Dinner at the Château: Coq au Vin, Conversation, and a Very French Evening
Dinner at the Château: Coq au Vin, Conversation, and a Very French Evening Dinner tonight felt exactly like the sort of evening I had imagined when I pictured staying in a French château. We gathered around the long dining table, dressed in its magnificent deep-red and gold cloth. The room itself makes an ordinary dinner feel ceremonial. Suits of armor stand watch from the walls, an imposing armored figure occupies its Gothic niche, and the enormous carved chair at the head of the table looks as though someone considerably more important than any of us should be sitting there. White napkins rose dramatically from the glasses, baskets of bread were passed around, wine appeared on the table, and soon everyone was talking at once. [Photo 1 – The château dining room and dinner table.] Then dinner arrived. Tonight’s main course was coq au vin , one of those dishes that seems particularly appropriate when you are actually eating it in France. Traditionally, coq au vin means “roost...