Located across from the fronton (the traditional court for playing pelota, present in nearly every Basque town or village), this humble little restaurant has continued to over perform through visits spanning many years.  At lunch, there is a daily chef’s menu with 2 choices each for entree, plat and dessert, is a steal at 26 euros. On a recent visit, the starters were a delicious leeks vinaigrette, the vinaigrette more like an herby sauce gribiche with chunks of hard cooked eggs, and an escabèche of aubergines, thick slices of eggplant first fried, then left to come to room temperature in a slightly sweet combination of vinegar, olive oil and diced tomatoes, finished with a crumble of feta cheese. For plat, I had a lovely trout filet, perfectly cooked and served with braised lettuces and a rich shellfish broth, Sheila had paleron of beef, slow cooked, shredded and served liquor redolent of red wine,  with chickpeas and courgettes. For dessert, on offer was either local sheep’s milk cheese or a panna cotta scented with fig leaves, served with red cherries macerated with basque sour cherry liqueur.

Evenings, the ambiance is much more bar than resto, with a menu composed of raciones, or small plates.  We especially enjoyed a plate of green beans dressed with a tahini vinaigrette, a perfect tortilla espagnol and a very generous bocadillo stuffed with grilled chicken and caramelized onions. On Thursdays, the bar features pintxos, with your choice  from the bar display offered free with each glass purchased. This weekly special is a promotion arranged by the city of Ciboure and is available in most of the nearby bars.  Ambiance assurée!

For wine, Maitenia features an impressive list, especially deep in  Basque wines from both sides of the Pyrenees and leaning heavily toward organic, natural or  biodynamic.  This is no surprise, as the same team owns an excellent cave a vin across from the Halles of St-Jean-de-Luz called Canon.

Maitenia
Address:  8 Pl. du Fronton, 64500 Ciboure
Tel:  (011 33) 05 24 33 45 68
Reservations: advised, especially for lunch in the summer.  Not available for evenings.

A beautiful fall day in the lovely little village of Sare.  Located in the heart of the French Basque Countries, perched on a hill overlooking rolling green countryside and facing the Pyrenees, Sare is considered on the of most beautiful and most typical of Basque villages.  On a crisp day in November, the town is nearly empty of tourists, who flock there in the summer.

Petit déjeuner, Basque-style, one recent morning at a table outside the covered market in Biarritz.  A good strong noisette (we would call that a macchiatto I think), plus a warm slice of tortilla espagnole, the famous egg and potato frittata that is often served as a pintxo in the Pays Basque.

Literally across the street from the Bay of Biscay, Le Socowa is the  French version of a beach front fish shack. With that in mind, you would expect that organization would not be a strong point, which it is not:  they almost never answer the phone if you call for a reservation and as far as I can tell, they don’t have a website.  Similarly, the service is a bit casual:  the waiters are clearly stretched to cover all the tables on the terrace when the sun is out, chatty and easy-going when the clouds scare away the tourist hoards. But where Le Socowa punches above its weight is in serving very fresh, very simply prepared seafood sourced that day from the fishing boats docked at the port of Ciboure, 5 minutes away.

Consider the meal we had there this spring.  With aperos, crisy croquettes a la morue, moist salt cod barely held together with béchamel sauce, then breaded and deep fried. To accompany a bottle of rosé from the Basque countries, a number of small plates including very fresh sardines grilled on the plancha with only a squeeze of lemon, slow simmered octopus with plenty of Spanish smoked paprika, and anchovy filets, house cured with white wine vinegar and olive oil.  For the main course, a “parillada de mer”, a seafood mixed grill including head on pink prawns, merluchon (the arch-typical white fish of the bay of Biscay, a relative of cod that I think corresponds to “hake” in English) and chiperons (tiny squids cooked whole), all served with saffron rice pilaf and broiled tomatoes. To finish, a plate of Basque sheep’s milk cheese.  All impeccably fresh and very very simple.

Le Socowa is the sort of simple, honest, regional restaurant it is a pleasure to run across when discovering a new city.

Le Socowa
Address: 45 Av. du Commandant Passicot, 64500 Ciboure, France
Tel:  (011 33) 05 24 33 37 05
Reservations: accepted but not really necessary outside the season…in July and August, why are you in a beach town anyway?

The last time I had the good fortune to dine at Chez Mattin in Ciboure was pre-covid.  This family-run Basque restaurants has been consistently one of my favorites for years, see my recommendation from 2013! But a lot changed during covid, and many wonderful restaurants have either not opened or never re-found their pre-covid form, in terms of hours, services or quality. Thankfully that is not the case with Chez Mattin…if a recent lunch is any indication, they have thrived and are maybe better than ever.

Our recent lunch included a creamy shellfish bisque as an amuse bouche, then a plate of the excellent 2 year old jambon Ibaiana from Maison Ospital, followed by starters of house-made boquerones (anchovies  preserved with vinegar and olive oil) served on Japanese rice (an inspired, if not traditional, pairing) and  tiny Bay of Biscay clams simmered with purple artichokes.  Main courses included veal sweetbreads roasted whole with puree of sweet peas and baby goat cooked two ways, as a roulade stuffed with green chard, and its meaty bones slow simmered with piment d’Espelette.  For dessert, a simple but perfect profiterole with vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce.  Yum!

Just added to the Le Pichet menu by chef de cuisine Vince Hall:

Calamari, Penn Cove clams and mussels seared with parsley, garlic, jambon de Bayonne, piment d’Espelette and olive oil, with duck fat fingerling potatoes and a lemon wedge.

Fresh seafood simply seared on a plancha then tossed with persillade – a mixture of parsley and garlic ground with fat from jambon de Bayonne, olive oil, basque chili powder and a squeeze of lemon – is one of the trademark dishes of the French Basque Countries. Chef Vince adds local fingerling potatoes simmered in duck fat to round out a tasty winter dish.

In the Pays Basque, adding Borda to the name of an eating establishment signifies a rustic country inn. In Euskera, borda means barn and the original Bordas were kitchens set up in underused barns, often with the cooking done over wood-fired braziers and guests served at long rows of tables, outdoors when weather permitted. Although no one is likely to confuse the the bright, modern dining room at Haraneko Borda with a barn, its kitchen does feature a wood fired grill and oven, the room is framed by ancient wood beams and on sunny days, tables are set up on the expansive deck looking over the green, rural valley of Itxassou.

The restaurant at Haraneko is actually part of an expansive organic farm called Ferme Heranea where owner Christian Aguerre raises the ancient race of Basque black hogs known as “cochon noir de kintoa”, rumored to produce the best pork in France, was well as fruits and vegetables including the sour cherries for which the valley of Itxassou has become known. Starting a restaurant on the property was a logical next step in the farm’s evolution, creating a a dining experience that the chef calls “zero kilometer local”, meaning that the majority of the ingredients come directly from the restaurants own farm. Ham and pork from kintoa hogs, corn for taloa (Basque corn pancakes), chickens, eggs, piment d’Espelette, fruits and vegetables all from the farm. Even the wine served, although not all produced within 1 kilometer, all comes from the Pays Basque.

The cooking at Haraneko matches the setting, being both rustic and accomplished, sophisticated but simple, the kind of food I love to discover and to eat.

When we visited for lunch during the week in early May 2019, reservations were easy to get and the menu prices very fair. However, that could change, as Borda Haraneko has been discovered, recently being named Best Farm-Auberge in France by Le Fooding.

Haraneko Borda
Address: 3 Gerastoko Bidea, 64250 Itxassou, France
Tel: 05 59 15 09 68
Reservations: Recommended. Not busy outside the season but hours can be irregular

Axoa is a stalwart of good Basque country cooking. Our version is made in the style of the village of Espelette, with ground beef and veal simmered with sweet peppers, onions, garlic, tomato, thyme and Piment d’Espelette,served with pommes frites. Miam miam!  Available while supply lasts.

We recently had the chance to have lunch at Asador Etxebarri, a restaurant that has gotten a lot of attention from the culinary press for its grill-centric take on traditional Basque food.  I had read how great the food is but had not realized that the restaurant is so isolated or that it was in such a beautiful place.  It is located in the tiny village of Axpe (in the commune of Axtondo) in the the Basque region of the Bizkaia, which is right on the edge of the Parke Naturala Urkiolako. And when I say right on the edge, I am not kidding; the craggy peaks of the park tower over the village and create a striking view from the terrace at Etxebarri, where guests are offered a glass of champagne before the meal.

Axpe itself is too small to support a hotel (I dont know what the actual population is but it feels like about 10o), so instead we stayed at Biezko Basseria, a working farm that also welcomes guests.  The farm was only about 15 minutes walk from the restaurant but  seemed completely remote from the rest of the world.  The only sound at night was the distant ringing of cowbells on the mountain slopes above the farm.

Asador Etxebarri is located in the tiny collection of ancient stone buildings that constitutes the center of the village of Axpe. Somehow, time spent in the quietly beautiful Spanish  countryside seems an appropriate preparation for a meal at Etxebarri, where each dish seems a quietly, carefully considered expression of the land, the sea and what they offer.

I have never been one who thinks that photos and words can do justice to a wonderful meal; it needs to be experienced with friends. Suffice it to say that our lunch exceeded our expectations as well as our ability to eat even one more bite.  A very memorable meal in a stunning location.

Asador Etxebarri
Address: Plaza de San Juan, 1, 48291 Atxondo, Bizkaia, Spain
Tel: 946 58 30 42
Reservations: Imperative, accepted 3 months in advance, book very early

In addition to his visits to see artisan cheese maker, production of salt at Salies de Bearn and traditional methods of making jambon de Bayonne in Hagetmau, Café Presse chef de cuisine Patrick MacWhorter finished his trip to France at the Fête de Bayonne.    The Fête de Bayonne is the largest Basque festivals in France, and second in attendance only to Pamplona, on the Spanish side of the border.  During the week of the Fête, Bayonne swells from a city of about 45,000 residents to a madhouse of over 600,000 revelers.   As a guest of Fromagerie Agour, Pat was treated a bit like a visiting dignitary during his stay and received an invitation to the induction ceremony of the Confrérie de Jambon de Bayonne, an honorary society of aficionados of this Basque specialty.  The event was preceded by a press conference and followed by a reception.

Pat:  The press conference and induction ceremony was a private event in the middle of Bayonne during the Fête in an open courtyard at a private school.  The event had security at the entrance for invited guests only.  This included higher ups from newspapers, the top people in the Jambon Guild, famous old-style Basque singers (who would get everyone to stand and sing the old jambon de bayonne song in unison), photographers and others that were just presented to me as “important people”. And they all partied at the event until well after midnight and who knows how many legs of ham and bottles of wine were consumed.

Of course, private events are only a part of the Fête de Bayonne, and spending time in the streets with the crowds is a must.

Pat:  The Fête de Bayonne itself was a blast, every age group from teenager to over 70 were having a blast together until sunrise. 600,000 to 800,000 people attending such a small city people were setting up camp all around the outskirts of the city and walking in.  Military posts at every bridge and entrance into the city, patrols throughout the night and snipers on the roof where “King Leon” was overlooking the city.
(note: Roi Leon is the unofficial mascot and master of the Fête de Bayonne.  He and his court preside over the Fête and are celebrated during a parade through the streets).

Pat:  Groups of Marching bands would roam the city playing through alleys and stopping in front of random bars to get the patrons to join in song then move on to the next lucky group.  Businesses would board up their doors early as a “precaution”, I did not see any violence or destruction, but local graffiti artists would come and put their art up to be seen for a day or two before being taken down.  Street food was everywhere, everyone sold baguette sandwiches with cheese or jambon de bayonne, or just cups filled with sliced jambon de bayonne.  I would go back in a heart beat.