Paris Journal 2009 – Barbara Joy Cooley Home: barbarajoycooley.com
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We walked up to and through the Champ de Mars yesterday evening, staying to the left to avoid the conniving gypsies and to see the grotto/lake next to the Eiffel Tower. The weather was just a little bit cool and slightly breezy. Very nice. Near the grotto/lake is a path called the Allée des Refuzniks, named in 1986 to render homage to Jews who were refused the right to emigrate from the Soviet Union. We decided to walk back via the street that parallels the Champ, along which are prestigious Haussmannian apartment buildings. It is a quiet street that changes names three times. I’m sure mostly very civilized people live there, except for the jerk who tossed a lit cigarette off an upper balcony. The burning cigarette almost landed on Tom’s head. If it had landed in my hair, we would have had to call the pompiers. When we reached the end of the Champ again, away from the Eiffel Tower, we decided to look at the Brasserie Suffren because some people we know like it. We haven’t gone there for eleven years or so because once we had a bad server there. But try as we did to be open minded about it, we just didn’t like the looks of the menu (BORING!) and the people inside all looked like tourists. So we crossed the street and took a closer look at Le Pere Claude, a restaurant that has been there on the avenue de la Motte-Picquet for a long time. When we pass by it late in the evening, I like the look of the crowd eating there. But the menu was expensive, and we just weren’t up to anything that fancy. Next we examined La Gitane, another resto that has been on that avenue for years and years. It used to look boring. But lately, I’ve noticed, it sparkles a little, and when we looked at the menu, I thought “Wow, there are quite a few items here that I’d really like to try sometime.” The tipping point was that the special of the day was barbequed pork ribs. Tom liked the fact that the ribs would come with fries, and that the fries are advertised as homemade. So we entered, saying good evening and asking for a table in French. The server was very nice, and he pointed us to the best table in the house, in the front window. He offered the menus in French and in English, so of course we accepted the French ones. The place started to fill up with French people, of the neighborhood, which is fairly swanky. There was one Italian family, but they spoke some French and their little girl spoke French like a native. So I guess that the parents must be living and working in Paris. We each ordered just the pork ribs with fries, and we ordered one dessert of the day to share. The food was terrific. The fries were the only really good fries Tom has had in Paris this year. The ribs were good, and the portion was mercifully small. Each order came with a little pot of barbeque sauce, which was delightful. I asked the server if the sauce was made there, in the house, and he confirmed that it was. The dessert of the day was an apricot clafoutis. It was delicious; the apricots practically exploded with flavor. The prices were very reasonable. The pork ribs and fries were only 14 euros each. The large bottle of San Pellegrino had been reduced to 5.40 as part of the TVA reduction program. The same was true of the coffee, reduced to 2.20 from 2.50. The clafoutis was just 6.50. Wine was only 4.30 per glass. Our total bill was 50.70, and we had all the food we could possibly comfortably want, which we ate in an elegant setting. I found myself wondering if La Gitane had stolen the chef from La Gauloise, down the street. La Gauloise used to offer barbequed pork ribs as the special of the day quite frequently, but they don’t seem to this year. They also used to have good fries. Hmmmm. But the menu at La Gitane is more modern and interesting. Sometime when I’m hungrier, I want to try the artichoke hearts appetizer or the shrimp salad, both of which looked great on the table next to ours. Also appealing in appearance was the terrine de canard. One older couple near us got away with ordering only two appetizers and two desserts, but no main courses. I’d be very happy with just the terrine and a clafoutis. One reason they got away with ordering minimally without getting dirty looks is that they were dining early. They were gone by 9PM, so the server was able to seat a couple of young ladies there after the older couple left. One additional nice thing to note about La Gitane is that it is open on Sunday at midday. That controversy about shops and groceries being open on Sundays was the subject of the headline story in the center section of Le Parisien yesterday. It seems that the French parliament has decided that all of Paris is a touristic city and so therefore any shopkeeper in the city who wants to open on Sunday now may do so. Bertrand Delanoe, the mayor, is steamed about this. He and the other elected officials of the City were circumvented by parliament making this decision. But the president of the conservative party’s parliamentary group says that the Paris city council members were consulted, and their opinions were taken into account. I guess their opinions just didn’t account for much. I think the decree is supposed to take effect right away, but the socialist party is going to contest the decision. I don’t know how much difference that will make; the newspapers here seem to indicate that the socialist party is in a state of great disarray. They’re even thinking about dropping the word “socialist” from their name. What baffles me is that the basis for deciding that stores may open on Sunday is tourism. What makes more sense is to decide that stores may be open on Sunday because the reality is, and has been for some time, that both mom and dad work full time these days and they need that time on weekends for shopping and running errands. That’s life in the big, expensive city. Prior to this decision, there were only certain touristic zones in the city in which the stores could be open on Sunday. The basis for deciding these zones was not clear to me, nor did it make sense. But now there are no such zones, according to parliament. The whole city is one big touristic place. The only thing that you can count on is that there will be change. Speaking of change, I added a photo of Isabelle Carré (by Carole Bellaiche) to yesterday’s entry. If you care to see it, click on “Previous,” below. |
Saturday, July 25, 2009
The Brasserie Suffren, at the corner of the avenue de
la Motte-Picquet and the avenue Suffren.
Le Pere Claude, an expensive restaurant on the avenue
de la Motte Picquet. You could spend
too much money on antiques at the Village Suisse across the street, then come
here and spend too much on dinner afterwards.
La Gitane is now the best restaurant on the avenue de
la Motte-Picquet, I think.
My dinner at La Gitane.
My fidelity card for the Nicolas wine shops arrived in
yesterday’s mail. The letter that came
with it says that I’ll get 20 extra points during the month of my
birthday. Unfortunately, we won’t be
in France during October.
These lucky ducks live in a little lake by a grotto
next to the Eiffel Tower, near the Allée des Refuzniks. |
