Le Clos de la Violette

Just North of old-town Aix is the only Michelin starred restaurant in the area, Le Clos de la Violette, sporting two stars. (http://www.closdelaviolette.com/) Stri and I went there for dinner on Wednesday night and had the six-course menu for 130 Euro each.

Ambiance
We ate at one of about 15 tables on a pleasant patio, surrounded by a nicely manicured garden. The shades, clearly needed for the hot sun at lunch, were retracted, and the temperature was perfect. The restaurant itself has that modern yet traditional (or is that traditional yet modern?) quality that bespeaks money and taste.

Service
Excellent service, ready but unobtrusive, met the standard for establishments at this level. I didn't detect any pretention or haughtiness, which was, obviously, welcome.

Food
We felt that by picking the tasting menu, we'd get the best feel for the restaurant's abilities. An amuse bouche of deep fried crab and a little onion tart were tasty, and, as it turns out, atypically simple. Every remaining course was aesthetically pleasing, but often verged on having too much going on, leading to a lack of focus, though the effort was clear.

The one unpleasant surprise was the fish course. In all of our experiences at restaurants of this caliber (probably 20-25 actual Michelin stars worth, if that is any kind of criteria) we'd never before had a course we didn't like and didn't at least want to finish. (Getting too full to appreciate later courses is always a danger at restaurants at this level.) The fish course was too intensely fishy for our taste - though I acknowledge that others might like it. Still, we both were surprised at how far from our taste it was, especially given our appreciation for fish in a great many guises (though I am the only one of the two of us who likes anchovies, but this was fishier than any anchovy I can recall having.)

All in all, the food was excellent but not exquisite.

Wine
A list modest in length, but contained selections that showed real value. We had a white burgundy that was truly excellent - great minerality, nice acid balance, and excellent flavor, for less than 100 Euro. We had a year 2000 Grand Cru Bordeaux from a house I'd never heard of before, that was also less than 100 Euro, and I was equally impressed. The one defiency of the list is that they don't have any 375 ml bottles, which means either not getting good pairing, wasting good wine, or getting toasted. In contrast, the French Laundry in California has an amazing list of 375 ml bottles which leads to great pairing and comfortable consumption.

Value
We ended up spending just under 500 Euro for dinner for two, and while that is clearly stratospheric on one level, it was half what we spent the last time at the French Laundry. But there was clear room for improvement, too. So while it was a good experience, even great in areas, it wasn't at all transcendent, and that is what I generally expect spending this amount at a restaurant of this caliber. Still, the potential is there and I would hope that improvements in focus will occur and yield the results merited by the effort they are making.