You can not get a bad meal in France - Part 2

Following are some notes on our experience in Paris. We hardly scratched the surface.

Chez L'Ami Jean This is a small Basque restaurant in the the 7th arroindissement. They serve huge portions of delicious country food. (Not anything like the Basque restaurants in Chino and Bakersfield, CA.) A memorable rabbit terrine was served to me in a large rectangular ceramic dish. Supposedly a single portion, it served our whole table of 7 people. That was followed up by a lobster cooked Bretagne style. Highly recommended.

Cafe Deaux Magots The famous hangout of Hemingway and the pre WWII expatriates is now the hangout of the American baby boomers. By going at 7 AM for breakfast we discovered that a few Parisians eat there too (inside) and that Deaux Magots is neither better or worse than the other less crowded cafe's nearby.

Brasserie Lipp Another venerable establishment. The guidebooks say that it is slipping, but its still hard to get in. We had a great dinner of classic bistro/brasserie dishes served by two waiters who were playing good cop/bad cop. Highly enjoyable. Not inexpensive.


A small cafe on the car de la Croix Rouge in St Germain des Pres We dropped in for a light lunch. We shared an assiette of thin slices of toasted Poulane bread covered with tomato and mozzarella served on a bed of salad. I had a single glass of rose'. This simple meal was one of the most memorable meals of our visit. I did not record the name of the cafe', but it was the only one on the square.

Le Table de Joel Robuchon Fabulous. Exquisite small plates. I had the best foie gras in my whole life and an outstanding Ris de Veau. Excellent, thoughtful, wine list. Katherine's small plates of langoustine, crab, and warm foie gras were stunning. The small cheese selection blew us away. The best meal we have ever had in Paris. Expensive but far from the most expensive.

You can not get a bad meal in France - Part 1

I came to this conclusion when we visited France in 1970. Wherever we went, even little holes in the wall that were not mentioned in any guide book, we had a great meal. It is probably possible to find a bad meal now (maybe at McDonalds?), but we have not found one yet. Notes from our most recent trip follow:

In the United States a rule of thumb is that you will not ever have a great meal in a hotel restaurant. It is hard to keep remembering that the opposite is true in France where some of the greatest restaurants are in hotels.

When we arrived in Paris we stayed in L'Hotel on the left bank. For simplicity, the first night we ate in that hotel's restaurant. The food was refined and exciting. (I had never had a cherry before in which the pit had been replaced by foie gras. I recommend it highly.) I could not help but notice that most of the diners were French and obviously not the guests of the hotel who were almost all Americans. The food was close to rating one star.

On our anniversary, we ate at Hotel Ritz in their most upscale restaurant, L'Espadon. The room was a high ceilinged Louis XIV masterpiece. The wait staff was enormous and attentive. We had the 7 course tasting menu. While each dish was very creative and cutting edge, often with foams and emulsions, at the end we had to admit that the meal lacked sparkle. I would venture that the Ritz is holding on to its one star Michelin rating by its fingernails.

When we returned to Paris we stayed at Sofitel Le Parc in the 16th arrondissement. Soffitel is a chain, similar to the Marriott chain. Surprise number one: When I told the concierge that we intended to eat in the hotel restaurant, I learned that the restaurant was fully booked for the evening. Eventually there was a cancellation and we ate at the hotel. That lead to surprise umber two: the restaurant clientele was Parisian. All the American and Asian hotel guests had gone elsewhere. That lead to surprise number 3: Our meal was better than the elegant meals we had been eating for the last week on the barge.

(I can think of three exceptions to the guideline that hotel restaurants should be avoided in the United States. In the 1960s and before, the restaurant of the Chamberlain Hotel at Old Point Comfort in Virginia was a bastion of Southern cooking. In the 1970s, after the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles was restored, its restaurant was one of the best in the city. The restaurant at the Campton Place Hotel in San Francisco is outstanding.)

More to come...

Barging in Burgundy

We have just returned from a week long barge trip in upper Burgundy with our children and grandchildren. (The occasion was our 50th wedding anniversary.) This is our barge, the Marjorie II, proceeding upstream. I am walking on the towpath. The Marjorie II is moving at about 4 mph, a little faster than I want to walk and getting ahead of me. However the barge will soon come to a lock and I will catch up.

The weather was cloudy every day with occasional showers and a few moments of sunlight. All the residents were remarking how very unusual this year's weather is. (Come to think of it, have you ever heard someone complain about how usual the weather is?) The cool and cloudiness was bad for landscape photography, but pleasant for walking and bicycle riding.