Pluviose : Saint-Jean-de-Luz, France

New restaurant alert!

Very rarely am I this excited to share a new spot. Usually, I visit a spot several times and have on my skeptic’s hat before I will devote an entire blogpost to it, because, after all, everything I post on here is a labor of love, aka unpaid.

After a recent meal at Pluviose, the brand new restaurant in Saint-Jean-de-Luz, however, I am sooo excited to write about it! TLDR; you need to stop what you are doing NOW and make a reservation. (Actually, wait, read the post, the fact box is at the end anyway :)

In part, this is because it is the long-awaited opening by Luke Dolphin, one of the most talented (and obsessive) chefs in southwest France. After he closed his wonderful restaurant L’Antre, he spent a while exploring, cooking like a nomad, and living life before preparing this very special endeavor.

Pluviose is located on a tiny back street in the village of Saint-Jean-de-Luz. You’d miss it if you weren’t equipped with an iPhone GPS…heck, you might miss it anyway. The two level restaurant has a kitchen on the bottom floor with four seats at a chef’s counter, a table for up to six upstairs, and a quirky outdoor facing bar set up for a couple more diners. Intimate doesn’t really even begin to describe it.

So what kind of food is it?

On my recent visit, we started with the ripest tomatoes with homemade fresh cheese and olive oil, dusted with salt and pepper.

The next dish was a grilled veal sweetbread, with the mildest, most beautiful flavor. Next to it, you’ll see a fermented eggplant, finished with lovage and charred tomatillo.

This is the view from the four seats at the bottom level, where the kitchen is. Luke has an obsessive passion for sourcing the absolute most local produce, processing every piece from root to leave, or snout to tail, and cooking it up with his encyclopedic knowledge and the amount of care you’d expect when handling a baby, which Pluviose is, in a manner of speaking. All by himself, all as you watch him, just him. It’s a truly unique spot, perhaps what Alice Waters would have done if Chez Panisse were reimagined as a one-woman show. 

This take on a gilda was amazing. Luke used the trimmings from a 17-day dry-aged tuna, mixed with house-pickled guindillas and green tomato. Not just any green tomato, though…aged from 2018 with a flavor profile that is closer to green olive and becomes even more intense with age.

The freestyle menu included a lot of fresh fish, as it’s the season. This was raw red gurnard, yuzu kosho, and shallots that were salted for six months before being stored in homemade txakoli vinegar.

Did you see the gorgeous tableware by the way? Love it. This one is charred peppers with elephant garlic and a caramelized cream, literally cream separated and curds that have been cooked to golden brown.

These are the prime pieces of the aforementioned 17-day dry-aged tuna. In case you’re wondering, the aging doesn’t give any fishy feel, it just results in this perfectly plump, almost meaty piece of tuna. The green bits are juniper picked by Luke, and the black sauce is a fermented porcini juice made in 2020 with all the bits from the foraging basket, including moss and dirt.

Let Luke, who doubles as the sommelier and the wait staff, introduce you to his wonderful natural wine list. Always a treasure to be found…I was lucky enough to be dining with knowledgeable wine folks, and we had this 65% Chardonnay, 35% Pinot Noir champagne from Salima and Alain Cordeuil, biodynamic champagne makers. So special.

This tuna belly was simple, topped with some salted-then-pickled garlic from 2019.

What I love about Pluviose’s operation is the echoes it has of rustic, home cooking. This plate is one of them….the zucchini was cooked at the exact same time as the red mullet, both whole. This resulted in a really agreeable crunchy texture that isn’t very typical to find these days, with the red-wine-vin-macerated tomatoes, fresh garlic, and thyme to bring the savory pieces together. You could call it french peasant ketchup (if you want to get kicked out by Luke, haha).

This part of the meal was when I thought about Alice Waters. Nectarine, blistered and topped with a honey ice cream that Luke spun to my left while service was happening. Absolute love.

The last dessert was surprising, to say the least. Luke took his 3482-day-old sourdough starter and fried lumps of it in beurre noisette. A wonderfully tangy, savory pancake that they say is fabulous for digestion and your health. The bed is raspberry syrup and the top is a chocolate ganache with a touch of whiskey. I am trying to get Luke to make this set with maple syrup ice cream and whipped brown butter. I’m not sure he pays me any attention, though.

Pluviose is open Monday through Friday for lunch. Diners can choose between a three-course meal for €25 or a freestyle, eight-course meal for €60.

Pluviose opens for dinner every other Friday, Saturday, Monday and Tuesday. For example, this weekend, September 29 and 30, the restaurant is open. It is also open Monday October 2 and Tuesday October 3rd. Next weekend, October 6 and 7, the restaurant is not open for dinner… you get the picture.

Make reservations by DM on Instagram or at the restaurant telephone below. You have GOT to go!

Restaurant Pluviôse
+33 6 67 41 78 07
3 Rue du 17 Pluviôse
Saint-Jean-de-Luz, France 64500
https://www.instagram.com/restaurant_pluviose/