A new Spark lights up the Old Town dining scene

The sparks behind Spark Live Fire Kitchen

Spark Live Fire Kitchen is my new favorite restaurant in Nice: unique, creative, fun, and extremely welcoming and delicious.

The Concept: It’s all about fire: there is no stoveall cooking is done in a custom wood-burning oven, modelled on the ancient communal ovens of Pompeii, and only available in Naples.  The oven is used around the clock with the cooler daytime temperatures used for slow-cooking ribs, and baking their own bread and desserts, so Spark can only be open for dinner.

The Chef:  Michael Webster is a native of Calgary Canada whose travels led through Paris, Chengdu China (where he met his wife Aiqing and ran 4 restaurants), then Bangkok, back to Paris (cooking under a Michelin-starred chef), and finally to Nice, where he’s now doing his own thing, letting his far-flung influences spark his own culinary vision, especially with vegetables, which are his passion.  The last time I was there, a diner came up to the chef to say, “Wow, you just changed my concept of Brussel Sprouts!”

The Menu:  It’s subject to change on Michael’s whim, but a recent menu featured 10 vegetables (8-12€) including Maple Lime Butter Sweet Potato, Sichuan Cauliflower, Citrus Glazed Fennel with Burrata (and of course the famous Pancetta Brussel Sprouts); along with 4 succulent meat choices plus specials ranging from 12-25€ (the Sticky Ribs with Maple Bourbon Glaze are killer!)   The dishes come out one at a time to be shared, vegetables first, and I recommend sitting at the bar where you can watch it all happen.

The Welcome: Aiqing is the service side of the duo, and she couldn’t be more charming and bubbly.  She speaks English but not much French yet, so extra fun for expats, and her eyes light up when talking about the food, their shared vision, and the rocky road to make it a reality!

The restaurant is tiny, so call ahead for your reservation at +33 7 60 92 51 32 or reserve on their website www.sparklivefire.com.   Open for dinner Tues-Saturday, 3 rue Centrale just off Place Rossetti (around the corner from Fenocchio), and a straight shot from my favorite Old Nice jazz club Shapko, which is now doing early jazz on Thurs-Saturday starting from 7pm, so make a night of it!  Tram stop Cathedrale

See related pages: Best Restaurants in Nice, Best Vegetarian Restaurants in Nice, and more for Foodies in Nice.

Photos: Best of Nice

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Thanksgiving in Nice

Thanksgiving is the holiday that tugs hardest on the heartstrings of American expats, because in France the last Thursday in November is just… Thursday.

So attention nostalgic Americans: La Barque Bleue Restaurant in the Nice Port is offering a traditional Thanksgiving menu with all the trimmings, from Thursday November 28 all weekend through Sunday December 1st, for 45€ euros per person.

It starts with appetizer Dips, followed by Squash Soup, and then the main event with Roasted Turkey, Gravy, Cranberry Sauce, Mashed Potatoes, Green Beans, Caramelized Carrots; and finishes with… yes, Pumpkin Pie.

Reserve your table for lunch or dinner, or even between the two because La Barque Bleue is one of the few restaurants in Nice that serves non-stop every day, so you can have your turkey-fest mid-afternoon if you want, just like back home.   Reserve at labarquebleuenice@gmail.com or call +33 4 93 55 39 74.  Tram stop Port Lympia.

The Barque Bleue has given Americans in Nice something to be thankful for!

And to keep the festivities going, here’s another new addition:  Shapko Jazz Club in Old Nice has just started doing an early band for apero time on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays from 7:30pm to 9:30pm.  No cover charge, great live music.  5 rue Rossetti, tramstop Cathedrale.

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Birthday Bash for the Promenade des Anglais

200 years ago, the wealthy British tourists that flocked here every winter, insisted on an upgrade of the potholed dirt road running along the beach, so they could stroll along the seaside without getting their finery soiled with dust and dirt.  The working-class Niçois didn’t really see the point, so the industrious English (Anglais) community just got to it and organized and financed the paving of what is now called the Promenade des Anglais (and now you know why!)

To celebrate the 200th anniversary of its inauguration in 1824, the Ville de Nice is throwing a birthday party of sorts, and you are invited.  All weekend, Saturday and Sunday, Aug 31-Sept 1, the Prom will be punctuated with fanciful animations, music and surprises; mostly centered around the Jardin Albert 1ere, but also all along the ‘English Walk’ including vintage photos under the pergolas.

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80 years ago: Nice Freed From Nazi Occupiers

WWII liberation of NiceLast June marked the 80th anniversary of D-Day: the storming of the beaches of Normandy. But that was just the start, as battles raged all summer, including the storming of Toulon/Var beaches on August 15th.  Town by town the Nazi occupiers were eradicated and villages liberated, each at tremendous cost.

But Nice… Nice was a different story.  The American Forces had their hands full fighting in the Var, and the enraged Nazi regime holding Nice was extracting increasingly brutal retribution.  In desperation, and sensing the Americans would not get here in time, on the early morning of August 28, 1944, a ragtag band of townsfolk risked all with a surprise coordinated uprising.  The guerilla fighting went on all day, many lost their lives, but against all odds, by the end of the day, the SS was fleeing …and Nice had liberated itself.  Click here for more on  WWII: How Nice Liberated Itself.

To mark this dramatic 80-year anniversary, the city is throwing a week-long series of free parties, conferences, parades and expositions.

Saturday Aug 24th: Giant free 40’s style big band retro dance ball, 6pm-midnight, Theatre de Verdure. The American tanks arrived in Nice two days later, and that elation is the theme of tonight’s American-style 40’s swing celebration. Costumes encouraged, food trucks on site.

Monday, Aug. 26th: Free outdoor cinema in front of the Gare du Sud (tramstop Liberation), showing the film La Bataille du Rail (in French), with festivities starting at 8pm.

Tuesday, Aug. 27th: 6pm in the port (2 Quai Entrecasteaux, tramstop Port Lympia) Pop up exposition Les Alpes-Maritimes Liberees followed by a street-fest with music by Gleen Big Band Memories.

As night falls, walk around to the other side of the port to the the Monument aux Morts for a concert, story-telling, and musical reenactment of the liberation of Nice at 8:30pm, finishing at 10pm with a torchlit vigil.

Wednesday, Aug, 28th:  Retro Military Parade with 50 WWII era military vehicles from jeeps to tanks, classic cars, vintage costumes, and all accompanied by New Orleans Jazz Orchestra.   The parade starts in Saint Laurent du Var, rolls into Nice via the Prom (10:30ish?), then up Gambetta, past the train station, back down avenue Jean Medecin (11ish), finishing around 11:30am at Place Massena where they’ll be on display all afternoon.

5pm Place Garibaldi unveils an open-air photo exhibition of never-before-shown photos from the occupation and liberation of Nice.

6pm Fly-over of  vintage WWII aircraft!

6:30pm Official ceremony at the Monument aux Morts.

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Two Major Hotel Openings that are Quite a Surprise

Anti hotel banners in Old NiceIn medieval times, ancient Convent of the Visitation in Old Nice was an austere abode for pious nuns.  The nuns are long gone and the convent has been boarded up for decades, but nevertheless the locals fought tooth-and-nail to stop its transformation into a lavish 5-star hotel, fearing the introduction of an ostentatious luxury resort would forever alter the feel of the vieille ville.

After years of delays, The luxury 5-star Hotel du Couvent just opened, and what a surprise!  The sprawling complex is so understated and discrete that the entry is practically hidden!  The 88-room hotel is as remarkable for its fidelity to the history and architecture, as much as for its resistance to the typical trappings of many luxury hotels.

It feels like a convent, a spiritual place, an oasis, like a meditation, as if you discovered a secret garden where you instantly feel the history in your bones.

Guest room at Hotel du Couvent NiceIt’s rare to find a hotel with such a sense-of-place: the guestrooms are sober yet elegant, the spa evokes Roman baths, the terraced gardens beg to be strolled, the restaurants serve on antique linens and vintage glassware …and they grow their own herbs, just like the nuns used to do.

With its lack of sea-view and bells-and-whistles, this one-of-a-kind hotel will not be to everyone’s taste, which is what makes its restraint so laudable.  What an impressive addition to Old Nice!

But if bells-and-whistles are more your thing, another major hotel just opened in the Nice Port this month that basically is the polar opposite of Hotel du Couvent…

The reception area for Mama Shelter hotel in NiceMama Shelter Riquier!  Fun and affordable, playful and eccentric, and employing lots of state-of-the-art tech, this cutting-edge 4-star hotel is kind of a whirlwind.  With a décor that riffs wildly on Matisse, its 102 rooms are kitschy, irreverent and innovative, to the point of being over-stimulating.  It’s as if the hotel threw art, humor and cartoons into the cocktail blender to create a big, bold sensory experience that you won’t soon forget.

In fact, after a stay here, you’ll probably need a few days at Hotel du Couvent!

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