A boulangerie in Faucon that serves breakfast and lunch throughout the year and dinner during the summer.

Faucon is a small village (population 452) on a hill, 7 km northeast of Vaison-la-Romaine on the border of the Departments of the Vaucluse and Drome with a magnificent view of the north face of Mont Ventoux. A fortified village, houses are built of stones from the surrounding countryside. 

We have been coming to Faucon on a regular basis since we bought our house in Sablet, usually to dine at Le Lauier Restaurant in the center of the village near the fountain. Two years ago, our dear friend Barbara from Vaison-la-Romaine, introduced us to Le Boulangerie des Tilleuls in Faucon.

Hilltop village of Faucon

The Boulangerie des Tilleuls (Tilleuls means lime trees) is located at Place des Tilleuls where you will discover Saint-Germain church and its 19th-century bell tower. The original date of construction for Saint-Germain church is unknown. The church was restored in 1668 and again in 1677. 

Bell and clocktower of Faucon's Saint Germain Church

Le Boulangerie des Tilleuls is seemingly set on a balcony where you have great views of the countryside. They serve petit dejeuner (breakfast) in the morning, plat du jour (daily specials) at noon, and dinner during the summer to take advantage of the terrace. They sell bread and variety of house-made savory and sweet tarts throughout the day. I think the rhubarb tart is particularly good.

Le Boulangerie

We normally dine on the terrace so we can take advantage of the views but when we went in late March, it was quite chilly, so we opted to eat inside the boulangerie. 

Chilly outside, so we dined inside on a long wooden table

This is simple food but everything we have tried has been delicious. I usually order one of the daily specials and sweet tart for dessert and Shirley orders a vegetarian plate which usually includes a slice of two different vegetarian tarts, a green salad and some olive tapenade. 

Typical vegetarian plate at Le Boulangerie

Le Boulangerie des Tilleuls food and baked goods are delicious any time. The setting makes it a very pleasant place to enjoy a relaxing lunch when the weather is nice or dinner during the summer months. We definitely recommend reservations during tourist season. 

My favorite dining companion

Le Boulangerie des Tilleuls is open Tuesday - Sunday throughout the year from 7h30 to 15h00 and from 7h30 to 23h00, June 15 to August 31. 

Le Boulangerie des Tilleuls

Place des Tilleuls

84110 Faucon

Tel: +33 4 90 36 12 91

No website

Visit to Faucon and a lovely lunch at Le Laurier Restaurant

I have been away from the blog for a variety of reasons but I'm back and I have lots of stuff to share with you. We returned to Sablet in early October with our friends Steve and Mary from Michigan. The day after we got there, Sunday, we went shopping for basic provisions at Intermarché in Vaison-la-Romaine.

By the time we finished shopping, it was nearly time for lunch. Since we were on the north side of Vaison-la-Romaine, we decided to drive to Faucon and have lunch at Le Laurier Restaurant, a restaurant where Shirley and I have dined several times but would be a new one for Steve and Mary.

Faucon is a small village (population 411) 7 km northeast of Vaison-la-Romaine on a hill on the border of the Vaucluse with a magnificent view of Mont Ventoux. A fortified village, houses were built of stones from the surrounding countryside.

Life in Faucon revolves essentially around wine and the vineyards that surround the village. Wine produced in the village is classified Côtes du Rhône and comes from two private wineries and the rest comes from the wine cooperative.

Faucon is the original village where apricots known as "Orangé de Provence" were produced. It was an agricultural engineer from Faucon by the name of Charles Cornu who brought the first plants from the Balkans which are now grown throughout Provence.

The bell and clock tower of Faucon's Saint Germain Church

A Provencal market is held in Faucon every Wednesday afternoon.

This year Faucon celebrated the 450th anniversary of independence.

Part of the defensive walls

Medieval arch

Saint Germain Church seen below was first mentioned in 1120. The church was enlarged in 1668 and again in 1764.

The clock tower of Saint Germain Church

Faucon iron cross

Memorial to the combatants of the resistance of 1941 - 1945

Street is paved with river stones

Notre Dame des Sept Douleurs Church seen below was built in 1644.

Notre Dame des Sept Douleurs Chapel

Faucon Mairie

Le Laurier Restaurant is at the top of the village near the Mairie at Place de la Chappelle. You can either drive up to the restaurant and park nearby or leave your car at the bottom of the village and walk up.

Water fountain in front of Le Laurier Restaurant

Le Laurier Restaurant is owned by the chef and has been in business for 6 years.

Le Laurier Restaurant

Le Laurier Restaurant has a small pretty dining room and a large terrace for al fresco dining in nice weather. Although it was somewhat cool, we opted to dine on the terrace to celebrate the fact we were back in Provence.

Shirley with friends Steve and Mary

That day the chef was offering a three course menu of starter, main course and dessert for 27 Euros, a bargain if the food was good.

We thought it would be appropriate to have a rosé with our lunch. We chose a bottling from Clos Bellane, a winery acquired in 2010 by Stéphane Vedeau. Clos Bellane is located on the plateau of Vinsobres, southeast of Valréas.

The wine is made of 100% Grenache. It was a light color and low in alcohol (12 degrees).

Clos Bellane Côtes du Rhône Altitude 2014

We had a wonderful lunch, I think the pictures which follow speak for themselves.

Salmon Ceviche with Arugula

Seared foie gras with chestnuts and spice bread

Butternut squash soup

Fillet of Lieu with basil pesto with zucchini fondue and curried carrots

Lamb from Sisterone in puff pastry with eggplant and puree of chick peas

Coconut flan with mango sorbet and sauce

Chocolate financier, almond cake with vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce

The food was delicious and I highly recommend Le Laurier Restaurant in Faucon. I would suggest you reserve before going to assure you get a table when you arrive.

Le Laurier Restaurant
Place de la Chapelle
84110 Faucon
France
Tel:+33 4 90 46 55 54

Have a good weekend. À bientôt.

Visit to Faucon and a delightful Lunch at Le Laurier Restaurant

Sorry, I have been a little distracted the last few weeks so I have not written for the blog. As some of you know, my wonderful mom, age 93 just passed away. Besides dealing with that, we have been working on a couple of deals at Chancellor Health Care, and Shirley hooked me on "The Good Wife" starring Julianna Margulies.

Truth be told, the little free time I have has been taken up watching the first ten episodes of season 1. The series focuses on Alicia Florrick (Julianna Margulies), whose husband Peter Florrick (Chris North), a former Cook County state's attorney, has been jailed following a very public sex and corruption scandal.

Alicia returns to her old job as a litigator (having taken 13 years out to be a stay-at-home mother) to provide for her two children. The series was partly inspired by the Eliot Spitzer prostitution scandal, as well as by other prominent American political sex scandals, like John Edwards and Bill Clinton. The writing and cast is wonderful. But I digress.

Faucon is another example of a village in the Vaucluse we discovered through a restaurant. Faucon is a small village (416 inhabitants) perched on a hill with a magnificent panorama of the Alps and Mont Ventoux. An ancient walled city, the houses were built with local stone which gives architectural unity and character to the village.

The Village of Faucon

We went to Faucon for lunch at Le Laurier Restaurant, a resto on my list of places to try since we moved to Sablet. There is no shortage of good restaurants in the Vaucluse so it took us a while to get there. Once in Faucon, we found the restaurant at the top of the village near a fountain at Place de la Chapelle.

Le Laurier Restaurant at Place de la Chapelle

Le Laurier Restaurant

Le Laurier has seating on the patio in front of the restaurant and on a covered terrace with protection from the wind. It was a cool day so we chose to sit in the small dining room.

The Interior of Le Laurier Restaurant

The chef offers a market menu with three choices for starter, main course and dessert, all for 26 Euros. The menu changes frequently based upon availability of local products, organic as much as possible. They adhere to the slow food philosophy.

For my starter I chose the "Terrine de foie gras de canard fermier, compotée de fruits du moment" (Duck foie gras with a fruit compote) for a 2 Euro supplement.

Shirley chose the "Velouté de petits pois printanier, bavaroise de chèvre frais de Aubres" (spring pea soup with fresh goat cheese).

I selected the "Croustillant d’agneau de Pays confit miel et gingembre, légumes de saison" (Slow cooked local lamb in pastry with seasonal vegetables), also with a 2 Euros supplement.

Shirley's main course was the "Poisson retour de criée, risotto de petit épeautre bio de Buis" (fish served over spelt cooked risotto style). This was one of Shirley's favorite dishes ever based upon all the little noises she made after each bite.

For dessert, we both chose the "Entremet chocolat et poire" (chocolate ice cream with pear dessert). Our lunch at Le Lauier restaurant was the culinary highlight of this visit to Sablet. We will be back again.

After our very good lunch, we walked around the village (see the pictures which follow). There were many pretty sights but I could not find much written about the history of Faucon so I can't tell you anything about what we saw.

The original date of construction for Saint-Germain church seen below is unknown. It was restored in 1668 and again in 1677.

Saint-Germain Church

There are lots of narrow streets with archways.

The medieval arch seen below overlooks the valley and frames a beautiful view of the north face of Mont Ventoux.

Medieval Arch

Remains of the Feudal Castle

The houses are built of stone.

The clock and bell tower of Saint-Germain Church

The clock and bell tower of Saint-Germain Church

Notre Dame des 7 Douleurs Chapel was constructed in 1644 and restored in 1850.

Notre Dame des 7 Douleurs Chapel

Memorial to the children of Faucon who died for France in World Wars

You can add Le Laurier restaurant to the list of very good restaurants in the Northern Vaucluse. I will try to do a better job of posting regularly as I love hearing from you with your comments and feedback. Have a great Sunday.

Le Laurier Restaurant
Place de la Chapelle
84110 Faucon
Tel: 04 90 46 55 54
www.restaurantlelaurier.com