Sunday’s meal was unexpected. We decided to take a tour with Sabine@ parisauthentique. She picked us up at the airport and took us on our day tour of Normandy. This was a tour of the Champagne area. For lunch she picked a typical French Sunday family lunch resto: La maison du Vigneron @ Entre Reims et Epernay –Route National 51-51160 Saint-Imoges. Reservations for Sunday lunch are essential.
This was a very special meal. Rather formal. But 5 courses were a fixed 30 euro. And what 5 courses those were. Rather than tour the vineyards, we spent 3-1/2 hours eating and enjoying lunch. First a small teaser-foie gras mousse with prune-awesome. Then the entrée in 3 small serving dishes. 1) small perfectly cook shrimps w/ a green garlic sauce 2) mini white asparagus with a delicate sauce that enhanced it perfectly. 3) prosciutto w/ melon- a perfect melon. AAHH. Main: I am misspelling this but I think it is L’emporer fish with a small pot of saffron rice and a wonderful sauce, an extremely sweet carrot and mini-squash cooked to perfection. This is good stuff here. Next is the cheese course with a great cheese selection. All this was of course accompanied with superior wines and bread. Then desert: 3 of us had a sort of chantilly with 3 fruits-marinated and matching ice cream. My husband had the assortment of 3 crème brules with 3 pots of matching ice cream. WOW.
Monday was a real treat. It was just a thoroughly excellent lunch, I can’t wait to return to Paris just to come back here. Café de la Nouvelle Mairie 5e. We arrived at noon. No reservation and I believe cash only. It is a lunch stop for many of the professors from the surrounding schools, all carrying their bulging briefcases and discussing seminars etc. Two plats du jour are written on the blackboard, plus the other specials of the day. I started with the rustic homemade pate with cornichons, thick country bread and a glass of dry-fruity wine. The pate was made at laguiole in Cantal by la maison Conquet. It is dense and melt in the mouth and so good. I could have made that and desert my whole meal. All excellent. My husband had les endives a la fourme d’Ambert. It had a creamy blue cheese sauce that was also excellent and complemented the endives. He had the plat du jour: pork legs on rice with ratatouille. I had the pasta with gorgonzola sauce. Rich but very good. All was accompanied with perfect wine. We passed on the artisan and fermier cheeses for a homemade pear tart like I have never had before. It was a pear half with a bit of a sweet jam on it and was ravishing. I’m not sure we can top this one.
The only dinner we ate out was at Le Perron. It’s Italian and the maison specials are all excellent. I started with tortellini w/ escargot. Excellent! My husband had a crab and tomato linguini which was also very good. For mains he had veal scaloppini. They are famous for their veal. And rightfully so. I had veal with fresh artichoke and it was a super combination of flavors. We both had tiramisu for desert. We returned here for lunch on Friday and again had the maison specials. Will return here our next trip. It is a keeper. We arrived early by Paris times and didn’t need reservations either time.
Of course, we also picked up pastires etc at Gerard Mulot, Pierre Herme and chocolates at Debauve %26amp; Gallais and Fouchon.
The only resto we weren’t too pleased with was l’A.O.C. 5e. The resto itself is very pretty and seems peaceful as you enter. The wines they chose for us were excellent. I started with the pate du maison. It was excellent. Joe started with white asparagus with a spicy mayo sauce, which was quite good. Then he had skate for lunch and I the cassoulet maison. The cassoulet was ok. I have had much better. The skate was all right, but with very little seasoning. The other restos we ate at were full with people waiting. This, even at 13h30, was maybe a quarter full. It seemed like they were economizing and it was not our best meal. Althought the host and chef/owners were very nice.
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What a great pair of reports! This is the kind of information I always think is crucial: where should we eat? Your review of the Café de la Nouvelle Mairie makes me want to return at once to try it. I had read a good review somewhere of AOC, although IrishRovr had recently given a lukewarm mention in this forum. Have you been to the restaurant of the same name in LA?
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No, I haven%26#39;t. But jsut writing these reports makes me hungry!
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Gomac - Your reports are simply delicious. Despite the fact that it%26#39;s about 4:00 A.M. here (I can%26#39;t sleep), you%26#39;ve given me quite an appetite.
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Thanks Shoesy. It was a great 2 weeks. Rest of trip reports to follow.
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ur food reports were excellent to read.......it%26#39;s making me more n more excited about our upcoming trip, but overwhelmed too....i was wondering if you know hte addresses of cafe de la nouvelle mairie and le perron and what the prices are like?.......if you don%26#39;t have address that%26#39;s ok, it was a treat just to read ur reviews :)
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Thanks. Le Perron L%26#39;Italianissimo De Saint-Germain: 6, Rue Perronet 7e. We spent 112 euros but we also drank 1-1/2 bottles of wine.
Cafe de la Nouvelle Mairie: 19 rue Fosses St Jacques 5e. WE spent 30 euros each...but we also had 2 glasses of wine each. Their food and wine is outstanding. And the staff very kind.
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Thanks for the resto reports will come in very handy!
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