It’s a good thing to get away from the chaos of 14 Juillet in Paris, when you’re not too inclined to go stand in line at 6 a.m. to see Sarkozy review his military toys (even though I really want to see that some day…but then again, 6 a.m…) It’s an especially good thing if that day decides to see a torrential downpour after weeks of gorgeous, sweltering heat, with thunder and lightning and everything nice, to take up the slack from the morning French air force fly-overs in terms of sheer noise.
So, we planned a booze-shopping trip to Champagne. See, Karin owns an enormous wine fridge from Smeg, who make nice products, but who could not have chosen a more unfortunate name. More on that some other time, except that she also bought one of their fridges and was debating buying a Vespa and having it custom-painted so the mint green body would match aforementioned fridge. Yeah, it’s cool, but even funnier was the Vespa sales lady’s reaction. Karin didn’t get the Vespa.
Part of any day in the countryside, especially when it’s alternately raining like mad and sunny (“I told you we should have taken the convertible!” ”I told you it was good that we didn’t take the convertible!” ”See, it’s convertible weather!” ”No it isn’t!”), is a massive gourmet lunch at one of the many top notch places you get in random villages sprinkled all over the French paysage.
We thought this was a different place. No matter. It was great, despite the sommelier being seemingly unenthusiastic about the bottle of house champagne we ordered with our meal. From his family, no less. But it actually bore his father-in-law’s or cousin’s or uncle’s name or something like that. Maybe there was some champagne family politics there, who the hell knows. The food was very, very, fresh, well-made, creative, and surprisingly reasonably priced, along with friendly service, an elegant atmosphere, and an outstanding coffee selection served on the sunny terrace (before the black clouds chased us off again…)
While you’re at it, take a trip North to go stock up at these guys: Cuillier & Fils. You’ll get outstanding quality for half the price of mediocre bottles in Paris supermarkets, and they’re really nice people to boot. And if you’re really pissed about missing the military parade, there are a bunch of battlefields in the area where you can go have a wargasm while working off the lunch.
Aux Armes de Champagne
Opposite the cathedral (don’t you love descriptions like that?)
51460 L’Epine
+33 (0) 3 26 69 30 30
www.aux-armes-de-champagne.com