Paris Journal 2012 – Barbara Joy Cooley Home: barbarajoycooley.com
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Redemption! Resurrection! Rebirth! The Bistrot de la Grille Saint Germain, one of my old favorite places, is looking good. The ceiling used to look like a badly cracked and mottled brown egg shell. Now it is smooth, crack-free, and sponge-painted in soft, deep beige tones. Every painted surface in the old interior has been cleaned and re-painted, in more warm, deep beige tones. The dark wood surfaces fortunately were not refinished, but rather simply cleaned and buffed. The old tile floor, with its many ceramic pieces, is smooth and clean, but not overly waxed or refinished. Everything on and behind the bar is clean and sparkling. The lighting is still subdued, and romantic. The obnoxious intercom system between the downstairs kitchen and upstairs prep/serving station seems to be gone. The man who seems to be the patron (boss) is back. We didn’t see much of him, or maybe didn’t see him at all last year or the year before. In prior years, he had usually been there. Now he’s back, and he’s looking very good. The servers are all very professional now; we both remembered one occasion in the past when we had a server there who was too anxious to use his colloquial American English in an overly familiar and clownish way. There’s none of that nonsense at the Bistrot de la Grille now. The service is perfectly correct now, and the prices are still very reasonable (two courses for each of us, one big bottle of water and a 25-centiliter small carafe of good white wine at a total of 58 euros). When we arrived, the patron seemed to vaguely remember us. He greeted us nicely, and showed us to the best table for two, in the front corner of the dining room. (I’m not sure why we so often are given the best table in restaurants. Maybe it is just our timing.) Shards of fresh ginger! There were actually shards of snappy, fresh ginger in the sauce that came with my chicken (poulet fermier). The sauce was alive with fruity tang and spice. It wasn’t very French, but rather I’d say quite Asian, in an excellent form. The chicken breast was nicely roasted, with wing still attached. It did not need to be cooked one minute longer, but it was fine. The dish included homemade tagliatelle pasta. Tom ordered grilled lamb chops, and they were well prepared; however, one was overly chewy. I suppose that’s the butcher’s fault. The green beans that came with the dish weren’t hot, but the roasted potatoes were good. Tom had a good crème brûlée for dessert, and I had the dessert of the day, a rhubarb tart. The tart was excellent; even Tom, who usually does not like rhubarb, tasted it and said it was great. Normally, I would have started the dinner with the terrine de la Mere Brazier, which I was happy to see still on the menu. But neither one of us really wanted a three-course dinner. That could be because we’d had a snack at around 5PM. We’d just returned from a trip to the food market at the Marché Saint Germain, you see. And we had to have a few small samples of our acquisitions. We’ve been buying the aged Salers cheese from the fromagerie there. It has the sharpness of a Cheddar with the more refined taste of a French cheese. I’d just finished the last of our Romanescu (also called Romanesco broccoli) on Thursday, and so was pleased to see that the fruit and veggie vendor that we like had another one. He also had one bunch of the type of radishes I like best. I bought them both. In the afternoon, my favorite snack is French radishes, or bits of raw Romanescu with a little mayonnaise. Yesterday, I had some of each, and two small bites of that Salers cheese. Who needs junk food? We pay a little more to buy our orange juice at the fromagerie, but it is noticeably better than Tropicana from the grocery. It is worth it. I visited the caviste in the Marché, and bought a special Pinot Noir that he was featuring, as well as a bottle of Quincy, a dry white wine that comes from the Loire region. All of this, plus Italian coffee at the Greek deli and a mediocre baguette (for toast) at the North African bakery, and we were done with shopping for the day. We’ll have to do a bottled water run to Franprix soon, but most of our grocery needs can be met at the Marché. Even sparkling water can be purchased there, but the price is much higher than at the supermarket. Today we have plans to visit a couple places for Heritage Days, so that’s all for now, folks! |
Saturday, September 15, 2012
The
spiffed-up interior of the Bistrot de la Grille
Saint Germain, at the corner of the rue Mabillon and the rue Guisarde,
across from the Marché Saint Germain.
Roasted
chicken in a fabulous sauce featuring shards of fresh ginger.
Tom’s
plate of lamb chops was attractive.
La tarte
au rhubarbe, the dessert of the day. |
