Parisian Restaurants
Finding good restaurants in the
French capital is like in any other big city in the world. There are tourist traps as well as real finds
in every district. To get a start
uncovering places we enjoy, we proceed like when we’re at home: we check out
Chowhound and other online discussion boards about food. A new one to us, called appropriately La Fourchette (“the fork”), gives
recommendations and allows you to reserve on its site. Afterwards, you are asked for an honest
evaluation of the restaurant. A longtime
favorite of ours is a book entitled Le
Guide du Routard which classifies different eating establishments—and
hotels as well—from the very cheapest to the most expensive by arrondissement. We usually find that choosing one level up from the cheapest suits us best. Over all, we have eaten pretty well near home by
consulting and comparing these different sources.
A typical bistro a short walk away from
here is Le Petit Baigneur. Charming with its red and white checkered tablecloths and its
nostalgic posters and signs filling the walls, this restaurant serves classic French
appetizers like herring or terrine. Its
main dishes include rabbit, quail, bœuf bourguignon, and hachis parmentier (“shepherd’s
pie),” which are usually accompanied by mashed potatoes and a bit of
salad. Nothing fancy, mind you, just
good solid food at very reasonable prices.
Another favorite of ours, which
we’ve visited three times since January, is called La Table de Bezout—Bezout being its street named for a mathematician.
The touch of Asian fusion from the two chefs, sisters from Hong Kong,
adds interest to traditional bistro offerings.
The steak frites, for example, comes with a soy sauce/green onion
mixture on the side. Likewise, a tuna
tartare appetizer was served with toasts and a lemony Asian dipping sauce–just fantastic. Their desserts, too, are French with a
twist. The delicious crème brûlée comes
in a variety of ways, depending on the day, including with pistachio ice cream
on the side.
In my opinion, the best all-around
restaurant we’ve been to was Le Cornichon
just last week. I’m not alone in my
judgment: I just read that last year it received the Prix Lebey for best bistro
in Paris. Since “pickle” is its name,
the modern décor contains several paintings, photographs, and drawings of
pickles! No pickles in the food, though,
to my knowledge. The amuse-bouche when
we were there was an accras de morue. Hard to explain but it’s kind of a hushpuppy
made of salt cod. Trust me on this one:
it was really good! The soup that night was
also different; it was made of nettles and escargots. I can hear you saying: “What in the world are
those people eating over there?” Again, believe
me, it was terrific. The waiter and I agreed, though, that we didn’t know nettles were edible. Husband tried the eggplant/frogs leg
appetizer, which was also quite good.
Our main dishes were bacon and pork jowls for one of us (guess who?)
and rabbit in a delicate lemon sauce for the other. Desserts were very good: a brownie (of all things!) with ice cream and cognac and a
whipped cream with fresh strawberries and candy-coated nuts. Quite a
bargain for such a creative meal at 34 euros apiece.
We'll be home in a couple of weeks and plan on doing much more "restaurant research"—for readers of this blog, of course!
3 comments:
Jayne, your photos are just marvelous.You are making me so eager to get there -- I am salivating about les cerises et fraises petits. I hope your return is a good one and at least somewhat welcome. We'll exchange reverse adventures shortly.
Always good to hear from you, Julia. The petites fraises et les cerises are out now waiting for you! We've been here over four months now; it's been great and we're ready to go home. :)
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