Nyons Market and Excellent Lunch at La Charrette Bleue Restaurant

We arrived in Sablet last Tuesday after being away for 5 months. We arrived too late to shop at the weekly market in Vaison-la-Romaine, which as faithful readers know, is our very favorite market in Provence. 

So on Thursday, we headed to Nyons (28 kms) on the north side of Vaison la Romaine in the Department of the Drome so we could wander around the bustling Provençal market that takes place in the center of town every Thursday morning throughout the year.

Nyons sits in a natural basin on the right bank of the Eygues river, surrounded by hills and small mountains, which provides shelter from wind. The town gets an unusual amount of sunshine, earning Nyons the nickname "Little Nice" for its great climate.

Probably the most famous historical monument in Nyons, is the "Roman Bridge," a single arch bridge across the Eygues river built in Romanesque style between 1341 and 1409. Until the 19th century, the bridge was the main access road into Nyons.

Roman Bridge, Nyons

The olive tree in the roundabout in the center of Nyons is a reminder that olives are celebrated in Nyons year-around with the Festival of Pitted Olives the weekend before Christmas, the Festival of New Olive Oil, the first Sunday in February, and Fête des Olivades, the weekend which follows Bastille Day.

We walked through the Saint Jacques gate, the only gate intact from the medieval defensive walls, to "Place des Arcades" and "Place de la Liberation" where the market was underway. "Place des Arcades" dates from the 14th century when it was set aside for markets and fairs in Nyons. The square gets its name from the arcades that surround the square.

Saint Vincent's Church with Saint-Césaire monastery and two nearby cemeteries formed the religious center of Nyons in the Middle Ages. Most of the modern-day Saint Vincent's Church dates from the beginning of the 17th century.

The bell tower of Saint Vincent Church

The most visible monument is the Randonne Tower topped by pyramid arches on which stands a statue of Virgin Mary. The tower was erected around 1280, and at the time was used as a keep and military prison for the castle. In the 19th century it was converted to a chapel and renamed "Notre-Dame de Bon-Secours".

Randonne Tower, Nyons

After we completed our shopping and visits to an olive mill and the Roman Bridge, we headed north to La Charette Bleue Restaurant, a roadside restaurant where we have enjoyed some excellent meals over the years.

The restaurant is located 8 kms northeast of Nyons on the road toward Gap in the small village of Les Pilles. Although it was a bit chilly, we had warm vests and chose to sit in the sun on the terrace in front of the restaurant. 

We perused the menu while we nibbled on little toasts topped with black olive tapenade. I went with the "Menu Decouverte", 3 courses for 35 euros and Shirley opted to go a la carte. My first course was a gratin of mussels. 

 

Cassolette of shelled Mussels in a garlic and parsley butter gratin

Shirley's first course was a warm flan of fresh goat cheese with mixed greens tossed in olive oil topped with an onion fougasse.

Warm flan of fresh goat cheese with mixed greens tossed in olive oil and onion fougasse

After debating between Fletan (Halibut) and Merlan (Whiting), Shirley opted for the Filet of Merlan that was pan sauteed, topped with onion beignets and fresh vegetables, and served with a lemon grass sauce.

Filet of Merlan

I was immediately drawn to the Canette de Canard (young female duck) pan roasted on the skin side. It was perfectly cooked rose just as requested. 

Pan roasted Canette de Canard

I chose the Opera cake and asked our server to bring two forks so we could share. Shirley wanted just coffee to finish. 

Opera Cake

We weren't up to a whole bottle of wine for lunch so chose one of the restaurant's half-bottle selections from Domaine du Moulin from Vinsobres. It was delicious and if you come across it on a wine list or store shelf, don't hesitate to choose it. 

Domaine du Moulin Vinsobres

This was an excellent meal, service was attentive, and we felt very safe/comfortable sitting outside on the terrace despite the pandemic swirling around the area. We agreed that we would try to return for another meal before we head back to US.

La Charrette Bleue
Route de Gap
26110 Condorcet
Tel: 04 75 27 72 33
Website: Restaurant Nyons - Charrette Bleue | Cuisine Régionale Créative (lacharrettebleue.net)

La Charrette Bleue, an excellent restaurant on the road through the Drôme Provençale

We found our car, not always easy to do with a rental car in a strange town, and headed toward Route de Gap for the 7 km drive east to La Charrette Bleue restaurant near Les Pilles, a tiny village in Drôme Provençale.

We had dined at the restaurant once before some years back after a Tuesday morning market in Vaison-la-Romaine. On that day, it was gray and gloomy and pouring down rain, so we sat in the cozy dining room.

Today, it was the opposite, a sunny warm day, with brilliant blue sky. It didn't take long to get to La Charrette Bleue, the restaurant sits right off the road, and a blue cart (for that is what the name means) sits on the roof.

We had good memories of our first meal and the restaurant was now designated a Bib Gourmand, an inspector's favorite for good value and listed in Michelin's Guide to Bonnes Petites Tables. As I have told you, we generally have very good meals in restaurants designated Bib Gourmand.

La Charrette Bleue Restaurant

We were among the first to arrive for lunch and were immediately seated on the covered terrace. The building was formerly a "relais de poste" or a place where fresh horses were kept along the postal route to replace tired horses. The restaurant is owned by the chef Paul Roussel.

Terrace at La Charrette Bleue

We made our selections and sat back to enjoy the chilled Château La Courançonne Séguret Rosé and the amuse bouche of zucchini gazpacho with fresh goat cheese from the chef. Pictures of our other dishes follow.

Amuse bouche of zucchini gazpacho with fresh goat cheese

Goat cheese creme brulee with herb salad

Market vegetable salad with light vinaigrette

Fillet of sole with champagne sauce with a dill risotto and caviar

Roast saddle of lamb stuffed with herbs and pine nuts with a thyme sauce

Potato fennel gratin

Duo of ile flottante and creme caramel on creme anglaise

Warm orange chocolate tart, lightly caramelized with house made chocolate ice cream

While our mouths and stomachs savored every bite of the excellent food prepared by the chef, our eyes took in the beautiful countryside which surrounds the restaurant.

Countryside next to La Charrette Bleue

As I told you here, we were on an excursion through the Drôme Provençale near our house in Sablet. We had started our day at the Thursday morning market in Nyons and we had just finished a wonderful lunch at La Charrette Bleue.

Our plan for the afternoon was to drive a circuit starting on the D64 heading toward Buis-les-Baronnies and then follow the D5 back to Vaison-la-Romaine and home to Sablet. As I drove along, I spotted a pretty church steeple above the roof tops and slowed down to enter the little village of Curnier. Here are a few sights that caught my eye.

Pretty house in Curnier

Curnier fountain and lavoir

Flowers on house in Curnier

Flowers on house in Curnier

Curnier church

I wanted to visit Buis-les-Baronnies because the young man who comes to Sablet every Thursday morning as I told you here to sell goat cheese, jam, fruit juice and olive oil made by his family, comes from Buis-les-Baronnies. He has told me several times that we should visit.

Buis-les-Baronnies is located in a fertile high valley of the Ouvèze river in Drôme Provençale that produces lavender, olives, apricots and limes; the surrounding mountains form a natural shelter around the village, within sight of Mont Ventoux.

Arcades surround Place du Marché

The houses and buildings of Buis-les-Baronnies are largely on the right bank of the Ouvèze river. The town built a large dike in 1776 to protect itself from periodic floods of the river, bordered by a beautiful promenade of plane trees.

Buis-les-Baronnies street

Arcades surround Place du Marché

La place du Marché has been crowded since before 1291 with artisan shops of various kinds. It is surrounded by pretty arcades, for the most part Gothic, reminding you of towns in Germany and Switzerland. The resemblance is due to construction which took place in the 15th century when Louis XI sent Germans troopers to rebuild Buis-les-Baronnies after a terrible plague in 1348 reduced the population by half.

Place du Marché

Pretty house above arcade at Place du Marché

Old, narrow street in Buis-les-Baronnies

Buis-les-Baronnies war memorial

The Rocher Saint Julien (literally translates as the rock Saint Julien) is a long, thin and tall limestone formation just over the village of Buis-les-Baronnies. Buis-les-Baronnies is a favorite destination for rock climbers (there are routes in the Gorges d'Ubrieux and on the rock Saint-Julien, as well as a rock climbing school.

Rocher Saint Julien

Notre-Dame de Nazareth Church

We finished up our visit to Buis-les-Baronnies with drinks at a café near Place du Marché before heading off for the final leg of our drive through Drôme Provençale; back to Sablet. All in all, one of our favorite ways to spend a day in Provence; a bustling market, an excellent lunch, wandering through a new village, and spending time together with drinks at a local café.

La Charrette Bleue
Route de Gap
26110 Condorcet
Tel: 04 75 27 72 33
Website: http://restaurant-la-charrette-bleue.com/

La Charrette Bleue, 7 kms east of Nyon

One gray Tuesday morning we were walking through the market in Vaison la Romaine with our five friends in tow from Bistro Des Copains in Occidental California.

Despite the drizzle, the market was full of shoppers checking out the artfully arranged tables of fresh fruits and vegetables along with the honey, olive oil, linens, soaps and other items from Provence which the merchants had set out for sale.

After wandering around for a while, I was happy to spot our friend Bruce who lives in Villedieu where wonderful Maison Bleue is located, chatting with our favorite poissonnier - fishmonger, Edmond Lafont of Maree du Comtat Venaison.

Monsieur Lafont always has an amazing assortment of the freshest fish and seafood on display over a bed of ice. I should mention that he parks his truck and sets up shop every Thursday morning in Sablet.

After catching up and chatting about the awful weather and being told "ce n'est pas normal" - this is not normal weather, I told them I was looking for a restaurant to take our friends to for lunch.

I told them I wanted to go to a restaurant that serves la bonne cuisine régionale - good regional food, for a petit prix - moderate price. Monsieur Lafont and Bruce threw names back and forth, questioning each other if some were closed on Tuesdays or weren't that good.

Monsieur Lafont asked me "tu connais" - do you know, restaurant La Charrette Bleue on the road to Gap? I did not. He emphasized that he had not been there but had heard they "fait du bon travail" - do a nice job. Bruce said he had not been there either but he had heard the same thing.

After getting directions in normal Provençal fashion, meaning not clear at all, I figured out that to get to La Charrette Bleue, we needed to head out of Vaison la Romaine towards Nyon and then follow the Route de Gap till we got to Les Pilles.

After finishing our walk through the market and hiking up to the fortress that sits above Vaison la Romaine (I will write about that in a future post), we headed out to find La Charrette Bleue. By the time we drove the 23 kms to the restaurant, the morning's drizzle had turned into a down pour.



We parked our car and everyone made a mad dash into the restaurant to avoid getting totally soaked.



Upon entering the restaurant, we found ourselves in a very pretty, warm, dining room with wood beams on the ceiling, just perfect for a rainy day. Just looking around and seeing the attention to the little details, I was sure we were going to enjoy a nice lunch.



After being seated and looking over the menu, most of us chose the 3-course Menu Découverte for 25,50 Euros. We ordered a bottle of rosé from Domaine Alary, a producer of wonderful wines located in Cairanne, to enjoy while we waited for our first courses to be brought out.

Our first courses included warm goat cheese encrusted with angel hair pasta, some greens, a white balsamic reduction sauce and finely diced zucchini and bell peppers.



Others had a split pea soup with croutons.



I had a wonderful dish of moules gratinées - mussels with a rich sauce of garlic and butter. Yummy!



A dish of potatoes Dauphinoise was brought out for the table to share.



Some of our party chose the pan sautéed Dorade - a Mediterranean sea bream, served over a fennel carrot sauté.



Adam chose the pork tenderloin with boudin noir sausage. He said it was delicious.



I had the pan sautéed skate served over a cabbage brussel sprout braise with a beurre blanc sauce. It was wonderful.



For dessert, some chose the orange brûlée tart served with dark chocolate mousse.


Someone else chose a terrine with layers of blackberry, raspberry, chocolate and white chocolate mousse.



One member of our party chose the banana apple galette with rum raisin ice cream and sweetened lentils. This was the one dish we ordered that was not really successful in our opinion. It was weird.




I chose the îles flottantes with crème anglaise, puffy clouds of softly poached meringue floating on a vanilla custard sauce. It was topped with something wonderfully crunchy.



Our group would say that La Charrette Bleue is a charming country restaurant which serves excellent food for a reasonable price and should not be missed if you are in the area. We will definitely return many times I am sure.