Gastronomic Capital of France

Despite my jet lag, my adrenaline from the excitement of the beginning of a new adventure had me wanting to go everywhere at once. I finally decided to see what the big deal was about the so called gastronomic capital of France, and out of about 50 restaurants that I walked by in the centre of town, I finally settled on Le Palais St. Jean. I can't exactly tell you why. The menu was translated in to English, but other restaurants had bilingual menus as well. The tables out on the street were quite full suggesting that other customers had confidence in the restaurant, but other places were full as well. In the end, Le Palais St. Jean simply had a good aura around it, and I sat down to a delicious three course traditional Lyonnaise meal. A lot of food in Lyon is made with fish and poached eggs. I like neither so I avoided those dishes. My time in Tuscany began a love affair between Caprese Salad and me, so I began my meal with “Tomates Mozzarella”. Boring? Maybe. Delicious? Without a doubt. For my second dish I embraced my inner Albertan and ordered “Pave de Beouf”. I figured since there was a street in Lyon called “Rue de Beouf”, the cow must be pretty important cuisine wise. It was really tasty, and came with a baked tomato, classy hash browns, and this little orange spongy bready cake thing. I forgot to ask what it was, but I think it was made with eggs. For dessert, I scoped out the table next to me first. The chocolate mousse and chocolate cake looked like nothing special, but the 'apple pie' was like no pie I had seen before. It was more like a tart, with a crusty bottom and thin apple slices layered on top. Nom nom nom. Successful first day in Lyon is a success. And I only got here at 4. Bonne nuit!