The Restaurant Examiner: La Panetière in Rye to Serve Annual “Bastille Day” Celebration Dinner
Celebrated every year on the fourteenth of July, France’s equivalent of America’s Independence Day is its national holiday Bastille Day. Many restaurants in Paris and elsewhere in France serve special meals on Bastille Day.
The holiday commemorates the storming of the infamous prison on July 14, 1789, during the reign of King Louis XVI — generally considered as the start of the French Revolution.
“On Bastille Day, a political prison fell, symbolizing the end of monarchy for a while,” related Jacques Loupiac, the founder of the restaurant La Panetière in Rye in 1986.
“When La Bastille fell, food was very scarce,” said Loupiac. “Parisians improvised civic dinners with tables in all the streets. The rich brought roasts and expensive wines; the poor brought stews and cheeses and the sounds of accordions invited the crowd to dance,” Loupiac said.
His restaurant will pay respect to Bastille Day with a festive dinner and optional wine, and French melodies provided table-side by a strolling accordionist.
Two choices are offered for the entrée: roasted tenderloin of veal with spring sweet peas, spring ramps and lettuce chiffonade or thyme-scented saddle of rabbit with fave beans, fettuccine, young carrots, and Dijon mustard sauce.
The courses to be served are:
- Strawberry gazpacho with pancetta crumble
- Foie gras confit, ginger bread toast
- Seared skate fish grenobloise
- Choice of entrée: Roasted tenderloin of veal or thyme-scented saddle of rabbit
- Fresh cherries with Greek yogurt
- Caranoix chocolate cake, crisp praline
- “Let them eat” petit fours
The optional wine pairings are:
- With appetizer. N.V. Xeres Palomino Fino Seco, Gonzales Bypass, Spain
- With fish. 2011 Chardonnay Villa Botanica Viognier, Pays D’Oc
- With entrée. 2011 Chateau Cap de Faugeres, Cotes de Castillon, Bordeaux
- With dessert. 2014 vin de Noix, walnut-scented wine
The prix-fixe dinner, to be served on July 14 from 6 to 9:30 p.m., is priced at $85 per person with optional wine pairing costing an additional $50. The regular dinner menu will also be available.
Owner Jacque Loupiac will answer questions about the food from guests, wine from aficionados and Bastille Day from history buffs.
La Panetière is located at 530 Milton Road, Rye, NY, 914-967-8140, www.lapanetiere.com.
