Friday, January 6, 2012

Septime in the 11th: simple, subtle, scrumptious, satisfying.



From John Talbott's blog..... one of my favorite restaurants.  Carol and I had a great meal there the previous trip.





Septime in the 11th: simple, subtle, scrumptious, satisfying.:
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The bare wooden tables, open kitchen and warm, warm welcome from the front room and culinary staffs tell it all - this is a place for serious eating - forget the frou-frou, amuse gueules, fancy butter and mignardises - we're into satisfying your palate and stomach. As they always have had at lunch, there are few choices on the menu but the price (26 E for three courses) is right and the choices adequate.

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Madame, our friend the Professor of Culinary Arts, had the egg in a broth she found bewitching with shaved exotic vegetables and the other three of us had squid with a crab fluff and a puree of squash -quite exceptional.

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Then the ladies had the carrelet (plaice, dab) with brussel sprouts that Colette found characterless and the men - a poitrine of pork with perfectly crisped skin, luscious meat within and not too much fat in totality - a dish I found better than any I've had in a long time.

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Three of us had the great block of chocolate with an incredibly intense coffee semi-freddo and an nice offsetting ice cream; the other choice was cheese which looked fine.

Our bill with two bottles of wine and no bottled water but three coffees and one tea, was 77.50 e a coupe.

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Why a Perfect Parisian Bistro Will Never be Perfect – The Paris Kitchen

A great description of Bistros, capturing exactly what I love about them. We had our second meal in our new favorite in our neighborhood, "Au Moka" on the Blvd de Grenelle. It is so perfect, and so absent of Americans, that I wouldn't even mention it if I didn't know that I have about five readers.

Why a Perfect Parisian Bistro Will Never be Perfect – The Paris Kitchen:

'via Blog this'

We're Home

Another great trip.  I want to see if I can maintain this blog just a little in between times in Paris.  the key to blogging is either doing (as in traveling) or reading.  So I'll try to read a little about things French and post the results here.  Not so easy, of course.  Just to get things started, if you enjoy the occasional food-porn I post here, you should check out the master of the form, John Talbott:

http://johntalbottsparis.typepad.com/

He is fun to read, knowledgeable, easygoing, low-ego.  Plus, he gets to live there.