Simone à l'Hôtel Voltaire

Drumroll please on the adorable Place Voltaire, where the neo-fifties hotel by the same name welcomes the culinary prowess of Numa Muller, the itinerant chef behind the Simone pop-ups and residencies! At the big wooden tables of the ground floor restaurant or on the massive terrace, the local kid will be taking the people of Arles and those just passing through on a journey via his cleverly revisited terroir dishes, from now through the end of September. The proof came in threes the day we went for lunch: a rousing veal tartare with a briny jolt of oysters from Camargue; diabolically crispy yet tender veal sweetbreads glazed in their own drippings, buddying up with a creamy yet zingy Dijon mustard yogurt sauce, and some lush green haricots verts from local farmer Fabien Dumont; and more produce from that same farmer with some subtly sweetened peas for dessert, served both raw and as a coulis, paired with a strawberry salad over an impeccable lemon panna cotta topped with crushed meringue. // Marcellin Caillou

FEELING THIRSTY? : Highly natural wines, like Marguerite, an incredibly fresh Loire white from the Domaine de L’Écu (€43 a bottle), or Long Courrier, a complex Luberon grenache-syrah blend produced by Laura Aillaud (€46). Along with thoughtfully chosen soft drinks, starting with the sparkling Antidote “wine” from the Domaine des Grottes, which combines grape juice with an infusion of 15 different aromatic plants (€7 a glass).
PRICE: : À la carte €32-55.