By Bastien Chazalette Zaco

Deer Hometown – Part 1.

So… I know that it’s not the most relevant topic. I know that most of the people who may read this will find it too personal… Or not useful, (except if you want to travel in the most beautiful city in the world of course) but honestly I don’t really care…I feel that I need to use this SCAB to write whatever I want and whatever I think… I think that it will be great to talk about my beautiful hometown and I want to talk about my beautiful hometown. So let enjoy a quick mental trip to Lyon with me.

Before beginning be sure that I am enjoying my time here, no doubt about that! The people here are great, friendly like you rarely find in another country, the city is huge, I mean guys… This is ridiculous there are so many things to do, it’s just mindblowing. And then, the school… The school is amazing, probably the best year of my education so far…  

But it doesn’t mean that I don’t miss Lyon a little bit… Actually, I can miss Lyon a lot when I think about it, or that I found some photos of my life there. And because Ian asked us to work on the logo of our hometown, I had no choice to do some research, that obviously ended by looking at some pictures of the best spots in town. With a deep strong desire to be there, sitting on the grass near one of the two rivers, admiring the sun rising behind l’Hôtel Dieux, between two slips of a delicious local beer… We are here, so, let’s start talking about alcohol because you can find in the region a lot of different vineyards. Some people would say that you can find the best wines in the Valley du Rhône, and obviously, I agree with these smart people. Well, to be honest probably not THE best, but anyway, the location, in the up south of France, offers a climate that can feed the grapes with just what it needs of sun and just what it needs of water. With a lot of work and love from the vigneron and after few years in caves, the bottle of wine is ready to make an apparition on the table. You can now hear the *PoP* of the cork opened, (the quickest way to call a French for sure) smell it and start to serve your friends, who laugh to a good joke that one of them just throw. The thud hum of conversation in the room is brutally stopped by a generous « Santé » and the choc between the glass, sound like a sweet lullaby.

With the wine, comes the food, so let’s talk about the Gastronomy world capital and it’s incomparable and countless recipes from our region. Writing those words just transport me in a calm and warm little restaurant, call Chez Abel located on the Presque-île. What most typical than a Bouchon stretch in the Rhône and the Saône, in a quiet little place made of old stones. When you open the old door, which appears to break in your hand, you find in a modest room, some mismatched furniture, some old pictures, and the ancient lamps seems to work by any kind of magic. All this place seems stuck in another age, until a waiter, all dressed up, come to ask you about your reservation. With a strong french sarcasm, he will not hesitate to remind you that you are late, even if everyone knows that in France we take time less seriously.

Take a quick look a the menus (they rarely change) but I will suggest to start by the crayfish salad with a glass of white wine, not too sweet preferably.  For the next, you can choose between the traditional Andouillette with its mustard sauce or the not less traditional Chicken with morel. Both are served with the best rice you will ever taste, all cook in little cast iron saucepans. I suggested switching to red wine with all this meat, something not too strong, something where you can still taste the earth and the wood. It needs to excite your papilla just enough, without its flavor take over your dishes. Table is served, and because it’s rude to watch or tell a food orgy like this, I will continue to talk about the rest of my deer hometown an other time, at an other table and with an other bottle of wine.

Bon appétit.