Badie – Exact Wines

Authored by Christina

By now you may be wondering – just how long is this Bordeaux tour?? It was 12 days, so we’re more than halfway done recapping our visits (thank goodness, right?) – and we have the fabulous town of Sauternes coming up next.

So far, all had gone remarkably well on our tour. But we were confronted with an unusual circumstance this evening – we didn’t have dinner scheduled anywhere.

After eating so much heavy food (I’m normally gluten and dairy-free), I really was craving something light. We were heading in the direction of Bordeaux city as we went back to our hotel that evening, so we asked Nicolas Glumineau of Pichon Lalande at lunch that day for a dinner recommendation. I threw out sushi, and he threw me a look – apparently that was asking for a lot in Bordeaux.

Then he remembered a Japanese restaurant in town very near where we had stayed the previous weekend. He couldn’t remember the name, but he sketched out a little map on the back of his business card, and we thought it looked simple enough.

We made our way back to Bordeaux easily enough and found parking without fuss. As we drove through town, I saw a small restaurant on the corner very near where we had originally stayed, advertising sushi. We decided it could be the back-up plan.

We followed the little map as best we could, but the best thing we could find was the store Badie – no sushi, but a store of all champagne – Bob thought he’d died and gone to heaven. The concept appeared to be well done – a store with champagne on one side of the street, and another store with Bordeaux wines on the other side of the street. We skidded to a halt in front of the well-done windows – just as they were about to close. We decided the trip back into town was worth it just to discover this little concept.

The store-front of the Badie Champagne shop at closing time. The Bordeaux wine shop was directly across the street. — The store-front of the Badie Champagne shop at closing time. The Badie wine shop was directly across the street.

We also discovered another engaging store-front, this time, a display of armagnacs and cognacs – which were actually very popular in the region. Bob is always wondering why more stores and bars don”t make better use of lighting – I wish the picture was better – the whole store was glowing amber.

A cognac shop in Bordeaux. — An Armagnac & cognac shop in Bordeaux. The background appears light here, but in reality it’s a great amber color.

But try as we might, we could not discover that Japanese restaurant. So off to Plan B. To be honest, we knew when we walked in that we should walk out of this little restaurant, but we were so hungry, and at the very least, this place looked like it would be quick. It was the Bordeaux version of the Japanese conveyor-belt sushi restaurant, not so far off from what I had been asking for. The execution of the concept was so poorly done though, machine-made rolls, dried-out rice, fishy-smelling sushi – it was disappointing to settle in for a bad meal, but we were so hungry, we gave up and braved it.

Naturally, we don’t have any good wine recommendations coming out of this dinner experience, but we more than made up for it the next day in Sauternes, and we keep wondering if Seattle needs a champagne shop like Badie…

On our only full day in Bordeaux City, we started out by attending Mass at the pretty Notre Dame Cathedral just off the main plaza.

We then headed to lunch at La Brasserie Bordelaise. The restaurant specialized in charcuterie and all sorts of amazing grilled meats – we found ourselves wishing we had a restaurant like it at home. We were seated in the front part of the restaurant, but later discovered that there was a whole huge back section with private rooms. Clearly, the restaurant must do well in the evenings.

Bordeaux 2013 158 — Restaurant La Brasserie Bordelaise.

Christina is a huge fan of Lillet, so she was enchanted by the display of this entire restaurant with window displays of Lillet bottles that we came across as we wandered through the city.

The whole restaurant was decked out like this - unfortunately it wasn't open and the other pictures didn't do it justice. — The whole restaurant was decked out like this – unfortunately it wasn’t open and the other pictures didn’t do it justice.

The fountains and monuments were beautiful. There was a very unusual fountain with mists of water that shot out of the ground at regular intervals. It was warm enough that people were simply sitting on the ground being sprayed by the fountain.

Misty fountain (probably not it's official name). — Misty fountain (probably not it’s official name).

Bordeaux 2013 2738 — Beautiful monument.

The river was lined with these stately buildings. — The river bank was lined with these stately buildings.

Christina about to start shopping... — Christina about to start shopping…

At some point, Christina decided she really needed to shop – the close proximity to all the stores was killing her. But it may have killed her even more to realize that 90 percent of the stores were closed on Sunday, though I was happy that it didn’t kill the wallet!

I had to settle for some window shopping as well – I have to say, there were some beautiful storefront displays. We loved this champagne shop – sadly, we ran in exactly at closing time, so couldn’t stay!

An interesting concept - the store, Badie, has a champagne shop on one side of the street, and a wine shop on the other side. Pretty cool. — An interesting concept – the store, Badie, has a champagne shop on one side of the street, and a wine shop on the other side. Pretty cool.

We had dinner that night at the rustic and charming La Tupina, a restaurant that had been recommended by two of our wine friends in Seattle, who claimed we absolutely could not miss the duck fat frites. Suffering from a little palate fatigue, it appears we ordered wines by the glass that were not memorable, because we didn’t take a single note!

The open kitchen where meats were prepped and roasted.

The famous duck fat frites. Greg and Eric, this is for you!

Perhaps it was the effect of having meal after heavy meal, but Christina and I laughed out loud when a small motorbike appeared on the street outside the terrace of the restaurant with a large crate on the back marked “Sushi World,” which the delivery person took to the back kitchen door of the restaurant.

Christina shook her head. “I never figured I’d be saying this while in Bordeaux,” she sighed. “But sushi sounds really, really good right now.”

On the way home, we couldn’t help but notice that the city is as beautiful by night as it is by day. We certainly enjoyed our stay, and very much look forward to returning someday.