Au Boeuf Noir

I hope I never get tired of this sort of thing--tonight we decided on fairly late notice to go to France for dinner. So I poked around the Michelin guide and found a restaurant more or less at random in a nearby town: Au Boeuf Noir in Hésingue. (By the way, is it not a little strange that the authority on European restaurants is a tire company? I mean, if I'm looking for a good restaurant back home, it's not like Goodyear or Firestone jump to mind as resources. But I digress.) I loved my appetizer--smoked salmon over fried potatoes (trust me, it sounded and tasted much fancier in French)--and Gretchen had an almost perfect steak for her main course. It was kind of fun that they didn't really speak English, so we had to make do with our elementary French--it always adds an element of mystery to the meal since we're never entirely sure exactly what we've ordered. Best of all, it was just a short 20-minute drive from our house. And tomorrow night we're meeting friends for dinner at one of their favorite restaurants, Wirtshaus zur Säge in Flüh (Switzerland). Our wallets may be lighter after this weekend, but our waist lines will more than make up for it!