a facelift to La Pimpine, the old Lignan-de-Bordeaux station

Cn Saturday in December, the Darragh storm disrupted the bike ride of these five friends who were too happy to find refuge at La Pimpine, in Lignan-de-Bordeaux. Along the bar, there are long-time regulars who have come to reset the world around a little foam. A resident of the town comes to pick up his baguette and his “South West” of the day when, on a corner of the table, others try their luck at scratch games. Away from the bar, two teenage girls are laughing at their clumsiness in controlling the pinball ball. And in the adjoining restaurant room, we are busy preparing a service where a table of 17 place settings has been set for a grandfather’s birthday which the guests at the other tables will not fail to celebrate. “This afternoon again, despite the weather, we are going to be full,” notes the room manager, almost astonished, who, the day before, still served 130 seats on the terrace.

All the spirit of La Pimpine is there! In the heart of the village of barely 900 inhabitants, the old railway station transformed into a rural multiple at the beginning of the 1990s, then into a restaurant, embodies life. The atmosphere is family-friendly and joyfully sonorous. In the middle of this intergenerational agitation, Damien Mitteau navigates between the back of the bar and the kitchens, while taking a look around the room, stopped in his tracks by a few friendly hugs. Without ever losing his radiant smile.

At 42, the former chef-owner of the Papadam restaurant in Fargues-Saint-Hilaire took over last September the business previously run by Cendra and Jean-Claude Bezard. A month of work later, La Pimpine reopened in a new configuration and revisited decor, in a warm vintage-bistro spirit. With the satisfaction for the new owner of the place to “note that the old ones have no nostalgia and have quickly found their habits here”.

“Nothing but homemade”

Better still, they also know that they can count on a cuisine mixing family recipes, such as calf’s head, garbure and duck confit, with bistronomic offerings highlighting South-West foie gras and veal sweetbreads. And an unbeatable weekday lunch menu, in three courses and a quarter of wine, for only 18 euros. “Whatever the plate, only homemade,” insists the boss who, to maintain this line, employs five cooks.

Damien Mitteau has an atypical professional career, starting in commerce before moving behind a bar and becoming manager of one of the Pourcel brothers’ establishments in Shanghai. The original Lot-et-Garonnais is also the holder of the Aquitaine Terre de genius trophy. Multidisciplinary skills ideally suited to the management of this versatile establishment, open seven days a week from 7 a.m., which also offer this son and grandson of a railway worker a way to reconnect with his personal history. Enough to participate even more in the soul of the place whose festive evening programming will increase in crescendo. La Pimpine, definitely, is the place for all the good moments of life to share!