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Here
is Sanibel East, in the heart of Seated
in front row are Ulla, Rick, and Linda.
The
tiny restaurant, Au Brin de Zinc, on the rue de Seine.
Typical
immodest French figures atop the Grand Palais.
The
garden in the middle of the Petit Palais.
Churchill,
outside the Petit Palais. |
Friday, September 21 We went to party with other Sanibellians on
Wednesday. John and Linda were our
gracious hosts, with the big, beautiful apartment they’ve rented for a month
in the 9th arrondissement.
Rick and Arly were there; they are devoted fans of Island Jazz, the band
in which Tom plays the drums. They
also are regulars at Current Events, a weekly discussion group on the
island. Other Current Events devotees
at the party were Bogi and Ulla. Their
niece Carolyn (who works in It was an indoor picnic, with very informal and good
food. We laughed so hard, and we did
talk about current events. So we
called ourselves Sanibel East, and we just had the most eastern session of
the Current Events group. This time of
year on Sanibel, there may only be 6 or 8 people at the regular Current
Events group, so our group size of 8 people is not to be dismissed. Yesterday, we accomplished almost nothing. We slept late, and then spent the afternoon
in a long, fun chat with Ron and Elisabeth while they did their laundry in
our/their apartment. Tom’s current
package of work on his book is not too demanding, so he wasn’t pressed at all
to be grinding away at it. We did go out for a long walk in the Inside the narrow place, we looked up and saw a very,
very old beamed ceiling that had been painted many times. There are no formalities here; you just
come in, say bonsoir, and seat yourselves.
Nobody was asked if they’d bothered to make a reservation. When we arrived a bit after 8, there was already one
German speaking couple having dinner.
We seated ourselves, and shortly after, another German speaking group
of four came in and sat down. Then a
German mother and daughter, both very stylish, filled in the last empty table
on our side of the narrow space. We
moved our table so they could get in to theirs. All the Germans in the place spoke enough
French to read the menu and order in French.
With There are no printed menus. Everything is written on blackboards. The food is, by Parisian standards, very
inexpensive (important now that the euro costs over $1.40!). So is the wine. The wines are only listed by the glass, but
I heard the young lady who was our server explain to one of the German groups
that it is possible to order the wine in a bottle or in a slightly smaller
pitcher or carafe. Only one dessert was listed, a fruit crumble, but it
turned out that they have several others.
You just have to listen to the server tick them off, and trust that
they won’t charge you too much for them (they won’t). The front of the house, at least, seems to be run by a
large, blonde middle-aged woman with a nice smile. The younger server could be her daughter. An eccentric-looking big black-haired lady came in,
limping on a medical-supply-style crutch.
She positioned herself on a bar chair that was brought out for her
(this bar, like many in Our food arrived very quickly. There was no more of the chicken special,
of the Vallée d’Auge, so we had each ordered the simple poulet roti (roasted chicken leg) with fries. It has been a while since we’ve seen fries
on a menu. Mostly we’ve seen sautéed
potatoes this year. But here were
fries, and they were piping hot and good – not greasy at all. The chicken could have been cooked a bit longer, but it
was good, and certainly better than overcooked. It was served with some tasty, sweet
sautéed onions on top, and a bit of salad with vinaigrette on the side. Simple, good food. Tom ordered a
tarte tatin which, he said, was as
good as it can be. I had a taste, and
I agree. This was the most pleasant
surprise of the meal. (My Dictionnaire Gastronomique says a tarte tatin is a “carmelized
upside-down apple pie, made famous by the Tatin sisters, who had a hotel in
Lamotte-Beuvron, in the Sologne; a popular dessert found on menus throughout
France.” ) Tonight, we go to the Louvre with Ron and
Elisabeth. That should be fun! |
