Toulouse: Py-r Restaurant

If the second-generation bistrot renaissance began in Paris, superb examples of its accelerating spread are now found all over the country. Even cities like Toulouse and Strasbourg, where residents generally like their own local culinary style, are embracing the trend. So try to ignore the twee name of chef Pierre Lambinon’s Py-r Restaurant (pronounced Pierre) in Toulouse, and book a meal in his vaulted red-brick dining room to sample the cooking that has everybody talking in la Ville Rose.

Lambinon trained with Alain Ducasse, and this shows in both his reverence for the products he cooks—he especially loves vegetables and fresh herbs—and the distinctively Mediterranean accent of his menu. Nonetheless, Lambinon wouldn’t get far in the southwest if he didn’t have a way with foie gras, and does he ever! As a starter, he sautés a lobe of duck foie gras until it’s just perfectly cooked, lightly douses it with a rum-spiked syrup, and garnishes it with strawberries and celery—and it’s sublime. Main courses include juicy duck breast in a crust of dried fruits, with a “crumble” of duck confit with spices and Granny Smith apple. The dessert not to miss is a pear macaron with solid and liquid salted butter caramel and a chibouste (pastry cream lightened with beaten egg whites) of vintage rum and crushed macadamia nuts.

19 rue du Paradoux, Toulouse, 05.61.25.51.52. Fixed-price lunch menus €19, €21; à la carte €60. Prices are per person, without wine.

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Alexander Lobrano’s book Hungry for Paris is published by Random House. Find Hungry for Paris and more in our bookstore.

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