Just Another Saturday In Paris
Here's the view of Notre Dame at night as photographer Sue Rynski and I walked back to the 6th arrondissement from Richard Nahem and Vincent Gaglioso's party in the Marais.
There, I saw a number of Paris blogger friends, including La Coquette and Polly Vous Français, who recently blogged about the fire at one of my favorite places, the taxidermist Deyrolle.
From earlier in the day, here's lunch at La Rotonde (actually, my friend Mark's lunch, because I just had the pumpkin soup, having had a pain au chocolat from Gerard Mulot for breakfast not long before).
Never a dull moment with Mark, a friend since the 80's from New York, now living and working in Paris, but who I think still refers to himself as "a wop from The Bronx." Here I am listening to one of his stories.
Dinner was at Bastide Odeon, where we sat at the table in front of the rust wall hanging at the link. We always sit upstairs -- warmer and cozier. Here's my main course, the roasted chicken (or, more precisely, Volaille fermière rôtie à l’ail confit, pommes de terre « Rougette de Villegagnon).
Totally tender and delicious. I don't usually order chicken, but I was tired, and forgot that volaille is not the word for veal. (Veal is "veau.")
I also forgot to photograph my appetizer and dessert before I dug in -- sorry, but if you'd seen them, you would've done the same. The appetizer was a soup made out of a root called topinambours, aka Jerusalem artichokes. Chocolate & Zucchini blogs about them here:
It's not everyday that one gets to discover a whole new, previously unpublished vegetable. It's not everyday that this new vegetable seems to belong to a little tribe of bulb-headed, purple-hooded munchkins. And it's not everyday that said munchkins turn out to have a delightful taste, halfway between an artichoke and a sweet potato.As I'm well aware, topinambours (or Jerusalem artichokes) are news only to me : they've been around for centuries, mostly used in France to feed cattle (the illustrious Limousin cow in particular). They were also one of the very few vegetables that could be found during the war, and those bad memories led people to turn away from them as soon as things got better, thus condemning the poor topinambour (and she rhymes) to oblivion as a légume oublié, a forgotten vegetable. Thankfully, légumes oubliés are all the rage these days, and they have been turning up again on produce stalls here and there, to the joy of those of us who love a little change and vegetable adventure.
And sorry to be boring, but my soup tasted like pureed squash -- delicious, but a bit like the pumpkin soup I had for lunch.
I got it because I generally order off the specials at a good restaurant, and with rather reckless abandon, as the specials are probably the stuff the chef is most excited about making, and are probably the tastiest. And/or are just the most adventuresome to eat. Here are yesterday night's:
I also got the dessert special, the cerises (morello cherries) with the pistachio-crusted ice cream. Delish! Gobbled half down then remembered I'd meant to photo it. Whoops!
I've got a trip to Cannes all booked for the first week in April. I can't WAIT!
Can you still smoke in France?
RedPretzel in LA at February 17, 2008 10:15 AM
The servings seem awfully small, n'est-ce-pas? I could eat about 10 of those.
The Mad Hungarian at February 17, 2008 4:12 PM
Americans eat way too much -- and often large portions of tasteless food. The food here is rich and very tasty -- no need to eat a trough-full. I've learned a whole lot about how to eat, among other things, from coming here. And about what you should consider actually edible.
The worst food you can eat is that fat-free crap in the USA. Filled with sugar to replace the fat, usually. You'll be a raging asshole looking for more food about 20 minutes after you eat something fat-free.
Amy Alkon at February 17, 2008 4:36 PM
And P.S. People here sit down to meals. You get an entrée (the name in France for the appetizer), a plat (the name in France for the main course, which you see above), and a dessert.
Amy Alkon at February 17, 2008 4:37 PM
The sauces are pretty colors, but what's in them? Are they salty? Fruity? What?
Crid at February 17, 2008 7:31 PM
Don't know about Mark's -- looks like a creamy sauce with maybe a hint of lemon. But mine was roasted in a garlic confit ("ail" is garlic), and here's the explanation of confit:
http://www.larecipe.com/?PageID=144
Rich, brown, garlicky just a little, and slightly salty. Kind of like a meat sauce on chicken. Very good.
Rougette is radish, so maybe some were in the sauce, or maybe it's a joke about the garlic.
Amy Alkon at February 18, 2008 12:30 AM
This other bitter bachelor and I were once at a fancy dinner where the menu promised vegetables with "Swiss sauce." I said "What's 'Swiss sauce'?" And he said, right back, "It has holes in it."
Turns out he was right, but they're shredded so you can't see 'em any more.
Crid at February 18, 2008 1:16 AM
Ha! Love that. And the description "this other bitter bachelor and I."
Amy Alkon at February 18, 2008 1:27 AM
If the jerusalem artichoke intrigued you, you can find them in the U.S. at most grocery stores. They're also referred to as sunchokes and are native to North America.
Celeste at February 18, 2008 4:21 AM
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