In fall, 2019, I set out for the West Village in a monsoon. It was the last night of a small, culturally significant exhibit that I wanted to catch. At the designated address, I walked into a darkened courtyard, seemingly the patio of a shuttered restaurant on the far side of the enclosure, certainly not a gallery.

Enjoying our first dinner during a group tour of Sicily, I turned to our guide and told him that the meal was excellent. This being Sicily, the reply was not all that surprising. “You can steal my money but don’t touch my food,” Alessio remarked. He followed that remark by claiming: “If lunch or dinner doesn’t have at least five courses, it’s just a snack.”

The distinguished city of Bordeaux in southwest France with its astounding urban historical center noted as a World Heritage Site boasts a glorious buffet of sidewalk cafes and restaurants with legendary cuisine honoring French culture and their indisputably sophisticated approach to gastronomy. Dining here offers a lifetime of pleasure for the Bordealais as well as an enduring love affair with some of the world’s finest wines produced by hundreds of nearby wine chateaus.