You paid how much for a roast chicken?
The Burgundy region is mostly an ode to wine, and driving from Dijon to Beaune, there is nothing but vineyards as far as the eye can see. Each little town along the way from Gevry Chambertin to Morey-St Denis and so on down the line, make wine from their vineyards and each version is a little different. Instead of going to the vineyard for tastings, like you would in Napa or Pauillac or Tuscany, in the Burgundy Cote D’or, you drive into the small villages and visit the showroom of the winery. You can taste and buy. They’ll even ship it to your home. But if you’re not interested buying directly from the winery, there are loads of good wine shops in Beaune that sell all varieties. We bought a couple to take with us to Paris.
In planning this visit to Europe, I tried to give us the experiences of some nice hotels, some apartments and houses and some really memorable fine dining experiences. Our visit to the Hotel Cote D’or and restaurant Bernard Loiseau was the last of our “famous meals”. Loiseau is one of those celebrity chefs of the world who has stripped away all the cream and fat and has developed new ways to cook with fresh, natural ingredients. All for a ridiculous price. His food Mecca is in the little town of Saulieu, about 50km west of Dijon.
The amuse bouche of puree of white bean soup was delicious, but nothing we couldn’t prepare at home. The frog legs in garlic sauce were beautiful to look at and quite tasty. The Morey-St Dennis “Clos Bussiere” Roumier ’97 was a fabulous bottle of wine. But then the meal fell apart. One of the plates of foie gras with cepes came with a thick black hair sitting in the cepes. Something you don’t really expect in a restaurant of this caliber. Then we ordered the “Bresse” chicken, this is the bird with blue feet that is so prized throughout France that it’s production is controlled like the wine or truffle industry.  After an hour wait, our chicken finally arrived, blue feet pointing up to the ceiling. It was carved in front of us and then elegantly served. It was OK,  it tasted like chicken. When they asked if we would like dessert or coffee, we declined. We left the restaurant, looked at each other and said, “Well, we never have to eat here again.”
The next morning we woke up, looked at each other and shrieked, “We paid $370 for a roast chicken dinner???”

A short footnote here: Unfortunately a few months after our visit to La Cote d'Or, Bernard Loiseau self inflicted a mortal shot to his head wth a rifle. Many believed that it was because he had lost a star in his food rating. Some said he was greatly in debt and depressed.