The Trail's Our Thing

Charley drives up to the village almost every morning to get bread for our family, just as he did when we lived here last year. One day last week he came home with some major news.

“Something very exciting has happened!” he said as he came through the kitchen door. “Henri and Rosa have invited us for dinner!”

Henri Tomas, renowned pâtissier!

Henri and Rosa Tomas own the pâtisserie/boulangerie near the top of the village in Bonnieux. Henri is the most famous pâtissier/boulanger in Provence. He’s been written up in several publications and even has his photo in the book “The Markets of Provence.” His fame comes from his wonderful cakes and breads, but also from his outgoing, energetic and entertaining personality.

At the pâtisserie on the Rue de la République

Charley and Henri developed a friendship during our six month stay and quickly reconnected this summer. Although neither speaks much of the other’s language, they easily joke and kid with each other. Henri sometimes calls Charley “Le Grand Bois,” based on our last name of Wood. This summer he’s started introducing Charley to other English-speaking customers when they are in the shop.

Henri and Rosa have also both connected with Kelly. Like many people we’ve met, they appreciate her French language skills and respond to her sweet and polite demeanor.

After our trip to the Luberon this past March, I wrote a Slow Travel review about Henri’s pâtisserie. When we arrived last month, we gave him a copy of the review and a photo of him with Kelly. He once showed us a book of photos and cards he has received from customers all over the world, including a letter from Tony Blair. I thought he would enjoy having the review and the picture for his book.

Now these relationships had apparently developed into a dinner invitation. Quelle surprise! We were honored to be invited into Henri and Rosa’s home, especially given their demanding work schedule during the busy summer season.

We settled on tonight as the date for our dinner, and Henri gave Charley directions to their house: just below the village near the soccer field and only a few minutes from our house. We were very excited about the evening, though a little anxious about our ability to manage a conversation in French for an entire meal.

Henri was waiting for us out on the road, still wearing his blue baker’s apron and ball cap and accompanied by his sweet, old, german shepherd dog. He led us up their driveway, where we were greeted by Rosa. We also met Thierry, Henri’s adult son who is a chef at a restaurant in Monmartre in Paris and is back in Bonnieux for his vacation.

We had always assumed Henri and Rosa lived somewhere above their shop, an incredible building built way into the rock and involving at least five levels, (In one of several large caves beneath the rock Henri discovered a stone olive press, hundreds of years old.) Henri and Rosa do sleep in the village during the week, but about two years ago they built this new house and stay there on the weekends. The shop and the building in the village are actually now for sale, as Henri prepares for retirement.

The view of Bonnieux from Henri and Rosa's house

Henri and Rosa’s new house has incredible views in every direction: Bonnieux, Lacoste, and the valley and mountains to the north. Henri has done much of the work on the house himself. He showed us where he is working on the piscine (swimming pool), actually smashing into the rock whenever he has an hour to spare. Their house is decorated with wonderful art, including many paintings of Bonnieux and the surrounding area. Eventually they plan to turn the top floor into a rental gîte.

Our meal was wonderful—four courses and lasting close to three hours. Thierry did most of the cooking. The first course was a small plate (an amuse bouche, Rosa said) with a slice of Henri’s delicious quiche and two small pieces of his equally delicious pizza. The second course—prepared by Thierry and beautifully presented—involved thin slices of avocado and a light sauce with tiny crevettes (shrimp), served—of course—with Henri’s bread. The main course was filet mignon de porc in a mustard sauce with potatoes. And then for dessert—one of Henri’s wonderful cakes called a “Louis Phillipe,” involving orange cream and almonds. Now we know where we’ll go when we need a special dessert.

The meal was surpassed only by the conversation. We actually could manage a three hour conversation that was mostly in French! And we found so much to talk about. We shared information about ourselves, our lives and our work. We talked about hiking, music, the village, travel, and—of course—food. I loved the way Henri said Charley’s name: something like “Sharlee,” with an emphasis on the “lee.” We relied on Kelly to help with some of the more complicated communications, and we had our dictionary close at hand. We’re proud of how Kelly’s French has developed this summer.

Rosa is from Argentina and met Henri while visiting Bonnieux. They have just been married a few years. She is a pretty and very sweet woman… a few years younger than me, but shorter than Kelly… great with customers in the shop. Rosa speaks some English, but now speaks much more French than English. Henri is originally from Algeria. He’s been in Bonnieux for over thirty years and learned the art of pâtisserie from an uncle.

We asked a lot of questions about Henri’s work. He is primarily a pâtissier (a pastry chef)—best known for his galette provençale (an almond pastry) and specialty cakes. He also makes chocolates and ice cream. Every week he ships pastries and cakes to destinations all over the world! His bread-making seems to be an add-on for his local customers, but we think he makes the best croissants we’ve ever tasted—perfectly buttery and flaky. No one else’s quite compares.

Just google on “Henri Tomas Bonnieux” and see how many entries there are! (I was surprised to see what was at the top of the list!) Henri’s customers have included Johnny Depp, John Malkovitch, Russell Crowe, Demi Moore and John Grisham. John Grisham apparently ordered the same café au lait I do, served in a big bowl that you hold with both hands.

The life of a pâtissier/boulanger (and his wife) is incredibly demanding. In the summer Henri and Rosa are open seven days a week; they don’t appear to have any other employees. They wake up each morning at 2:00 am to start baking. Some customers arrive before dawn, and then there is a steady stream of people throughout the day. There are a couple of tables for people who want to enjoy their coffee and bread in the shop, but most people carry their purchases away—a variety of breads and croissants, cakes and other sweet pastries, homemade ice cream and chocolates, jam and honey, and drinks. The shop seems to be open all day during the summer, closing in the early evening when everyone has bought their bread for dinner. We’re not quite sure when Henri and Rosa sleep! And in their spare time they work on their house, Henri (age sixty-two) smashing into the solid rock to build his swimming pool.

Kelly and Rosa at the end of our evening

Suddenly we realized it was almost 11 pm and our hosts needed to be at work in just a few hours. Henri and Rosa took us around the back to admire their view of Lacoste—illuminated on its hilltop—and then we kiss-kiss-kissed and said “bonne nuit.” We had a wonderful time with these new friends; this unexpected evening was one of the highlights of our month in Provence.

Buying the daily baguette