home > dining > france > alsace > blienschwiller

Le Pressoir de Bacchus – This is an unprepossessing, country-style restaurant (in an otherwise uninviting village; it’s pretty, but definitely no tourist destination despite a high concentration of wineries no one’s ever heard of) that, in the absence of recommendation, would go largely unnoticed. And that would be a tragedy, because the philosophy and cuisine exhibit a remarkable focus. A local couple owns this twenty-seat establishment, buys everything possible from local merchants (except, somewhat ironically for us, for some meats from New Zealand, which they laud as a source of impeccable ingredients), and assembles local wines (that, again, no one has ever heard of) to accompany the food. I sample presskopf – typically a glutinous and indifferent mishmash of leftover cranial “parts” – of striking intensity (salty, gelatinous, and utterly delicious) on salad, which is followed by a decadent, house-made pâté de foie gras paired with a meatier house-made pâté. It’s a perfect, classically Alsatian lunch. Theresa’s more-involved duck breast is superb, and much better than the overcooked, confused version served the previous day, with an adventurous, Indian-influenced spicing that’s almost shocking in this highly-traditional region. This is a kitchen to watch. Better yet, this extraordinary food is priced no higher than the indifferent choucroute-by-numbers at hundreds of similar-seeming establishments. (3/06)