In a brand-new neighborhood in Le Bouscat, a collection of parasols lets you know you’ve arrived at La Table du Décanteur, an immense space with pine green velvet chairs, a long banquette, a bar decorated with wooden slats and a enoteca corner… After Le Décanteur in Pessac, Lucas Baudet (sommelier and former front-of-house manager of Ze Kitchen Galerie in Paris) and his brother Benjamin have wisely entrusted the kitchen to the energetic Paul Andrejac (Ducasse, Gagnaire, Ledeuil), who prepared the dinnertime tapas menu and the affordable market menu we savored the day we went for lunch: a happy surf-n-turf combo of potato salad with crisp haricots verts, quartered soft-boiled egg, anchovies and clams; rabbit with prunes versions 2.0, prepared with tender roasted thigh that was juicy and caramelized, plus lardons and slow-roasted onions, a masterful prune and lemon sauce, and silky polenta on the side; a very successful peach tart with a flaky crust, creamy honey ice cream and a fresh bouquet of herbs (savory, lemon verbena, sage). // Raoul Taburin

FEELING THIRSTY? Over 450 labels in the cellar and 17 wines served by the glass! Want a few examples? An iconoclastic Sidre from Éric Bordelet (€6.50 for 330 ml), L’Hecto, a Coteaux-du-Lyonnais white from Clusel-roch (€6.80 a glass), La Violette du Manoir, a Castillon from François Thienpont (€6.40), along with a handful of aged Bordeaux wines, including a 1985 Saint-Estèphe from the Domaine Lafont-Rochet (€96)…
PRICE: Set menus €17-25 (lunch), kids’ menu €15, platters €9-16, tapas €7-8, à la carte €31-24 (dinner).