One of the great pleasures about visiting Brasserie and Bar St. Christophe is sitting at one of the sidewalk tables, sipping a cold white wine and watching the life of Bordeaux pass by on the Rue Saint James. It is an instant fashion show as people young and old walk swiftly by, ride their bicycles, or gun the motors of their motorcycles on this pedestrian street where it is said that St. James walked on his pilgrimage to Compostela. Moving constantly inside and out is the engine of this one man show, Naji, who is the server, the chef, the mixologist and the occasional chess player. You name it, he does it. We like to end up here in the afternoon following our daily walk by the river. The wines, always good quality, run in price from 3 euros to 3 euros 50 cents. But there are other times we go for lunch. There is no menu. Naji prepares one “plat” a day. If you like his offering, you eat there; if you don’t, you go somewhere else. The cost is 12 euros 50 cents a plate. On days we have eaten at St. Christophe the offerings included merguez sausages, stuffed eggplant and occasionally falafel. When we went recently, the star of the day’s repas was a Middle Eastern meat loaf, but I’m getting ahead of myself. As we sat down at one of the small tables inside, Naji suggested an aperitif, on this day glasses of St. Raphael, a wine based aromatic liqueur. Then came the main. The meatloaf was accompanied by an array of delights. There was hummus, cold cuts, tabouli, golden rice, roasted vegetables, olives and sour cream. With our meal we drank a dry, crisp rose from Aix en Provence, 9 euros for the bottle. Next came a plate of cheeses. There was a fresh goat cheese, a smooth Comte and morsels of a blue d'Auvergne. When the cheese was gone, Naji wanted to know if we wanted a “fraîche” digestif, a cool drink to aid the digestion. When we said yes, ice and so many liqueurs went into a cocktail shaker that I can’t tell you exactly what was in it -- other than to say it was smooth and delicious.
