My favorite seasons on the Côte d’Azur are upon us: late autumn and winter. As the days shorten, I like to start them with a brisk walk on the Promenade, sometimes early enough to catch a sunrise. It is my moment of zen.

After the peripatetic pace of 2022-2023, I am settling down for a few months and catching up on a few photographic and administrative projects. Parts afar will have to wait. Itchy feet will have to be endured.

I notice some improvements as I re-explore my city. Mayor Estrosi has embarked on a major endeavor to “green” the city center, restrict cars and widen sidewalks, and now much of it is less noisy and more welcoming to pedestrians. This article in The Economist on the Mayor’s efforts to secure, enrich and beautify the city rings absolutely true.

The other side to this story is the food, although I doubt Estrosi can claim any credit. The South of France was never regarded by gourmets as particularly strong on cuisine. When I would ask Italian residents of Nice where to find good restaurants, they’d reply, “There aren’t any.” They were right.

Menus are generally limited and not that interesting, and the traditions of the South are not as attractive or luxe as those of the rest of France. The standard of quality was regrettably low. One can only bouffer on so much mediocre Salade Niçoise, Soupe de Poisson and Pissaladière before tiring of the stuff. For a while, getting away from it meant reverting to the global Gen Z “cuisine” of brunch, avocado toast and poke bowls. Not bad at all, but not a reason to get excited about eating in Nice.

Ah, but now! Nice has a slew of enticing Michelin-starred or cited restaurants, and maybe, at last, a food culture on the rise. My favorite for contemporary French has always been Les Sens, but now there are L’Alchimie and Racines to vie for my palate, if I don’t venture into the Peruvian Yose or the Japanese Onaka. The Zielinska bakery was voted the best in France a couple of years ago. New wine bars like Les Oeillets and Rouge are enlivening the wine drinking tradition (thankfully, as wine consumption in France keeps dropping as more kids grow up addicted to soda). Having lived in Portland, Oregon during its emergence as a food destination, I am hopeful these new eateries portend a similar trend.

A new French film, the country’s admission for the Best Foreign Film Oscar, “The Taste of Things,” celebrates the extraordinary French culinary tradition. Sadly, as in Italy, the days when you could eat anywhere and it would be fantastic are long gone. The new reality is knowing where to go. Now I do.