Restaurant La Cremaillère, Greoux-les-Bains
Haute-Provence, France

2003 introduced a new chef, Eric Canino, for the restaurant of Hotel La Crémaillère; a real blessing. In 2004, he was able to consolidate his kitchen and its systems and produced really marvelous food making the restaurant a food lovers' destination whether you are there for spa healthy eating or want to pig out on glorious tastes.

In 2005 he further refined his inventive recipes, using local, simple but extremely fresh ingredients into complex taste sensations that rely on a delicate symphony of complimentary tastes rather than trying to impress you with their cleverness and/or exotic choreography.

But his culinary effect is not centered on great slabs of foie gras to inflate the pricing structure nor rare caviars or hard to find truffles. You won't find gold foil twists on a mille feuille of vegetables chopped into perfect microscopic cubes to impress the jaded palates of French reviewers. He focuses instead on taste and combination of tastes. With subtle slights of hand, he can work magic with every day ingredients like tomatoes, herbs, olives, olive oil and other simple ingredients sing different tunes.

Eric Canino is a local lad who has worked in some fine kitchens down on the coast under some excellent chefs and maintains contact with his culinary companions throughout the south. While he follows the fads and trends in cuisine, his recipes are totally his own. He has brought a whole new quality level to the food and some dynamic new ideas making La Crémaillère a culinary destination of note.

Terrace by the bar zoom+ Amuse Bouche with mini-roll sandwiches, Caviar of Eggpland and Tomatoes with Parmesan			zoom+ Amuse Bouche with home made bread sticks and condiments. zoom+ Recipe > "Salade de Chevre Chaud" or salad with sauteed battered and herbed round of fresh goat cheese on a mixed green salad with pine nuts and vinaigrette dressing.
Photos Peter D'Aprix © 2000-5

Strangely enough, the administration of the hotel does not seem to realize quite what a special chef they have in Eric Canino. They have seemed to have stopped thinking when he met their requirements of producing excellent, light meals for their spa residents and creating enough recipes to provide a different fixed menu for lunch and dinner for 3 weeks in a row. What he does with the restaurant after that does not catch their attention. I think it will. But their first goal is understandable even if their myopia is not.

Since Greoux les Bains where La Crémaillère is located, is a spa town and the hotel itself part of the spa chaine of hotels "Chaine Thermale duSoleil" owned by the wife of world famous chef Michel Guerard, the orientation of the restaurant of this three star hotel is toward light, low cal food. One of the short comings of the previous chefs is that they repeated the same menus far too frequently, often within the same week, thus driving their patrons to other restaurants for a greater variety of tastes. Eric Canino and his new team has changed that with menus for lunch and dinner that do not repeat for 3 weeks at minimum. In addition, they have develop a new seasonal gourmet menu for those who do not want to be restricted to a spa menu that changes each quarter and provides a further forum for the chef's new idea (which never stop!).

But both the delicous spa menu and the richer gourmet menu are big on vegetables prepared with such style that you rediscover the marvelous tastes of things that grow in and on the earth.

zoom+ Cabillaud et Gnocchi zoom+ Roasted langoustines crusted with sesame seeds.

zoom+ Meli-Melo Legumes The dining room in soothing white, mustard yellow and blue colors, bathed in reflected sunlight.

So if you find yourself in this part of the world, stuffed from over-rich dishes, going a little nuts with chefs who are trying to make their mark by guilding the lily, this is the place to come for either a light meal or a full repast that while light and not suffering from rich sauces and gobbed up vegetables is substantial and filling.

Chef de Cuisine Eric Casino. zoom+ "Napoleon" of strawberries.

3 Sorbets - Vanilla Bean, Caramel and Chocolate on a crisp mini crepe. zoom+ Warm mini chocolate cake with liquid strawberry-chocolate center.

The service is just that pleasant balance of friendliness and professionalism that make you feel at home and the same time out on the town. We have become regulars and when we arrive each year, we feel we have finally arrived when we have our first dinner at La Crémaillère with our little dog "Doogie" who instantly receives a large silver water bowl that for him is more like a swimming pool.

Chef Canino has yet to be discovered by the larger guides such as Gault Millaut and Botin, but it won't be long since they all have tested his cuisine. If France, it is the chef not the restaurant that is awarded the honors.

This is one of those places that is not pretentious. It is real. It is a nugget to share with your friends. It caters to regular people. It is not filled with a babble of languages and multi-national licence plates. It is filled with a combination of French doing their bit at the spa as well as 3 generations of family members, the odd holiday maker and regulars from the local area. It is not aiming at another star or any star for that matter. They are happy to provide good, modern food in a pleasant environment both physical and personal at an affordable price. A rarity these days.

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Map of Region via "ViaMichelin.com"