Paris Journal 2010 – Barbara Joy Cooley Home: barbarajoycooley.com

Photos and thoughts about Paris

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On the 14^th, when we dined at L’Épopée, I was impressed with many things about the new, young owner who was present that evening. One of the things that impressed me was not just his ability to speak English, but to do it so comfortably that he could readily joke around in English. He’s a congenial, happy guy. The former owners of the restaurant, who were older, spoke no English. That is so typical of the kind of change we’ve seen all over Paris. In the past 12 years, English has become much more ubiquitous. Although the restaurant was empty at 7:30PM when I popped in to make a reservation, by the time we came to eat, about 45 minutes later, it was just about full. We must have reserved one of the last two tables. The last table, too, was filled by 8:30, and then the young man had to turn someone away because the restaurant was full. He did so very politely. One of the reasons the place was full was because there was a table of 13 Asian-Canadians. Sometimes they were speaking some form of Chinese, I think, sometimes French, but mostly English. The young owner of the restaurant had no anxiety about speaking in English with them. He had a rather long and animated chat with them at the end of their meal, and he bade farewell to each one of them individually as they left. This kind of warm hospitality will do the restaurant an enormous amount of good. The English friendliness worked against us at first, because the Asian-Canadians had all the English menus, and for some reason, even though I’d spoken only French to the young men at the resto while reserving and when we came back to dine, they thought we’d need English menus. Finally, after we’d waited for several minutes too long, the young owner asked me, in French, if we needed the menu in English. I replied, “Non, en Français, s’il vous plait.” And then the process of ordering dinner began. Last night, we walked down the leafy length of avenue Félix Faure, into the southerly depths of the 15^th arrondissement where far less English is spoken. I wanted to go back to a new restaurant that we discovered last year, Le Granite, at 19 rue Duranton. This simple, elegant restaurant is run by an elegant, athletic French woman. Its menu is written out on blackboards, and its wine list has some very reasonably priced bottles. Although she is not very old at all, the woman who runs Le Granite speaks no English whatsoever, and there is no hope of ever seeing an English language menu in this place. In spite of that, she is offering “brunch” on Sundays at mid-day. It is amusing how some of these American concepts like “brunch” and “barbeque” are very popular here, and those English words are used as if they are now part of the French language. The cuisine is traditional at Le Granite, but there is something about the way each dish is presented and seasoned that is a bit modern. We found the restaurant on our walk, checked out the menu on the small blackboard out front, and decided that it looked as good as it was last year. Tom stepped inside and made a reservation for about 20 minutes later, at 8PM, which is when real restaurants (as opposed to brasseries) start up the evening in Paris. The place was still empty when we returned at 8, and the woman gave us our choice of tables. I selected the back part of the dining room, where we been seated before. A group of people began to gather on the sidewalk next to the restaurant. At first, I thought it was just folks from the neighborhood chatting. But then one of them, a smoker, sat down at one of the tables outside so he could smoke. Others arrived, and all were seated, just outside the window where we were sitting beneath one of the big blackboards with the full menu. There must have been 15 people in that group, and they all sort of looked like they came from the country. None had that elegant, fashionable, sophisticated Parisian look. But they were very French in the way they approached the ordering of dinner. This was serious business. Madame came over and explained to us that she needed to fully open the window so that they could look in at the blackboard over our heads. I replied “c’est bon” because I thought the outside air would be nice. I moved over a little to be sure that I was not blocking anyone’s view of the blackboard. All fifteen people seemed to be chattering away at once while the deliberations about what to order went on. The blackboard was studied and discussed in detail. They were all clearly having a good time. We were, too. I ordered the escargots and duck breast with puréed potatoes, and Tom had roasted lamb and Provençale vegetables. My duck came with a dark, slightly fruity sauce. We shared the veggies and potatoes with each other, as well as the escargots, so the amount of food was just right. And the food was delicious. Some odd reviewer on the CityVox web site has written that the small plates are too expensive. Nonsense. The escargots are only 7 euros, and they are great. Prepared in the traditional way in the little ceramic dish with places for each of the six snails, they were cooked and served sizzling hot in butter, garlic and herbs. The wine list had only full bottles on it, but when I asked if there was wine in pitchers or carafes, Madame responded favorably, said it was also available by the glass, and asked if I wanted red, white, or rose. I said white. Then she rattled off a list of three types, and I selected the Muscadet. It was delicious and nicely chilled. Tom ordered a decaf espresso after dinner, and it was served piping hot and strong, just the way he likes it. With the coffee, Madame brought a little plate with a few candied fruits, two dark chocolates, and a couple of Café Richard bisquits -- “for madame” she explained. But we shared the goodies. When we left, Madame made a point of taking a moment to chat with us. She was very gracious and friendly. We think she remembers us from last summer. I told her how much I admire the simple, elegant décor of the restaurant, and she positively beamed at that. We arrived back at home at a bit before 10PM. There was still plenty of light outside, so we sat on the balcony and enjoyed the view and perfect weather from six stories above the streets of Paris. Sign my guestbook. View my guestbook. Note: For addresses & phone numbers of restaurants in this journal, click here.

Friday, July 16, 2010 At this time of year, at 10PM at night, there is still plenty of daylight. This is part of our balcony at 10 last night. Wines on display in the dining room at Le Granite. Our main courses at Le Granite. The menu at Le Granite is handwritten, in French, on a couple of blackboards in the dining room. Décor is simple and elegant at Le Granite. ← Previous Next →