Les Abeilles Restaurant, Sablet

It has been a little while since you heard from me; I have some good excuses I think. Take your pick; I have been busy (work, the Bistro, helping with grand kids, watching son-in-law coach basketball team - they are on a 20 game winning streak), I have been traveling for work or I wanted to do a special post for this, my 100th post on Our House in Provence blog.

I have not had time to write a special post that befits number 100 so I decided to tell you about a wonderful meal that we, wife Shirley and I enjoyed last fall. One Tuesday after the weekly market in Vaison-la-Romaine, we decided to have déjeuner - lunch at Les Abeilles Restaurant in Sablet, the village which we call home in Provence.

Les Abeilles Restaurant, literally translated the bees restaurant, is owned by Marlies and Johannes Sailer who prior to opening Les Abeilles Restaurant owned L'Oustalet in neighboring Gigondas. I first became aware of chef Johannes Sailer some years before we bought our home by way of "The Provence Cookbook" by Patricia Wells who included recipes from the chef in her wonderful book.

Les Abeilles Restaurant is a short walk down the hill from the center of Sablet just after the roundabout on rue de Vaison. The entrance to the parking lot is marked by a brightly painted two-sided rooster; this is the side you see coming from Sablet

and this is the side you see when you come into Sablet on the D 7. I am not sure why the entrance is marked by a chicken and not bees.

Les Abeilles Restaurant has a large terrace shaded by plane trees that is perfect for dining alfresco on warm sunny days and a small dining room for cooler or inclement weather during the winter.

Shirley sitting on the terrace waiting for lunch looking very cute with her scarf.

We selected a bottle of 2008 Domaine de Piaugier Côtes du Rhône Villages Sablet, a blend of grenache and syrah made by local winemaker Jean-Marc Autran to accompany our lunch.

Chef Sailer offers menus for a variety of prices. We chose the 3-course menu for 32,50 €. For starters, we both chose the mushroom tart, wonderful with the first local fall mushrooms topped with julienned fresh basil.

For her plat - main course, Shirley decided on pan-roasted tuna served over warm ratatouille.

For my main course, I took the pavé de bavette - fillet of beef flap steak similar to skirt or flank steak served over haricots verts and sauteed onions with red wine sauce accompanied by creamy mashed potatoes.

To finish, we chose a combination of ice creams and sorbet; vanilla and dark chocolate ice cream and strawberry sorbet.

We also chose a tasty roasted peach with vanilla ice cream.

We are very fortunate to have such a wonderful restaurant within a short walk of our house. We have eaten at Les Abeilles Restaurant on a number of occasions and I am certain you will hear about dining experiences there in the future.

We felt like we were at a friend's restaurant when upon arriving for lunch that day, the chef greeted us with "bonjour Monsieur et Madame Augsburger", recalling our names despite the fact we had not been in Sablet for 4 months.

If you are in Sablet or nearby in the Northern Vaucluse, make sure you go to Les Abeilles Restaurant.

Bon appétit mes amis et à bientôt.