M I R A Z U R
[In 2020 the worlds 50 Best restaurant awards were postponed due to the global pandemic, so Mirazur held the Worlds best restaurant title from 2019 to 2021 and is now on “the Best of the Best” list with other previous winners which are no longer eligible to be voted onto new editions of the list. The 2.0 iteration of Noma in Copenhagen now holds this spot.]
For those of you who don’t know me I’m… wow, just kidding. Can you imagine. What if I spoke only in maid of honor speech cliches. Also this is a newsletter you obviously know me. I’m in Menton on the southeastern coast of France for a few days and then headed back up to the Alpes Maritimes for work. I realize my last newsletter was literally a year ago - but uhh, yeah. I’m sorry? What do you want from me. All I can tell you is my writing skills have not improved.
I was on the waitlist at Mirazur and they sent me an email a few days ago with a miraculous opening at 7:45 on a Friday. So I booked a little airbnb and made the journey. Menton kind of feels like the Miami of France - endless natural beauty with a heaping scoop of commercialism. The grand mansions and gardens are scattered throughout the city but the beachfront is dominated by condo buildings and touristy restaurants. There are surely good restaurants too but you gotta do some sifting. I can also feel that there are many many different corners of this city that have their own separate identities. This well educated feeling comes from being here for 24hr.
The flora and fauna here is strikingly similar to south Florida, as is the average age of its citizens. Generally communities that rely so heavily on tourism have a familiar vibe to them. There’s a love/hate relationship they have with the intruders they’ve become dependent on for revenue. Most residents are standoffish and reticent to engage with non-french speakers here so most of my interactions are pretty sweet. And I come off seeming really cool and smart. I wonder what native Mentonians (Mentonites?) would think of this analysis. Probably pissed since its been a city since the 11th century and doesn’t have a place called Star Island where Gloria Estefan and Shaq swim in their infinity pools. But it does have a huge harbor specifically for Super Yachts so - same same but different. I think natives would also say their stone buildings and baroque architecture is aesthetically more old world and suggest that Nice or Antibes would fit the Miami comparison more accurately. And they’d probably be right.
Things I done did in Menton:
“Hike” to Italy to buy cigs and Campari sodas tax-free (its 2min down the road)
Run 5 miles in oppressive heat (must increase appetite at all costs)
Awkwardly eat a pizza by myself at a restaurant
Iron my outfit for tonight because Mauro Colagreco HATES wrinkles. (probably)
Try to download duolingo but it keeps crashing
Check my reservation confirmation email 20 times to make sure 19:45 still means 7:45pm
Read a book about how electronic devices are ruining our focus on an electronic device
Mirazur is a stunningly beautiful restaurant.
Unassuming from the outside but I can’t imagine a place with a better view. It’s right on the border of France and Italy, on a cliff, with panoramic views of the city and the ocean. If you wanna skip down to the food pics - no judgement. But yeah they could just serve french fries and beer with that view - it would be busy. And still awesome. I walked up the hill from my airbnb around 7:30 and the valet greeted me at the entrance. Before I could say who I was.. “Chef Gaudreau welcome”. I’m sure I was the only solo diner that night but that attention to detail is always fucking cool. He was surprised I walked but also that means no car to valet so I get it. He said he prefers to walk as well.
I was greeted by a hyper friendly front of house team who all seemed to know everything about me, spoke every language there is, and were all extremely attractive. Mostly dudes. Hot guys. Lotta hot guys. All wearing these modern lapel-less jackets and band collar shirts. I used the bathroom real quick before I sat down to mop up the sweat from my walk but also to see what the bathroom looked like. Was not disappointed it was cube of mirrors. I took a terrifying photo of myself in there. I’m not sunburnt I’m bronzed.
The servers showed me around the new kitchen and told me all about this years renovation before bringing me over to my cool guy table for one. They honestly had this shit set up perfectly. I was facing a panoramic view of the city and they gave me a Mirazur book to flip through. I’m embarrassed to say I can’t remember my servers name but I did drink a lot of champagne. Specifically a 2010 Pouillon Blanchiens Premier Cru. He was from Portugal and had worked all over Europe, guy was a crusher - super pro status. Probably does ballet or something to perfect his footwork. And really every server touched my table at some point - lots of orchestrated tableside finishes to help rationalize the price tag.
How is the pace of this newsletter? They actually asked if the pacing was good mid-meal which I thought was curious, but kind of brilliant. At first I thought it was just me since I was eating kinda fast but they ask everyone. I wonder if anyone ever says no. My favorite part of going to these types of places besides the hedonism is the people watching. Who goes to these restaurants? Me I guess.
To my right was a true classic euro couple - gallivanting around the Riviera, cruised down from Monaco in a Bugatti Veyron. A mid-20’s model looking Italian girl with a late 50’s non-model looking Italian (French? idk) man. This guy seemed like your standard henchman. Tiny rectangular clear glasses with gold hinges, a fresh line-up (grey hair), black blazer, black T. He seemed like he might have a Lamborghini collection, a home in Cannes and a cocaine problem. Wow judgy. Neither of them seemed to care much about the food. They barely ate it! I could see them in the reflection on the window - I had to watch - for journalism.
To my left was - I couldn’t believe it, a Culinary Institute of America grad. I don’t want to come off as too hard on this kid because I also used to be the worst - But man, some of his questions and comments killed me. They were right next to me and I intentionally did not engage, but eventually the mom got to me. She initiated conversation towards the end of our meals and she was incredibly sweet. Different servers would ask them where they were from and the son would always reply “America”. And say nothing else. Which was fucking weird.
Here are some other things he said to the waitstaff:
“Do you cook this on a silpat? I can see the little perforations”
“Is it local?”
“We’re not accustomed to this way of cooking squid in America”
“Is it local?”
Yeesh. I wish him well. Godspeed young man.
Ok here’s the food.
Canapes were all bangers. Delicate textures you only find in these kinds of places - they really nail the paper thin crunch and the soft velvety. I’m writing this from memory slash a few notes right now because the menu they give at the end just says like.. beet, ginger, etc.
The breads served throughout were very good, especially liked this one. flecked with corn and other grains.
I thought I had followed the onion down every avenue but they do a lot of wild shit with onions here. This one I have to imagine was steamed, its cloaking a little mound of prawn and herbs. savory broth with tapioca pearls. Simple clean flavors but lots of technique going on.
This is the most acidic lobster dish I’ve ever had. loved it. Yuzu gel was intense but refreshing. Menton is know for growing citrus. Turnip tiles probably take up a stages whole day.
This is a staple dish of Mirazur, and I get why. Its beautiful, textures are really satisfying, it tastes real good. Very meatlike. Super savory, you can really feel the quality of each ingredient. Hard to pull off this kind of simplicity.
This was my favorite course. It tasted like the best chowder on the planet. I’m a sucker for a sabayon like this too.
A surprisingly Asian flavor profile - very umami ginger pork broth packed with collagen, poured tableside. Was like eating ramen but the noodles are squid & haricot vert. They served it with chopsticks which kept me occupied for a bit.
Perfectly cooked fish with a delicious sauce and a cool leek blanket. What else could you ask for?
The only meat course and it was more veg focused which I like. The carrot was really rad but the sauce had a slight marmalade vibe which wasn’t for me. carrot salad was refreshing. Crisps were perfect.
Would you like some cheese or do you want to go right into desserts? 36mo comte was crazy good, I tried a bunch of other ones too but the server had a really thick accent and I had downed a bottle of champagne at this point.
Both main dessert courses were kind of ice cream based which was awesome. Paper thin glazed apricots, super creamy ice cream, crunchy creamy praline. PB&J 💅 Most French people are weirded out by peanut butter so pistachio makes sense.
Potato dessert. Very potato-y. And crazy good. Not starchy at all, coffee flavor carried it. Pretty drunk now. Mostly eavesdropping on young Bobby Flay now.
Beet sorbet, Goat cheese sphere sweet potato thing, red onion hibiscus gelee, yuzu chocolate tart, carrot turmeric ball with some crazy spiced ganache. All killer, I accidentally dropped the yuzu sphere and it exploded on the underliner. It was very slippery! red onion gelee was weirdly not weird, very delicious.
THATS IT
Mostly because gmail is gonna truncate this long ass newsletter - but damn, Mirazur was sick. I almost always prefer a loud bustling a la carte restaurant over a tasting menu but once in a while they really hit. The Chef gave me a tour of the kitchen after I had an espresso and we were talking about fish and POS systems for a hot minute.
I took tons of weird shorthand notes during the meal - heres two stupid ones:
napkin grab superslick
Chzcart be glidin'
Jaws Guadreau; Penning newsletters from the set of Moonraker