Paris Journal 2009 – Barbara Joy Cooley Home: barbarajoycooley.com
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We just
wandered yesterday evening, with no particular goal in mind. That took us to the Champ de Mars, where
preparations are underway for the big free concert and fireworks for the
Quatorze Juillet (Bastille Day) celebration, day after tomorrow. Each year, the lights, stage, etc., take up
more and more space on the Champ, leaving less room for people. But the people will come anyway because the
concert features the super-popular Johnny Hallyday. We’ll probably
watch the fireworks from our kitchen window.
The newspaper informs us that we can even watch them via the internet. We left the
Champ and moved deeper into the 7th arrondissement, thinking now
about dinner. We looked at a number of
restaurants, rejecting them because they didn’t appear to meet our standards
in one way or another. I was
disappointed to see that the restaurants on the pedestrian-only rue Cler have
lost much of their character. This
includes the Café du Marché. The
places have given in to a more standard casual, modern Western menu,
including hamburgers, cheeseburgers, and club sandwiches. The cafés there are full of young people
and people generally who don’t look like they’re experts at selecting
restaurants. They simply go to
someplace that is easy, or someplace that has a menu in English. They look like they don’t really care. We turned up
the rue Amélie, where we’d dined two summers ago with our friends Carol and
Wendy at a place called Chez Pierrot.
The food at Chez Pierrot was not good.
But we remembered seeing a place across the street from it which
looked promising, but was undergoing renovation at that time. The renovation
is complete. The place is called Le Petit Niçois. The food is not inexpensive, but reasonable
considering the high quality. The
clientele appeared to be well-dressed, well-educated, and French
speaking. We watched as the head
waiter fileted a whole dorade (a Mediterranean fish). It looked delicious. We entered and
asked for a table, apologizing for not reserving in advance. After waiting for a minute or so while the
fileting was done, we were shown to a table in the middle of the handsome
front dining room. You’ll notice
on the menu here that
the “Suggestion,” or fish of the day for two people – in this case, the
dorade -- has a supplemental
cost. It was 5 euros per person. But it was
worth it. The dorade was served with a
clarified butter and a divine ratatouille.
Le Petit Niçois’ fileted dorade with ratatouille. It was delicious. First, I had a
shrimp salad as a starter course. The
five large shrimp came with a homemade mayonnaise that was made with just a
touch of curry. The green salad had a
very nice vinaigrette. Tom ordered the
homemade vanilla ice cream, which he pronounced “splendid.” Le Petit Niçois
filled up completely as we dined. The
restaurant across the street emptied and was entirely deserted by 9PM. We were
fortunate to be able to get into Le Petit Niçois without reserving. And we were proud to be the only Americans
to have found this super resto on a Saturday night in Paris. We did our best to represent our
country. It is a tough job, but
somebody has to do it. |
Sunday, July 12, 2009
The
Eiffel Tower and a basketball court on the Champ de Mars. Across from the basketball court was a sort
of soccer court, where a ball went astray and Tom returned it.
A
deli on the avenue de la Motte Picquet uses this colorful delivery bicycle on
the double-wide sidewalk to attract attention.
Le Petit Nicois 10, rue Amélie - 75007
Paris |
