Georges Blanc

Georges Blanc Review

In the village of Vonnas, a simple 19th-century inn with 30 rooms full of antique country furniture doubles as one of the greatest gastronomic addresses in all of Gaul. Poulet de Bresse, truffles, and lobster are just some of the divine dishes featured on the legendary menu created by three-star chef Monsieur Blanc, whose culinary DNA extends back to innkeepers from the French Revolution. He made his mark in the 1980s with a series of cookbooks, notably The Natural Cuisine of Georges Blanc. Today, he serves his traditional-yet-nouvelle delights in a vast dining room, renovated—overly so, some might say—in a stately manner, replete with Louis Treize-style chairs, fireplace, and floral tapestries. Wine connoisseurs will go weak at the knees at the cellar here, overflowing with 130,000 bottles. The guest rooms range from (relatively) simple to luxurious. It's worth the trip from Bourg-en-Bresse, but be sure you bring a well-padded wallet. A block south you can repair to Blanc's cheaper, more casual restaurant, L'Ancienne Auberge, most delightfully set in a 1900s Fabrique de Limonade (soda-water plant) and now festooned with antique bicycles and daguerreotypes.