One-man band

Last night we took Mireille Dusser for dinner at "Le Petit Couassert," a little inn in Beaucens not far from her house. The restaurant was set in a renovated farm house and had been already in business for four years. The man who welcomed us, Philippe Horguedebat, was a young guy, not really outgoing, but the setting was really cute and the menu looked good enough for us to stay and order something to eat. We were the only clients and only a bit later did a young American couple come in to have dinner too. From the start, Evelyne got a hunch that the man was alone to do everything, including preparing the food, cooking it, waiting tables and doing the dishes; I said her assumption was silly… At one point, our host climbed up the stairs that led apparently to some living quarter carrying a full dinner tray; there was evidently someone having a meal up there. Then, as she could no longer contain her curiosity, my spouse asked the man if he really was alone to do all the cooking, waiting and the rest. He said “Sure; my wife is ironing upstairs…” We didn’t believe the latter part of his comment and figured that he and his wife have had some sort of argument, but this was the first time in my life that I had been in a one-man-everything restaurant!