My favorite bistro in Bordeaux, La Tupina has a roaring fireplace and rotisserie, a superb atmosphere, a pleasant wine list, and intensely flavored food. This is not the place to go if you're counting calories, especially considering the complimentary goodies at the beginning. The charcuterie is superb, but the crunchy kernels of duck fat are to die for - literally! That was followed by scrambled eggs with black truffles. It's a mediocre quality year for black truffles because of France's dry weather. Hence the saying "great vintages produce poor truffle years and vice versa." The delicious Médoc chicken is almost as good as the renowned roast chicken served at L'Ami Louis in Paris. La Tupina's interpretation, which is prepared on a rotisserie over a wood fire, is beautifully crunchy, sweet, moist, and flavorful. It is served with bread soaked in chicken fat, which is about as decadent as one could desire.

The wines included a refreshing glass of the house white, a 2005 Sauvignon Blanc. It was a tasty Sauvignon filled with melon and citrus-like fruit. A pristine magnum of the 1961 Palmer revealed fragrant notes of cedar, flowers, and spice box, sweet, rich, expansive flavors, medium body, and a long finish with no dryness or harshness. There was only light to moderate pink/amber at the edge, and the wine was decanted one hour prior to serving.