Food & Wine

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Some trips take a long time to get off the ground. The trip my husband, Paul, and I took to western Canada in May 2017 was one of those. 

Central France is an area frequently driven through and not visited. Restaurant la Petite École (Rilhac, Vergongheon, France; phone 04 71 76 97 43, www.restaurant-lapetiteecole.com) is a good reason to make a detour.

In the village of Rilhac, located in the commune of Vergongheon, the restaurant is run by a couple from southern France who bought it on a whim while visiting the area on vacation from their jobs working in someone else’s restaurant.

We took our third tour with George Nevin, owner and operator of Intimate France (Oakland, CA; 800/676-1247, www.intimatefrance.com), Sept. 6-18, 2015, this time to the Dordogne area of France. Rather than cover that beautiful area, in this review we will focus on what a guest on one of George’s four tours a year can expect.

If you ask 10 Americans how they tip in the US, you’ll get 10 different answers, right? 

These days, nicer restaurants typically expect 15% to 20% on top of the bill for good service, and 18% or more is often added onto the bill for larger parties. But that doesn’t mean that’s what folks will tip. 

Do you deduct tax from the total before you calculate the tip in a restaurant?

With cab fare, you might tip up to 10% or just round up the fare by a smaller amount or not tip at all.