Food writer Ian McNulty is in Lyon, France, this week as the city known as the French capital of gastronomy hosts the Bocuse d’Or competition, the “World Cup of cuisine.” New Orleans hosted a qualifying round for the prestigious event, and is vying to host it again in the future. Below is one of a series of dispatches from the trip.
It’s past the Epiphany, so king cakes are everywhere, only here they’re called galettes des rois. There are pralines at every turn too, only these are made with almonds all dressed up in a pretty pink. But my first taste of a famous food city would be something else familiar from home.
I cover the food obsession of New Orleans, and all the directions that can lead. Now it’s taken me far from home to visit Lyon, known as the gastronomic capital of France.
Le Bouchon Sully is a gently modern read on the traditional bouchon restaurants of Lyon, France. (Staff photo by Ian McNulty, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
This week Lyon hosts the Bocuse d’Or competition, the World Cup of cuisine, and the related Coupe de Monde de la Patisserie (Pastry World Cup). I’m following a New Orleans contingent of tourism advocates and chefs who have traveled here to make the case that the Crescent City should be in the same conversations, and on the same bucket lists, as a global culinary destination.
Michelin recognition is on display at Le Bouchon Sully, a gently modern read on the traditional bouchon restaurants of Lyon, France. (Staff photo by Ian McNulty, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
I’m also here to explore what being a culinary capital means in France, and how that can translate in New Orleans. I’ll be sending more short postcard posts like this throughout the week.
Food hall tastings
I was so eager for my first Lyon food experience I decided a roll a bunch into one at Les Halles de Lyon Paul Bocuse, a food hall named for the late godfather of modern French cuisine, who created Bocuse d’Or.
Les Halles de Lyon Paul Bocuse is a food hall named in honor of the great chef in Lyon, France. (Staff photo by Ian McNulty, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
A dog and its owner inspect a cheese vendor’s selection at Les Halles de Lyon Paul Bocuse food hall in Lyon, France. (Staff photo by Ian McNulty, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
Butchers cut meat at vendor’s stand at Les Halles de Lyon Paul Bocuse food hall in Lyon, France. (Staff photo by Ian McNulty, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
Found near the city’s commercial center, a few miles from the tourist hub of old town, the food hall has a sleek, modern façade. Inside, it’s a dizzying feast for the senses. About 50 vendors share the space, with specialty butchers and fishmongers, everyday produce, many bakers and confectioners, small restaurants (some elegant, some raffish), seafood bars and drinking bars.
Among the offerings were examples of how French tradition, and its lexicon, traveled and changed in its two-time Louisiana colony.
Pralines are made with almonds and colored pink in the traditional way of Lyon, France. (Staff photo by Ian McNulty, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
Pralines, made with almonds and colored pink in the traditional way of Lyon, France, are made into tarts at Les Halles de Lyon Paul Bocuse. (Staff photo by Ian McNulty, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
Pralines, made with almonds and colored pink in the traditional way of Lyon, France, are made into tarts and sweet brioche buns at Les Halles de Lyon Paul Bocuse. (Staff photo by Ian McNulty, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
Pralines, made with almonds and colored pink in the traditional way of Lyon, France, are made into brioche cakes. (Staff photo by Ian McNulty, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
Pralines here are not the caramel-brown pecan candy of Louisiana, but sugared almonds turned pink with food coloring (one story holds this was inspired by the Rhone region’s rose gardens).
Like our pralines, they comprise a flavor profile that takes many shapes. Praline tarts gleam with chewy-sweet fillings, with a texture like our pecan pies, and pralines are shot through brioche buns, soft and delightfully sticky.
Speaking of brioche, New Orleans king cake fanatics know galettes des rois as an alternative to the local template, those braided rings of brioche. The standard French king cake is, by contrast, a flaky layering of puff pastry.
Galettes des rois, the French king cake, are made in different ways that uphold the seasonal Carnival tradition. (Staff photo by Ian McNulty, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
Galettes des rois are made in different styles (and sizes) around Les Halles de Lyon Paul Bocuse, a food hall in Lyon, France. (Staff photo by Ian McNulty, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
But I was impressed by the variety of cake serving the same traditional seasonal function in France. From one stand to the next, there were the many different puff pastry models and also brioche rings (brioche des rois), colorfully decorated with fruit and sugar.
Brioche des rois, the regional style of French king cake, uphold the seasonal Carnival tradition. (Staff photo by Ian McNulty, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
Brioche de la reine, the regional style of French queens cake, uphold the seasonal Carnival tradition. (Staff photo by Ian McNulty, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
These are more of a regional specialty of this region, and to me they channel much the same spirit as the New Orleans standard.
Bivalves, bonhomie
Before these desserts, though, I was lured in by one of the seafood bars. It had a collection of tables, but also tiny, mailbox-sized counters jutting the chilled shellfish bins, big enough for just a plate and a glass as customers stand over baskets of the same oysters they’re downing.
Eating oysters and shellfish right from the counter of a stand at the Chez Leon stand at Les Halles de Lyon Paul Bocuse food hall in Lyon, France. (Staff photo by Ian McNulty, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
Eating oysters and shellfish right from the counter of a stand at the Chez Leon stand at Les Halles de Lyon Paul Bocuse food hall in Lyon, France. (Staff photo by Ian McNulty, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
Eating oysters and shellfish right from the counter of a stand at the Chez Leon stand at Les Halles de Lyon Paul Bocuse food hall in Lyon, France. (Staff photo by Ian McNulty, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
Between the shuck-to-slurp immediacy and the elbow-to-elbow banter, I felt like I was at the stand-up oyster bar at Pascal’s Manale Restaurant, one of my own treasured New Orleans food places.
That, and all the brioche and bonhomie around food, made me feel as though maybe the taproot of French tradition and the New Orleans permutations aren’t so far apart after all.