Paris Journal 2014 – Barbara Joy Cooley Home: barbarajoycooley.com
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Some mornings,
I think I don’t have much to write about in this journal. Then I look at the photographs I took the
day before. From the images, the ideas
come, the brain is stimulated. Today, my
photos remind me of the little surprise we found on our short walk after
dinner. Ever since we
started staying in the 15th arrondissement for the summer, we’ve
fretted over the poor condition of the former town hall for the village of Grenelle. The
charming old building is situated at the far end of the Place du Commerce,
opposite the rue du Commerce and metro end of that park. The building is
still looking ratty and its original wooden shutters are on the verge of
rotting away, because the paint has been peeling away from them for decades. Last night, we
approached it from the rue Violet side, which I guess was its original front
façade. As we walked around the side
of it, approaching the park, we did notice that it seems to be more occupied
inside than in the past. When we reached
its back garden, which is really the front if one looks at it from the park
perspective, we gasped in pleasant surprise.
The old town hall’s garden has been transformed into a shared kitchen
garden! The garden is
one of many that are part of the City of Paris’ Main Verte (Green Hand) initiative. As far as I can tell, this is how the jardin partagé
program works: An association in the neighborhood (such as a school, civic association,
garden club, etc.) notices a potential garden space on ground owned by the
City of Paris in the neighborhood. It
is also possible for some other quasi-public land to be used – such as former
railroad property. The association then contacts the organization that manages the shared
garden program. They sign a Main Verte
agreement, or charter. Under the
agreement, the association must manage the garden in an ecological way, keep
it accessible to the public, and have a member of the association available
in the garden twice a week. There are only
a few of these Main Verte
jardins partagés in
the 15th arrondissement.
But there are many in the northeastern arrondissements. Click
here to see photos of various jardins partagés. The association
in charge of the shared garden at the old Grenelle
town hall is called “La Maison Violette,” the name that neighbors affectionately use
for this cherished, historic edifice. As for what’s
happening inside the old town hall, it seems that a couple of 15th
arrondissement bureaucratic outposts are installed there. One is for the housing program called ADIL
(Association Départementale
d'Information sur le Logement), and the other is a “Boutique de Gestion,” or boutique for
management, which is there to help create new enterprises. The association
called La Maison Violette also seems to be
headquartered there. Their garden
looked happy because yesterday was rainy.
The rain did not stop until shortly before dinnertime. So we did not have time to venture far, and
therefore decided this would be a good time to try Le Plomb
du Cantal, where the triangular Zola café used to
be, at the triangular corner of the rue du Théâtre
and the avenue Émile Zola intersection. This restaurant
is really a steak house, offering many different kinds of cuts and featuring
only French beef, mostly from the Cantal
region. The “Plomb
du Cantal” is the name of a big mountain in the Cantal. I’d read that
the main courses were “copious,” but reasoned that we didn’t need starters or
desserts, and we didn’t have to eat all the potatoes that come with the main
courses. We each ordered
a steak – an onglet de boeuf. Tom asked for fries with his, and I wanted
to try the authentic truffade
with mine. I didn’t know
exactly what truffade
was, except that it involves cheese and potatoes. The server
brought our steaks out first – a nice-size onglet
on a big plate, with lots of open space.
Then he brought
Tom’s fries in a copper saucepot with two big spoons for parceling them out
onto the open space on his plate. The pièce de résistance was in the next
copper pot that the server brought out.
It was heavily laden with potato slices cooked in a cheese sauce. The cheese, of course, was Cantal. Some reviewers
have described this truffade
as a yucky, sticky, very gooey mess. I
would simply say that it seemed “authentic.”
You know I will try any authentic dish from the various French terroires no
matter how gross it may seem. At
least, I will try anything once. I couldn’t help
but laugh out loud when I saw the enormity of the serving the waiter put on
my plate, in one big ka-plop.
Nobody could eat all that, I thought! And I didn’t
try. I only had several bites of truffade, and
left the rest of the heap on the plate.
It tasted fine, just a bit bland, and oh so incredibly heavy! The steaks were
very good. Late in the afternoon, I’d
made a nice salad at the apartment.
The steak was all we needed, and so it was an appropriate time for us
to try Le Plomb du Cantal. With many of
the steaks, I think it is possible to order a salad instead of potatoes. But those steaks are huge – like 350 grams! If you have a
very hungry houseguest when you are in Paris, this would be the place to take
him for dinner. Most Parisian restos do not serve huge portions; Tom and I appreciate
that aspect of dining in Paris. I should
mention that Le Plomb du Cantal
is a chain. The original one is in the
14th arrondissement, and the second one is in the 10th. This newest Plomb,
where the Zola café was, has only recently opened. With the buying
power of three restaurants, I think it becomes practical to buy directly from
the suppliers rather than at Rungis, the wholesale
food market south of Paris. I imagine
that Le Plomb du Cantal
is buying beef and cheese directly from farmers’ cooperatives in the Cantal. We’re happy to
have Le Plomb du Cantal
in the neighborhood. The Zola Café was
mostly just a bar. Having a steak
house now fills a void, yet it still functions as a place to go have a beer
on the terrasse
as well. Le Plomb offers many kinds of omelettes,
too, each served with a salad. And in
the summertime, the resto offers dinner-size salads
as main courses, recognizing that the heavy truffade with a huge steak is
not light fare for hot summer days. I do not think
there is any kind of fish on the menu at Le Plomb,
but there is duck – both magret and confit. The weather is
improving today, and I sense another adventure coming up. A bientot.
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Thursday, August 7, 2014
Shared
garden of the old town hall for Grenelle. Around three sides of the garden are old
grape vines that have been cut way back, forming a hedge now.
Back
door to the Maison Violette, with the Main Verte
placard on display.
Nice
apartment building that reflects the transition from Haussmannian
to modern architecture. This overlooks
the park at the Place du Commerce.
Note the nice terraces at the top of it (below).
Steak
and truffade
at Le Plomb du Cantal.
Tom’s
fries were delivered in a copper saucepan. Real homemade mayonnaise (below)
was provided for the fries (real French people do not put ketchup on fries;
they use mayonnaise, if anything). We
know how to make our own mayonnaise, and we appreciated this version very
much.
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