Pizzas A Emporter, Sablet

While you can find pizza all over France, pizza in Provence seems to taste better, i.e. better ingredients and crust. You can eat very good pizza in the most unlikely of spots, be they modest bistros in villages like Villedieu (see previous posts about Maison Bleue) or from brick-oven-equipped pizza trucks.

I think it is because the people of Provence are raised on a Mediterranean diet: they understand and get wonderful tomatoes, basil, olive oil and anchovies. Second, the region's proximity to Italy and its influx of Italian immigrants, vacationers and retirees has, over the decades, provided a steady supply of pizza cognoscenti, people who know a lot about pizza.

While we love to go to pretty Villedieu for pizza at Maison Bleue, especially in nice weather so we can sit on the plane tree-shaded town square, there is good pizza available in Sablet for a quick meal or emporter - take out.

The pizzeria in Sablet is owned by Bruno who also owns Café des Sports next door. He took over the pizzeria from Loïc and his wife this past May when they relocated to Southwest France. We first met Loïc during a visit to Sablet one evening when the fuse blew on the hot water heater and daughter Stephanie wanted to give son Dylan a bath.

It was about 8:00 at night and a Sunday as I recall. I knew that not much was open, but being desperate (unhappy Stephanie makes one desperate), I walked to the pizzeria and introduced myself to Loïc who was standing outside chatting with one of the locals.

I told him about the fusible - fuse. He told me to wait there and went inside the pizzeria and came out with a box of assorted fuses which he searched through till he found one that matched. He refused to take any money for the fuse, a very kind gesture.

That was my introduction to the pizzeria. After that night, whenever Loïc would see me, he would call out "bonjour Californie". I am not sure if he couldn't remember my name or just liked saying Californie.

One evening, wife Shirley and I were walking by and Loïc invited us to join his family and some friends for a little get together at the pizzeria. By the time the evening was over, we were doing la bise - exchanging kisses on alternating cheeks with everyone there.



We miss seeing our friend Loïc standing outside the pizzeria. Bruno has renovated the interior of the pizzeria and upgraded the kitchen. To be truthful, the pizza while good when Loïc was the owner, is probably better now under Bruno. What lacks without Loïc is his charm and loud humor that seemed to fill the pizzeria inside and out.

This is the current pizza chef at the pizzeria.



One of the advantages to having both the pizzeria and Café des Sports owned by Bruno and next to each other is you can go into the Café des Sports and get a pastis, beer or glass of wine. The pizzeria has quite a large variety of pizzas to propose for eating on the terrace or for take out, but they have a very limited selection of beverages.

Our friend Adam enjoying a beer from Café des Sports while waiting for a pizza on the terrace outside the pizzeria.