The First Possible Lunch in France

My friends Dave Maier and Kaye Van Valkenburg arrived today for a few days with us in Metz. They had been in Oxford, then flew from London to Luxembourg, about 45 minutes north of Metz, where we picked them up at the Luxembourg airport. Dave and Kay's plane landed at 11:20 a.m., so I arranged for us to have lunch in a restaurant in pretty much the first town in France after you cross the border, Volmerange-les-Mines, so that they could get a quick start on French cuisine after their stay in Britain. The restaurant, L'Entracte, turned out to be wonderful. For our first courses we had, variously, home-made smoked salmon, vegetable soup, a country terrine, and a salad with beignets of goat cheese. Our second courses included boar bourguignon, pork cheeks, and a bouchee a la reine. Here's a photo of us about to start our first course.