How to Eat and Drink Well in Lyon

No other city in France teases the taste buds like Lyon, birthplace of traditional French cuisine. Home to both the workingman's bouchons and many celebrity chefs, the capital of the Rhône-Alpes region has become the engine room for France's modern cooking canon.

Lyon owes much of its success as a gastronomic center to its auspicious location at the crossroads of several regional cuisines—the hearty cooking of the mountainous east; Auvergne's lambs to the west; Mediterranean tomato-and-olive-oil-rich dishes to the south; and the luscious butters and cheeses of the north. Not to mention Rhône-Alpes' own natural riches: fish from local rivers, apricots and cherries from hillside orchards, and dairy and pork products from valley farms.

Restaurants here offer a compelling juxtaposition between simple workingman's fare and sophisticated haute cuisine. Casual bouchons offer classic everyday dishes like gratinée lyonnaise (onion soup) and boudin noir (pork blood) sausages. At the other end of the spectrum, überchef Paul Bocuse (master of nouvelle cuisine) serves masterpieces like black-truffle soup encased in pastry. And a coterie of creative young chefs has emerged, making it hard to go wrong in this food-focused city.

Charcuterie

One of Lyon's great contributions to France's gastronomic pantheon, charcuterie was a way to both preserve and use every part of a pig. Cured, brined, smoked, or potted, the meat appears as sausages, cured or air-dried ham, or rustic terrines of hearty paté. Although charcuterie is traditionally pork-based, it can also use beef, duck, or goose, mostly in the form of rillettes, a flavorful paté preserved in a silky later of rendered fat. Previously in decline in France due to industrial versions and a loss of know-how, charcuterie is now being revived by artisans.

Quenelle de Brochet

Traditionally made with whitefish, especially the native pike from the Saône and Rhône Rivers, the velvety quenelle remains a Lyon classic. Found in every neighborhood bouchon—each with its own special recipe—the dumplinglike fish cake is made with a flour-based white sauce mixed with cooked fish, then strained for a light and fluffy consistency. The mixture is shaped into ovals, briefly poached, and served with sauce mousselline (whisked egg, mustard, and lemon juice).

Bouchon

When in Lyon, a meal at an authentic Lyonnais bouchon is a must. A worker's restaurant, the family-run bouchon traditionally ranged from a rowdy bistro with sawdust-strewn floors to the more respectable versions of today, with gingham curtains, a roaring fire, and homey decor. Bouchons of all stripes serve a limited menu of hearty roasted meats and terrines, delicate quenelles, roast fowl and pork, and regional cheeses and charcuterie, all washed down with a deliciously fruity Beaujolais wine.

Nouvelle Cuisine

Hands down the most influential culinary innovation of the later 20th century, nouvelle cuisine was pioneered by Lyon native son chef Paul Bocuse. A lighter, healthier fare, this new cuisine favors simpler recipes, the freshest possible ingredients, and quick cooking times to highlight the natural flavors of vegetables and meat. Although it may seem something of a paradox coming from the capital of hearty dishes, savory sauces, and cured meats, nouvelle caught on like wildfire, sparking a worldwide revolution that paved the way for both the locavore and slow-food movements.