DINING ON THE WINE TRAIL: Le Flores, Saint Hilaire d'Ozilhan
Chef Emmanuelle Lachaud's tiny locavore bistrot is a marvelous addition to a quietly flourishing Gardois dining scene.
The Native Companion often teases me for my habit of exclaiming, whenever I arrive in almost any village in almost any viticultural region, “I could imagine living here!” There could be ashes raining from the sky and heads on pikes outside the town hall, but if there was good wine around, I could imagine living there.
Last week she surprised me by taking the words right out of my mouth, as we sat down to lunch in the Gard village of Saint Hilaire d’Ozilhan. The occasion, for lunch as well as the NC’s unusual affection, was Le Flores, the enchanting village bistrot reopened last June by chef Emmanuelle Lachaud and her companion, Charles Soulier of Les Frères Soulier. (Managing the service until next month is Agathe Puel, who formerly worked for neighboring vigneron Nicolas Renaud, and who’s departing imminently to focus on her own nascent wine estate in Sabran.)
Named for Lachaud’s grandmother, Le Flores occupies the tiny restaurant space formerly home to chef Didier Benoit’s estimable La Tête d’Ail, consisting, as then, of a handful of tables inside and another half-handful on a mostly-shaded rear terrace.
Lachaud is a Perpignan native who has very thoroughly cooked her way through practically every kitchen in the local natural wine scene, from Tavel’s La Courtille to Les Insolents in Uzès and La Grange de Vers. At Le Flores, she emphasizes local sourcing, including, twice a year, meat from the small sheep farming side-business of Les Frères Soulier.
Puel proposed a glass of white wine when we arrived. Having never heard of the vigneron and having yet to see the wine in the glass, I dared to ask whether it was unfiltered and unsulfited.
“Of course it is,” she replied with a grin. “I only serve the wines that I like here.”
Among the highlights, on the day of our visit, was a luscious salad of veal tongue, offering delicate textural contrast with shaved cabbage.
An abiding Mediterranean spirits permeates Lachaud’s menu, from the anchoiade hidden beneath a sanguineous hangar steak, to the chickpeas underpinning a succulent hunk of salt cod.
Seasoning, throughout, is masterfully balanced; even Lachaud’s modest terrine de campagne packed a satisfying complexity of flavor.
Lachaud says her concentration on locally-sourced products comes easily in the Gard.
“We have a direct access to lots of things,” she says. “From all the varieties of cabbage in winter, to sweet potatoes, chickpeas, and onions from Vers. There are several organic gardeners [in the area], including Valentin Goisbault, and Didier Muffat in Belvézet, and another in Saint Siffret.”
Lachaud thus summons, for Le Flores’ handful of tables, a bounty of pedigreed plates that is rare in one-bistrot towns - rare, even, in major cities.
Le Flores
6 Pl. Jean Jaurès
30210 SAINT HILAIRE D’OZILHAN
Tel: +33 9 75 43 54 80
Opening hours change between the off-season and the summer season; be sure to check the restaurant’s Instagram before your visit and be sure to reserve in advance.
FURTHER READING
A July 2021 visit to the previous restaurant to inhabit Le Flores’ space, La Tête d’Ail.
A July 2021 interview with Charles Soulier of Les Frères Soulier.
A March 2019 visit to Les Frères Soulier.
Issue 4: L’Avant Gard
Issue 4.5: From Arles to Uzès
A very, very brief October 2023 podcast with Emmanuelle Lachaud by François-Régis Gaudry.