Great Local Hangout: Bar Jean in Biarritz

It’s no secret that I’ve got a big love for the Pays Basque — the Southwest corner of France that touches Spain, just north of the Pyrenees mountains. I’m smitten with the rugged landscape, the chaotic, unpredictable weather (it can be warm in December, as it was a couple of weeks ago, and I’ve had to layer on sweaters in June), and the roar of the Atlantic, wooing surfers here from all over the world. But more than any of that,  it’s the food that I love most — here, the cuisine is as honest and straightforward as the geography — and the people, too, all fiercely independent and still speaking their own pre-Roman language, Euskera (and still fighting for an independent state, but all that pesky Basque separatist activity aside, it’s a pretty peaceful area).

There’s the Basque cheese, Brebis, made from sheep’s milk, and often eaten with coing, or quince, for dessert; jambon de Bayonne, the area’s Serrano-like ham; Gateau Basque, a double-crusted “cake” that’s filled with vanilla or cherry cream; piperade, a pepper-onion mixture that reminds me of what we serve with fajitas. Food is cooked simply, and often quickly and without a lot of fuss. Northern France is all about creamy and buttery; here, the tastes of the ingredients are allowed to shine. When I found out that some of Paris’ most well-known chefs are from this area- uber-chef Alain Ducasse, Yves Camdeborde at Le Comptoir, Inaki Aizpitarte at Le Chateaubriand, L’Ami Jean’s Stephane Jago — I wasn’t surprised.

The first thing that Xavier and I do when we arrive in Biarritz, an 8 or 9 hour drive from Paris, is drop our luggage, walk out onto the westward-facing terrace overlooking the Atlantic, and breathe in the fresh air.

The second thing: we walk 10 minutes into town, past the whitewashed houses with the traditional Basque brick red trim and terra cotta-tiled rooftops and head to our favorite Basque tapas bar (or pintxos bar, as it’s called in Euskera), Bar Jean.

Filled with locals sipping sangria or vino tinto, a hearty Spanish red, Bar Jean is known for fresh, locally caught seafood, which the restaurant buys at the daily fish market just across the street. Posters of bullfights and paintings of bullfighters adorn the low-ceilinged, beamed rooms, joined together in a rather helter-skelter, add-on sort of way. It’s cozy, crowded, and the food is always good – and cheap.

Sometimes we start with the tiny sandwiches on the bar, but this time, I opted to go straight for the specials – mussels cooked a la plancha, or on a flat-top grill, the traditional way to cook fish (and just about everything else) in the Southwest, and couteaux, or knife-shaped shellfish, cooked with lots of parsley, garlic, and piment d’Espelette, the area’s best-known chile, a red, mild chile that’s available dried, and found in just about anything you can imagine, from mustard to chocolate.

I always order tortilla, too.

And Bar Jean’s fried calamari, served here with lemon along with a side of super-garlicky aioli. I first tasted the calamari here more than five years ago, and fell in love with it – until then, I’d only tasted the rubbery rings with a side of (gasp) marinara sauce, and not surprisingly, didn’t like it at all. These are so fresh, they melt in your mouth.

For dessert, we had Mamia, sheep’s yogurt (remember, the Basque sheepherders gave us the famous French beret), served with a side of honey. It’s lovely and lighter than any other yogurt that I’ve tasted here, and it’s difficult to find in Paris, so we eat as much of it as we can when we’re in the area. So does Rose.

Oh yeah. We love the Spanish wine, too.

Bar Jean
5 rue des Halles
Biarritz
05-59-24-80-38

Tagged as: Bar Jean, Basque cuisine, Biarritz, Pays Basque, tapas bars