Provence J’Adore: Spilled Milk #310

Aromatic herbs, olives and tomatoes combine to make a perfect Provençal fish dish.

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Provence has become more than just a flavor profile. It’s a lifestyle, timeless, fragrant and deeply appealing in a world that craves more and more comfort and authenticity. American chefs and home cooks are infusing Provençal flavors into their cooking all the time, sometimes without even realizing it.

Long before I ever made it to the South of France and fell in love with EVERYTHING I saw and ate, there was one my favorite all time restaurants that opened when I was cooking and working in New York City. Do you remember Provence? ​

Provence was a superb French restaurant located at 38 MacDougal Street in Manhattan, in what is now a well-trodden corner of SoHo. Michel Jean opened the restaurant in 1986, and within days it became one of the hottest tables in town. A bright and romantic restaurant that offered real Provençal cuisine, designed to look like a visit to the French countryside. Three tables or so outside, vin d’orange on every table. Heaven. Mediterranean flavors, the cuisine of the sun, olives, garlic, figs, rosemary, potato, tomato, eggplant, herbs. Roads that led to bouillabaisse and chickpea dishes I had never tasted before. Clearly, I never forgot about it. I went as often as I could. It was a perfect restaurant, yellow walls, a garden in the back, Bastille Day pétanque tournaments and, well, you get it. Heaven on earth. It had a 20 year run, but man, oh, man, those first six to seven years it was without equal.