This is not the end

I have a personal philosophy that goodbyes do not mean the end.  In fact, I try not to say "goodbye" but I prefer rather, "see ya later".  The future is uncertain and therefore we shouldn't limit ourselves to a definitive closure. And so, with this post, I say "Thank you and see you later Paris" on the basis that one day I might come back.  No promises, no timetables, no guarantees, just an open mind and an open slate onto where I go next.

As for this blog, it has been a joy to write and update it during my one month stay in Paris.  The success and the reception to which I have received to this blog was quite unexpected to say the least.  I usually write for myself if anything, but for once, I believe I had a steady and receptive audience.  I want to say thank you for your attention and time, whether you were regulars here or just dropped by here and there.  It was my earnest hope that I was able to share a little bit of Paris with you, directly or indirectly, through this blog.

People have been asking whether I will continue to post or update on food once I return to the states and to be honest, I'm not quite sure.  It has crossed my mind several times and it seems like it would be a great joy to do.  I have always been and will continue to be a food junkie.  Since this blog specifically was meant to chronicle my food expeditions in Paris, I might leave it as is and open a new blog.  But again, no promises, timetables, and guarantees.  Only time will tell, but if there is one thing I can end with, it is that this is not the end.

Merci Beaucoup!

Burgers for Breakfast

With the days left in France winding down, and more importantly, the number of meals I have to try different foods, I decided to not waste a lazy sunday but instead try something I haven't even attempted in my burger escapades back home; eat a burger for breakfast.  Well technically you could call it lunch, or brunch since I ate it at 1pm, but I consider it breakfast because it was the first thing I ate when I woke up, which was no more than 30 minutes prior.

I found PDG via google (how I find most of my places to eat if it's not by word of mouth for those who are curious) while searching for something that's open on Sundays (Since many many many many places are closed on Sundays here in Paris).  The burger joint is a small cozy shop located about a 5 minutes walk the other direction from Le Bon Marche off Sevres-Babylone.  The shop opens at noon on Sundays and by the time I got there by 12:30pm, there was already a small wait.  But since I was by myself this time, I was able to get a seat fairly quickly (note: this place isn't meant to accommodate large crowds).  I scanned the menu fairly quickly and settled on the Royal Burger which came with a fried egg, guacamole, bacon, onion, lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, and of course the meat patty and bun.

The burger itself was quite massive, even in American burger standards, and had all the makings of a good burger (bacon, egg, and guac, three of my top five burger ingredients, with alfalfa sprouts and sauteed onions rounding off that list).  But as I was sizing up the burger (literally) I took a quick look around and realized everybody was eating their burgers using forks and knives.  To be honest, I was quite tempted to just pick up the burger with my hands and start chowing down but as soon as I pressed the bun down onto the burger, the perfectly cooked egg popped and the gooey yolk starting dripping down the sides of the burger.  That's when I realized that if I was going to use my hands for this burger, it would've been a messy ordeal and although I have no qualms with a messy burger, I felt like the situation was not proper to be asking for mounds of napkins and while everyone else was properly cutting their burger into bite sized squares.  So I manned up picked up my fork and knife and began the rather painful process of delicately eating my monstrous burger.

Individually, the burger ingredients were delicious.  The bacon was meaty with a slight crisp, the egg was gooey and perfectly fried, and the guac was creamy.  However, something about these three together with the meat patty and bun just didn't taste right.  Like I said earlier, the Royal Burger had all the makings of what should have been an extremely delicious burger but from the first bite to the very last bite (yes I finished it all), something didn't taste right and I just couldn't put my tongue to it.

I think part of it was the severely under performing, rather tasteless bun.  The other part might have been the whole fork and knife experience.  I was thinking, and I came to an unsupported conclusion when you eat a burger with a fork and knife, the first thing that hits your tongue is the bun.  However, when you bite into a burger with your hands, the teeth usually cut straight through the bun and your tongue usually gets a full blast of flavor on what is inside the burger.  By using the fork and knife and getting bun first, I believe your mouth is saturated by the taste of the plain bun that dampens the flavors of everything else.

Or silly unscientific hypothesis aside, maybe you're just not supposed to eat a burger for breakfast.  Regardless, the Royal Burger at PDG was a learning experience with a hefty fine: 20.40 for my burger and another 4 for a large glass of Orangina.  If you just can't seem to prolong a burger craving in Paris, I would say Chez Prosper first (but their burger is seasonal so sometimes it might not be there) and then PDG as a backup.  But either way, don't be French and use your fork and knife.

PDG Rive Gauche

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5 Rue Dragon, 75006 Paris, France
Metro: St. Germain de Pres, Saint Sulpice, Mabillon, Sevres Babylone

Best of Both Worlds

I have no qualms forking over good money for good food.  But there's something all too satisfying when you're able to find good food for an excellent price.  At Creperie Josselin, eating from the 10 lunch prefix menu almost feels like a crime.  For 10, they provide their traditional jambon (ham), fromage (cheese), and oeuf (egg) crepe, an option of a simple dessert crepe or sorbet, and a boisson (drink).  And with the drink, you can get their famous cider, a glass of wine, or if you're boring (like me), a bottle of apple juice.  And while everybody around me was getting a specialty crepe off the traditional menu (which were priced more appropriately at about 6-9 for just a meal crepe), the temptation of satisfying myself on just 10 was too great an opportunity to pass up.

At first glance, the savory crepe makes you do a double take because it's not what you expect from a savory crepe.  its a thick buckwheat crepe batter that is slightly crisped and stuffed with all the savory ingredients (in this case cheese, egg, and ham).  There is no sauce glazed over the crepe nor do any fancy decorations adorn the top, but none of that is needed as simple and to the point seem to be the theme of this creperie.  And this no frills crepe was actually quite delicious.  The buckwheat crepe batter is not as smooth as a traditional batter, but provides a little more grainy taste.  It is soft at the heart of the crepe where all the ingredients are and crispy on the edges, even until the very last bite.  The combination of cheese, egg, and ham within the crepe is gooey and flavorful, but not too greasy as sometimes this combination is.  I was able to scarf down the entire crepe and not feel heavy or bloated at the end.

Which was definitely a good thing because I still had dessert coming up.  In the mood for something citrusy, I went with the lemon crepe.  The dessert crepe came on the more traditional egg based batter and was stuffed with a lemon glaze and sprinkled with sugar.  The batter itself was fluffy and could be peeled in layers, almost reminding me of an omelet where the egg is rolled in thin layers over and over.  The lemon glazing was sweet and citrusy and the sugar added some crunch.  The dessert was also light and delectable as the whole thing disappeared in no time.

The end of a good meal is usually when the smiling ends as the waiter brings the l'addition (check/bill) and the penalties of a delicious meal, but not at Creperie Josselin where great, authentic French crepes and friendly service can all be bought for a bargain 10 during lunchtime.

Creperie Josselin

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67 Rue du Montparnasse, 75014 Paris, France

Metro: Edgar Quinet, Vavin, or Montparnasse Bievenue

Making mountains out of molehills

My momma always to tell me to eat early so that my body doesn't have to work on digesting food while I'm sleeping (which apparently is a reason for weight gain and tiredness in the morning).  I guess Paris never had a momma like mine to tell them what's up.  The running theme here is to eat dinner in the wee hours of the night and go to sleep extremely full.  And so, in our further attempts to be Parisian (sorry momma), I had a dining experience at the Chez Prosper from 10pm-12:30pm.

Ok so maybe 10pm is a little late even by Parisian standards (I heard standard dinner time starts anywhere from 8:30-9:30pm) but to be fair we had to wait an hour to be seated.  And to be honest, the one hour wait plus the raving reviews from fellow classmates, TA's, and professors really put me in a defensive skepticism about the place (Over-hype scares me and I have a bad habit of downgrading expectancy in response to it).  Plus, the hype was about burgers...

And those who know me back home know I have two food passions; ramen and burgers.  I've paid my dues and have had my fair share of gourmet burgers back home in L.A. with my favorites being places like The Foundry on Melrose (which serves a giant burger with homemade sauces and seasonal vegetables on a grilled 4-pack Hawaiian roll) and The Counter (a build-it-yourself burger bar where I can make my wildest burger fantasies come true).  This all to say the Chez Prosper was building itself a mountain of expectations that only grew with my growing hunger during the wait.

And so, how did the 14.50€ Parisian Cheeseburger at Chez Prosper fair? Surprisingly well. The burger itself was simple enough: bun, meat, cheese, tomato, onion, and mayo on the side. The bun was a standard toasted sesame burger bun, nothing special that didn't enhance or detract from the burger in any manner. The tomato and onions were well...tomatoes and onions, and the mayo tasted like....well, what mayo should taste like. 

But here's where it gets good. I wasn't sure exactly what type of cheese was on the burger (and I'll probably never guess since France has a million kinds of cheeses) but whatever it was, it was delicious. Not strong and overpowering like Gouda or Bleu cheese, but not invisible in taste like American or some Provolones do in a burger. It complimented the meat perfectly. And oh the meat! The meat patty was a fine blend of ground chuck beef that broke off in crumbles when I squeezed the burger too hard yet held it's own when I delicately (or my version of delicate when I'm voraciously starved) took a bite.  It wasn't the juiciest meat patty I've eaten in a burger (those props go appropriately to Juicy Burger in Hollywood) nor the most flavorful (props to the Golden State for that category) but the meat patty at the Chez Prosper most definitely held it's own among good meat patty's.  

I don't remember too much about the fries except for the fact that I finished them (which is probably a good thing) but the burger plate at Chez Prosper, while not the most exciting burger plate of condiments and fries, excelled in the one area that mattered the most in a burger plate, the meat patty.  


And as much as I'd like the end this post here and not further bore you, I have to mention a little bit about a tiramisu that was quite frankly, the most delicious tiramisu I've ever eaten (IN MY LIFE).  It was a classic tiramisu served in a glass jar that was priced at a hefty 6.90€, but trust me on this one, this tiramisu is worth every euro cent (I made the unfortunate mistake of sharing it with a friend to cut the price in half and I was left licking my spoon and staring longingly at the empty jar afterward).

It's hard to describe perfection in words, but I feel obliged to at least give it a try.  The creme was light in both taste and texture and tasted like what you imagine clouds would taste like if you ever dreamed of eating a cloud while staring into the sky.  The cake beneath the creme was moist and flavorful, complimenting the light creme well and also came in the right proportion to the amount of creme served.  


And so amidst all the hype and delusions from waiting to eat such a late meal, Chez Prosper gets a resoundingly positive review for a great burger, a friendly waiting staff, and the most delicious tiramisu (IN THE WORLD).  Not only do I recommend going back, but I'm making a note here that I myself have to go back to try the even more hyped nutella tiramisu that was out of stock by the time I was ready to order dessert.  


Chez Prosper

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7 Avenue Trône, 75011 Paris, France
Metro: Nation

PDF Theory

I have a theory that the prevalence of Asian food (especially Japanese) is an attempt to cater to the myriads of Japanese tourists who make there way to Paris to spend a great deal of money on high fashion items that are ridiculously marked up back home (in Japan).  This theory is solely based on my observations of the countless number of Japanese restaurants that I have seen in Paris and the even more countless number of Japanese tourists I have crossed paths with in my stay here (which is creeping up on three weeks now).

And the only reason I've created this theory is to justify another blog post about eating more Japanese food (besides the already established Ramen craving that I have) in Paris.  I'll call it the "People Dictate the Food" theory, or PDF for short (not to be confused with the document file).  And so, now that I've outlined the PDF theory, I present you with a review on Hokkaido.

Initially at Hokkaido, I was almost tempted into doing something regrettably foolish and ordering something that was not ramen when ramen was present on the menu.  Past memories of Sukiya and Matsuya serving delectable bowls of gyudon almost got the best of me as I asked the waitress for a €10 gyudon.  But once I had a glass of cold water, I quickly came to my senses and desperately asked the waitress if she could forgive the unforgivable and change my order from a gyudon to a chashu ramen combo that came with 5 piece of gyoza (and cost €11).

The chashu ramen came in a shoyu (soy sauce based) broth with a topping of negi (green onions), moyashi (beansprouts), chayshu (sliced pork), and sesame seeds.  The seaweed you see in the picture was an addition from a neighbors yasai (vegetable) ramen.  The broth was light but surprisingly good.  I've been so used to a strong, salty shoyu broth that a light shoyu broth was a pleasant surprise.  The noodles were a medium thickness cut that had a decent firmness and a taste that wasn't expected well...crap for a lack of better words, which I usually describe most standard ramen noodles.  The chashu wasn't as good as the chashu at Sapporo, but that was the only aspect this bowl was inferior to as compared with Sapporo ramen in my previous post.

The gyoza was stuffed with a blend of ground pork, green onions, and clear noodles and came cooked Japanese style, with the bottom fried and the sides steamed.  They were solid but nothing extraordinary as the skin of the steamed section wasn't extremely chewy (probably effects of over frying the bottom).

Overall though, the meal of both gyoza and ramen was a pleasant surprise to my low expectations of ramen in Japan and even my initial impressions of the restaurant and it's menu that seemed to offer every specialty Japanese food available (from my experiences, you want to stick with one specialty).  If you're craving a light shoyu-broth type of Ramen in Paris (a rather specific craving that I know will only affect a minority percentage of people) then give Hokkaido a try as I can't vouch for any other place...yet.

Restaurant Hokkaido

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14 Rue Chabanais, 75002 Paris, France
Metro: Quatre-Septembre or Pyramides

Confessions

Everyone has confessions, whether small or big, outrageous or not.  Even Usher had one and he made an entire song about it (with two parts).  Mine is well, it's not that scandalous, but it's still a confession.  So you see...I have a secret addiction for making lists.  Lists in themselves are not satisfying, but the "crossing things off the list after I have successfully completed them" part is the most rewarding and satisfying part.  I could probably compile a short novel with all the lists that I've made but one of the lists that I've been secretly (or not so secretly) been keeping here in Paris is a list of foods that I still want to try.

Last night, in typical Parisian fashion, I had a pre-fix menu around 8pm.  With the recommendations and the help of some friends, I was supposed to try the restaurant Le Pot de Terre, but in arriving at their front door, we were met by a sign that said they were closed for dinner on Sundays and all of Mondays (unless you had a party of 30...).  So we ended up picking a restaurant along the same street (Rue Pot de Fer) called Le Pot de Fer "Chez Robert".  To my pleasant surprise, the pre-fix menu at Chez Robert had two items that had not been crossed off from my secret list of "Foods I still need to try in Paris" list.  The first being French Onion soup (or just onion soup since we're in France and the French part is both assumed and given) and the second being Coq au vine, or a traditional French dish of chicken marinated in wine.

And since I love great deals almost as much as crossing items off a list (I'm a religious user of Groupon, Living Social, Campus Cred, Woot, Gilt City, etc etc), I took full advantage of this two-for-one deal and ordered the onion soup au gratin for appetizer and the coq au vine for main course (dessert was a medley of sorbets).

The first thing I noticed about the onion soup when it came out was that it was gigantic for an appetizer dish.  Second was it was loaded with cheese on top (the French just can't seem to get enough of their cheese).  The broth of the soup was very mild and complimented the strong flavor of the cheese and onions quite well.  The bread quickly soaked up the soup and became sponges of added texture to alongside with the cheesy soup.  The soup ended up tasting nothing like French onion soup back home (or maybe the American attempt at French onion soup) and I enjoyed it quite thoroughly.  The mild flavor of the soup along with the large heapings of cheese and bread allowed for a warm, satisfying appetizer dish that didn't coat my tongue in salt, panting for water as I wait for the main dish.  But for those used to the heavily salted and flavored soups of French onion soup back home, you've been warned.

As for the main dish, the coq au vine, it also came with a generous portions, this time with chicken, potatoes, carrots, and zucchini.  The sauce was definitely a majority red wine, as the red wine flavor was very strong in the chicken and the vegetables, but I actually didn't mind the flavor of the sauce.  The vegetables were fine, as they tasted like how vegetables should, but the chicken itself, was a little tough and dry, especially the breast meat.  But I've come to terms with ordering chicken dishes from restaurants knowing that you can't always control the tenderness of the chicken; sometimes the chicken you eat will be dry.  Overall, the dish was average.  Even if the chicken was tender, there was nothing that really stood out about the dish, as the dish was nothing more unique than red wine on chicken.

The dessert however, was something else.  It was a small bowl of three different scoops of sorbet (lemon, raspberry, and...i'm not quite sure, maybe strawberry), and each was amazing in its own right.  The raspberry was the strongest in flavor with actual chunks of raspberry inside, the lemon was icy and refreshing, and the strawberry was very light (also with fruit chunks).  All three flavors stood their own individually, but also meshed extremely well together.  It was quite the pleasant surprise as dessert from the pre-fix was just a shoe-in without expectations to complete the pre-fix meal to which I was more anticipated towards the appetizer and main dish.

This entire pre-fix menu came out to be a very reasonable 16,90€ as I thoroughly enjoyed my sorbet medley and French onion soup and was able to try coq au vine for the first time.  In addition to the actual meal and price though, I have to add that the dining experience at Chez Robert was quite enjoyable with an extremely friendly (and English speaking) waiting staff and open air tables within the alley of Rue Pot de Fer, where many street performers stop by and play their 5 minute set of live music or entertainment before giving way to the next performer (save some spare change if you want to show your appreciation).  And it is here where I guess I must also confess that I'm a sucker for nice ambiance to compliment a nice meal.  But then again...who isn't?  


Confess in the comments below.


Le Pot de Fer "Chez Robert"

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12 Rue du Pot de Fer, 75005 Paris, France
Metor: Place Monge

When a pre-fix is no longer convenient

So Paris (and maybe the rest of France too) seems to have a thing for pre-fix (or prix fixe) menus (pre-determined or limited options three course meals for a set price).  And since I'm a man of convenience, I personally think it's a great system and opportunity to try a full three course menu from a restaurant (it's also a brilliant marketing move making you buy more food than you normally would for a "discounted" price).  But when does a pre-fix menu no longer become convenient?

The answer is when the simplicity of having a pre-fix menu is lost within the options of more than one pre-fix menu.  At the Bistro Romain, a chain restaurant across Paris, there were at least four different pre-fix menus with different options and prices throwing me into utter confusion in trying to decide what to eat for dinner.  But since not eating was not an option, I buckled down, put my thinking cap on, and made a grown up decision.  And since I had a small fiasco the other night trying to be bold with the pre-fix at the Cantine, I decided to keep things relatively conservative.

I started out with a chicken caesar salad that was actually quite delicious as caesar salad's go.  There was a healthy serving of tender chicken, the cheese was not too dominating but enough to add flavor (and came in thin slices as opposed to grated parmesan), the lettuce was fresh, and the piece of toast to compensate for croutons was still warm and equally delicious with a soft underside and toasted crunchy backside.

My main course was a veal cutlet with noodles that was pretty average.  The noodles were completely tasteless even with the red sauce on top, but at least it didn't taste bad.  The veal cutlet was a bit of a surprise as I've never had feel prepared in a cutlet style before.  With the lemon sprinkled on top of it, it almost tasted just like a pork cutlet, which is not a bad thing.  The meat itself was pretty tender albeit a tad thin, and the seasoning on the breading was mild (which seems to be the running theme in French food here).

Dessert was the ever elusive creme brulee that came in a very hearty dish which I thoroughly enjoyed because of the larger surface area for the glazed shell.  The shell was a pleasantly warm, crunchy, and sugary treat while the creme underneath was a little bit on the dense side but delicious nonetheless.

Overall, my pre-fix meal at the Bistro seemed to finally average out my streak of prior bad decisions in pairing my appetizers, main dishes, and desserts into a proper dinner.  Nothing negative stood out in any of the dishes but there was nothing extraordinary about any of the dishes either (if I had to vote though, I would rank the salad first, creme brulee second, and veal third).

As for the pricing, the pre-fix ended up being 20€90, which I would put on the expensive side for a meal of this quality.  If you're looking for average/solid no frills pre-fix meal, then grab your €20 bill, some change, and head over to the nearest Bistro Romain

Bistro Romain

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103 Boulevard du Montparnasse, 75006 Paris, France
Metro: Montparnasse - Bienvenue or Valvin

Sometimes, taste isn't everything

With the metro system firmly under our belts now, a group of 9 decided to venture further out into Paris looking for a new place to try some food as well as some fun entertainment.  With the help of a handy iPhone app and website with recommendations, we decided to try out La Cantine de Belleville.

About a 2 minute walk from the Belleville metro station, La Cantine de Belleville is definitely not your warm, fancy French restaurant.  Instead, it's more of a grungy bar with an outdoor patio and a basement where live music is played.  Unfortunately there wasn't live music when we ventured into the Cantine around 8pm on a Wednesday night (they said come back on Friday).  But with a €14 appetizer, main dish, and dessert pre-fix menu and a happy hour for alcohol, we decided to stick around.  


To be honest, the menu was quite a challenge to decipher as it was just a large chalkboard with French doodles (normal printed French on a menu is hard enough to decipher).  Luckily we had a very helpful waitress who was willing to help our French-challenged group semi-decipher the menu and get some food in our bellies.  I'm not quite sure of the exact names of everything I ordered but I ended up with a three course meal consisting of a duck salad, salmon tartar, and tiramisu.


The duck salad was extremely rich and gamey.  Personally, once the salad greens ran out, I wasn't able to finish the rest of my duck pieces.  Around the table, other appetizers ordered were an avocado dish, a pickled-fish, and and egg dish.  The consensus was that the egg was the best (more of a boiled egg with salad aka egg salad) while the avocado dish was good for those whose avocados were ripe and terrible for those whose avocados weren't.  The fish dish that also came with potatoes, carrots, and salad was suggested by the waiter because it was a typical French appetizer dish but it was extremely salty and had a half-raw texture that I didn't prefer.

As for the main dish, once again, I have to say I ordered poorly.  The salmon tartar was extremely tasteless.  The salmon had no flavor whatsoever and was just cold texture to go along with the salad.  Three of us ordered the salmon tartar and all of us were pretty much dissatisfied.  However, I was able to scrounge off some delicious potatoes and jambon from one dish as well as a piece of a cheeseburger from another that was pretty decent.  Other's who got the beef steak dish and the cooked salmon were thoroughly pleased though I didn't get to try it myself.  

As for dessert, the original plan was to get creme brulee but it had run out by the time we were ready for dessert.  I "settled" for the tiramisu which was quite delicious.  The cake part on the bottom was not as fluffy as it could have been, but the creme on top had a good texture that wasn't too sweet and too bland.  Other dessert options included cheesecake, chocolate mousse, and creme caramel.  

Overall, my personal meal wasn't too delicious but I believe that there definitely were more viable options around (I would suggest the egg salad and steak or cooked salmon).  And even with this miss, coupled with the fact that we missed the live music performances, the Cantine de Belleville was quite surprisingly a very enjoyable dining experience.  We had an extremely friendly and helpful waitress who really tried her best to accommodate us in the midst of an extremely busy crowd (the place was packed by 9:30pm, which also must mean that other people are definitely enjoying something on the menu).  She also noticed our displeasure at certain dishes and compensated us through a free dessert and free shots of alcohol all around the table.  

Our party of 9 left the Cantine 2.5 hours after we entered, some more satisfied than others with our meal, but all happy to have enjoyed a meal with friendly service and good company.  And €14 is a cheap price to pay for a good time and a friendly reminder that sometimes, taste isn't everything.

La Cantine de Belleville

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108, Boulevard Belleville
Metro: Belleville

Falalalalalalalafel

No frills this time, just straight to the fallafel.

The first thing that stands out about the fallafel at L'as du Fallafel is that they give you an entire pita rather than a half size.  How they accomplish stuffing a full size pita rather than a half semi-circle pita is by making a lit about 1/4 from the top of the pita, and stuffing everything in from there.  The extra pita also gives extra room for more delicious stuffing.

My mind is starting to fail me from food coma but I asked for everything except for sauteed eggplant and I think my fallafel ended up being stuffed with cucumbers, red cabbage, hummus, tzatziki sauce, hot sauce, and of course, fallafel (I also witnessed other fallafels with french fries on top).  What's great about La's du Fallafel is that they put each ingredient into the pita twice at different times so that not all the fallafel is found at the bottom of the pita and the cucumbers and cabbage at the top.  The usual fallafel places back home seem to unknowingly do this making for a very disproportional eating experience with the first bites usually resulting in only vegetables and the last bites being pure fallafel.  As for the actual taste, the pita was a deliciously plump and not scantily thin, the vegetables were fresh, the sauces blended well with each other, and the fallafel itself was piping hot and nicely fried.

At €5 for the fallafel special, L'as du Fallafel is not only delicious but it's also a bargain, albeit a slightly messy one.  Also, FYI, there is a separate charge for eating inside so to maximize your fallfel to Euro experience, except to eat these standing outside or on the go, just ask for extra napkins first.

Update:
Just had the shwarma (sheared lamb meat) and it was as equally delicious.  Cost: 7€50.

L'as du Fallafel

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34 Rue des Rosiers, 75004 PARIS 04, France
Metro: Saint-Paul

Professor knows best

So after a week of wandering the streets of Paris in search of good food on my own, I finally had the chance to share a sit-down meal with my professor and a few friends (a few being 14).  We were taken to a cozy restaurant called Atelier Aubrac not too far from our hotel in Grenelle.

We were ushered in kindly and quickly tallied our choices from the €18 pre-fix menu that included an appetizer, main dish, and dessert (€15 for just appetizer and main dish).  I ended up choosing poelee de 6 escargots de bourgogne au bleu d'auvergne, cuisse de canard confite gratinee au miel pommes sautees a l'ail, and moelleaux au choclat creme anglaise, or escargot with blue cheese sauce, duck confit with honeyed potatoes, and chocalte cake with creme.

I was excited to try the escargot as my appetizer (first time trying it) and to be honest, I wasn't sure what to expect in terms of taste.  The escargot here was already pre-shelled and hiding within a pool of melted bleu cheese.  The escargot itself didn't seem to have too much flavor on its own (I've heard it usually doesn't) but the richness of the bleu cheese sauce more than made up for it.  The texture was chewy, almost like a clam but meatier.  Overall the escargot was a plus that didn't provoke the gag reflexes that little kids usually make when thinking that they're eating snails and I'm glad I tried it.  However, if I were to go back (which I most likely will) I think I would order (and recommend to everybody) the eufs poches au Romarin or a poached egg in creamy rosemary sauce.  I was able to steal a bite of my neighbors after bartering one of my own escargots and the softened, almost raw yoke mixed with the milky sauce was a small bite of heaven that definitely made me compare the 5 pieces of escargot I had left in my dish.

As for the main dish (which I will no longer call entrees because entrees actually mean entry plates and are used to correctly describe appetizers here), the duck confit was for a lack of a better word, stunning.  I haven't had duck confit before so I guess I don't really have a base to compare it to, but I have tried duck prepared in other ways and this was by far the best duck dish that I've had so far.  The duck meat was tender and the skin covering the duck meat was a nice fatty compliment.  The ratio between the two was just right and the honey sauce (along with whatever else was mixed with it) gave it a slight sweet flavor that was delicious.  The thinly cut potato rounds were as equally amazing with a good balance of small crispy rounds and thicker, heartier ones.  They went well with the duck too.  Also, through further bartering process I was able to steal a bite of the beef tartar as well as the beef steak and this time around, the sampling process made me even more content with my dish as I elatedly felt like it was the best one on the menu (there's a certain pride to be found when you feel like you ordered the best dish you possibly could at a restaurant).

And while our meal was also served with a side of dessert, I was so completely satisfied with my duck confit that I was tempted to just skip dessert and continue to smack my lips and enjoy the lingering taste of the prior dish in my mouth.  But since I have this sometimes negative (mostly positive) habit of eating all this is placed in front of me, I obliged to the to chocolate cake in front of me that was sitting in a pool of custard-like cream.  It was a simple dessert that tasted just fine and can be accurately summed up through its picture.

At the end of the day, I left Atelier Aubrac not only with an appreciation for its bargain-priced (and absolutely delicious) pre-fix menu, but also a craving for more duck confit.  You may notice a spike in duck confit posts in the following weeks if the restaurants I go to have the same option, or I may just end up going to Atelier Aubrac again sometime in the near future.  Either way, finding a new go-to dish (steak frites just never cut it) can only be summed up best as how Charlie Sheen says it:  Winning.

Atelier Aubrac

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51 Boulevard Garibaldi, 75015 Paris, France
Metro: Segur or Sevres - Lecourbe

Would you like some fries with that steak?

So much for the Bouillon Racine being the one exception to my "do no pay for expensive steak" policy (see post on Bouillon Racine for more info).  When the word started circulating around our program that there was this place that served amazing steak and fries, I just couldn't resist.  After confirming with many many people, a few of us headed off on the #6 metro to find le Relais de l'Entrecote (the Montparnasse branch).

We were pleasantly surprised to find no wait line for this heavily hyped up dinner at 8:30pm on a monday evening.  We were quickly sat down and explained that there is no menu option, just the pre-fixe salad and steak and fries.  Our only options of the night were drinks and whether we wanted our steak medium or well done (no medium rare or rare options...).  Once again, in my attempt to find the ever elusive free tap water at a restaurant, this time I asked for a carafe of tap water (which is what I was tipped to say) but it seems to have been to no avail.  We ended the night paying an extra €10 for two bottles of "non-gassed" water.  I also ended up ordering a 4€50 bottle of Orangina.

As for the actual food, the salad was very light with sides of walnuts and radish.  A simple starter for the real meal to come.  I had no complaints here.

I did have some complaints with the "steak" though.  While the portions were fine (they actually came by with a second round of steak after the plate), the quality and cut of the meat seemed very run of the mill.  It was more like a flat-iron steak or a skirt steak than a fattier rib-eye or even basic sirloin.  The steak was missing a lot of tenderness even cooked for a medium and had no layers of marble or fat.  The fries were excellent and the sauce on the steak was decent but for a €24.50 steak, I was actually quite disappointed (salad is included in that price).  

And at the end of the meal, after totaling my orangina, the split between two "carafes of tap water", my steak and fries, and a €1 tip, I ended up shelling out a "modest" €32.50 for a quite average meal.  If there's one thing I learned besides to stop trying to order water from these French restaurants, is that I need to stick my my policy of eating delicious steaks at home and dishing out money for foods that are harder to cook or find outside of the kitchen.  I apologize to those who really enjoyed their meal here but if you had to ask my for a steak frites recommendation in Paris, I would point you towards the direction of the Bouillon Racine rather than le Relais de l'Entrecote on Montparnasse.  It may be that the main branch of this restaurant on the Rue Marbeuf is much better, but it is not something I will be finding out on this trip.

le Relais de l'Entrecote (Montparnasse branch)

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101 Boulevard du Montparnasse, Paris
Metro: Valvin or Montparnasse - Bienvenue or Edgar Quinet

When in Paris, eat crepes

So I've already reviewed a local crepe stand, but this time, we go deep into the Latin Quarters to eat some authentic sit-down restaurant type crepes at La Petite Tour.  The sit-down restaurant has an extremely friendly (and English speaking) staff who will kindly escort you to a great upstairs seated area that has open windows and a view into the rest of the Latin Quarters.

We started off our meal with a bottle of supposedly famous alcoholic apple cider.  Since I'm not used to the flavor of alcohol too much we got a the DOUX or a light smooth version of the bottle with only 2.5% alcohol as opposed to the darker, raw version with an unknown percentage of alcohol.  (I only know the percentage because the waiter kept assuring us that this bottle was a light version with only 2.5%...constantly).  The 75cL bottle that was good for 2 cupfuls for each of the three people present set us back only €11 and was actually pretty good.  After getting by the initial sip and shock of alcoholic after taste, I resumed to almost chugging the rest of my cup down thinking I could quench my thirst with this apple cider.  

As for the main entree, there is a wide selection of crepes ranging from the simple ham and cheese to more unique combinations under the house specialties list.  I have a tendency to try the house specials when I go to a new place and I wasn't about to leave La Petit Tour without trying their specialty crepes. So out of the four they had, I went with the recommendation of a friend and useful Paris blog and chose the “Forrestière” which had ground steak, lots of mushrooms, goat and emmental cheese, dairy cream, and garlic. I've had savory crepes before but as usual, the French surprised me once more with a crepe that came out looking more like a casserole:

Interestingly enough,I found the crepe under that mound of cheese.  The taste was definitely beefy and rich with the steak, and cheese overpowering much of the garlic and  mushroom.  The crepe batter itself didn't have too much flavor (or was again overpowered) and had a more grainy texture and dark color that made me wonder if it was wheat-based.  The crepe was solid in taste overall but is definitely not for those with a light palette.  I had a taste of my friends specialty crepe that had ham and I think I might have preferred the lighter ham flavor over the heavy steak.  


But on to dessert! I chose again a specialty crepe as opposed to a standard nutella and banana crepe that came with apples, walnuts, vanilla ice cream, and flaming glaze.  The flaming glaze was another surprise where our waiter brought out our crepe, doused it with alcohol and lit the entire thing on fire.  Pretty confusing and amazing at the same time.  The fire was too sudden and short to capture on picture or video.  The crepe did look something like this before we demolished it though:

The texture of the crepe was excellent with the right amount of fluffy layers.  Ice cream was ice cream and the apples and walnuts tasted like well...apples and walnuts.  Everything about this dessert crepe would have been great if it weren't for the darned flaming glaze.  You see, the alcohol (I'm gonna guess rum) that was doused over the entirety of our crepe to set it on fire for a fleeting 2 seconds definitely overpowered the delicate taste of everything else and since again, I'm not a big proponent of an alcoholic flavor, this dessert crepe was definitely a miss.  


However, overall, La Petite Tour is a gem of a crepe place that offers a huge selection of crepes where I just happened to order the wrong one.  I would definitely go back though to try their other selections of crepes, one without a flaming glaze.  


La Petite Tour

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6 Rue Grégoire de Tours, 75006 Paris, Île-de-France, France
Metro: Mabillon or Odeon

Happy Noodles

Ok I know you're wondering how I'm gonna justify Chinese food right after posting about Japanese ramen which I've hopefully justified the context to.  But have no fear, a short history lesson's here!

So a long time ago, the French people colonized Southeast Asia including Vietnam (which had many Chinese influences).  So as a result there's a lot of Vietnamese food and Chinese food in Paris.  Plus, Paris is very diverse.  End history lessons (thanks Professor Robinson).

So now I've justified Chinese food in France as well as Vietnamese food (because there will be a post on Pho later, don't hate) which brings us to Happy Nouilles.  It was actually recommended to us by our teaching assistants who have been living in France when we asked for Pho recommendations (have i lost you yet?  basically we got a Chinese recommendation for a Vietnamese request but all is well because the end [food] will justify the means).

So at Happy Nouilles (or literally Happy Noodles) the first sign of greatness you'll notice is someone hand making noodles in the front window.  The second sign is this:

It's not the normal recognizable sriacha (really spicy Asian hot sauce) bottle with the rooster on the front but I'm not complaining; sriacha is sriacha.

Now onto what we ordered.  By recommendation, I had an appetizer of Raviolis grillés, which is a fancy way of saying gyoza or dumplings. These dumplings (5 pieces for 4€50) had a very thick, chewy skin all around with a slight fry on the bottom. The insides were a wonderful blend of pork and...pork. A meat lovers dumpling dream that left out the usual cheap fillers of tofu and noodles.

As for the actual noodle dish, I got the regular dish with ground pork but substituted the noodles for the extra thick noodles (filament du blu  not sure on the spelling here).  The soup was a very warming blend of spicy and pork base and the ground pork and the bok choy added some nice variety as toppings.  But the best part of the dish was the substituted thick noodles.  These were hand made and crudely hand cut that almost just looked like pieces of dough floating in your soup.  Reminded me of one of my favorite home cooked Korean dishes, suh-jae-bee.

Blame it on an Asian bias but Happy Nouilles definitely served one of the more stomach satisfying dishes in Paris so far.  An all around plus from the noodles, soup, and gyoza appetizer make Happy Nouilles a happy winner in this blog.

Happy Nouilles

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95 Rue Beaubourg, 75003 Paris, France
Metro: Arts et Metiers

A little bit of Tokyo in Paris

So ever since coming back from my study abroad trip in Japan, I've had this un-satiable void in my stomach for Japanese ramen.  I'm not gonna go into the specifics of what I consider Japanese ramen because that is an entire book in itself (the simple version is that ramen is very diverse and everyone has a different definition).  But the bottom line is that I wasn't able to fill that void in Los Angeles (Mottainai came close and I'm hoping that Tsujita will do the trick when it finally opens) and I had a crazy idea that maybe I'll be able to fill it in France.  So I did some homework (had google chrome translate some french yelp reviews) and took a few friends out to Sapporo Ramen near the Louvre.  

My expectations were low despite the occasional temptation to think this might somehow finally be the one.  The menu had a variety or ramen including Shoyu, Miso, and Tonkotsu (usually not a good sign when a shop has more than one kind of broth) as well as some other Japanese dishes like curry, katsudon, and oyakodon, but since my ramen cravings are of the tonkotsu kind, naturally I went with the tonkotsu ramen bowl.

Did the bowl exceed my expectations?  Yes.  Did the bowl fulfill my endless expedition to fill my ever so elusive Japanese ramen craving?  No.  

But let's focus on the positives first.  The chashu (sliced pork) was actually very tender and had a good flavor, the noodles were on the thicker, chewier side (which is the style I like.  Most places use a stock medium thickness noodle that honestly has no texture), and the broth actually had a mild pork flavor.  

As for the negatives; as usual the egg was completely hardboiled as opposed to the delicate soft-boiled hanjuku tamago, there was way too much ginger (which is usually an optional topping on the side anyway), there was no garlic on the side to add to the broth (pre-crushed or fresh), the noodles and broth were just a cut above average, and the kicker, the waitress didn't speak Japanese (I'm kidding about this being a negative...kind of...).  

Anyway, overall Sapporo Ramen gets a decent review for a decent ramen but the quest for the satisfying Japanese ramen outside of Japen still continues.  But I promise I won't spend the entirety of my Paris trip huting for it...

Sapporo Ramen

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276 Rue Saint-Honoré, 75001 Paris
Metro: Pyramides or Metro Palais Royal - Musee du Louvre