Paris Journal 2012 – Barbara Joy Cooley                  Home: barbarajoycooley.com

Find me on Facebook      2011 Paris Journal                                           Previous          Next              Go back to the beginning    

 

We’d always wanted to dine at the Lutetia, one of the grand, historic hotels of Paris.  One of its chapters in history I cannot put out of my mind, because of the photographic images that are included in it.  You see, the Lutetia was a place where survivors of concentration camps were brought when World War II ended in Europe.

 

Survivors would look through the notices posted in the Grand Gallery of the hotel, looking for information about other family members.  Families were reunited there.  Many of them remain loyal to the Lutetia to this day.  In August 2010, the hotel was purchased by a group of Israeli investors led by the Jewish real estate magnate, Alfred Akirov.

 

During the Occupation, however, the Lutetia had been draped in swastikas and used as a headquarters for the Nazi intelligence unit called the Abwehr.  Interrogations were conducted at the hotel, while torture was conducted at the nearby Cherche Midi prison.

 

The Lutetia celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2010.  It was originally created by the investors of the nearby Bon Marché department store to persuade shoppers from the provinces to stay longer in Paris, and to spend more money.

 

In World War I, almost half of the Lutetia’s staff was drafted.  The hotel had to close its brasserie during that war, and two reception rooms became a hospital.

 

The hotel attracts celebrities, famous artists, actors, singers, and the like.  Debates on political topics are held there on a regular basis.

 

Because it was opened in 1910, the Lutetia is an early example of Art Deco interiors.  In the 1980s, the designer Sonia Rykiel opened a boutique in the hotel, and she participated (along with Slavik, I believe) with redecorating the place, including the brasserie.

 

We’d examined the brasserie’s posted menu in the past, and decided it was just a bit pricey for our comfort zone.  Of course, we could afford to dine there, but it is a brasserie, after all, albeit a large, fancy one.  Pricing was out of my brasserie comfort zone.

 

A deal offered by lafourchette.com put the brasserie within our brasserie comfort zone yesterday, so I reserved a table for 7:30PM.  The deal was designed to attract early diners.

 

We were greeted very nicely and shown to a table at the end of the gracious, large dining room.  Other reserved tables were around ours, some of them somewhat large.  As others were seated near us, I could tell that we’d been placed in the “important” zone. 

 

The people dining near us all seemed to look as though they were exceptional in some way or another.  So I could not possibly photograph the dining room.  It is difficult to explain.  Click here to see a good photo of the place as well as the hotel’s chef, Philippe Renard.

 

Dinner was fabulous.  I ordered a starter called a cassoulet d’escargots, made with soft, delicious escargots, chanterelle mushrooms, scallions, and garlic.  We shared it.  The bread basket contained delicious sourdough rolls and country bread.  Butter came along with the bread basket, which is something that seems only to occur in better brasseries and restaurants.

 

Both of our main courses arrived in red pots.  Mine was a flanchet de veau, which was an extraordinarily tender flank of veal, and was accompanied by chanterelle mushrooms and lots of organic Kamut penne pasta in a savory sage sauce.  It was delicious, and copious.  I focused on just the meat and the mushrooms, leaving much of the pasta behind.

 

Tom was in the mood for chicken, and so he ordered a roasted chicken which was accompanied by heavenly puréed potatoes – probably the best puréed potatoes of this Parisian summer.

 

For drinks, Tom ordered a big bottle of San Pellegrino for us to share, and I ordered a small carafe of white wine which was excellent.

 

Tom selected the dark chocolate and praline dessert, which is named for Sonia Rykiel, and even has her signature on it.  It was delicious.

 

When the check arrived, the lafourchette.com deal had not been applied, and the total was 111 euros.  I caught the eye of the woman who had seated us, showed her the check and the deal with the reservation (on my smartphone screen), and she quickly understood and agreed.  She disappeared with the check, and returned rapidly with the correct check totaling 75 euros.  Much better.

 

When our server returned with the credit card machine, I don’t think he even knew that the check had been re-calculated.  I don’t think the error had been his fault, but rather the fault of whoever entered the reservation in the computer system.

 

No problem. 

 

Juliette Greco, the singer, is one of the people who found her mother and sister at the Lutetia in 1945, when they were repatriated to France.  They’d been deported for supporting the Resistance during the occupation.  Juliette, now 85 years old, remains a regular client at the hotel to this day.  She was present at the 100th anniversary celebration at the Lutetia, and was seated with Alfred Akirov, the main owner of the hotel.

 

According to a New York Times interview with her, she said the Lutetia “is a story of love, a story of reuniting, a story of happiness and, at the same time, terror.  Mais, c’est magnifique.”

 

Find me on Facebook

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

 

The Four Corners of the Earth fountain in the Jardin Marco Polo on the avenue de l’Observatoire.

 

 

Cassoulet d’escargots with chanterelle mushrooms.

 

The dark chocolate and praline dessert with Sonia Rykiel’s name on it.

 

 

Previous    Next