We have always eaten well in Paris, but this time eating well also informed our hotel choice. Having seen many references to Le Comptoir, the restaurant in the Hotel Relais St. Germain (www.hotel-paris-relais-saint-germain.com), over the past year, we were determined to eat there. We had stayed in the hotel, which is located in a converted 17th century home in the 6th arrondisement just off the Blvd St Germain and near the Odeon metro station, ten years earlier and found it to be charming and well situated for exploring central Paris. Since our last stay, the hotel had been bought by Yves and Claudine Cambeborde, Yves being the former owner of La Regalade, which he opened in 1992 and which many credit as being the first to serve high-end French cuisine in a relaxed bistro setting and at low bistro prices.
Last minute weather issues played havoc with our flights and we ended up arriving in Paris mid afternoon. The hotel was an improved and modernized version of what we remembered- small but charming entrance with a compact and well laid out room, soundproofed windows, comfortable bed and nice antique furniture with all the expected conveniences (air conditioning, nice bathroom fixtures, flat screen tv, etc.).
After an afternoon spent wandering around the neighborhood of the hotel and getting over a surprisingly small case of jet lag, we headed off for dinner at Mon Veil Ami (www.mon-vieil-ami.com) on Ile St Louis. Mon Veil Ami, which translates as My Old Friend and which Patricia Wells describes as a “bright, starkly modern Alsatian bistro”, was a great way to begin 5 days of eating in Paris. The service was friendly and informed, the décor was elegant but spare and the food was superb. The room has separate (albeit close together) tables on one side and a large communal table on the other, with a large central table in the middle dominated by a simple yet beautiful floral arrangement and which serves as storage for wine, extra glassware and table settings.
Our neighboring tables seemed to be indicative of the crowd’s mix of tourists and locals- two woman from Washington on our right and two Parisian couples to our left- all of whom seemed to be as entranced as we with the food of Antoine Westermann, the Alsatian owner and creator of this restaurant and of Strasbourg’s former three star Le Buerehiesel, and Frédéric Crochet, a 28 year old protégé of Westermann who runs the kitchen on a day-to-day basis. After a complimentary glass of Alsatian pinot blanc as an aperitif, Nancy started with a beautifully composed salad of beets topped with raw marinated tuna, followed by scallops with sweet potatoes prepared two ways (pureed and fried). The presentation of both dishes were perfect- beautiful without being fussy- and they were startlingly good, with perfectly fresh ingredients and well blended tastes thoughtfully combined. While Nancy had chosen some of the lighter options, I went the opposite direction, starting with the house pate en croute with two kinds of slaw- one with red cabbage and vinegar and the other white cabbage with a house made mayonnaise. The pate was a mix of cuts of duck and pork, all encased in perfectly crisp pastry and served atop a perfectly dressed mixed salad. This light starter was followed by a cast iron casserole dish chock full of duck and a root vegetable medley braised with wine, honey and spices. As with Nancy’s dishes, the tastes and textures complemented each other wonderfully. For dessert we “shared” (sharing in our family means Nancy gets a bite- maybe two- while I eat the rest) another beautifully put together plate with a poached pear and a scoop of pear sorbet set on top of rice pudding. Chocolate sauce drizzled over the whole thing sounds like gilding the lily, but it brought it all together perfectly. This meal seemed like a steal at 38 euros per person (not including wine), and walking back to the hotel on a beautiful Paris evening- past Notre Dame, across the Seine with the buildings lit up and sparkling- served as a great way to partly walk off to dinner and to remember why we come to Paris.
The next morning started with breakfast (included in the room price) in the small hotel dining room which seats 20-25 people at most. Although the previous evening’s dinner left me unable to fully take advantage of it, breakfast was quite the bounty: coffee and fresh squeezed orange juice, a petite bowl of orange slices, fresh croissants and bread from local bakers, premium yogurt and cheese, and ham and eggs- with the ham (Spanish) sliced to order from the leg sitting on the restaurant’s bar and the eggs soft boiled as you walk in to the dining room.
More than fully fortified, we set out. In our family, Nancy is known for wanting to walk long distances on vacation. When we first visited Paris with our young children, her first day’s walk almost caused a family revolt and shocked the hotel staff when the kids informed them of its length. But since Paris is a great walking city- despite the number of sights, central Paris is remarkably compact- I went along with the plans for what was sure to be a long day. We started by taking the metro to the Stalingrad station in the 10th and then walked to the start of the Canal St. Martin. This three mile canal, built in the early 19th century, links the Canal de l’Ourcq (which comes into Paris from its starting point 70 miles to the northeast) to the Seine. Although the canal banks are a popular sleeping spot for the homeless who seem more evident in Paris these days, its nine locks (watching boats navigate the locks is fascinating for all ages), metal bridges and cobbled footpaths makes for an interesting walk through some of Paris’s mixed but rapidly gentrifying neighborhoods and a nice change from the tourist areas of the center city.
We grabbed a cup of coffee at one of the many small cafes and restaurants on the streets that front the canal and stopped in at Artazart, a very well stocked and interesting art and design bookstore at 83, quai de Valmy. After continuing along the canal for a bit, we turned left onto Rue de Faubourg du Temple (the canal goes underground not far from here)and up the hill into Belleville, a neighborhood that is home to long time working class residents, young people looking for (relatively) inexpensive housing, and large numbers of Chinese and African immigrants. The immigrant influence is palpable and exciting in a San Francisco Chinatown without tourists kind of way, with Chinese grocery stores next to North African halal butchers. The Belleville street market on the Boulevard de Belleville (every Tuesday and Friday morning), which runs roughly parallel to the canal, highlights the diversity of the neighborhood, with vendors from seemingly every part of the world selling seemingly every kind of food (and most everything else for that matter) to a seemingly impenetrable mass of people at prices that bear little resemblance to the inflated prices you see elsewhere in the city.
Cutting out of the endless market we continued our walk in the direction of the Marais. Based upon a recommendation from Mark Bittman of the New York Times and author of How to Cook Everything, our goal was L'As du Falafel on Rue de Rosier at the center of the old Jewish neighborhood of Paris. I have never been a fan of falafel, but this was a revelation- perfectly fresh pita packed with multiple just-fried small falafel, eggplant, fresh cabbage slaw, hummus and who knows what else- fabulously tasty and a complete mess. You can eat outside or pay a little more and get a seat (which I needed after three plus hours of walking). Either way, service is very fast, and English-friendly (the owners are Israeli).
After lunch, our trek continued with a walk past the Pompidou and Les Halles and eventually on to the fabulously expensive shopping street Rue du Faubourg St. Honore. We ended up at the Place de la Concorde-every time I stand there, looking up at the Arc de Triomphe from the bottom of the Champs Elysees with the Hotel Crillon and the American Embassy on one side and the bridges over the Seine on the other, the obelisk in the middle, with the Tuileries and the Louvre behind you, it takes my breath away and I am amazed at the grandeur of Paris.
After finally finding our way back to the hotel for a much deserved rest after our 6 hour walk, we headed out to dinner. Our destination was Astier, a traditional bistro in the 11th located not far from where we had begun walking in the morning. Astier’s four course dinner was 29.50 euro and the service was friendly, the starters superb (Nancy had herrings in herbs and oil- served in a huge pot from which you help yourself to all you want before they take it to the next customer- while I started with a wonderful pate de foie), entrees good but not great (whitefish for her, rabbit- a bit underdone- for me) and the cheese board as beautiful as you can imagine. We shared the board with a very nice 40ish couple from the neighborhood, and we tasted most of the 12 or so offerings on the board. They all were perfectly ripe and most were delicious- since it was help yourself until you were done (which took quite a long time for the Swedish father and son to our left), the dessert which followed seemed like overkill.
The couple we shared our cheese with- she a museum curator and he a cinematographer- spoke near perfect English, couldn’t have been friendlier and were yet another data point disproving the American conceit that the French generally and Parisians specifically are rude. We have always found the opposite to be true- yes Parisians can be a bit short (which I attribute to the sometimes overwhelming crush of tourists) and are very proud (with good reason) of their city, but they are very responsive when approached with respect and courtesy. In many ways Parisians remind me of New Yorkers with French accents.
Breakfast the next morning was followed by a bike tour of the city. We met our guide from Fat Tire Bike Tours, which also offers English speaking bike tours of Berlin and Barcelona, at the Eiffel Tower and, after collecting our large group and getting our bikes at their nearby office, set out to see the main sights of Paris. Having never before had a guided tour of Paris, we learned some new things about some often seen sights (it was never clear to me that the Dome at the Invalides was a church and the site of Napoleon’s tomb) and found out that the city is easily navigated by bike- we were on bike lanes, wide sidewalks and parks almost the entire time. Although the size of our group (roughly 12 people) dictated that we stopped (including for a mediocre lunch in the Tuileries Gardens) and waited for people too often for my taste, this was a fun way to see the city and get around. I would do it again with a private group and our own guide so that we could ride and see more and stop less.
After the bike tour, we walked on secondary streets from the Eiffel Tower back towards our hotel. We ended up on Rue Cherche Midi which conveniently allowed for a stop at the famous Poilane bakery (their sweet pastries are great but their basic round sourdough wheat loaf is a must try- they sell it by the loaf or already sliced) for some breakfast treats for our early flight the next day (we were leaving Paris for a week before returning for the last two days of our trip). After a quick stop at the hotel, we walked past the Pantheon (an 18th century church repurposed first as a memorial to the heroes of the French revolution and later as a mausoleum) to the Rue Mouffetard. Although very touristy, this very narrow street with a small French village feel spills down a hill past restaurants, takeout stands and food stores of every variety. The metro back from the bottom of the hill dropped us back at the Odeon station near our hotel.
Dinner was in the 11th again, at Bistrot Paul Bert, located on a side street with the same name. Although positive write-ups by Patricia Wells and the NY Times almost guaranteed the presence of other Americans, the restaurant was primarily full of locals having a good time. Again the service was friendly and tolerant of our lack of French language skills. I started with exquisitely fresh scallops (the same owner has a seafood restaurant next door) in the shell with a butter sauce and moved on to an archetypal steak frites- rare entrecote paired with perfectly salty and crisp fries. Nancy started with perfectly fresh asparagus in vinaigrette followed by monkfish (lotte). Instead of dessert, we had the cheese course which again meant taking all you wanted from the huge platter. All of this wonderful food, in a fun atmosphere, was had for approximately 30 euro per person (not including the light red from the Loire that worked well with Nancy’s fish and ok with my steak).
After a week in Corsica, we arrived back in Paris late afternoon and met some friends from Colorado who are living in Paris for an aperitif and then dinner. We strolled through the 6th and, after our café stop, jumped on the metro to head to Casa Olympe, perhaps my favorite restaurant in Paris. Casa Olympe, located on an untouristed street in the 9th, is the home of Dominique Versini, who earlier in her career had walked away from being the first Michelin starred female chef to open this small and casual bistro. I was originally introduced to Casa Olympe by a former French colleague and the food, as it had been on numerous previous visits, was pitch perfect. Nancy started with some beautiful white asparagus and our friends all had an eggplant, tomato and cheese dish- which looked like elegant deconstructed eggplant parmesan. I started with a boudin blood sausage en croute served a top a salad. The description does not do it justice- the boudin was very sausagey with a hint of liver taste, the pastry crusty and light, the greens tasting as if they just came out of the garden and the dressing biting enough to cut the richness of the sausage but not overwhelming the dish. For mains two of us split the roasted lamb for 2- a huge portion of slow roasted shoulder served in big casserole with copious amounts of garlic and thyme set atop roast potatoes which soak up the lamb juice. I have had this dish most every visit to Casa Olympe and neither I nor the friend forced to share it with me was disappointed. Nancy had the mackerel in papillote while the remainder of our table had the steak frites. The highlight of the dessert course was mixed berries with a not too sweet and not too thick mascarpone cheese sauce that couldn’t have been better.
We eschewed a cab or metro ride back to the hotel and opted for the 45 minute walk instead. Parts of our walk were a bit deserted, but we ended up in the illuminated courtyard of the Louvre before crossing the Seine- a magical place. While the restaurant was expensive by our recent standards, it still came in at less than 40 euro a person (again without wine- we had a great Burgundy that set us back a bit) for a meal that could not be duplicated at home close to that price, and the walk wrapped up a great night.
Our last day in Paris was devoted to more walking and some necessary shopping. After going to the Champs Elysee to hit the Virgin Megastore for French rap CDs for my son, and Le Petit Bateau for some French t-shirts for Nancy and our daughter, we walked through a few of the remaining Passages Couverts (covered shopping arcades). Built primarily in the 19th century, and once numbering over 150 (compared to less than 20 today), the Passages we visited have been maintained or restored to varying degrees of elegance, ranging from the beautiful appointed Galerie Vivienne with its designer shops and ladies-that-lunch restaurants, to the funkier Passage des Panoramas- an intriguing way to spend a day.
But we only had half a day, as a return lunch visit to L’As du Falafel was in order. After lunch we doubled back to the hotel and then on to buy French cheese from Barthelemy in the 7th (only cheeses which were legal to bring home of course). This is a very small storefront where not much English is spoken but the cheese selection and quality are extraordinary. They will vacuum pack your purchases, and if you place them in a fed ex or similar box in shipped baggage for the flight home, everything should arrive in good shape.
Our last night’s dinner in Paris, reserved at Le Comptoir in the hotel, was truly a “best for last” moment. But before dinner- there is one seating at 8:30- we headed to Fish, a wine bar and seafood restaurant not far from the hotel for an aperitif. Owned by the proprietor of a local wine store and an American ex-pat, Fish is a very casual place that, despite being overrun with Americans, feels less like a tourist place than an ex-pat hangout. Our rose was accompanied by an innovative and delicious bar snack- sliced cucumbers topped with crushed sesame seeds and sea salt. The menu looked inviting and this will be a spot we try on our next visit.
Finally, dinner at Le Comptoir. This place has been written up everywhere, and non-hotel guests have to make reservations for the weekday prix fixe (45 euro) dinner months in advance (lunch and weekend dinner are a la carte and no reservations are taken). The dining room has less than 30 seats and, with warm April weather, probably another 20 or more diners were at tables on the street (on this evening one of the street table inhabitants was Thomas Keller of Napa Valley’s French Laundry and New York’s Per Se).
After we were seated and given (another) aperitif, our waiter (who had previously worked at Daniel in New York) presented us with our menu for the evening.
Jus glace de petit pois pimente et menthole
Perles du japon, foie gras de canard du Gers
This first course was a chilled pea soup with a hint of pepper and mint, poured at the table into a chilled bowl with whole peas, tapioca and slivers of foie gras. I am not a huge fan of peas, their light freshness played beautifully against the fattiness of the liver and the whole thing exploded in my mouth. Extraordinary.
Mini courgette ronde de chez Charles Orso a Cannes La Bocca
Farci caviar d’aubergine et thon Luzien mi cuit
This was Nancy’s favorite course- a small round zucchini hollowed out and filled with eggplant caviar and topped with slivers of rare tuna. Again, the interplay of flavors and textures showed that there was a master in the kitchen.
Tranche de gigo de cochon de lait Bearnais frotte ail, thym
Puree de pomm ratte et olives noire
Jus pistou
Anyone who can get my wife to say that she likes pork has to be a master. The pork, rubbed with garlic and thyme, roasted and sliced thin, melt in the mouth tender and perfectly cooked, was served atop pureed potatoes and drizzled with a thin pistou sauce.
Plateau de fromage affine par la maison Boursault
By this point in the meal I was overcome with happiness. Every bite had been an adventure (I guess that can happen in a bad restaurant too, but this was the opposite) and the cheese course seemed like it would offer a respite. Instead, the obligatory large board was plunked down between us and a couple from Glasgow also was staying at the hotel, and it was the best cheese platter we had in Paris. The cheeses all come from a local cave and it was all we could do to stop eating.
Melon de Lectoure rafraichi
Miel, citron vert et gingembre cru
Nancy doesn’t like pork and I don’t like melon. Two urban legends debunked in one meal. Given that we had seen beautiful melons in markets throughout Paris, I wasn’t surprised how fresh these were, but I was surprised by how the taste really grabbed me. A good deal of this is attributable to the sauce- honey, citrus and ginger- which would have worked on its own as a dessert soup, but I really liked the melon. A first.
Le bonbon de fondeur en chocolat Jacques Genin
A piece of candy by a local artisan. Just what we needed. Fabulous though. And a great way to end perhaps the best meal I have had in Paris or anywhere, regardless of cost, and at 45 euro it was even better. We will plan our next trip to Paris around a reservation at Le Comptoir.
----------------------------------
Paris is an eating city, but for us the starred restaurants don’t work. Too showy an experience, too much self importance radiating from the plate and way too much money. I think we got it right on this trip- great street food, good simple traditional bistros and great places trying to take the bistro to new heights. And lots of walking (and no museums) to (at least partly) walk it off.
Details:
Hotel:
HOTEL RELAIS ST GERMAIN
9, carrefour de l'Odéon 75006 Paris
Tel: 011 33 -1-43-29-12-05
Fax: 011 33 -1-46-33-45-30
www.hotel-paris-relais-saint-germain.com
Metro: Odeon
Restaurants:
MON VIEIL AMI
69 rue Saint Louis en l’Ile, Paris 4.
Tel: 011 33 1 40 46 01 35.
Fax: 011 33 1 40 46 01 36.
Closed Monday, and Tuesday at lunch
L’AS DU FALAFEL
34, rue des Rosiers
Paris 4
Tel: 011 33 1 48 87 63 60
ASTIER
44 rue Jean Pierre Timbaud, Paris 11.
Tel: 011 33 1 43 57 16 35.
Internet: www.restaurant-astier.com
Closed Saturday and Sunday
LE BISTROT PAUL BERT
18, rue Paul Bert, Paris 11
Tel: 011 33 1 43 72 24 01.
Closed Sunday and Monday
CASA OLYMPE
48 rue Saint-Georges, Paris 9.
Telephone : 011 33 1 42 85 26 01.
Closed Saturday and Sunday
FISH LA POISSONNERIE
69, rue du Seine, Paris 6.
Telephone: 011 33 1 43 54 34 69
Fax: 011 33 1 43 54 33 47.
Closed Monday.
LE COMPTOIR
9, Carrefour de l’Odéon, Paris 6.
Tel: 011 33 1 44 27 07 97
Shopping:
For an interesting article on the Passages Couverts, see http://travel.nytimes.com/2007/03/11/travel/11culture.html
VIRGIN MEGASTORE
52-60 Champs Elysées
75008 Paris 8
Tel: 011 33 1.49.53.50.00
PETIT BATEAU
116 av. des Champs-Élysées, Paris 8
Tel: 011 33 -40-74-02-03
ARTAZART
83, quai de valmy
75010 Paris 10
Tel: 011 33 1 40 40 24 00
Paris is an eating city, but for us the starred restaurants don’t work. Too showy an experience, too much self importance radiating from the plate and way too much money. I think we got it right on this trip- great street food, good simple traditional bistros and great places trying to take the bistro to new heights. And lots of walking (and no museums) to (at least partly) walk it off.
Details:
Hotel:
HOTEL RELAIS ST GERMAIN
9, carrefour de l'Odéon 75006 Paris
Tel: 011 33 -1-43-29-12-05
Fax: 011 33 -1-46-33-45-30
www.hotel-paris-relais-saint-germain.com
Metro: Odeon
Restaurants:
MON VIEIL AMI
69 rue Saint Louis en l’Ile, Paris 4.
Tel: 011 33 1 40 46 01 35.
Fax: 011 33 1 40 46 01 36.
Closed Monday, and Tuesday at lunch
L’AS DU FALAFEL
34, rue des Rosiers
Paris 4
Tel: 011 33 1 48 87 63 60
ASTIER
44 rue Jean Pierre Timbaud, Paris 11.
Tel: 011 33 1 43 57 16 35.
Internet: www.restaurant-astier.com
Closed Saturday and Sunday
LE BISTROT PAUL BERT
18, rue Paul Bert, Paris 11
Tel: 011 33 1 43 72 24 01.
Closed Sunday and Monday
CASA OLYMPE
48 rue Saint-Georges, Paris 9.
Telephone : 011 33 1 42 85 26 01.
Closed Saturday and Sunday
FISH LA POISSONNERIE
69, rue du Seine, Paris 6.
Telephone: 011 33 1 43 54 34 69
Fax: 011 33 1 43 54 33 47.
Closed Monday.
LE COMPTOIR
9, Carrefour de l’Odéon, Paris 6.
Tel: 011 33 1 44 27 07 97
Shopping:
For an interesting article on the Passages Couverts, see http://travel.nytimes.com/2007/03/11/travel/11culture.html
VIRGIN MEGASTORE
52-60 Champs Elysées
75008 Paris 8
Tel: 011 33 1.49.53.50.00
PETIT BATEAU
116 av. des Champs-Élysées, Paris 8
Tel: 011 33 -40-74-02-03
ARTAZART
83, quai de valmy
75010 Paris 10
Tel: 011 33 1 40 40 24 00
No comments:
Post a Comment