Les Deux Nines

The mayor of St.-Jurs believed so strongly in a bistro/café/grocery/bread drop-off that he built this one with municipal funds. The grocery is adorable, it stocks Orangina, boar pâté, lemons, chestnut purée, eggs, jars of pieds et paquets (lamb's feet-and-tripe bundles), rice, and horse-milk soap. The dining room is filled with bouquets of dried phlomis, collections of anitque soup tureens and battered straw hats, and tables laid with faded checked cloths and mismatched vintage plates. Views are of the Vanelsole Plateau, the world's largest living carpet of lavender. Typically there are four appetizers: tapenade with tuna; endive-and-walnut salad; cured ham; and a carrot confection spiced with cumin. A main course of beef daube is as getatinous as the owner likes it, which is very, a happy sign that she couldn't care less about wooing toursits. The menu includes a cheese course and two desserts, a flan and a walnut tart.