Paris Journal 2015 – Barbara Joy Cooley Home: barbarajoycooley.com
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“What is a Tipaza?” Tom asked. I replied that I think it is a place in North Africa. I could not remember the details. Wikipedia tells us that “Tipaza (formerly Tefessedt, Chenoua: Tipaza in Tifinagh.svg Bazar, Arabic: تيپازة) is a Berber-speaking town on the coast of Algeria, capital of the Tipaza Province. When it was part of the Roman Empire, it was called Tipasa. The modern town, founded in 1857, is remarkable chiefly for its sandy beach, and ancient ruins.” Ah, the beach! That explains the little paper umbrellas that the server put on top of our desserts at Le Tipaza: blue for Tom’s dessert, and pink for mine. These were supposed to signify beach umbrellas! There are two restaurants called “Le Tipaza” in the 15th arrondissement of Paris. Once upon a time, I think the two were run by the same people, but no more. We used to go to the one nearest to our apartment, on the avenue Emile Zola. But now we much prefer the one on the rue Saint Charles, south of the rue de la Convention. That makes for a half-hour stroll each way in the summer evening warmth. Fortunately, we started out a little early, and made it around the corner to the Orange boutique just before it closed. It was already time to “recharge” my Mobicarte, which is France Telecom’s name for its pay-as-you-go SIM card for mobile phones. We were happy to be out and about, after spending part of the day on housecleaning. The woman who normally cleans the apartment is always on vacation in Portugal for the summer. But this year, we will be able to use her services in September. The housecleaning at the beginning of the summer is a bit intense, and usually involves some repair to the aging Hoover vacuum cleaner. This year was no exception. Now I think we have the situation under control. We dressed up, after watching the Tour de France, because Le Tipaza is an elegant place. It is a big restaurant, by Paris standards, with four sizeable dining rooms plus a terrace and bar area. Tablecloths and napkins are white linen; no shortcuts there. The chairs are all comfortable, and many of them have heavy, hand-hewn wooden frames. The ceilings have wood beams, and the ceiling in the dining room where we sat was especially complex. It had a vaulted skylight, and old agricultural implements on display. In the center, a large, rustic but decorative cast iron chandelier caught my attention. We could use something like that in the tower of the house we recently bought. An impressive amount of stone and tile work went into the construction of this restaurant. I was seated right next to a large, lighted stone niche that displayed a couple of earthenware pots. Above the niche was a backlit stained glass window. When we had entered the restaurant and greeted the young manager, he was most welcoming. He started to seat us near the terrace, where other people were already dining. But then he must have noticed that we were a little dressed up, and he asked, would we prefer a dining room that was cool? We said yes, and so he took us deep into the restaurant to a dining room with only one other diner present – an elderly man. Soothing instrumental North African music played softly on the restaurant’s sound system. The room was utterly romantic, and we felt that we were someplace far, far away from Florida and from Paris. Almost immediately, a server brought us Kemia: a tray of seasoned green and black olives, as well as spicy marinated pieces of potatoes, carrots, and turnips. We nibbled as we perused the menu. This menu has not been shortened, I’m happy to say. The dishes we remembered were all there. We each selected the Tagine Dolma, which was served flambé with fig liquer. When the flames died away, we began to experience this truly elegant tagine, featuring both beef and lamb, figs and dates, softly cooked vegetables and onions, and almonds.
For dessert, Tom had the profiteroles, which are made in house, and I had the house specialty, a tarte berbère, which is basically an excellent tarte fine aux pommes (thin apple tart) jazzed up with cinnamon and raisons, in a puddle of crème anglaise.
Service was impeccable at Le Tipaza. The servers are all dressed very professionally, and they are attentive without hovering. Every one of them wanted to say goodbye and good evening to us when we left. I should point out that this restaurant, far more than most, is suitable for groups – not just because of its size and various dining rooms, but also because they have a group menu at 30 euros which is all-inclusive, and good value. “Groups,” as far as Le Tipaza is concerned, can be anywhere from six to sixty people. (See details here.) Even for just the two of us, Le Tipaza offers stunningly good value; we dined there last night with a Lafourchette.com discount, and our entire dinner, including a 25cl glass of wine and a bottle of sparkling water, was 43 euros. Excellent food, at an excellent price, with impeccable service and romantic ambiance. What an evening! |
Tuesday, July 21, 2015
Stained
glass above our table at Le Tipaza, on the rue
Saint Charles.
Above,
the back dining room at Le Tipaza, and below, the middle dining room where we sat, beneath
a large vaulted skylight.
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