Paris Journal 2012 – Barbara Joy Cooley Home: barbarajoycooley.com
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After a long day of working at the computers, it is a blessing to be able to go for a walk in Paris. There’s no better city for walking. We set out at about 6:30 or 7PM without any particular plan, except that Tom wanted to see the neighborhood park called Saint-Lambert. Plans are the last thing you need when you’ve been using your brain to work all day. Plans require thinking, and brains are tired after a day of writing, editing, and dealing with publishers. We strolled down the rue du Commerce, arm-in-arm, toward the church that was the center of the once-upon-a-time village called Grenelle. At the square in front of the church of Saint John the Baptist of Grenelle, we turned left and walked a couple blocks to the park of Saint-Lambert. There’s just one little problem with this park: if you enter it from the end of the rue des Entrepreneurs, which is the most convenient place, you have to walk through a wooded section that is full of swarming gnats. We’ve now learned to continue on rue Léon l’Hermitte (Leon the Hermit) to the gate on rue du Dr. Jaquemaire de Clemenceau. That’s the ticket! That’s the way to enter this lovely Square. No gnats. We walked through the Square to the gate at the end of the rue Léon Séché, pausing first to admire the view across the Square, where people were lounging on the grass, children were playing, and the fountain for once was working and was not plagued with algae! The flowers were blooming finally, and the Square was looking as beautiful and inviting as ever. We crossed over to the Place Hubert Monmarché, which the stately town hall for the 15th arrondissement overlooks, and continued up through the Square Adolphe Chérioux to the rue Vaugirard. There we decided to turn to the right, taking rue Vaugirard deeper into the lower 15th, but turning right again at the handsome square that is the intersection with rue de la Convention. Before we reached the avenue Félix Faure, we saw, across the street, a sparkling little restaurant that looked inviting. L’Accent Corse was the name on the awning (123 rue de la Convention, Tel. 01 45 54 08 62). The restaurant’s windows were spotless, its awning was clean, and the dazzling Art Nouveau/Belle Epoque-style light fixtures were reflected many times by multiple mirrors. This little resto attracted us like an electromagnet. We did, however, force ourselves to walk up to the crosswalk rather than to jaywalk directly, because rue de la Convention is a bit mad with automobile traffic. The time was 8:15PM, and yet only one table was occupied. Still, the place looked right. We entered, were greeted, and apologized for not having a reservation. We were given a choice of tables. The server brought us English menus because he recognized
our accent, but I asked for French menus and he immediately brought them
instead, with a smile. The menu is
short. Here it is: Les Entrées : There was also supposed to be a daily special and a charcuterie plate, but the server explained that they’d run out of those items – non plus. This restaurant has a fixed-price menu at lunchtime that is good value, and I’m sure that’s when the daily special was gobbled up. No problem. In fact, this is a sign that food is fresh at L’Accent Corse. Brocciu is a Corsican cheese made from sheep or goat milk. It is a whey cheese, meant to be consumed fresh, and it contains no lactose. One web site claims that it is the national food of Corsica. Because of Corsica’s unique vegetation and soils, this cheese (as well as other Corsican food products) has a distinctive, unique taste. I decided to order the cannelloni with this Brocciu. Tom selected the lamb chops served with a honey-based sauce. Tom commented that the fact that the main courses were not 14 euros, but rather a bit more expensive, was a good sign. I agreed. I commented that the fact that the food was slow in arriving (meanwhile, we heard lots of chopping and sizzling noise coming from the kitchen) was a good sign. We were right. The food was fantastic – flavorful, distinctive, authentic. The décor was beautiful: not Corsican, but rather Parisian bistro of the Art Nouveau persuasion. It was the result of a renovation done back in the 1970s, signed by “Slavik.” The Bistrot 121 next door was also renovated in the 1970s with the same designer. This Corsican restaurant, L’Accent Corse, took over the former Parisian/Lyonnaise bistro in about 2010, I think. The owner is Marc-Ange Spinosi, and he is truly Corsican, from a village called Niolu in Albertacce, on the side of Mount Cinto, the highest mountain on Corsica. His parents were also in the restaurant business. Someone bought this lovely little bistro in 2001 and then featured Lyonnaise cuisine. That place had its day, but then that went away, to be replaced by a purely Corsican menu. L’Accent Corse is now so authentically Corsican that its background music is entirely Corsican folk songs and chants. The products mostly come from Corsica, and the charcuterie is supposed to be especially good. That’s why it was all consumed at lunchtime, I guess. Even the honey is authentic. It is from the farm of Marc-Ange’s cousin, Dominique Spinosi, who also supplies sweet chestnut flour. (Corsica’s soils do not support the growing of wheat.) More people arrived. The restaurant did not fill up before we finished, but there were a respectable number of diners present, and there were no tourists whatsoever. More beautiful photos of L’Accent Corse’s interior can be found on this lafourchette web page. After thoroughly enjoying our main courses, Tom ordered dessert: the fiadone, a slice of cheesecake, but made in the shape of a pound cake (loaf), not a round pie/tart. The basis of the cheesecake was that distinctive Brocciu, once again. “Brocciu” is the name of this cheese in Corsu, the language of Corsica; in French, the equivalent is called “Brousse.” We said our goodbyes, and started the walk home. We were pleasantly surprised to see how close the avenue Félix Faure was. So L’Accent Corse a pleasant walk from the apartment in the 15th. Very pleased to have discovered a new favorite place, we made a mental note to try to go back there at lunchtime (closed Saturday and Sunday). One of these days . . . . |
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
The
Square Saint-Lambert, looking toward the setting sun.
Interior
of L’Accent Corse.
Delicious,
freshly made, steaming hot cannelloni featuring Brocciu,
the famous Corsican cheese. The
tomatoes and onions had been freshly chopped, and the herb seasoning was
divine. Tom’s little lamb chops,
below, were delicious, and came with interesting things: the glass dish contained a honey sauce with
herbs and garlic; the small brown pile that looks like refried beans was
actually made with sweet chestnut flour, I think, and honey; the potato cake
concoction was fascinating – it included onions, finely chopped, and
something else – perhaps a bit of the Brocciu?
This
bottled sparkling water from Corsica is something we already knew from our
many dining experiences at L’Abri Côtier, a Corsican restaurant on the boulevard
Montparnasse in the 6th arrondissement. |
