Restaurant Guide For The Ultimate Gourmet Tour Of France

JustLuxe|July 7, 2011 11:42 am EST

The Michelin Guide and Zagat Survey are all well and good but they can't show you what France's great restaurants are truly like in real life. Respected French restaurant critic Gilles Pudlowski sets that to rights with his lavish new book A Gourmet Tour Of France: Legendary Restaurants from Paris to the Côte d'Azur.

In it he invites readers on a tour of the finest and most alluring restaurants found throughout the country's great culinary landscape. For his glamorous gastronomic bible, Pudlowski selected 39 amazing eateries based on the quality of the food, the beauty of the decor and the restaurant's unique history.

He also shares menu selections and the stories behind these accomplished chefs and their kitchens, illustrated with Maurice Rougemont's mouth-watering photographs. Topping of the feast is a helpful list of addresses for all the restaurants included at the back of the book.

Featured chefs include Paul Bocuse, Alain Ducasse and Guy Savoy, and each has divulged a few of their signature recipes to enjoy at home. Highlights include Michel Bras's ultramodern restaurant on a hilltop in Laguiole; the elegant château of Les Crayères in Champagne that takes the visitor back to another era; the idyllic setting of Auberge de l'Ill in the verdant Alsatian countryside; and the famed Maison Troisgros in Roanne, which Zagat lists as the best restaurant in the world.

— Jared Paul Stern

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