Tucked away in the heart of Bordeaux’s chic Quartier des Grands-Hommes, Le Chapon Fin and its famous "grotto" are not only opulent but also steeped in history. Many a famous figure has dined in this charming faux cave, among them Toulouse-Lautrec and Sarah Bernhardt. Francis Garcia, who owned the place for 15 years, caused quite a stir in the local culinary community when he sold it to Jean-Michel Cazes of the Château Lynch-Bages last August. Thierry Marx, the chef at the celebrated Cordeillan-Bages restaurant in Pauillac, heads up the kitchen. He was recently joined by Franck Ferigutti, who has worked at such renowned restaurants as Maximin in Vence, the Negresco in Nice and La Rotonde in Lyon.

Ferigutti is fast introducing this somewhat conservative town to his innovative take on Mediterranean cuisine. Using flavorful ingredients and shunning the extraneous, he puts a fresh spin on the classics, serving lamprey à la provençale (the sauce is still thickened with red wine) and lobster in a Moroccan-style tajine. Other offerings include gingerbread roasted bass, sole with tomatoes and preserved lemons, and foie gras accompanied by a slice of fig cake. Furthermore, the wine list is already starting to reflect Ferriguti’s time in Lyon. Some things haven’t changed, though: The menu still features lièvre à la royale Curnonsky (named after a former patron), a hare dish that takes 72 hours to prepare. And the cheese plate showcases the products of Jean d’Alos, a Bordeaux institution.

5 rue Montesquieu, 33000 Bordeaux. Tel. 33/5-56-79-10-10. www.chapon-fin.com

When you walk through a village in the Landes at noontime during cèpe season, the smell of these succulent mushrooms simmering in duck fat is positively intoxicating.

The best cèpes are preserved in mason jars for special occasions, while the ones that don’t quite measure up are used to make a sauce. Not just any sauce, mind you, but a real sauce aux cèpes, the kind made by generations of grandmothers in the Landes.

You start by dicing the cèpes, stems and all. After browning some shallots, garlic and minced ham in a bit of fat in a big cast-iron casserole, you mix in the cèpes, cover the mixture well with good red wine and let it all simmer until the liquid is reduced by two-thirds.

In the past, the local women used to thicken this wonderful sauce with breadcrumbs.