L'ESTACADE in Bordeaux: excellent views, excellent service and excellent food (just 20 minutes away!) (5-1-2026)

 We quickly discovered that the first of May in France is not only Fete du Travail (what we call Labor Day) but virtually everything is shut down, even public transportation! We were planning to dine out with our neighbors Alex and Charlene, as she had come from Dijon (where she now studies) for the long weekend to visit, but quickly realized that many places would be shut. After some quick reconnaissance, Will discovered that L'Estacade, just a short walk up the river of 20 minutes, was open and that the restaurant situated on a pier extending into the Garonne River would be the perfect place for this gorgeous warm evening dinner. It was indeed ideal. The food was even better than our first time there almost 2 years ago and Charlene and Alex had never been and loved it. We were all like little kids taking tons of photos of the sunset, the city, the beautifully lit buildings on the river, then moon and even later on the walk home a satellite that lit up the sky to the wonders of all the pedestrians out and about.

We had some cheese and wine at home so went right into our bottle of Sancerre 2023 from Dezat in the Loire which went with everything. Starters here vary from some of the best local n°4 "Parc de l’Impératrice" to the foie gras with "exotic" marmalade. Two of us devoured the amazing Noix de Saint-Jacques grillées à la plancha, fèves aux oignons et guanciale which were perfectly grilled local scallops with the foot on(!!!) on a bed of superb fava beans sautéed with onion and pork jowl (much of which was a tad to fatty for me). Will decided on a starter bowl of Cassolette d'encornets au chorizo, sauce tomate, a superb casserole of squid in tomato sauce. Alex, also, stuck with a starter of the tuna tartare.

Before we even asked for dessert, Alex declared he had made a flan that afternoon and we must come over to enjoy it. We grabbed a bottle of dessert wine from our cave and had a wonderful taste of his excellent dish (they are both super chefs) and then headed to bed.

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