The Pizza, the Mayor, and Me

I can’t say that I felt as if I had been transported to Naples, but I did have a pretty good pizza today, along with a handshake and warm welcome from Daglan’s Mayor, Pascal Dussol. Who also happens to be the guy who made the pizza. And is the guy who owns the restaurant.

Often, M. Dussol may be found at his desk in Daglan’s Mairie, or at official functions, like this one:

At this year’s May 8th ceremony.

But in non-official life, he owns a restaurant/pizzeria called L’Eole, which sits just outside the northern boundary of St. Cybranet, the first village north of Daglan. Here’s a look at the front of the restaurant:

At the front of the restaurant.

Today I arrived at about 12:30, and found that I was the only customer to that point. The hostess did look after me quickly and well, and I was soon relaxing with a kir, gazing out at the roadside vegetation. Here’s the view from my table on the large terrace:

Hello? Anybody home?

After my kir, I had a glass of rosé wine along with my choice of pizza, a Valenciana. It was covered with tomato sauce, cheese, slices of chorizo sausage, plus peppers and mushrooms. (I said “no thanks” to the egg that normally would be on top.) The pizza costs just 10 euros, and was fairly large. Here’s my plate:

Meet my egg-less Valenciana.

Eventually a couple arrived to eat on the terrace, and they were obviously good friends of M. Dussol, because he came out of the kitchen, wearing his chef’s apron, to chat with them.

Then he spotted me as I was finishing my lunch, and walked over to shake hands, welcome me, and wonder where my wife Jan was. (I explained that she was in Monpazier, lunching and shopping with friend Joanne.)

All in all, it was a pleasant break, and with the pizza, kir, glass of rosé and a coffee, it came to just 16.50 euros. So I left in a good mood, as I ventured out for some shopping of my own.