Have you ever tasted meat that... tasted like meat ?
During the 1980's I used to go outrageously often to
Meribel in the Three Valleys of the French Alps, at least 2 weeks twice a year. At the time McDonald's was not so omnipresent and genetically modified food was still a myth you could only read about in a
Scientist-like magazine or a Sci-Fi novel of morbid inspiration.
Meribel is a pleasant ski resort. Back in 1978, only a few hotels were present. With the 80's came the easy money for many French and Parisians in particular. Lots of tax-free cash (read "black money") was made by business men who were eager to spend it all around in fast cars, expensive girlfriends and vacations with their families in luxury resorts.
Meribel became fastly the place to be for the
nouveaux riches. This status culminated in 1992 when the Olympic Winter Games took place in Albertville. The mini-city of Meribel, like lots of other villages in the French Alps, then became the prey of entrepreneurs who ill advised many city councils in very ambitious and too costly building developments. After 1992, 60% of those buildings were empty as a result of this "other" scandalous French misadventure of public money.
As a result and thanks to the development of the Eurostar and cheap flights, those buildings were then promoted and sold to many English people who now own most of the place.
Anyway. Back in the beginning of the 80's, Meribel was a village of real
Savoyards (the habitants of Savoie, the name of the region). The landscape was almost immaculate, and the city very small. It was like, if you were spending more than a week or two there you knew exactly everybody (and I mean it). Back then, the
apres-ski hour (after-ski tea time if you prefer, though in Savoie it's more like drinking a glass of hot red wine) was a good reason for everyone to meet at
La Taverne, and later on, for late hours at Les Saint Pères (the disco club).
Fights between people were occurring from time to time like to expel bad blood. Back then 2 brothers were owning the whole village's shops, selling ski suits for today's equivalent of 700$.
Yes, that was cool.
You can imagine th smell then. The immaculate smell of the mountain, the French cheese, the cows, the snow. A dream today, even for the wealthiest people on earth.
It is there that I tasted the best meat of beef I have ever tasted in my life. The côte de boeuf (T-bone)
Chez Kiki has been a miraculous experience, luckily on several occasions.
Kiki, the chef and owner of the place was a very welcoming man. It seemed he always smiled with his small moustache. Surprisingly enough, the guy still has the moustache today. I wonder if the meat is still that good though.
There's not much more to say about this. It was just good meat.
Once, my father and I were having a big problem with the wheels of the Range Rover. When we arrived at the corner of Chez Kiki, it was then a very snowy winter, my father lost control and almost destroyed Kiki's car and Kiki himself (the car was a Lada, so imagine the bloody damage it would have been). We all survived.
A couple of months ago I went to the dentist who has his office at the corner of my house, some 50 meters away door-to-door. We had a nice chat about Meribel. He also mentioned this very nice restaurant : "mmm, I can't really remember the name right now". I held my breath.
"oh yes, of course, Chez Kiki".
