A Pre-Auction Inspection 11-25-25

After finding the auction house last week and perusing the catalog, today was the pre-auction inspection of the items for sale. It took place in the afternoon so we did a little seaside sitting and had lunch at a very highly rated restaurant.  You have by now noticed that we have a lot of seaside pictures, this is a function of our lives racing into our latter seventies. We’re not doddering yet, but it’s not two museums and a night on the town any more either.

The photos of the seaside that we’ve been showing up to now give a pretty good indication of what the beach around Nice looks like.  A hundred foot primary beach covered in small cobbles with two lower shelf beaches to reach the water.  According to my research the Mediterranean Sea is micro-tidal, averaging less than 2 meters of difference. If so, then today was an above average because water covered the two lower shelves that must at least 2 meters high. The waves were breaking and the water was running to within 10 feet of the seawall. It was very impressive to see because up to now the lower shelves have been exposed and breakers have occasionally breeched the upper beach. There was a person sunning themselves right at the seawall and they had to scramble to gather everything together and clear the area. But the sunshine was brilliant and we sat for almost an hour before heading to the restaurant for lunch. 

The restaurant is called l’Alchemie and it is rated as a great bargain for reasonable prices by the Michelin Guide. Its rating is #4 out of 2100 restaurants in Nice. What is really great is that each week they have a fixed menu and it is offered at a fixed price of under 30 euros for 3 courses.  The have seating for around 30 on the inside and seating for another dozen outside.  I looked in the kitchen and there is one chef and one assistant who take care of everything. They have twice as many servers. They also have a devoted clientele, we noticed any number of people who came in and were greeted with bissous (kissed cheeks). They seem to try to accommodate virtually everyone who comes in, but having a reservation is definitely an advantage. We sat inside today flanked by congenial French customers who were really enjoying their meals. Deb began with an appetizer of little beef dumplings in an Asian inspired foam, while I had a veloute (soup) of Jerusalem artichokes sprinkled with a salted granola. A very unique soup it was too.

The inventive little surprise was getting  crunchy little bits along with the occasional almond in a creamy soup, it was really tasty. For our main courses I had tranch of Croaker with boiled potatoes and cauliflower florets in a chestnut puree. Croaker is a new type of fish to us, and every place we had it so far has given it a different name. Also when we asked what kind of fish, they would say ‘Sea Bass’. This is a fib but we think most people would balk at Croaker but gladly accept Sea Bass. It’s delicious and very healthy, also slightly related to Sea Bass I think. Then Deb ordered the stuffed capon (neutered rooster) which came in a really nice house made tomato sauce. When it showed up we both got a little goggled-eyed as it was so dark as to look like it might be charred. But no worries, the capon was wrapped in a purple cabbage cloak and stuffed with a meat and rice filling, delicious.  For dessert we switched roles and Deb ordered the in-house Paris-Brest while I had a rum-baba.  What a delightful lunch at such a great price, around 80 euros including wine.

As we left Deb mentioned that she had a bad headache and wanted to go back to the apartment. So I walked her back and then wandered over to the auction house. It’s only a few blocks from our apartment and right on one of our flanking streets.  Of course when I first found it I neglected to pinpoint it, so I had to wander a bit to find it again. When I got there the doors were open and there were perhaps 20 people wandering around inside and kicking the proverbial tires on all the offerings. Deb and I had a few questions we wanted to address to wit, were the wines full bottles or empty? (Full) and were the furniture offerings for frames without upholstery or for fully functional pieces (fully functional). In addition I was trying to see how the auction

worked, i.e. did we need to register or could we just bid and pay as we went (still don’t know).  I didn’t see anything that I couldn't go home without and honestly “do I want to shackle myself to some probably fragile treasure?”. Still we’ll be going tomorrow just for our own amusement.  As one might suspect, most of the lookers were known to the auctioneer and he was answering all the esoteric questions that came up.  I looked for an hour or so then headed back to the apartment to see how Deb was feeling. Some better I’m happy to report.  We’ll see what tomorrow brings.