La Table de Sébastien Gravé

Sébastien Gravé made his name in Paris with the Basque-leaning Pottoka in the seventh arrondissement before returning home to open this riverside room on the quai Amiral Dubourdieu. The dining room — pale wood, large windows looking onto the Nive, a polished concrete bar at the entrance — is the most contemporary in Bayonne and the cooking matches.

The menu is modern Basque with a Parisian accent. Bayonne ham with figs and Idiazabal cheese; aged Basque beef with txangurro butter; the kitchen's celebrated Basque cake with cherry preserves. Portions are generous but the plating reads contemporary rather than rustic, and the wine list leans hard into small Basque producers and natural French wines.

Service is warm and entirely unstuffy, and the riverside terrace in summer is one of the most desirable seats in Bayonne. The kitchen handles a six-top as readily as a two-top, and the cooking holds up either way.

For a first date that should feel current and Basque rather than provincial, a birthday dinner that wants warmth and a great room, or simply the question of where Bayonne now eats, La Table de Sébastien Gravé is the answer.

The riverside room and the contemporary register make this the obvious choice for a first date that should feel current rather than traditional. The pacing is generous and the wine list is interesting enough to discuss.