Paris Journal 2013 – Barbara Joy Cooley Home: barbarajoycooley.com
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Almost aimlessly, we
wandered. In the beginning of the
walk, I did aim us down the avenue Émile Zola, with the notion that we’d
cross the Seine on the Pont Mirabeau.
But after that, I had no plan. After we’d negotiated the
complicated intersection at Charles Michel, we were passing by the place that
was Restaurant Oh! Duo, one of our alltime favorites, until last month. We have been curious about what will take
its place, now that Joel and Françoise Valero have retired. The Valero duo that had
been there for 28 years had a nice resto.
But after 28 years, some things might need to be updated. So we weren’t surprised at all to see the
awning removed, revealing its interesting metal framework. And we weren’t surprised to
see that everything had been removed from the interior, and that much
painting and plastering was going on.
A young man with spectacles and a shaved head was emptying buckets of
water that contained a little plaster dust into the drain at the curb. He ducked back inside, but was facing us as
he worked on his knees when we went by. He looked up. We made eye contact and exchanged
“bonjours.” We could tell by his slight smile and his greeting that he was
most likely not a painter or plasterer.
We thought he seemed to be the new patron,
or maybe even the chef. The look said he was hoping we’d be clients. As a rule, chefs have to be
in pretty good shape, and it would not be unusual for a chef who owns his own
little restaurant to do some of the renovation work. These guys are generally talented and
physically capable, aren’t they? We continued on toward the
bridge. After crossing the river, we
decided to wander whereever the wandering seemed to be most attractive, block
by block. In hindsight, I can see now
that we walked up the rues de Rémusat and Leconte de Lisle. Then we found the picturesque little
triangles that included the Place Jean Lorain where the marché Auteuil takes place on Wednesdays and Saturdays. I kept seeing townhouses –
what appeared to be single family homes – that I found to be appealing. Townhouses aren’t common in Paris. At the foot of the avenue
Mozart, we could see Guimard-designed “Castel Deranger” (Castel Béranger) a
short block away. But we’ve been that
way a number of times so we went in the other direction, on the rue La
Fontaine, to see something new. We must have walked up the
rue d’Auteuil because we ended up almost at the Porte d’Auteuil. In the mood for wide sidewalks
and mature street trees, we turned down the boulevard Exelmans – a true
boulevard, with a real median – broad and gracious. Peeking around the corner
on the rue Boileau, I noticed the
Laboratoire Aerodynamique Eiffel, founded in 1909. It is a wind tunnel laboratory still in
operation today, and used in the design and engineering of everything from
buildings to cars to aircraft and ventilation systems. Eiffel’s first wind tunnel
laboratory was located on the Champ de Mars, at the base of the Eiffel Tower. But people there complained about noise
from the facility. This one in the 16th
arrondissement was constructed in 1912, and is in active use today. Aerodynamics research was
something that Gustav Eiffel decided to do after he retired from the Compagnie des Etablissements Eiffel. We’d already passed by the
lovely art-nouveau Hector-Guimard-designed metro entrance at Mirabeau, and of
course remembered Castel Béranger from prior years. We were not prepared to stumble upon
Guimard’s Hôtel Jassadé au 41 rue Chardon-Lagache. It caught us by surprise. I think Hector Guimard
always meant to surprise us. His
designs are whimsical, imaginative, creative, and, at the time, new and
inventive. The world he saw when he
closed his eyes must have been phantasmagorical. Next we noticed the large
Hôpital Sainte Perine on our right.
It, along with the adjacent Maison de Retraite Rossini, is a home for
retired people, but the hospital seems to have other specialties like a burn
unit. The Sainte-Perine-Rossini
grounds are extensive, and across the street, the École Normale
d’Instituteurs and the Lycée Jean Baptiste Say also have extensive grounds,
making this one very large institutional area. But it is surprisingly not unattractive. Lycée Jean Baptiste Say is
one of the better middle- and high-schools
in Paris. The school’s
namesake, the economist Jean Baptiste Say, was known for his views on
property rights, among other things.
He said, “The property a man has in his own industry, is
violated, whenever he is forbidden the free exercise of his faculties or
talents, except insomuch as they would
interfere with the rights of third parties.” I put the emphasis on the last part of this
sentence. He was also
known for his theories on supply and demand, which are
often summarized in a number of ways, but my favorite one is “If you build
it, they will come.” That certainly
is true of Paris. They built it, and
the world did come. After admiring
the second Guimard-designed metro entrance of the
day at Chardon-Lagache, we sauntered back down the
rue Mirabeau to the point where we had started our walk through the western
16th arrondissement. On our
way over the bridge, we took in the lavish views of the Front de Seine,
Eiffel Tower, and the Statue of Liberty. As we started
back up the avenue Émile Zola, I noticed the name
of the new proprietor and new restaurant on a piece of paper taped to the
mailbox on the façade of the former Oh! Duo. “Restaurant Le Pario” would be the name of the new place. The proprietor would be “Monsieur Jacinto,” according to the piece of paper. Duly noted. The man we’d seen there earlier had gone
home, and the place was locked up. We moved on in the
direction of home, but Tom was hungry and he did not want to wait until
normal dinner time (7:30 or 8PM) to eat.
It was only 6:15, and he didn’t want to have a heavy, elaborate meal,
either. He suggested we go to the
neighborhood brasserie, the Commerce Café, on the Place du Commerce. So instead of going home,
we turned right on the quiet rue Violet and walked down to the rectilinear
park. At the other end of it, we
entered the brasserie, and were greeted warmly. The terrasse
was already buzzing with people of the neighborhood, drinking and
chatting. The brasserie staff like
early diners, because that means the place makes just that much more money
for the evening. We took an indoor table, as
we always do, in order to avoid the whispy cloud of cigarette smoke that
hovers over the terrasse tables. I ordered the small, thin
seabass filets and fries, and Tom surprised me by ordering a Cantal burger
and fries. Then he even had dessert (café gourmand, which included tiramisu
and chocolate cake!). He was hungry
indeed. His hamburger was terrific,
and the fries were perfect and piping hot. This morning, I Googled the
name “Jacinto” along with the words “chef” and “Paris.” Voila!
Up came a photo of the young man we’d seen working on the former Oh!
Duo space. He is Chef Eduardo Jacinto
Alvelar, the chef from Café Constant on the rue Saint-Dominique in the 7th
arrondissement. I think this is
breaking news; I saw no indication anywhere on the web that any restaurant
reviewers are aware that Chef Jacinto will now have his own restaurant. He’s originally from
Brazil, but he’d visited Paris a number of times and was very interested in
French cuisine. He met Christian
Constant, the chef-proprietor of Le Violon d’Ingres, Les Cocottes, and Café
Constant. They hit it off. So Eduardo Jacinto became
chef at Café Constant, and it became a very popular place. We’ve seen people line up out on the
sidewalk, waiting for its doors to open in the evening. We are so very fortunate to
have him move over into our neighborhood, to start his very own place. We enthusiastically await the opening of Le
Pario.
The balloon rises over the
Parc André Citroën, as we watch from the Pont Mirabeau. |
Friday, August 9, 2013
The
Mirabeau metro entrance, above, and the Chardon-Lagache
entrance, below. Both are Hector Guimard designs.
Eiffel’s
wind tunnel laboratory.
Hector
Guimard’s Hôtel Jassadé on the rue Chardon-Lagache.
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