Catching Ups and Downs: Part 2

180 degrees to go to come full circle and put a lid on a 2013 I am forever happy to bid adieu.  On the heels of Mama Shelter and Le Boudoir, Co. and I returned to a couple of our personal favorites - La Gazzetta and Le Pleine Mer - with a minor detour along the rue de Lappe.  Put on your seat belts, here we go.

La Pirada

After a terrific concert by Matt Elliott and band at the Cafe de la Danse, just off the well-trodden rue de Lappe in Bastille, Co. and I were up for some late night grub and more fire water.  Our usual venue for such purposes is the comfortable Cuban spot Havanita, but let's face it, when it comes to authentic Cuban repasts, Havanita doesn't come close.  So we decided to check out the Spanish tapas just next door at La Pirada.  If there is something that Co. and I know a lot about when it comes to food, it is Spanish tapas, because, well, we spend a lot of time in Spain eating aforementioned Spanish tapas.  We didn't have high expectations for La Pirada and our low expectations were more or less confirmed.  But....what was lacking in authenticity was clearly made up by some above average, satisfying and copious plates, including the following:

Tapas de jour (8.50€)

Pulpo Gallega (10€) - heavy on the paprika, which was fine with me 

Calamares plancha (7.20€)

Not pictured, croquetas jamon (6.90€), my least favorite.  Along with a vino tinto, these offerings hit the spot in slaking our late night cravings - well, at least the edible and drinkable ones.

Needless to say if you know rue de Lappe, with it's never-ending stream of pedestrians, La Pirada benefits from location, location, location.  Even at the late hour of our visit, people were coming and going, non-stop.  Convivial, cheap, and there when you need it.  There's something to be said for that, even if the food ain't the top of the world, ma.

Inside La Pirada, a hint of Spain

A tip of the hat to Matt Elliott at the Cafe de la Danse, around the corner

LA PIRADA
address:  7, rue de Lappe, 75011 Paris
tel:  01 47 00 73 61
website:  http://www.pirada.com/


La Gazzetta

If you are a regular reader of PRAB, you know La Gazzetta, so there's really no need to elaborate again.  No, check that, yes there is.  One of the cool things that added to La Gazz's charm was their carte,which enabled the diner to select 5 (39€) or 7 (52€) plates from a list of 7 offerings.  I always found it somewhat confusing to figure out which were the entrees, plates, and desserts, but in the end it didn't matter because they were all innovative and good and you'd probably, like me, end up taking all 7 anyway at a price that was well worth it.

But what Co. and I found last January was something decidedly different - a standard entree/plat/fromage and/or dessert format (39€ or 45€, depending on the cheese).  So much for greater novelty and choice.  Our latest visit, during the first week of December, found a similar format, albeit with more choices, plenty of innovation, and, big surprise, raised prices (45€ and 55€).  Some of the offerings:

• Raviolis d'epinards, oursin et pomelos
• Salsifis - hibiscus - raisins de Corinthe oignon doux des Cevennes et persil
• Agneau de Bourgogne et carotte rotie olives et citron confit
• Sorbet de lait reduit, citron et meringues
• Biscuit trempe de chataignes, yaourt de brebis compote de pomme Bertane

More distressing than the price increase, we were informed that the renowned chef of La Gazzetta since 2006, Swedish Petter Nilsson is leaving to return to the source, Stockholm, just in time for a Scandinavian Christmas.  Here is the Google translated latest news from La Gazz regarding what happens next:

La Gazzetta will continue to follow the same movement back to basics by using the Italian chef Luigi Nastri , a friend of Giovanni Passerini , chef of Rino restaurant and former second at La Gazzetta. Thus, the torch remains in the "family." Luigi is the new Roman cook and is ready to invest the scene with the desire for a modern trattoria. His kitchen ...will give a Mediterranean tone necessarily rhyming with the Italian name of La Gazzetta.

I'm not sure about that rhyming part.  Not a big fan of Rino, all I can say is 'why mess around with a good thing?  Can't we just have the old La Gazzetta back?'  Maybe my fear is unwarranted.  As far as I'm concerned, I will continue to recommend La Gazzetta as I always have until they give me a reason not to, but best to be forewarned that changes are in the wind.  To be continued...

 LA GAZZETTA
address:  29 rue de Cotte, 75012 Paris
tel:  01 43 47 47 05
website:  http://lagazzetta.fr/wordpress/


La Pleine Mer

I'm a modern kind of a guy, if I have to say so myself, and though I generally laugh in the face of tradition, Co. and I have a little budding annual tradition going, which consists of a late December visit to La Pleine Mer for oysters from the Cancal region of Brittany.  I've already told you everything you need to know about LPM, and though I may lament the coming changes to La Gazzetta, each visit to LPM further confirms that this place will never, ever change.  Yeah, I know, never say never, but LPM has that kind of an 'old reliable' feel about it.

If I've said it once, I've said it a hundred times - if you want authentic, inexpensive, super delicious oysters in Paris, this is the place.  No embellishments, no variation in the menu - your only choice is between oysters no. 1, 2, 3, or 4 depending upon availability.  You do have the option of a 'menu' - starting off with a plate of salmon, tarama, butter, and rye bread, and a glass of muscadet (included in the menu).  Then you wait for your dozen oysters, shucked in eye's view, and a bottle of muscadet (extra), and topped off with the cholesterol inducing guilty pleasure, the Breton cake Kouign-Amann (also extra, but only 3.50€). 

La Pleine Mer is just a hole in the wall not far from Gare de Nord, but it's inexpensive and definitely the real deal when you have a craving for oysters.  In fact, it's probably more of a take-out that formal sit-down restaurant.  During our meal, a steady influx of customers were coming in to pick up their holiday oysters for home.

LA PLEINE MER
address:  22, rue de Chabrol, 75010 Paris
tel:   01 53 34 64 47
website: are you kidding?


Before closing this elongated post (Parts 1 and 2), I should add that I finally got around to visiting Le

Le Square Gardette

Square Gardette on rue rue Saint Ambrosie in the 11th, not far from the St Maur metro stop and even less far from my day job.

This was a holiday dinner celebrated with some colleagues, so my function was less reviewer than survivor.  Laid back and convivial, with some odd decorations.  I vaguely remember a tasty entree -  ceviche de merlan, litchi, grenade, and yes, popcorn - and a main fish plate - lieu noir - followed by a pre-selected triad of cheese, featuring a terrific slab of Cantal.  At 44€ for the 'menu', this isn't the best deal in town, but worth checking out.  Lunch might be a better option - just stay away from the quail, which rocked John Talbott's boat in the decidedly wrong way.

Some Square Gardette decor

LE SQUARE GARDETTE
address:  24, rue Saint Ambrosie, Paris 75011
tel:  01.43.55.63.07
website:  http://www.squaregardette.fr/

La Fontaine De Mars - Institutionalized

In accidental honor of the start of a real-life heatwave, with Paris finally joining the global warming trend, Co. and I hooked up with our Texan- pardners-by-way-of-New Jersey and now in Paris to stay for a dinner at La Fontaine de Mars, a Parisian dining institution in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower.  You get to be called an 'institution' when you've been in business at the same address since 1908 - other than the same address part, I am rapidly closing in on

institutional status myself, but let's not go there.  For me and Co., this was our first return appearance at said institution in 13 years, a rather unimpressive debut for which all I could remember is that I ate something with an egg in it.  Not a good sign, but I was up for giving La Fontaine a second chance, the first since the famous "Obama ate there" cache.  Now expanded, the restaurant on this balmy Friday evening had a very open and airy feel about it,

with a stable of tables in the front, and scattered along an adjoining courtyard.  Even our indoor table had the feel of being outside, with the open area leading to the courtyard right off one side.

Another part of being a restaurant institution is that those tables tend to be filled, with a combo of tourists and locals, and the carte never seems to change.  Yes, there are eggs on the dinner menu in one façon or another, a peculiarity of the southwestern cooking emphasis.  One of the entree specialities, oeufs meurette (11€), or two eggs baked in red wine, shallot and bacon sauce, received high praise from our pardner who knows a thing or two about searing bacon in reduced red wine, and in his humble opinion, La Fontaine got it right.  I enjoyed my special plat du jour, supions a la plancha 21€), at least more than our other pardner who expected something more in the way of grilled.  Co. really appreciated her magret canard (29€), and once we swapped dishes mid-stream, I had to agree it outdid my calamari.  The three of us who opted for dessert all curiously trended toward lemon, maybe thinking the tarte du jour would slake the heat or something, and it did the job, without anything spectacular to tell granny about.  Here's a pictorial display for your delight (click to enlarge and save your eyes):

 

Roulé d'aubergine confite au chèvre frais (14€) - you don't see this on many cartes; nice sauce.

Terrine de canard Maison au foie gras (15€) - half gone, once Co. and I did our swap.  This trumped the eggplant dish.  I was surprised - positively - that this wasn't more of a jellied terrine dish.  Pretty tasty.

This here is the soupions Friday special, the baby calamari resting comfortably on a bed of mashed potatoes (21€).

Tartare de boeuf (21€) - how else to follow up reduced wine and bacon?

The lemon tarte du jour (11€)

All in all, an enjoyable meal, and as mentioned, I'm glad our pardners recommended it, because I wouldn't have gone back on my own after our initial rather disappointing excursion.  I can't remember the servers at all, which is an especially nice asset when you prefer to concentrate on conversation with your friends without unnecessary interruptions.  My gripe, and you've heard this before, is that the carte is of the 'a la' nature, lacking a more affordable fixed price menu.  Nonetheless, we did wine on the cheap, going with a couple bottles of the low-priced, but decent house wine,“Sélection Fontaine de Mars” at 16€ a pop, and the total for four came in at a reasonable 203€.  Check out those red and white checkered tablecloths - an institution in their own right.

LA FONTAINE DE MARS  

129, rue Saint Dominique

75007 Paris

tel: 01 47 05 46 44

website:  http://www.fontainedemars.com/index.html

 

 

L'Ebauchoir - Eat A Peach

I was up for something off the beaten path from the tour of the fancy neo-bistrots, which in the past months has included some old favorites and some new discoveries.  Something more traditional, an old Parisian mainstay, popular and summery with outdoor dining possibilities, now that we are deep in the heart of summer in the capital, and for once the weather is temperate and sunny and the livin' is easy.  Fish are jumpin', etc.  What do you want, I just learned a new jazz arrangement for Summertime on the guitar, so the tune keeps haunting me.

And so, verdict is in, L'Ebauchoir it was.  According to minimal research, everybody loves L'Ebauchoir for its conviviality, traditional and tasty cooking, at - drum roll, please - low prices and space for twenty diners out on the 'terrace,' facing the rather non-descript and shady rue de Citeaux in the heart of the Faidherbe - Chaligny area, where one week earlier, Co. and I had a terrific meal a couple blocks away at 6 Paul Bert.


One of the main reasons I chose L'Ebauchoir was to dine outside, but by the time we arrived in the early evening, the sun had deserted rue de Citeaux and Co., feeling a chill, pushed me through the door and the host did the rest, leading us to a small table by the window.  Even inside though, L'Ebauchoir was airy and open enough to suggest outdoor dining, so what the hey.  Well, no question, this is a convivial and popular joint - the host and his minions made for a laid-back, friendly, and competent staff and the atmosphere, filled with apparent locals, wall mural, and antique mirrors certainly made us feel at home, home being Paris, France.  The food and prices, however, served to undermine the overall experience, with disappointments on both fronts.


Heavy on meat, with a couple entree and dessert specials on the posted blackboard, it was quickly evident that long-term owners Thomas Dufour and Thierry Bruneau had a run on peaches this week, because a majority of dishes included peaches in one facon or another.  I was tempted by the entree special - a crab salad on avocado (14€) but instead opted for mozzarella buffalo with peaches in a green pea sauce (13€).  This dish looked better than it tasted, the taste being rather bland, although the pea sauce definitely served well for sopping via the tastier than usual slices of baguette.

Co's entree, the tuna tartare (14€), was probably the hit of the evening, with its large chunks of marinated tuna bearing an unidentified spice that left a curiously interesting aftertaste - in a good way.

On to the plates, with your's truly opting for the one main course fish dish on the evening's carte, a slab of tuna on a hefty and heavily marinated slice of eggplant, with pea pods, small roasted potatoes, and aforementioned peaches (22€).  Again, this looked better than it tasted.  I really had a hard time finishing this for lack of interest halfway through.  The potatoes were tasty, but the fish, which I had asked to be cooked 'a rose,' was in fact overcooked for my taste, and dry as a result, and the eggplant did not compute at all.

 

Not to brag or anything, but the fish tacos I concocted the night before were far superior to L'Ebauchoir's tuna dish, so why not take a gander at my own personal baby.  Light, spicy, and tasty - everything my main course at L'Ebauchoir was not.  Attention - you cannot order this fish taco dish at L'Ebauchoir, but if you would like the recipe, let me know.

Co. complained less, but was nonetheless uninspired by her lamb, potato puree (with three pieces of garlic embedded), and courgettes melange (20€).  Maybe it needed some peaches...

My dessert was a no-brainer, L'Ebauchoir's trademark dish, the traditional gateau riz (rice pudding cake), just like your mammy used to make if your mammy made rice pudding cake.  This arrived in a metal cooking container that contained enough gateau riz to feed four diners - you take as much as you want, which mirrors the restaurant's 'au comptoir' option for wine if you choose not to select an entire bottle.  For the wine, you pay as you go; for the dessert, you pay 7€, regardless of how much you consume.  Well, I don't deny, this was really good.  I disagree with one disenchanted diner's  online assessment arguing that this dish was overrated because the caramel syrup overwhelmed the cake.  I think that syrup really made the dish special.

 

Co. went with the dessert special, an almond mouse with raspberries, and seemed perfectly happy with her choice (8€).  Oddly, the chef apparently deemed the peaches to be appropriate for all menu items save the desserts. 

 As for wine, we opted for the special of the evening, a bottle of Poivre et Sel (Gamay, Pineau d'aunis), which was as light and fruity as the waiter promised (no peaches included, thankfully) (26€). Otherwise, the wine menu is copious and fairly priced.

As you can surmise, the meal was hearty - a carte, save the peaches, that would have been at home in the middle of winter, with its heavy emphasis on meat among its main dishes (with a vegetarian dish included, it is fair to say), more traditional than innovative, and no great shakes.  That's well and good when all you are expecting is an unpretentious, low-priced meal in a popular, pleasant Parisian bistrot.  But whereas I had been led to expect, from my humble pre-dinner research, something around a 60€ bill, we ended up paying nearly twice as much (110€), something you already know if you were keeping a running score as you read the above.  That's not outrageous by Paris standards and is, in fact, around what we usually pay (or at least not significantly lower) for the innovative neo-bistrots I usually write about.  In fact, it's a couple euros more expensive than the far more interesting and satisfying meal we had last week at 6 Paul Bert - in fact, no comparison.  L'Ebauchoir would have received less of my chagrin had their carte included a reasonably priced three-course menu, but alas, that was not to be had, and what you end up with is a price/quality ratio overwhelmingly favoring price.  My recommendation, if you must, is to go there for lunch.  Especially if you have a peaches fetish.

L'EBAUCHOIR 

43/45 rue de Citeaux
75012 Paris
tel. 01 43 42 49 31
website:  http://www.lebauchoir.com/

Second Helpings

Who says you can't go back again?  While I may try to adhere to the 'been there, done that' approach when it comes to cities, apartments, cars, employers, and ex-girlfriends (the latter especially given my marital status), when it comes to restaurants, one of my main goals is to find a place that I wantto go back to.  And since the conception of this blog, my list of 'must return to' venues, I am pleased to say, has been growing.  You know which they are because I often return to them in my reviews.  So return it has been over the past month or two, albeit with mixed results.

 
Back around mid-May, Co. and I returned for the first time to the Asian restaurant Sala-Thai in a discreet alley in the 13th, where we had a pretty good meal a couple years ago.  Sala-Thai is much praised online, although our first trip there was undermined by having all the dishes we ordered brought at the same time.  By the time the table was cleared, I scratched my head thinking, what the hell just happened?  We didn't repeat that mistake this time, asking for and receiving a more reasonable pacing between plates.  Trying to dispel a wet dog smell in the dining hall, we fathomed the rather endless menu.  This time the spicy moules (11.25€) weren't as compelling, though still a good start, my fish brochettes (9€; 1st photo below) had the texture of fish (good point), but the distinct taste of chicken (bad point).  My pot of Pla op Mordine with cabillaud (11.25€; 2nd photo) was satisfying in the traditional Thai way, with plenty of ginger and coconut.  We also ordered the Ken Phed Ped, nice name whatever it was (11.25€), a plate of broccolli (3rd photo; 8.10€), riz gluant (2.10€), jasmine tea (€) and a half bottle of Chinon (7€).  At 61.95€, the meal was nothing spectacular, and there are myriad other Asian restaurants in Paris where you probably could do better.

 

SALA-THAI
13 rue des F. d'Astier de la Vigerie
7501 Paris
tel.  01.45.84.13.22
no website

Next up, a first return to Chatomat, which appeared so promising back last December.  Once again, I was more impressed than Co., only not as much as I was during the first visit.  My meal was very good, somewhat on the plus side of imaginative, but unfortunately, pretty forgettable.  True, I don't remember much that happened two days ago anymore and our dinner at Chatomat was just under two months ago, so it's a bit unfair to say that the meal at Chatomat was not very memorable.  A couple of photos jog the memory a bit, and here they are, the maquereux, pickled onions, and eggplant entree, followed by the fish of the day.  I always tip my hat to a chef who can make maquereux a savory dish, which was the case at Chatomat.  Two three course dinners, a Chinon, and one post-meal cafe clocked in just under the century mark at 96.50€.  The jury is still out as to whether we will make a third trip to Chatomat.

 

CHATOMAT
6 rue Victor Letalle
75020 Paris
tel. 01.47.97.25.77
no website

Now, the best for last.  A third visit - I am proud to say given the torturous process of trying to reserve there  - to Le Chateaubriand.  Bear in mind, there is no summer this summer in Paris.  It rains, period.  Co. and I needed some cheering up, and so we jumped at the chance to hook up with our good friends in town from the lone star state's San Antonio, who we seem to see more frequently in town than our next door neighbors.  The evening got off to an enjoyable start at the Baron Samedi bar around the corner from the restaurant.  I had never been to that drinking establishment before, but was much intrigued by the online description of BS as 'one of the world's best bars' and 'the grooviest bar in Paris, a sensual deity in Haitian voodoo beliefs.'  I'm sorry to say, despite the conviviality of the bartenders and the exotic descriptions, the place is a dump, but it did the job.  Limited in the gin category to City of London, I was kind of happy to stumble back out into the rain and into the oasis of Le Chateaubriand.

Firmly inserted into a back table next to the kitchen, we were each handed a sheet of paper describing the fixed menu of the day, this all happening at the end of week one in July (still raining).  Three amuse bouches followed by:

•  Pistes, aubergine, framboise, basilic  (1st photo below)
•  Turbot, fenouil, poutargue (2nd photo)
• Veau (or poisson for the non-meat eater), tomates (3rd photo, fish version)
•  2 desserts:  Cerise; Tocino del cielo

I should add that if you double the price of the menu (2X60€), each dish comes accompanied by a chef-selected glass of wine.  However intriguing that might sound, that price differential seems a bit over the top.

Without going into the details of the subtleties of taste, the formidable dialectic between the various ingredients, I will get to the point and tell you this was an epic meal.  I guarantee you I will remember that turbot enmeshed in fenouil well beyond two months and believe me, that came in second to the pistes dish, a marvelously exotic and imaginative dish - the best I've had in Paris this year.  Enough said.  It's no wonder that Le C. is considered by some as one of the best restaurants in Paris. What's more, chef  Iñaki Aizpitarte's philosophy is to keep the prices down, asserting that he'd rather have a restaurant where his friends would be comfortable dining than to have a restaurant filled with rich people.  One of those friends, perhaps, was the owner of four well-known restaurants back in San Antonio, USA who stopped by our table for a chat, having recognized our Texas companions.  He has my card, so if you're reading, remind me of your name and restaurants and I will be happy to plug them here.  The fixed-price dinner for four, at 60€ per person, including a 7€ bottle of Evian (which I accidentally ordered), a Cotes du Rhone (34€) and Langedoc (34€), and post-meal cafes took us over the 3 century mark, or 162€ per couple, a more than reasonable price for a memorable meal.

BARON SAMEDI
 12 rue des Goncourt
Paris 75011
+33-01-43-57-31-58
website

LE CHATEAUBRIAND
129 Avenue Parmentier, 75011
Paris 75011
tel: 01.43.57.45.95
no website

Worth the Wait: Spring Lives Up to the Hype

                                                                              

And they say it's difficult to get a reservation at Spring.  I think I started trying back in 2009, so that's what, 3 years, give or take several months, and in the grand scheme of things, that really isn't so bad, is it?  I guess I should mention that my attempts have been limited to potential Friday evenings, a notoriously difficult slot for a reservation in the space-challenged, New York Times-reviewed neo-bistrots scattered throughout the French capital.  Nonetheless, my dinner last night, with Co. in tow - or rather, the other way around, as this was her treat, and her successful reservation snag - attests to the fact that one can indeed have a meal at Spring, even without pulling any strings, if one tries hard enough and has a lot of time on one's hands.  As Lenin once observed, the two trump cards of a Bolshevik are patience and irony, a good way of summing up the end of one battle and the launch into another (Septime, but that's another story altogether).  (I hope you caught the Alain Resnais reference there.)

If you are a regular reader of this blog, as I certainly hope you are, you may remember that Spring's reputation was originally established  at a much smaller venue around Pigalle in the 16th, now occupied by La Vitrine.  (If you think it's difficult to get a reservation now, imagine what it was like when Spring could only cram 16 diners into its space, a venue that Le Figaro once anointed the hardest to reserve table in Paris.)  In July 2010, Spring moved to a 17th century building in the center of Paris, where its success has reached new heights.  Once Co. and I rang the doorbell at 6, rue Bailleul, a leisurely 10-minute walk from the Forum Les Halles, we were ushered into the elegant two floor restaurant, cozily seating about 22 on the main floor, and about another 20 or so in the more secluded downstairs floor.  Everything is elegant hardwood, metal, and stone, a nice juxtaposition, perfectly reflecting the melange of subtle ingredients in the Daniel Rose-led open kitchen, first thing you see upon entering.  I like the idea of the locked front door - good way to keep out the riffraff, i.e., the tourists who had read glowing reviews of the restaurant and decided to just drop buy and get a table ('try back in another few years, we should have something by then').  We were seated at a perfectly placed table overlooking the staircase and in close proximity to the kitchen.  Okay, that's stretching it - given the relative size of the kitchen and the main dining room, everybody is in close proximity to the kitchen, which I would have to guess is exactly the way Monsieur Rose prefers it, because dining at Spring is not only about the food, but also about the performance of preparing the food.

We found the now scruffier head chef leading the choreography in the kitchen from note one.  Allow me to digress.  It’s not hard to understand the popularity of Facebook.  Yes, I know, countless sociologists and popular culture pundits have opined the obvious – social networks offer us the opportunity to connect with heretofore unprecedented ease blah blah etc. blah.  And as one of those pundits myself – in my non-Mortstiff persona – you can add me to the club.  But let’s face it Facebook fanatics, Facebook is all about ‘face’ in its three most obvious facets:  narcissism, exhibitionism, and voyeurism.  What does this have to do with a review of Spring?  No bloody idea.  Just joking.  I was thinking about those three purely human needs as I pondered the recent explosion of open kitchens - seen in my previous reviews of Yam 'Tcha and L'Agrume, most notably.  Based on my limited exposure, I think chef Rose is in no small part an exhibitionist, noisily instructing, demanding, urging, joking, crooning, and otherwise chatting to his team throughout the evening.  We speak English here - Monsieur Rose and the wait staff, all bilingual of course, but at Spring, English rules.  Which is why I tried my darnedest to stick to French, being the cynical contrarian Bolshevik that I am. And then there are the diners, and let's face it, we are the voyeurs, checking out our fellow lucky devils --the night of our visit, apparently heavy on the well-heeled, well-coiffed American side - who also somehow managed a Friday night table, but more so, the hard-working team in the (multi-language) kitchen.  You ever watch those cooking shows on TV?  This is much better. 

Time to move on to the 76€ fixed-price 4-course dinner.  No carte to ponder, only the pithy description of the meal-to-come from one of several servers.  You take what is offered, although Spring - like most of the other neo-bistrots - is flexible when it comes to dietary restrictions, allergies, and what-not.  For example, well-informed in advance that I do not eat veal, I was offered a pigeon alternative.  Apparently, I wasn't the only one, as it appeared that about half the patrons also opted for the bird. And I could have sworn I heard Mr. Rose mention a party of vegetarians on their way. (Good luck with that.)  Things got off to a light, relatively forgettable start, with four amuse bouches brought to the table: two petite roasted potatoes, a small plate of cucumbers and radishes in salt, a very flavorful tapenade, and a triangle of butter for the two large-sized rolls.  Our bottle of Saumer (2010) Germain Roches Neuves quickly followed, one of the handful of reasonably-priced bottles (35€) on the extensive (and otherwise pricey) wine carte.  At its bargain basement price, the red excelled.  This was followed by a first course of fish soup, accompanied by a lightly batter-fried sextet of rouget.
      

Aside from a few miniscule moules, the highlight of the soup was the ample use of fenouil - the herb and the meaty white crunchy chunks of the slightly sweet plant.  Fish soup in late June may not compute for the reader, for whom 'spring' means something more than a trendy restaurant in Paris.  But when Cole Porter penned 'I Love Paris in the Springtime,' he couldn't have had the current weather in mind - rainy, windy, and cool - enough reason for me to don my dark shirt, suit coat, and leather coat before embarking on the evening's mission.  In Paris, unfortunately, these days 'spring' is a restaurant, not a season.  So on this particular Friday night in the middle of June, a hot soup seemed more than a propos.  Co. was less impressed than I was by this opening act, but those herbs really hit the spot for me, and the fried rouget was an inspired accompaniment.


Next up, a hefty langoustine on a bed of peas, and embellished with a modest dollop of lemon confit.

 

I hate to have to trot out that over-used bromide, 'melts in your mouth,' but I can't think of a better way of describing the langoustine.  This dish was followed by the main dish, the aforementioned veal (or pigeon) dish.  Both dishes were identically prepared, save the meat.  Here's what the pigeon looked like:

 

The succulent meat was accompanied, in part, by girolle mushrooms and a hefty spoonful of memorable mashed potatoes.  As I wolfed this course down, I kept hearing Co.'s tsk-tsk at my aversion to veal, content as she was with the well-prepared slab of veal and accompanying ris de veau (sweetbreads).  The four-dish dessert came in two stages - two small bowls of chocolate and strawberries, followed by a cherry tart and Greek yogurt sorbet.  These were consumed in utter silence - they were more than worthy of our complete attention, as noteworthy desserts should be.  

That about wraps it up.  To keep the bill under the two-century mark (it clocked in at a reasonable 187€), we eschewed end of meal cafe, perfectly content to empty the final drops of the Saumer.  As we donned our outer garments, I gave a thumbs-up to a bemused Monsieur Rose and, as we made our way back out into the now rain-free Paris night, I couldn't hold back a little grin that patience had paid off.  I may be the last blogger on the scene to finally make it to the highly-touted Spring, but guess who's review is now the most up-to-date?  Ironic, n'est pas?

SPRING              

6 rue Billeul

75001 Paris

tel: 01 45 96 05 72

website: http://www.springparis.fr/