Flying the Uncongested Skies - Monday, 4 October

As we were approaching Aéroport Charles-de-Gaulle, my taxi driver told me that five of the seven terminals are closed due to significantly reduced tourist and business travel.  I know that 2B had been closed for significant remodeling, but yikes.  Apparently most of the traffic goes through 2E now, but even so it wasn’t as hectic as I’ve seen in the past.

I was excited to learn that my flight was departing from one of the K gates, which meant that I could avoid the long walk and tram ride to one of the more distant gates.  But when I went to board, the agent asked me if I would be OK with a long ramp and then some stairs and a bus ride out to a remote location where the plane was actually parked and then some stairs up onto the plane.  Um, well, I guess I’d have to be!  Maybe this K Hall wasn’t so great after all!  Happily, there was an elevator at the end of the ramp that took me down to the tarmac.  Then an agent who put my carry-on on the bus and helped me up.  At the other end another agent helped me with my bag, and lo and behold, there was an elevator that took me up to the jetway!  Whew!

Delta has eliminated its CDG-MSP direct flight for now, due to low traffic I’m sure.  So my CDG-DTW flight was about half full and the DTW-MSP was packed.  

At the end of September the U.S. Government announced that everyone flying into the U.S. had to show proof of a negative COVID test, whether they were vaccinated or not.  So I dutifully got another antigen test on Saturday and had the printout ready to present.  Sadly, all they collected was a pre-printed attestation form that I had to sign and date - it would be easy to cheat the system, making a less safe environment for everyone.  After two weeks of having my vaccination card and/or test result inspected or scanned at every establishment that I wanted to enter (or even on whose terrace I wanted to sit), the U.S. procedure seemed woefully inadequate.

I am happy to report that there were no mask protesters on any of my flights!

In any case, back home safe and exhausted!  

À la prochaine, Paris!

A Good Day for Cocooning - Sunday, 3 October

With a deluge this morning followed by steady rain, it was a good day to stay inside and cocoon!  Leftovers needed to be consumed, clothes needed to be washed, floors needed to be swept, garbage needed to be gathered, suitcases needed to be packed.  Oh, ya, and some work needed to be done for the nonprofits I’m involved with.  And videos needed to be watched.  And a little reading/writing had to happen.  My apartment was just the comfy haven for all of this!  https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/29841953

It started clearing up around 7:00, bien sûr.  There is a little brewpub/café just outside my door where I’ve stopped for a beer or coffee about every-other day, so I popped down there for a late hot chocolate before hitting the sack in preparation for an early morning departure.  The waiter, who had served me several times over the course of the last two weeks, kept calling me “darling.”  Weirdly, it seemed appropriate.  

A Dark and Stormy “White Night” - Saturday, 2 October

Well, it was a dark and stormy night for the 20th annual “La Nuit Blanche à Paris,” which also happened to coincide with the launch of the Paris 2024 Cultural Olympiad.  

La Nuit Blanche, held the first Saturday of October each year all over Paris, incorporates concerts, art installations, dance, exhibitions, staged scenes, video shows, neon light shows, disco-rollerblading (I kid you not!), etc. - mostly performing events but some participatory ones - from both French and international artists.  It was canceled last year due to the pandemic and apparently was a bit underfunded this year, yielding more video productions of performances than actual live performances.  Still, about 200 artists registered for the event.  It’s an all-night festival - the buses and Métro run through the night and some streets are closed.  

Sad to say, after a week of glorious sunny and warm weather, it drizzled all day today, started raining more heavily tonight, the wind picked up, and the temperature was in the low 50s F.  I had thought about venturing out to see something - there were some dance/orchestral events scheduled for Place de l'Hotel de Ville just a few blocks from my apartment, but I wimped out.  A sad response for a Duluth native - what happened to that old Nordic toughness?!?  In any case, I read that some events were canceled at the last minute.  Hey, I wouldn’t have wanted to be out performing in those conditions either!

https://quefaire.paris.fr/nuitblanche

Navigating for Fun and Sanity! - Wednesday, 29 September

After departing Restaurant Alliance, my taxi drove through the intersection of rue de Pontoise and blvd Saint-Germain, at which corner a group of about a dozen elementary-age schoolkids and their teachers were on what appeared to be an orienteering or navigation-skills outing.  They were using a variety of phones, tablets and maps.  Just the things and skills you need here!

You see, most streets meander about and most of them change names in the process.  For example, the apartment I rented for this trip is at the corner of rue de Rivoli and Passage Walter Benjamin.  One-half block to the northeast the same street is called rue des Ecouffes, and across on the other side of rue de Rivoli the same street is called rue Tiron for a block before it curves slightly to the southeast and is called rue de Jouy.  Yikes!  What’s a girl to do?  

Well, in the not-so-olden days I highly recommend that Paris visitors buy a copy of “Paris Pratique” at any news stand, and keep it in their purse at all times - it contains detailed maps of all the arrondissements, with street names, traffic flow indicators, landmarks, Métro stations, bicycle rental stations, etc. - very handy for orienting yourself if you get off a subway or are in a neighborhood you don’t know, or if you want to figure out whether some destination is walkable (vs. Métro-able vs. bus-able vs. rent-a-bicycle-able).  Today, of course, Google maps can do all that for you as well, but I always keep my Paris Pratique in my purse “just in case.”

Be like those schoolkids - get Paris maps one way or another and learn to use them and save your sanity!

I Will Ally with Alliance Any Day! - Wednesday, 29 September

I couldn’t find any lunch openings at Alliance online, so I called them.  They said yes, one spot was available on the 29th at 1:00!  And when I gave the host/co-owner Shawn Joyeux my name, he remembered me despite the fact that my last visit was in 2017.  It’s kind of spooky, but I do love this aspect of French hospitality.  

This resto opened in 2015.  It’s in the 5th arrondissement, just across the Seine from the Île Saint-Louis. It took them only two years to earn  their first Michelin star.  Chef Toshitaka Omiya worked with some of the best chefs in Paris after his arrival from Japan in 2001 - Patrick Pignol, Alain Passard, Eric Brieffard, Philippe Legendre and David Toutain - until he opened Alliance with Shawn Joyeux.

The mood is calm, refined, unrushed.  It’s beautifully decorated in grey, white and gold with Korean paper art on the walls - nothing splashy, just a feeling of comfort.  It seats about 30 people at round tables, each accommodating one to four guests.  It’s a haven from the world just outside the door.

Rather than a charger, a simple twisted pottery ring was placed directly on the tablecloth to contain the crumbs that would inevitably fall from the bread and amuse-bouches - don’t worry, the waiter swept up the crumbs before the first course was served!  The tableware is an interesting mix of handmade pottery and elegant flowing white porcelain.

For my apéritif and to go with of all my amuses, I had a 100% Chardonnay Blanc de Blancs Champagne Copinet Marie - fresh, with hints of straw, parsley, celery, white flowers, grapefruit.  Lovely!

Before the amuse-bouches I was served two perfect lighter-than-air gougères (choux pastries with Gruyère cheese) and some peppery crispy pastry straws.  Perfect for the menu-studying portion of the afternoon!

Their menu is interesting.  They offer an “Instant” option (preparations chosen by chef Toshi) and four other options, each centering on a main course but including a variety of amuse-bouches and other accompaniments.  I went for a fascinating-sounding very young black-legged chicken which chef had rubbed with lobster coral and tarragon (I think the waiter said that chef inserts the coral under the skin) and allowed to cure/rest for at least a day before cooking à la minute (just before serving).  The waiter suggested that, since the last-minute cooking takes a while, I might want to add a vegetable-based course as well.  Yup!  More about that later!

The first two amuse-bouche were wrapped in soaked rice paper.  One was a carrot purée with orange oil and the other a celeriac purée with what I believe was a baby red Mizuna lettuce leaf (just slightly peppery).  The rice paper was slightly chilled and the purées were room temperature, which provided a sensational (!) mix on the palate and just the wake-up call it needed.

My next amuse-bouche was foie gras and shallot mousse in a tiny brick pastry cone (it's propped up in a tin of dried corn in this photo) - so entertaining and brilliant - gotta figure out how to do this myself!  Then, little pearls of a whitefish mousse on a hand-formed rice cracker which didn’t get in the way of the fairly intense mousse - clever! 

Next, a Breton oyster that had been just-cooked in onions, sitting in a small pool of the braised onion jus and covered with a pillow of seafood mousse containing some little salty beads (either caviar or one of those molecular gastronomy concoctions) and topped with some micro herbs and crispy onions.  Amazing!  Now my palate was even more alert.

Then monkfish, lobster, and crab.  On a stick!  Battered-fried!  You probably won’t find this at the Minnesota State Fair!

So, the vegetable course that my waiter recommended was artichokes three ways.  There were razor-thin slices of raw artichoke on the bottom of the plate, then a layer of poached zingy wedges of artichoke heart, all topped with a sweet artichoke mousse that had been just-slightly singed to give it a wonderful toasty taste, all harmonized with plenty of coriander (which seems to be the signature herb for this trip!).  Fa-a-a-a-n-tastic, but a lot of food!  Vegetarians, this would be perfect for you!  

Before the main course, a lobster broth was poured from an elegant glass teapot over a small bowl containing thin raw slices of Amanita caesarea mushroom (a non-poisonous variety of the Amanita genus; one of its cousins is the famous “death cap” mushroom!), dark-meat chicken, lobster and herbs.  Stunning!

And finally, my main course.  The breast meat from the black-legged chicken, cooked to just-pink, subtly enhanced with the lobster coral, with crispy and salty skin.  On the side, some lobster claw meat fried in tempura batter, braised celeriac and spinach, lobster foam, and lobster shell demi glace.  Holy moley.  Worth the wait and every euro!  Sadly, I was SO full that I had to leave a little of the chicken behind - I should have eaten only about half of the artichoke course so that I would have room for cheese and dessert.  I joked with my waiter that next time I would come and order just the soup, cheese and dessert!

With my main course, a 2019 Domaine Pavelot Aloxe-Corton, a pinot noir from Burgundy.  Peppery, sage, mushroomy, earthy.  The course itself was perfectly balanced, so this wine didn’t need to “cut through” anything, it just needed to enhance the other flavors, which it did beautifully!

Here’s the cheese cart.  Yikes.  So gorgeous.  I wanted a sample of each one.  My waiter told me that the long rectangular option on the right was a goat cheese from an area near several rivers, intentionally made to look like a boat to celebrate its terroir.  I nicknamed it the goat barge!  It’s a very fresh cheese with a short shelf life, so I would have loved to try it, but alas, I was too gluttonous earlier in the meal.  Let that be a lesson to me! 

Even though I didn’t order dessert, my coffee was served with a selection of Mignardises - a financier, meringue, rice crisp, almond cookie, and chocolate sablé sandwich cookie.  I did manage a nibble of each!

(Love the coffee cup with a "handle" encircling it that doesn't get hot!)

With my apéritif before the meal, Mr. Joyeux brought me a copy of “Thuries” magazine (a publication I hadn’t seen before) to peruse during my lunch.  He told me that only once in a resto’s life can it be featured in this magazine, and they were selected this spring during the height of the pandemic when they were open only for “click and collect” service.  So they had to take a few days to re-set the resto to look like it was ready for in-person service and then prepare several of their signature dishes (which weren’t available in the click-and-collect mode!) for photographing.  He said that it was a lot of work, but they were so encouraged by being chosen for this honor, and it gave them hope that the pandemic would end soon for France.  

Bonus:  Mr. Joyeux invited me to take the magazine home with me!  And it just so happens that my main course, the young black-legged chicken with lobster, was one of the dishes for which they provided photos and the recipe.  Think I should try it?!?

Restaurant Alliance - 5, rue de Poissy 75005 Paris https://www.restaurant-alliance.fr/

Ze One Culinary Disappointment So Far - Tuesday, 28 September

William Ledeuil is the proprietor of Ze Kitchen Galerie, located at 4, rue des Grandes Augustins (on Rive Gauche, just a couple blocks downriver from the big Saint-Michel fountain and square).  I’ve eaten at "Ze" several times, and have always been delighted at Chef Ledeuil’s imaginative and delicious preparations, solidly French in style and technique with an Asian touch.  

Today was different.

I was on the waiting list for the last lunch seating at 2:00, and they contacted me this morning to say that a place was available.  Indeed, when I arrived the resto was full except for one table.

The amuse-bouche was very tasty - a small stout pottery tumbler of white bean soup with chicken stock, cream, and lots of coriander.  “Drink it all down in one shot,” the hostess suggested - just warm, invigorating, tastebud and appetite stimulating.  Yummers!

I ordered their Wagyu beef raviolis with eggplant and ginger sauce for my first course, and a bluefin tuna with bouillabaisse juice and sweet bell peppers for my main.  My waiter’s wine recommendation was a white, a 2020 Georges Venay Condrieu, “Les Terrassas de l’Empire.”  

Well, sad to say, the Wagyu raviolis were overpowered by a very aggressive and rich, almost barbeque-tasting sauce, heavy in tomato, beef stock, ginger, eggplant, crimini and enoki mushrooms, roughly chopped hazelnuts, and sprinkled with sesame seeds.  Strange.  Why would you disguise the flavor of such a premium ingredient as Wagyu beef in such a heavy stock?  And why serve this as a first course?  I think the waiter said this was one of their house specials.  Puzzling.

The wine was quite fresh and herbal, with a hint of licorice.  It did cut through some of the richness of the ravioli sauce.  But not enough!

To what shall I compare thee, bluefin tuna?  Such a spectacular and rare thing.  Unbelievably tender when raw, a melt-in-the-mouth quality that you don’t usually associate with muscle.  Absolute innocence.  They correctly barely seared the tuna, but then they overwhelmed it with a thickened and fairly sweet bouillabaisse sauce (a stock of multiple types of fish, shellfish and aromatics, usually enhanced with saffron and rouille), some roasted red bell peppers, tiny potatoes, and fennel fronds.  Again, a premium ingredient overwhelmed by a too intense sauce.  Why?  Happily, I was able to eat just the tuna and leave all the accompaniments behind.  And again, the wine worked well with the tuna and what little I ate of the accompaniments!

I’m happy to report, though, that the dessert was very nice.  Shiso ice cream with roasted figs that were just above fridge temperature (I think they would have been better at room temp or slightly warm), raspberry syrup, blackberries, a crumble, and a couple of very thin tuille shards.  Beautifully balanced, nothing overpowered, nice and refreshing.  

The post-dessert espresso was delightfully intense - I could smell it coming to my table - maybe the best of the whole trip.

I got to thinking about the nature of this resto.  Service was very speedy (hardly any wait between courses - I was done in one hour).  Portions were large.  Favors were intense, sauces were rich and powerful.  Not much subtlety.  It looked like a business/government crowd, mostly men.  Almost everything about it said “powerful man, in a hurry!”  An extreme contrast to my refined lunch at Anne-Sophie Pic yesterday.  

It’s been a few years since my last visit, but the change is striking.  Chef Ledeuil has great credentials, having run three of Guy Savoy’s restos before opening his own.  This is a favorite place for culinary students from Ferrandi and Le Cordon Bleu to do their internships (and I saw a lot of them through the kitchen window!) but chef Ledeuil was in the house making the rounds of the tables, so he certainly would have known what was leaving the kitchen.  Surprising.  In any case, I’m dropping this resto from my “highly recommended” list.

Inauspicious to Awe-Inspiring! - Monday, 27 September

So, the morning didn’t start well.  I got a text from Amex asking about a suspicious charge on my account and whether I wanted to authorize it.  I didn’t recognize it, so after a conversation with their agent, I agreed to let it stand for a couple of hours to see if I received an email from the vendor detailing the charge; if none came, I authorized them to freeze my account for web purchases but keep it active for in-person charges for another week+ until I got home, after which they’d send me a new card.  Annoying, but good service on their part and the only thing I could do.

Then, when I went to order a G7 taxi to take me to lunch, my request was denied because the bank rejected the charge.  Duh.  Of course.  My Amex card is on file with G7 so that I don’t have to pay the driver in cash or with a credit card every time.  It took a bit of fussing around to switch my account to another credit card, and by the time I did it was getting late to order a cab and wait for it, but luckily one happened to be right at my corner at that moment so I jumped in.  

It was barely drizzling when I left the apartment but pouring when I arrived at La Dame de Pic, and the driver had to drop me off about 1/4 block away to get out of traffic.  So I looked like a drowned rat when I entered.  The gracious staff managed to stifle their horrified reaction to my appearance!

Anne-Sophie Pic, the owner of La Dame de Pic, is one of only four female chefs in the world to have obtained three Michelin stars (for her resto Maison Pic in Valence in southeast France) and she was named the "World's Best Female Chef" in 2011.  She has other restos and cafés and take-out shops in Valence and in Paris, including La Dame de Pic at 20, rue du Louvre, just steps from the Louvre, which has one Michelin star.  She also has establishments in Lausanne, London and Singapore.  Her cuisine is so clearly French, yet playful and embracing some non-French ingredients and preparations when they can enhance a dish - not crazy for the sake of being different, but ingenious.  My new heroine!

After I settled into the comfortable banquette at the lovely corner table, I ordered a glass of Champagne for my apéritif while I surveyed the three menu options (four, five or seven courses, with optional beverage pairings).  Aahhhh…feeling better already.  The Champagne (Pierre Peters Cuvée de Réserve Blanc de Blancs Brut) was nice and dry and minerally, savory with some vanilla on the nose and hints of green pear, apricot and chalk, a medium viscosity.  

I ordered the five course lunch.

My server brought four amuse-bouche - two each of little Feuille de Brick “saucers” (brick pastry, similar to filo but much easier to work with since it doesn’t dry out while you’re trying to make something with it) - two filled with a mushroom mousse and two with a celeriac puree with little bubbles of what tasted like a thickened mild veal stock.  Both very gentle and lovely, but not all that palate-awakening! 

The individual loaf of sweet whole wheat bread was partially cut into wedges, making it easy to tear apart.  The butter is infused with pepper from Madagascar, which was beautifully floral as well as just a bit “hot” - the bread was a terrific companion for it.

My next amuse-bouche really woke up my palate - some whipped goat cheese with cucumber two ways (cured slices and a purée) and blackberries.  My server recommended eating spoonfuls of all three together - yup, she was right - an amusing combo of soft, crunchy, sweet, acidic, and fruity.  Just the thing!

The wine they paired with the first course was Tabali 'Talinay', a Chilean Sauvignon Blanc.  It was intense yet refreshing, citrusy, grassy, with hints of tarragon, almost salty.  It really woke me up and hoo boy did it every go nicely with the huge lightly poached & chilled oyster in a kaffir lime gelatin “shell” (wow - fascinating idea!) with pistachio purée, sorrel, and micro flowers & herbs.  

 

Up next, a spectacular, complex and intense Domaine Valette 2008 Pouilly Fuissé Clos Reyssie that knocked me over!  It was an intense gold color, tasted of apricot pits, yellow plums, honey, lemon zest, flint, savory (the herb), toast.  Absolute perfection - heavenly - what a treat - golden in every sense of the word - I drank every last drop and would have eaten the glass if I could.  

It was paired with the chef’s signature dish, Camembert and ricotta in a brick pastry pyramidal shape shell served with a velvety corn stock, smoked corn puree and corn kernels.  A-a-a-mazing.  I can see why it’s the chef’s signature!

The beverage pairing for the next course was a slightly warm green tea.  It was beautifully clarifying and cut through the richness of the sweet steaky monkfish (roasted in brown butter), and it somehow mitigated the slight pungent “three cabbages” (including some Romanesco and beautifully seared tiny Brussels sprouts), and balanced with the deliciously salty creamy herby (cilantro and nasturtium) fish stock.  

With the pigeon course, a classic 2016 Côte Rôtie "Blonde du Seigneur" from Domaine Georges Vernay - very dry with flavors of plum, raspberry, violet, nutmeg, pepper, and slate.  

The pigeon had been roasted with coriander and pink peppercorns.  The slices of breast meat were pink, gloriously tender and pure tasting.  The nuggets of liver were grainy, dark, earthy.  The one little confit leg was rich and intense.  A slice of young turnip had been roasted with honey and then caramelized - brilliant - not at all acrid like turnips can sometimes be.  A couple slices of fermented yellow plum and some plum purée brought brightness and acidity to the plate, and the poultry stock sauce was enhanced with rosebuds.  Such imagination!  Such technique!  Such products (it wasn’t a pigeon they captured in the park!).

Saint-Marcellin is a soft creamy cow’s milk cheese.  Here they whipped it, formed it into a ball and chilled it, poured a bit of the mysterious yellow Chartreuse liqueur (more about that in a minute) into a bowl, placed the Saint-Marcellin on top, sprinkled it with some dried and pulverized fir (as in the tree) needles, and then added some finely grated frozen Parmesan on top.  Holy buckets!  Absolutely delightful!  Who says you need to have at least five cheeses in a cheese course?  (Well, I do, most of the time, but ….)

For my pre-dessert: mint sorbet, a mousse-textured gelato made with ginger ale, tiny mint leaves, and a sweet mint meringue feather on top.  Ya, that cleared the palate and found a place in my now almost-full tummy!

And for dessert, chocolate mousse with tarragon ice cream (who wouldda thunk to combine chocolate and tarragon?!?), chocolate & green tea cookies, thin leaves of dark chocolate on top, and a dusting of matcha powder.  

Served with it: iced green Chartreuse, the glorious and mysterious liqueur made by Carthusian Monks since 1737.  It is said to include 130 different herbs, plants, flowers, spices and other secret ingredients in a wine-based alcohol, and its recipe is a tightly guarded secret - apparently only two monks have it and although the production has been industrialized, only those two monks blend the magic ingredients!  It’s a smooth, unctuous elixir (certain to be good for you!), and oh my goodness does it ever go beautifully with chocolate!  It’s now my secret chocolate accompaniment, and now the secret is yours as well.  You’re welcome.

Then coffee and some little walnut sablé cookies.

All in all, about a three-hour lunch.  Can't think of many better ways to spend an early afternoon!

https://anne-sophie-pic.com/restaurant-dame-de-pic-paris/

The view from my table....

Maybe Next Year? - Saturday, 25 September

I was downcast after making the decision to sell my share of La Lanterne du Marais (see my "Locked in a Staircase" post from Tuesday).  But wonder of wonders, the same developer emailed me to give me the heads-up that they're starting work on another 1-bedroom, which will theoretically be available in 2022, and it's on the fifth floor of a building that already has an elevator.  I'm not getting my hopes up TOO high, but perhaps there is a light at the end of the tunnel after all!  There are a lot of steps in the process - the developer has to purchase the apartment or space from the current owner, they have to work up a design for the new place, they have to determine the costs of renovation, they have to set a price for the shares and the annual maintenance fees, they have to set up the corporation that will eventually be owned by the 13 fractional owners, I have to like what I see in the designs (!) and be OK with the price, I have to have sold my share in the other apartment, etc. etc, etc.  So just maybe....

In any case, they gave me the address, and today I decided to take a little hike to see it.  It's in a very quiet neighborhood - primarily hôtels particulier (mansions) and maisons à cour (courtyard houses) and churches and schools and a few unoccupied buildings - but few shops and cafés (with one exception, le Village Saint-Paul, more about that in a minute).  It is, however, just three blocks south of the bustling rue Saint-Antoine, the Place des Vosges, and the Bastille area.  

UPDATE:  Fractional shares of this apartment became available in May 2022.  Here's the link:    https://adrianleeds.com/explore-properties-for-sale/fractional-ownership/shared-property/le-charles-v/

As I was on my jaunt, a couple of tiny dogs approached me to explore a friendship!  One was with her owner and an elderly lady (who walked even more slowly than I do); the other was with her owner and a baby in a stroller.  Maybe it's a sign?  The local puppies wanting to welcome me to the neighborhood and not caring whether I was old or young, spry or limping?!?

I'm posting snaps from my little jaunt just as a reminder to myself.  They won't mean much to most of you, so just scroll down for info about the Village Saint-Paul.

rue du Prévôt - yup, this is actually called a street!

Lycee Charlemagne - a high school

The outdoor sports / phy-ed area next to the Lycee

 

The back side of Paroisse Saint-Paul Saint-Louis

At the red sign on the right, one of the entrances to le Village Saint-Paul,
a little over a block from my possible new apartment's building

The entrance to my possible new apartment's building

At the next corner - you can see rue Saint-Antoine about three blocks in the distance

So, my legs were too tired to explore the Village Saint-Paul today, but if you want info on it, here's their website:   https://levillagesaintpaul.com/  Or wait a couple days and maybe I'll get over there and post a report about it!  This area has been populated since 633AD and today consists of art galleries, bookstores, artists' workshops, antique dealers, grocery & wine shops, and restos, all enclosed in one of the ancient city walls.  It will be interesting to explore!