A perfect dish at a perfect restaurant

I discovered La Fourchette the old-fashioned way: By asking Claude.ai where we should eat in Avignon, France.

Once upon a time, I would have wandered by the restaurant itself, in real life, as I strolled behind the town’s grand neo-Baroque opera house. I would have been drawn by the warm glow, the tables full of happy diners. And I would have stopped to read the menu:

Appetizers

Tartare of vegetables and burrata

Crab, avocado and grapefruit

Les escargots de Bourgogne

Cold pea soup with mint and fresh goat cheese

Instead, I clicked on the AI-provided link and read the same menu online, gettong no further than the appetizers. When I got to, “Cold pea soup with mint and fresh goat cheese,” I emailed for a reservation.

Claude wasn’t wrong. That soup was the most memorable dish I ate in Provence, and I spent a good part of the summer trying to recreate the recipe at home. (Spoiler alert: It’s below).

La Fourchette was packed when we arrived on a Monday evening. A friendly host — whom I later learned is the co-owner, Florine Hiely — greeted us and showed us to our table.

Some restaurants feel hushed and temple-like when you enter, some loud and scene-y. La Fourchette was busy, but relaxed — like eating at home, but better. The reason, I suspect, is that it essentially is a second home for Florine and Benjamin.

Benjamin’s grandparents, Josette and Robert Hiely, founded La Fourchette in 1960. His parents Daniele and Philippe ran it from 1982 to 2022.

“C’est une belle histoire qui continue,” the website proclaims.

There are 45 seats and 11 employees, and Benjamin and Florine never seemed to leave the floor — pouring wine, setting a complimentary amuse bouche of brandade on the table, serving and clearing and welcoming guests, many of whom seemed to be regulars, coming home to eat.

La Fourchette is not off the beaten track or undiscovered. It is listed (but not starred) in the Guide Michelin, and it was even featured on the French TV show, “The Best Regional Cuisine is at My Place!” — whose title, like Les Miserables, sounds better in French.

Getting featured on that show can’t be easy. We spent 11 days in Provence and based on our limited experience, the competition was fierce:

La Petite Ferme: A packed celebrity chef-driven restaurant in Aix-en-Provence, where I ate a remarkable dish of supple grilled prawns and squid with fennel seeds with braised spring onions and a light vanilla fennel cream.

La Maison Favier: A small place tucked into the corner of a square in the busy market town of St. Remy-de-Provence, where I ate a burnt lemon and yuzu marinated sardines, tomatoes, fried onion crumbs, tomato water jelly and fresh herbs.

Chez Serge in Carpentras: Hake with summer truffles, eaten in a courtyard under a monumental shade tree.

These were just three, there were more. None Michelin-starred. None especially famous. But all served food that, in my city, would rank among some of the best.

Even so, one dish stands out: Cold pea soup with fresh mint and goat cheese, at La Fourchette.

“La Fourchette is an establishment where passing things down matters,” Benjamin told a local news site about the restaurant.

The menu blends some traditional local dishes, like beef daube, pommes dauphine and pieds-paquets — stuffed lamb tripe — with lighter, contemporary dishes, like the cold pea soup. It’s not a museum of French cuisine, nor does it look like one. There’s a mid-century modern vibe to the decor, which makes sense since it was founded in the mid-century.

All the food was delicious: A crackly-skinned filet of sea bass set afloat on a pool of pistou, a Provençal blend of basil, garlic and olive oil.

Benjamin came and set a bowl of those pommes dauphine — lightly fried puffs of puréed potato — in the center of the table, though we didn’t order them. Welcome to our table.

But I’m burying the lead. Because the soup came first.

The soup, which three of the four of us ordered, was a bright, soft green. On a very hot night, it was cool, fragrant with a touch of spring onions, maybe green garlic, and a whisper of mint. Each spoonful brought different soft summer herb flavors — chervil? tarragon? — the sweetness of the peas balanced with a slight tang of creamy soft goat cheese.

We fell silent, focusing to finish it, and when it was gone, I was sad.

We loved the soup so much, we went back three days later to eat our final dinner in Avignon at La Fourchette.

Benjamin greeted us and showed us to a table.

“The same table,” he said. How did he remember?

The previous visit I had asked our young server to choose a rosé for us.

We liked what he brought, but I couldn’t remember the name. He left and returned with Ventoux les Trois Villages from Chateau la Croix des Pins — the same wine. How?

We ate our basket of pommes dauphine, a fish, and shared a homemade blackcurrant sorbet. I know there are a lot of other wonderful restaurants in Avignon that we could have explored, and even more in the surrounding villages.

But this one felt like home.

When we returned to L.A. I set about making my version of La Fourchette’s soup. I wanted to make mine with a non-dairy base so that we could eat it with every meal. I also decided not to use fresh shell peas because, well, I didn’t want to have to shell fresh peas.

I ended up using cauliflower to make it creamy, and fresh snap peas, which you can blend whole. Be sure to taste the soup again after you chill it to adjust for salt and pepper, and you may need to add water for a creamy but not thick consistency. Also, I use a powerful, expensive Vitamix blender for this which ensures a smooth purée.

Makes 6-7 cups of soup, enough for 6-10 servings

250 gr. (1 medium) onion chopped

60 gr. extra virgin olive oil

220 gr. (5 stalks) celery, chopped

4 fresh fresh bay leaves

300 gr. cauliflower, chopped

12 gr. salt

1 g freshly ground pepper

900 gr. water

30 gr. Italian parsley, chopped

30 gr. fresh mint

200 gr. fresh snap peas

In a large pot, heat the olive oil. Add the onion and sauté until almost translucent but not brown. Add celery, cauliflower, bay leaves, salt and pepper. Sauté a few minutes more. Add the water and bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer until the cauliflower is soft, about 10-15 minutes. Turn off heat and pour half the soup into your blender. Add snap peas, mint and parsley and blend on high until smooth. Pour into a clean bowl and let cool to room temperature, then refrigerate until cold. Taste and adjust for salt and pepper. If the mixture is too thick, dilute with some water.

Serve with a swirl, dollop or spoonful of labne, Greek yogurt or softened fresh chevre, if you like.

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