Renowned chef and restaurateur Francis Garcia needs something to keep him busy. He’s gearing up to launch a major new project in Pompignac (outside Bordeaux), where he bought a château that he plans to convert into a boutique hotel and cooking school. In the meantime, though, he’s at his restaurant L’Olivier du Clavel, lending a hand to his sister Maïté and the young Breton chef David Rousseau. The latter trained at the celebrated Chapon Fin, which Garcia owned for 15 years. "After managing 20 people, five seems like a walk in the park!" says Garcia. He remembers his last customers at Le Chapon Fin: "A table of Japanese who ordered 26,000 francs of wine!" But he’s no longer interested in grande cuisine; his goal now is to serve quality bistro fare to friends and regular customers. Still, Garcia’s signature dishes from Le Chapon Fin, notably prawn ravioli with lime, do figure on the menu.

I recently had the opportunity to go fishing on a small boat in the Saint-Jean-de-Luz bay. The type of fishing we were doing is known as pêche à la turlutte; using a line with a little hook on it, we tried to catch chipirons, a small kind of squid. After two hours, we’d caught only three or four!

Chipirons are tender unless you overcook them. To start, clean them well, separate the head from the body, remove and discard the cartilage from the pouch and rinse both sections thoroughly under cold running water. Then, while sautéing some minced garlic in olive oil, chop a little ventrèche (pork belly) into small pieces. Brown the squid in the oil (which should be very hot), and when it’s just about ready, toss in the ventrèche. (To be truly authentic, this dish should be seasoned with Espelette pepper, which is typical of the Basque region.) Serve hot.