Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Gourmet Inns & Resorts
80
Michel Bras
The Mountain Climber
Laguiole, France
A country inn in the south of France, the
home base for a celebrated French chef—
you'd expect it to be rustic, quaint, and
historic, right? But Michel Bras's restau-
rant-hotel in the Auvergne is nothing like
that. This strikingly spare contemporary
structure thrusts from its isolated hillside
like a rugged granite outcrop or a lonely
alien spaceship, crash-landed on Earth.
Once inside, you'll immediately see
what Bras is getting at. The elegantly
stripped-down style of the dining room
and guest rooms—bare floors and empty
walls, widely spaced tables, a muted pal-
ette of solid colors—focuses your atten-
tion outward, through wraparound walls
of glass, to focus on a breathtaking pan-
orama of brilliant green grass, jagged
granite, and a dramatic cloud-streaked
sky. It's an ideal complement to Bras's self-
taught style of cooking, which is equally
minimalist and focused on his native
Aubrac countryside. Beef dishes are made
from the unique local breed of cattle;
cheeses are made locally from unpasteur-
ized cows' milk (try the divine
aligot,
pota-
toes mashed with that local cheese). The
menu changes with the seasons, but veg-
etables figure prominently, from the spring
delicacy of asparagus and green beans to
the juicy meatiness of a grilled eggplant to
the deep savor of roasted onions. Bras's
most famous dish,
gargouillou de jeunes
légumes,
is a salad of some 40 native veg-
etables, flowers, herbs, and seeds, many
of them gathered from the hillsides just
that morning.
When you look at a Michel Bras dish
arranged on its simple white plate, it seems
straightforward enough—meticulously
arranged, true, but with just a few fairly
familiar ingredients, left in their natural
forms. It's the fresh purity of these ingredi-
ents, and Bras's brilliant seasonings, that
have earned this place a reputation as one
of the world's great restaurants.
Bras and his wife moved their famous
restaurant from the village to this moun-
taintop site in 1992 and added accommo-
dations for overnight guests (a smart
move, considering how far Laguiole is
from any major towns). It's a bona fide
family affair. Sebastien Bras assists his
father in the kitchen, overseeing the pas-
try creation, including Bras's most famous
dessert, a warm chocolate cookie with a
pool of liquid chocolate inside. Even
Michel's mother—from whom he learned
all his cooking, he insists—still lends a
hand. In rhythm with the seasons, the
property is only open April through Octo-
ber—the most beautiful times of year for
this harsh, spectacular landscape. Reser-
vations are notoriously hard to get, so
start planning your trip now.
Route de l'Aubrac (
&
33/5/6551-1820;
www.michel-bras.com).
(
Rodez-Marcillac (63km/39 miles);
Auvergne (156km/97 miles).
