Paris Journal 2010 – Barbara Joy Cooley Home: barbarajoycooley.com
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We walked over to the 6th along a different route than usual yesterday evening, taking the larger, not-quite-so-charming boulevards and streets of Frémicourt, Garibaldi, Sevres, Montparnasse, and Vaugirard. There are many large hospitals and other institutions in this area, and they seem to hold down the real estate values a good bit. But it made for some easier walking, with wider sidewalks. I thought it might take a little less time than our other routes, because of fewer crosswalks. But it took the same amount of time. The largest institution we passed was Necker, the children’s hospital, along the rue de Sevres. According to Necker’s web site, there is currently a exhibition of a Colombian photographer’s work on the fences along the sidewalks around Necker, but apparently it is not on the rue de Sevres side. We’ll have to go back and look for it later. The name of the exhibition, “Bouts de Choux,” is a term of endearment for “children.” Translated literally, however, it means “stumps of cabbage.” Our first destination at the end of our walk was the Bouillon Racine, where I’d made a dinner reservation at 8PM. This restaurant is a historic monument. Here’s a web page about its history. The maitre d’ recognized our name from the list of reservations for the evening, and gave us a good table near the big, open front window of this very attractive Art Nouveau resto. The server tried to give us English menus, but I immediately requested “en Français, s’il vous plait.” He looked a little surprised, but he brought the French menus immediately. The restaurant people in Paris just don’t know how inaccurate and sometimes unappetizing their English translations can be. Food always sounds better in French, I think. I ordered the pluma de cochon Iberique. Here’s a paragraph from the Food Intelligence web site that explains this name: “Pluma, la plume, en espagnol du pays des cochons vernis aux sabots noirs. Les mêmes, qui, à demi-sauvage, se nourrissent de glands et d’olives. Leur merveilleux métabolisme concentre les gras essentiels omega 3 et 6 au cœur de leurs chairs les plus fines. (à l'égal d'une pub pour un nouveau médicament OTC) Et devinez-quoi ? Et oui aussi dans la pluma. Bon, la pluma est un délicat morceau de viande de porc, en forme de plume, situé à la pointe de l’omoplate.” Basically, this is plume-shaped prime piece of pork from the shoulder-blade area of black-hooved pigs that feed on milk and olives. Their metabolism concentrates the omega 3 and 6 fats in the best part of the meat. My pluma was exceptionally good, as were the buttery puréed potatoes that accompanied it. Tom had a good, if slightly chewy, steak with béarnaise sauce and fries. Seated next to us was an odd French couple having a grand and fun conversation. There were some American tourists here and there in the big restaurant, and they were embarrassingly underdressed (shorts, see-through dresses, athletic shoes, knapsacks, etc.). But mostly, French people were dining at the Bouillon. After dinner, we went to welcome Deb and Allan to Paris. They just arrived. Then it was quite late, so we took the metro home to the 15th. Even though today is Sunday, we will have to go shopping because we are out of cherries, strawberries, and apricots! The weather is good; it is cooling off enough at night that the temps are quite tolerable. Note: For addresses & phone numbers of restaurants in this journal, click here. Sign
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Sunday, July 11, 2010
Attractive
building with green terracotta stairwell on the rue de Sevres.
Carved
doors on the rue Monsieur le Prince.
Believe it or not, the doors are flat.
Looking
up the avenue de Breteuil toward Les Invalides, late in the day. |
