The 135-year celebration

Mr & Mrs Oger run the Hotel du Commerce in Vaiges.  Mr Oger is the chef and runs the kitchen, Mrs Oger keeps front of house.  We have reason to be grateful to them; they introduced the Morgan Owners' Club to us, who have stayed with us on numerous occasions.  Their hotel has been in the family for 5 generations now, and the time had come for a serious celebration of this fact.

Coincidentally, Mr Oger had re-established a friendship from his youth with another chef, Jean-Luc Boulay, who is native to this area; they did some of their apprenticeships together at the same restaurant in St Pïerre des Nids.  Life took them in different directions.  Mr Oger took over the Hotel du Commerce, and Mr Boulay, on hearing that they were short of chefs for the Olympics in Quebec (1976?), bought himself a one-way ticket to Canada, met a Canadian girl, and stayed.  He runs a restaurant there, and is a well-known "celebrity" chef.  They met again at a cooking course in Paris.

The form of celebration was, unsurprisingly, a special dinner, prepared jointly by Mr Oger, and M Boulay who had come over specially for the event.  Two dinners, in fact (Friday and Saturday evenings), preceded by a display and sampling of the local products to be used in preparing the meals.  It was a celebration of French and Canadian cooking styles, most courses being served in the two corresponding styles.  6 courses, plus coffee - Delicious.  A fitting celebration of food preparation, friendship, and long-term service to the public.

Mrs Oger confided to us that she had been concerned about filling all the tables; the Mayenne is not known for its gourmets.   But on the night we were there, she had (if I recall correctly) More than 115 people against a minimum needed of 90, so she was happy.   So were we.