[Itinerary Page]The Daily Diary of a Wandering Restaurateur
May 2 - Chateaudouble, Fayence
When we originally thought about the trip, we figured we would head off from here to explore the more famous coastal towns like Cannes, St. Tropez and the like. Maybe tomorrow. Today we decided just to cruise around the hills and see a few lesser-known spots like Bergamon and Chateaudouble. The photos tell the tale.
We made it back to Fayence in time for lunch. We poked around the old part of town and while looking at a menu (all restaurants here have their menus posted in front), the owner came out and started chatting with us. Actually, she was actively recruiting us to come in for lunch ... which was a lot more than anyone else was doing.
As I mentioned in an earlier note, restaurants in France tend toward serving full meals and it was more than we were looking -- both in terms of food and price -- at lunch. But we were so taken by her enthusiasm that we promised to come back for dinner.
So we decided on pizza for lunch, always a reasonably priced choice (although still about twice the prices in Italy). Then we wandered into the neighboring village of Tourettes to see what might be there. Not much as it turns out.
Margene's neck was bothering her so it was back to the house where she snuggled in with a heating pad and I got caught up on the diary. With nearly 100 photos to sort through from yesterday, this project is often a tiger by the tail. I am SO pleased that Les has a wireless high-speed Internet network in the house!
Time flew. We suddenly noticed that it was past 7pm and time to head into town for dinner. A promise is a promise, so we returned to the Patin Couffin and they really did a nice job for us. The owner, Virginia, was just a hoot! She was totally uninhibited, singing, dancing around and generally pumping the little place full of her energy.
Once again I was reminded of the importance of having a personal presence to make a dining experience memorable. What do people remember when they dine at YOUR restaurant? If you answered, "nothing" or "I don't know," you had best get busy and inject some personality into your place while you are still in business!
© 2006 Restaurant Doctor