No Reservations Season 6 Episode 3: Brittany
Tony visits Brittany, France in this episode. Tony exclaims the shades of blue in the water there are far more beautiful than the descriptions he’s heard of or the water shown in famous paintings of the region. Tony meets up with famous chef Olivier Roellinger. Tony can barely keep up with chef Olivier, who dives into the local farmers market. Chef Olivier decided as a young man to become a chef after a near death experience, ever since the chef has been obsessed with food. Tony and the chef go to his hotel/restaurant Les Maisons de Bricourt and visit the chef’s bakery that provides the restaurant with fresh breads. Here they sample pork products with the bread including sausage and pate. The chef raises his own pigs in the back of the hotel that provide the pork products. Tony smiles at the pork products and says “best pork porn ever”.
Next chef Olivier takes Tony to his bakery Les Maisons de Bricourt to show him his delicious desserts. Tony orders a Napoleon dessert made of puff pastry and cream filling for dinner later that evening. Chef Olivier takes Tony to his shop Entrepots Epices-Roellinger, where he sells his own line of spices. Back at Les Maisons de Bricourt Tony and chef Olivier have dinner featuring fresh bass and lobster. Tony finally digs into his Napoleon dessert, saying it tastes even better than it looks.
Everywhere he looks, Tony see pristine shellfish to eat. Tony starts ranting about wanting a shellfish tower. Zack the cameraman insists they visit one of the tourist shops to look at clothes. Zack tries on a white and black striped shirt. Tony tells Zack “you signed on to this tour, Gilligan”. Tony tells the viewers people in France do not wear striped shirts but people still insist on buying them when they visit.
Tony meets up with local specialty shop owner Mr. Peron to visit Belon oyster farm, among the most famous oysters in the world. Anne Belon is a fifth-generation oyster farmer who gives them a tour of the farm. Tony tries fresh oysters out of the water and loves the taste, calling them sweet and nutty tasting. Mr. Peron and Tony sit down at a nearby oyster bar called Le Bistrot de L’Ecailler and eat oysters to their heart’s content.
In the next scene we see Tony mock yelling at the producer “where’s my wine?”. The producer gave Tony wine to carry while walking along the dock near the water then takes it away to Tony’s dismay. He complains he should have a glass of wine in hand for these “beauty scenes” they are filming since France has wonderful wine. Tony’s whining gets him his glass of wine back and all is right with the film world.
Tony is visiting an outdoor fish stand. Ato Dossena’s specialty is frying and grilling fresh fish. Ata serves Tony pea stew, grilled bass and grilled salmon. From there Tony meets up with Mr. Peron at his specialty shop to sample his canned and jarred foods. Boutique de Pont-Aven is famous for their jarred sardines, the fish standing upright in the jars and swimming in olive oil. Tony is amazed at how good the quality and taste of the sardines are for canned and jarred versions. As they sample the sardines with white wine and bread, Tony says he could drink down the sardine olive oil like a PBR (Pabst Blue Ribbon beer) its so good.
Crepes are next on the menu, Tony figures you gotta do crepes when in France, so he and Franz Lang visit Ty Billig Creperie. Tony and Franz start with breakfast crepes, a sunnyside egg with crisp bacon wrapped in a crepe. Tony and Franz approve of the egg and bacon crepe. The next crepe features andouille sausage, mustard and seaweed. They both grimace at the taste and Tony says it sucked. A sweet crepe is next, simple butter, sugar and apple brandy. This crepe is a welcome change from the last one and is enjoyed by them both.
After crepes, Tony starts talking about that shellfish tower he wants to eat. Tony is invited to his guide’s home where Tony is cooked a traditional french meal. The meal consists of boiled beef and vegetables and savory Farz, made of buckwheat flour, similar to a pancake mix, then boiled, broken up and mixed with meat. A sweet Farz is next, using the simple ingredients of butter, eggs and white and brown sugar. Tony says the sweet Farz was reminiscent of a sweet Yorkshire pudding. Tony tells the family “this meal was like a one most chefs ache for”, calling it a wonderful meal.
Finally Tony has found his destination for a shellfish tower meal, Chez Jacky, a popular seafood spot located on the Port de Belon. Tony tells the viewers this scene is about ordering the shellfish tower meal and pigging out. The huge platter is meant for two people (or more) and comes filled high with snails, shrimp, clams, cockles, periwinkles, mussels, crab and lobster claws with bread to accompany the meal. He starts with the snails and works his way up to the claws. Tony is in heaven and feels satisfied after defeating the tower of shellfish on his own. At the end of the episode we see Tony and the crew wearing their new tourist striped shirts from france and digging into another shellfish tower.
