Where to Eat in Aix: Outside of Aix: Guest post by M.L. Longworth

Today I welcome back M.L. Longworth, author of the Verlaque  & Bonnel mystery series. Her latest, Murder in the Rue Dumas, takes place in a small university in the idyllic town of Aix-en-Provence in the South of France. This charming series continues with a dumbfounding murder that nearly stumps the handsome chief magistrate of Aix, Antoine Verlaque.  I love this series. Who doesn't love Provence? There is so much wining and dining in this novel, that I'm pleased that M.L. Longworth who lives near Aix chose to share some of her favorite dining spots in Aix for the theme of this guest post.

Read a previous guest post that appeared on Mystery Fanfare by M.L. Longworth about her life and writing in Aix.

**Book Giveaway: Murder in the Rue Dumas. Make a comment below. Be sure and leave your email address. ***

M.L. Longworth
Where to Eat in Aix: Outside of Aix 

Aix-en-Provence has golden stone buildings, medieval winding streets, dozens of ancient fountains, and beautiful people. But it doesn't have good restaurants. Is it because the beautiful people don't care about good food? Or is it because Aix has always been a big tourist and student town, so local chefs have never had to make an effort at filling their restaurants?

So when we go out to eat in Aix, it's usually outside of the city's walls. One of the first landmarks you'll see when coming towards Aix is Mont Saint-Victoire, Cézanne's obsession: he painted over 100 images of the white craggy mountain. At the foot of the mountain is the charming Provençal village of Puyloubier, home to one of our favorite restaurants, Les Sarments. Chef Jean-Sébastien Gentil has worked in Paris and London and his food reflects his training: sophisticated, refined, and cooked and presented with imagination. I don't care for the interior, but the courtyard is lovely.

It's also best to dine outside at La Table de Ventabren, west of Aix. This Michelin one-star restaurant is located in old Ventabren, a medieval perched village (lower Ventabren is a bedroom community of Aix). From the terrace, which is elegantly furnished, the views south reach almost to the sea. There are two prix-fixe menus, at 41 and 50 euros, which change weekly. When you're on the terrace on a warm summer's evening, it's heaven.

North of Aix is a winery and sculpture park, Château La Coste, the passion of an Irish billionaire and his sister. We never liked La Coste's wines until the Irishman took over; he modernized the chai, went organic, and hired Matthieu Cosse as chief winemaker. Cosse's Pentes Douces red wine is fantastic. And now for the grounds: imagine you could hire any Pritzker winning architect--Jean Nouvel or Frank Gehry, and then commission famous sculptors--Richard Serra, Andy Goldsworthy--to create works of art for your grounds, well, that's what this brother and sister did. I think that the two-hour walk through the grounds is one of the best things Aix has going for it. And I've never eaten in their chic restaurant, so can't say if it's good. But when you're having lunch in a Tadao Ando building, who cares?

www.restaurant-sarments.com
4 rue Qui Monte
13114 Puyloubier 04 42 66 31 58

www.latabledeventabren.com
1 rue Cézanne
13122 Ventabren
04 42 28 79 33

www.chateau-la-coste.com
2750 Route de la Cride
13610 Le Puy Ste-Réparade
04 42 61 92 90

M.L. Longworth: Death at the Château Bremont, Guest Post & Book Giveaway

I admit it, I'm a Francophile. Knowing that, you won't be surprised that I couldn't resist picking up Death at the Chateau Bremont with a cover complete with chateau, spilled wine and a dead body! What's more, the book is set in historic Aix-en-Provence! Billed as a Verlaque and Bonnet Mystery, it portends to be a series. Great! Death at the Chateau Bremont has wonderful characters and fabulous setting, with new insights into the French police system. Thoroughly enjoyed Death at the Chateau Bremont.

BOOK GIVEAWAY: WIN A COPY OF DEATH AT THE CHATEAU BREMONT. Comment on your most "French" experience.

M.L. Longworth has written for The Washington Post, The Times (London), The Independent, and Bon Appétit magazine. She divides her time between Aix-en-Provence and Paris, where she teaches writing at New York University's Paris campus.

M.L. Longworth:

I was once stuck on an article I was writing about the Aix-en-Provence of Paul Cézanne, and a very generous editor at The Washington Post gave me this advice: Okay, so you’re writing about this new place that you love. But what did Cézanne see and hear when he walked from his studio in Aix, along a country road, to the village of Le Tholonet? What did he smell when he climbed the paths of Mont Ste-Victoire? What did he taste when he ate lunch at Les Deux Garçons? These words are always in the back of my head, regardless of whether I’m writing an article about a local restaurant or a chapter in my next book. I really want the reader to experience Aix-en-Provence the way I do, as if they were beside me.

We moved to Aix in 1997 and I immediately began writing articles about the region. I couldn’t get enough of Provence. But after a few years I began to grow restless; not with the area, but with the restrictions of writing non-fiction. I began having conversations in my head and realized that if I wrote fiction then my characters could live in, and experience, Provence as I do. Aix is a law town—it has been since the Middle Ages—which seemed to me a good place to situate a mystery, and I imagined my protagonists involved in the law profession.

But before you begin writing a novel, you need characters. From the start I had a clear picture of Antoine Verlaque in my head: he would be troubled but savable, a snob but with a sense of humor. He’s a gourmet, and a gourmand (for the French, someone who eats too much), just like I am, and we both love good wines and Cuban cigars. I didn’t have a role model for the heroine; I just knew that I wanted her to be very unlike myself. One afternoon, while I was trying on clothes in my friend Joelle’s shop, her sister hurried in. She was tall, beautiful, sweet and a little anxious, and a law professor. She became Marine. I thought it might be a good idea to develop a mystery series where there’s a couple doing the sleuthing, not yet married. Their relationship may be exciting, but it has lots of ups and downs.

The other characters were easier to fill in, as Aixois are so willing to chat, and after a few conversations you’ll discover that the cheese seller knows more about contemporary theatre than anyone you’ve ever met; or that your hairdresser is also a competitive cyclist. I didn’t have to exaggerate for the book; Bruno Paulik (the Commissioner) is a policeman but is an opera aficionado and loves plant life. Fabrice, the cigar-club president, is a plumber with a vast knowledge of Cuban music. There’s often more to people than meets the eye, I think, regardless of where you live.

I originally began the book with what is now chapter three: the morning of a typical work day for Marine, beginning with coffee at her favorite café—where she will discover that a childhood friend has died. Etienne de Bremont’s death again came to me thanks to a friend, who had dragged me to her in-law’s big country house to look for something her husband had misplaced in the attic. It was an antique dealer’s dream: full of gilded mirrors too heavy to move, sets of mismatched porcelain, paintings of seascapes and ancestors leaning against the stone walls. The attic was a perfect setting for a murder (it had a huge, open window, and I pointed out its danger to my friend). We never did find what she was looking for, but that evening I began writing ‘Death at the Château Bremont.’