Where's the boeuf?

Charolais (shar-o-lay) -- a big, docile sweetheart of a white French cow -- is a slice (sorry) of heaven.

They are raised all over the world now, but the ones I saw recently were concentrated in Burgundy, and in the Loire bread basket -- hey, that's a pain panier!

The way they do charolais at La Ciboulette (Beaune) is, I am assured by a Francophile, in the traditional French country style

Ordered medium-rare, the unmarbled cut cooked up firm yet not even remotely tough. The texture was not unlike a high quality buffalo steak.

The flavor of charolais is earthy, remarkably like lamb. I would use the term gamey, but a lot of unadventurous eaters (yeah lamb-haters, I mean you) confuse that with liver-y, and I don't want to scare anyone off.

Market day in Beaune (video below)

Best of all is a thin sauce of lemon and cheese (possibly Epoisses, the signature Burgundian cheese) poured over the charolais. These are not overpowering flavors, even though Epoisses is known for a stinky aroma.* I suspect the heat of cooking moderates the lemon and cheesiness. If I were making it, I would use the sequence melted butter - cheese - lemon juice - skillet drippings. Maybe a little white wine.

Bon apetit.

Of course, you have to finish the meal with a Calvados. Purely to aid the digestion, of course.

Cute and yummy.

24 seconds at Beaune market day

* We later had a chance to sample some Epoisses, and its stinky reputation is undeserved. It has an aroma, but it is in no way unpleasant or overpowering. And it may be the most complexly flavored cheese you'll every try -- nutty, buttery, with a distinct undertone of lamb.

"We don't have those"...

...the waiter at Olive You (Greenwood) said to me, at 11am on a Saturday morning, in response to my request, Hi, I just wanted to stop in for an omelet.

It's on the menu posted out front, I replied to his reply.

"Oh, we stopped doing that a while ago," he said, lackadaisically.

No omelets? This is a Greek restaurant?

"Yes."

That’s open for brunch?

"That’s right."

Then it’s the strangest Greek restaurant I’ll never eat in.*



* I don't count the time we went in to Olive You for take out. It was during their first month in existence. We chatted with the owner, and before you could say avgolemono he had talked us into homemade dolmathes, marinated peppers, calimari and olives for a cool $45. Apparently the only thing we didn't get was the undercoating.

They had me at Ketel One

On this year's first really warm day, we made our way to the Back Door Kitchen (Friday Harbor).

The Back Door is tucked behind a landscaping business on San Juan Island. Look off the back corner of the gravel parking lot on A Street for the boulder with Enter chiseled into it; this is the gate to food paradise.

Choose between sitting in the intimate dining room, cozy bar or outdoor piazza. The sandstone and granite area doubles, I suspect, as the daytime showroom for the landscapers, so it looks like something out of Sunset.

Food & Wine writers, feel free to crib: Back Door's menu is heavy on organic and local ingredients --

• Westcott Bay oysters with bread crumbs and Parm
• Caesar salad
• Chipotle Mushroom Soup
• Herb-crusted Mediterranean lamb sirloin, with mashed potatoes and fresh veg.
• Scallops tasting fresh like the ocean, not fishy
• An excellent house red
  

Best of all, the cocktail list is anchored by a terrific vodka concoction that uses Ketel One, muddled mint leaves, lime juice, and Reed's Ginger Brew.

Back Door Kitchen is another one of those places that are managing to put quality, organic dishes on the table, at prices that are not bad at all -- entrees are $27-28, appetizers $7-11.

The next day I took Clipper Vacation's Victoria Clipper III catamaran ferry back to Seattle. The good news: only 3 hours to downtown. The bad news: it was like taking the bus. Specifically, the Metro Route 358. If the 358 had filthy carpets, smaller seats, germy handprints everywhere, and children running constantly up and down the aisle.