Good Life shares “Summer Berry Salad with a Cabernet just Right for Summer at La Belle Vie”
• Wendy at A Day in the Life on the Farm shares “Galette Completes paired with a Vigné-Lourac Les Perles”
• Camilla at Culinary Cam shares “Pan Bagnat + Clos Sainte Magdeleine Cassis Blanc 2024”
• Martin at ENOFYLZ Wine Blog shares “An Alpine Sparkler for a Parisian Classic: Croque Madame & Crémant de Savoie”
• Robin at Crushed Grape Chronicles shares “Muscadet Mussels and Chevre Chaud – Channeling a French Bistro in the Loire“
• Jeff at Food Wine Click! shares “Lunch in a French Café: Quiche!“

Dessert
Typical French meals include 3 courses: entrée, plat, dessert. Often cafés will offer the customer entrée + plat, or plat + dessert, or all three. If I’m in a hurry, I’ll just go with plat + dessert. Today, our café is offering a slice of tarte au fraises!