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Coming soon to Lyon: Hard Rock Café!

According to L'hotellerie Magazine, Lyon will be getting a Hard Rock Café soon. Opening date and location TBA, so place your bets now - and check back with Lyon Eats for details!

Free Ben & Jerry's - today only!



April 21st is Free Cone Day!

Get a free cone of Ben & Jerry's today at the Vieux Lyon location.
1, place du Change, 69005

Auchan wants your input!



Lyon Eats has been contacted by a representative from Auchan who wants to know what food items we as American expats would like to see on their shelves.

This is your chance to be heard! What do you want? Grits? Sweet pickles? Brown sugar? Hidden Valley Ranch? Hershey's chocolate syrup? Slim Jims? Grape jelly? Cream of wheat? Leave a comment on this post, being as specific as possible in terms of brands and sizes.

To get the ball rolling, here are my Top 5:

Fritos Scoops, 5.5 ounce cannister, made by Frito-Lay North America

A&W root beer, 240 ml plastic bottle, made by Dr Pepper/Seven Up (a division of London-based Cadbury Schweppes plc)

Dr Pepper, 240 ml plastic bottle, made by Dr Pepper Snapple Group, Inc

Breakstone's small curd 4% milkfat cottage cheese, 24 ounce container, made by Breakstone's/Knudsen (Kraft Foods)

Chopped Green Chili Peppers, 4.5 ounce cans, made by Old El Paso/ General Mills

Thank you for listening, Auchan!

This week's spotlight: Picard

Step into the cool, white Picard stores and you may be reminded of a hospital at first. But step closer and take a peek into one of the freezer cases lining to walls and you'll warm to the idea quickly. Picard sells an incredibly wide variety of frozen items, from organic vegetables to prepared soups, bake-at-home pastries to sushi, and herbs to lasagna. They also have vegetarian meals.


Bagels, pre-cooked, 4 for 2.40 euros


Pancakes, 6 pre-cooked for 1.95 euros


Wild blueberries, fresh frozen, 450 grams for 3.70 euros


Mexican fajitas with guacamole and pico de gallo, pre-cooked for 2-3 people, 9.75 euros


Guacamole, frozen, 250 grams for 3.70 euros (also available in spicy)


Pork ribs, ready to be grilled, 6-8 ribs for 6.50 euros


Sweet corn on the cob, frozen, 3 ears, for 2.90 euros


double Cheeseburger, pre-cooked, for 1.80 euros


Cheesecake, frozen, 2 slices for 3.95 euros


Lemon meringue pie, frozen, for 6 people, 5.95 euros


Apple crumble, ready to bake, for 2 people, 2.45 euros


Apple crumble, pre-cooked, 170 grams for 1.95 euros

With over 21 locations in the Lyon area, there’s probably a Picard around the corner. If not, head to Cordeliers, Croix Rousse, Lafayette, Vitton, Jean Jaures, Charpennes, Baraban, Villeurbanne, Caluire, Frères Lumières, Tassin, Ecully, Montchat, Francheville, Limonest Bron, Oullins, St Genis Laval or Civrieux.



Orders over 20 euros can be delivered to your home for a 5 euros fee.

Coming soon to a Monop' near you!

Starbucks Corporation and Kraft Foods announced the launch of packaged Starbucks® coffee in select supermarkets in France, bringing super-premium Starbucks® coffee to home-brewing consumers in Europe...but what we care about is that it's coming to the shelves in Lyon!

As of March 2009, French consumers have been able to purchase a selection of ground Starbucks® coffee and Tassimo® T-Discs at select Monoprix supermarkets, mainly in and around Paris, and in other key cities in France (Lyon!).

“Europe has a strong, vibrant coffee culture and we’re proud to contribute to its richness by offering consumers super-premium Starbucks® coffee for at-home brewing,” said Rich DePencier, vice president, Starbucks Global Consumer Products, International. “Our Consumer Products business is important to the overall success of the company, and we are committed to bringing the Starbucks Experience to consumers throughout Europe at our retail stores and in supermarkets.”

Starbucks currently has 48 coffeehouses in France.

Happy Easter!

The ICCL (International Christian Community of Lyon) is hosting its second annual Easter sunrise service.

Easter Sunrise Service, Pot-Luck Breakfast & Egg Hunt



Date: April 12, 2009

Location: 73bis route du Mt Cindre, 69450, St Cyr au Mont D'Or at the Communauté de l’Epiphanie and de la Croix. Follow signs from Vaise for the Monts D'Or to St Cyr, then once at St Cyr follow signs for the Mt Cindre.

Worship Service: 7:30am (indoors)

Breakfast: 9:00 am — A hot breakfast casserole will be provided!

Please bring along with you breakfast goodies to share (coffee cake croissants, pain au chocolat, fruit, etc…). Drinks, dishes and utensils will be provided.

Cost for breakfast: 5 euros/person donation requested to cover costs and use of facilities.

If you plan to attend, please do let the ICCL know. If you need further info on directions (or anything else), Pastor Mike DiGena says to feel free to contact him by email or phone. "We invite you to join us!"

International Christian Community of Lyon
06 22 69 65 16
mdigena(AT)gmail.com

This week's spotlight: Cowboy & Co.






Pork ribs, grilled chicken and chili con carne

A sampling from the menu:
Mexican-style pork ribs, chili con carne, crispy chicken wings, grilled corn on the cob, potato wedges, lemon pie, brownies, cinnamon apple crumble with maple syrup ice cream, pecan pie, fresh fruit smoothies and cocktails...


Chicken wings, potato wedges and coleslaw



Coming soon:
Bagels at breakfast and lunch.

Special offer:
Buy one meal, get one free (10.50 euros value)
Buy one 35cl smoothie, get Linkone free (4.90 euros value)



Visit the Cowboy & Co. site for details on their upcoming country line dancing classes!


Photos courtesy of Cowboy & Co.



Open for lunch Tuesday-Friday and dinner Monday - Saturday
59 rue Ney - quartier Brotteaux - LYON 6e
04 78 52 04 79 (métro Brotteaux or Masséna)

The best, most authentic Mexican food in Lyon

The Mexico Lindo restaurant has closed it's doors. Try Don Taco on rue Mercière,  Chango Mambo in the 6th or  El Tequila y la Cazuela in the 1rst. 


Guest writer Michael Stradley shares his experience tracking down the best, most authentic Mexican food in Lyon. Michael blogs at 35-hour work week.

I was born in Texas, grew up mostly in Texas, went to college in Texas, and most of my family still lives in Texas.

I have spent the last 9 years of my life, however, outside of Texas--mostly in Seattle, Los Angeles, and now France. In general, I didn't miss much of Texas. The mountains and all the snow (snowboarding), the ocean (surfing), the rain-forest (hiking), the lakes and rivers (kayaking)--the west had a lot to offer, and I had already spent about 20 years in Texas, so I was happy exploring and experiencing all the "new".

One thing I always missed though, was food. In particular Mexican food, or at least the variety of Mexican food we call Tex-Mex. Texas has awesome Mexican food! Seattle had decent Mexican food, Los Angeles had pretty good Mexican food, and Lyon has a few restaurants with Spanish words in their names that serve food with the same name as some of the Mexican food you might be familiar with.

The kebab place across the street from my work has tacos. I was very excited when I first saw their menu on the storefront that advertised "Tacos: 4 Euros", so in I went to order me a taco. They asked me which kind of meat I wanted, kofke, kebab, escalope, steak, poulet. I knew poulet meant chicken, and I was pretty sure steak meant steak, but I didn't even know what the other meats were.
"Chicken" I said.
"What sauce?"
"Taco sauce" I replied.
Well, taco sauce wasn't an option, so they listed my choices. Burger, tartar, bbq, ketchup, mayonnaise--Mayonnaise! I was pretty sure after they said mayonnaise that whatever I ended up ordering would not be a taco. And to confirm that suspicion, they proceeded to stuff french fries in with the chicken, bbq sauce, lettuce and tomatoes they had rolled up in a tortilla, and stuffed it into a George Foreman grill for a couple minutes.

Strike one for Mexican food in Lyon.

The shopping mall I walk by, or generally thru, on my way to work everyday has a restaurant named Suelta Verde that bills itself as a Tex-Mex restaurant. Yeah, I know mall food? But hey, it's supposed to be Tex-Mex. The quesadillas aren't bad, although they are made with french cheeses, so they are a bit strong, and quite a bit not quesadilla-tasting, but I actually enjoy them from time to time. Everything else in the restaurant is bad! The veggie burritos are basically ratatouille wrapped in a tortilla, the other burritos just add some type of meat, and even the tortilla chips were bad. And the restaurant didn't even have beans.

Strike two for Mexican food in Lyon.

So time to ask for advice from the locals. Many people recommended a place near Place des Terreaux called El Sombrero. The restaurant looks okay from the outside, has branches in multiple French cities, and even has a website with pictures and animations and stuff (but no menu), so it could be promising. George and I were ready to give it a shot, when my co-worker Komi told me that Mexico Lindo in old Lyon was the best mexican place in Lyon. Komi lived in Austin for a while, so he might actually know what mexican food is supposed to taste like. El Sombrero will have to wait.

We rolled up to Mexico Lindo around 6:30, and the place was empty, no lights turned on, and no menu or even open hours on the door. hmmm... not looking good. We returned at 7, and now there was one light on, and a menu on the door, but we still had no idea when it opened. We returned at 7:30 and... the place was packed, and with no reservation, we had no shot at dinner.

Reservations are almost always needed at Mexico Lindo.

So we made our reservation and returned a week later and it was awesome. They had a good selection of dishes, and the dishes not only tasted like Mexican food, they tasted like good Mexican food. Some typical Mexican ingredients are a bit hard to find in Lyon, so on some things they had to improvise but the result was good (refried beans don't exist here, so they had to make their own from red beans). In typical Mexican restaurant fashion, the portion sizes are big enough to feed three people, and in typical French fashion, they do not have to-go boxes, so plan accordingly (skip lunch). I had a quesadilla appetizer that was big enough for a main meal (and the best quesadilla I have had in quite some time), and George had some grilled onions and mushrooms with tortillas, that was quite large too. Our main dishes were also big, and yummy, and came with the typical Mexican sides of refried beans and rice. Overall it was quite delicious, and to top it off, they had pecan pie for dessert. Pecan pie!

Turns out the guy that runs the restaurant is actually from Texas (born in Nuevo Loredo, but grew up in south Texas). That explains the pecan pie. If he could just get some Dr Pepper, he'd have the best restaurant in all of France.

So if you need to satisfy your Mexican food cravings in Lyon, head over to Mexico Lindo in old Lyon.

Mexico Lindo
14, Rue Boeuf, 69005 Lyon
04 78 37 01 87

El Sombrero
9, Rue Pizay, 69001 Lyon
08 26 10 06 02

Suelta Verde
centre commercial de la Part Dieu, 69003 Lyon
04 78 62 24 20