The Peripatetic Gourmet
By Eric Goodman
Originally published in Departures magazine.
This June the superfast TGV train began making 16 daily round-trips from Paris to Strasbourg, cutting travel time nearly in half, to two hours and 20 minutes. And suddenly a new weekend countryside destination was born. Those ignorant of Stras- bourg and its bloody past—it has gone back and forth between France and Ger- many four times since 1870—will now discover what locals already know: The jewel of Alsace is one of the great dining meccas of Europe, with some 30 Michelin- recommended restaurants in a 30-mile radius.
On a recent visit to the two-starred Au Crocodile (10 Rue de l'Outre; 33-3/88-32-13-02; au-crocodile.com), the grandfather of Strasbourg chefs, Emile Jung, served meringue plunged into liquid nitrogen with panfried red berries and lychee sorbet. Despite such nods to modernity, the kitchen's strength is in its classics, such as sautéed duck liver in white port reduction and red mullet with broad beans and artichokes. This feels appropriate in the main dining room which, with its muted salmon tones, glass ceiling, and large mural of Strasbourg in 1874, whispers tradition. The effect is augmented by a nine-foot stuffed crocodile brought back by an Alsatian officer who served in Napoléon's Egypt campaign.
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