The 'suggestions menu' allows for no choice in the matter of the cheese course. Fortunately, this is no hardship, for our it includes this "Ossau Iraty, confiture de cerises noires". A raw sheep's milk, hard mountain cheese from the Pyrénées, the full-flavored, nutty Ossau Iraty is served with black cherry preserves, a pairing made in heaven. In my glass I have remaining just enough of the Cotês du Luberon to consummate the marriage.

It is the only slip in what otherwise has been an impeccable service: we are nearly done with the cheese before our captain, looking faintly shocked, apologizes for not serving earlier the _pain de mie_, sliced from a loaf at table, that is intended to arrive with the cheese course. I imagine Monsieur Vrinat making a black mark against some luckless server's name in a leather-bound ledger somewhere out of sight, docking him a day's pay.