Arnold Zwicky's Blog

A follow-up to my 10/21/25 posting “A world postcard”, about a card from the Librairie Lucioles (the Fireflies Bookstore) in Vienne en Isère, France. First, a bit more about the town of Vienne, with its Roman history. Then, a note on one particular feature of note, the Vienne Pyramid, an obelisk originally from the Roman circus in Vienne. Which leads to the extraordinary Vienne restaurant, Fernand Pointe’s La Pyramide, named after the circus obelisk. And then to e-mail from my old friend Benita Bendon Campbell, with a recollection of a lunch she and her husband had at the restaurant in 1971. So: from bookstore to Roman chariot races to food, glorious food.

Touristic Vienne. The town’s population in 2020 was 30,059, significantly smaller than the place I now live in, Palo Alto CA. But relatively small places can be packed with attractions — and notable restaurants — as Vienne is.

From Wikipedia:

The town is now a regional commercial and industrial centre, known regionally for its Saturday market. A Roman temple, circus pyramid and theatre (where the annual Jazz à Vienne is held), as well as museums (archaeological, textile industry) and notable Catholic buildings, make tourism an important part of the town’s economy.

The Vienne Pyramid.

(#1) An obelisk from the circus, where chariot races were held in Roman times (photo from the Vienne Tourist Board)

Note: obelisk ‘a stone pillar, typically having a square or rectangular cross section and a pyramidal top, set up as a monument or landmark’ (NOAD).

The restaurant La Pyramide. From Wikipedia:

(#2) Gardens at the restaurant and hotel (Wikipedia photo)

Restaurant de la Pyramide, popularly known as La Pyramide, was a Michelin Guide 3-star restaurant located in Vienne, Isère, France. It was widely regarded as the greatest restaurant in France while its owner Fernand Point (1897–1955) — considered to be the founder of modern French cuisine — was alive.

It continued under the direction of Point’s widow until her death, then passed into other hands and lost its stars, but now survives as a 2-star restaurant.

I have no idea why the Wikipedia article on Vienne doesn’t even mention the restaurant, surely the great glory of 20th-century Vienne.

E-mail from BBC. From Bonnie Bendon (now Benita Bendon Campbell), a recurring character on this blog:

Have you ever posted about Fernand Point, the first celebrity chef and his extraordinary restaurant, La Pyramide – for which Michelin invented the three-star system? In Vienne, whence came your well-traveled post card [AZ: in my 10/21 posting]. Ed [Campbell, Bonnie’s husband] and I had lunch there in 1971. An essential destination for foodies, in those distant times.

No, I hadn’t posted about Point and La Pyramide (my posting is erratic, and so I miss innumerable topics of great interest), but I don’t know why when a bookstore in Vienne came up, my famously associative mind didn’t immediately leap to the great glory of modern French cooking. I was asleep at the switch. But BBC wakened me.

And passed along this menu from her lunch with Ed there in 1971:

(#3) No, I don’t know what choices they made

This entry was posted on October 23, 2025 at 9:11 am and is filed under Art, History, Language and food. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.