Tonight was the first of three “dinner evenings” this
trip. We have something either cultural
or gastronomic scheduled for every evening – since dinners in restaurants are
events in and of themselves, take at least a couple hours, and cost about the
same as a decent ticket to a concert or play, we don’t try to do both on the
same night.
We’re not hitting any Michelin 3-star restos this trip (!),
but I did make reservations at three places that have been in the news –
recently opened and/or favorably reviewed.
So tonight it was Terroir Parisien, the new restaurant by
Yannick Alléno, a Michelin-starred chef, formerly of Hôtel Meurice et al. http://www.yannick-alleno.com/restaurant/paris-le-terroir-parisien/
The restaurant has received mostly good
reviews (but some mixed) and it’s in a nice little area near the Métro Maubert-Mutualité
in the 5th arronidissement.
We each ordered their Kir Royale, but with a twist –
rather than the traditional Crème de Cassis, they offered a poppy flower
Liqueur de Coquelicot in the Champagne.
Yum yum yum! Gotta pick me up a
bottle of that to take home. It had a
beautiful floral essence and sweetness.
For my entrée (appetizer) I had the two soft- poached eggs in
an herb gelée (yup, an herb-flavored jello!) sitting on a fabulous green veg/herb
puree and topped with sweet sweet roasted langoustines. Deeeeelicious! Liz and Michel shared a wonderful duck
terrine with cornichon. Then Liz and I
shared a lamb stew with spring vegetables while Michal had monkfish with
carrots, turnips, onions, etc. 
For
dessert Liz and I each had one of my faves, Ile Flottante (meringue floating in
crème anglaise and drizzled with caramel) while Michal had a chocolate what-not
(can you tell that I didn’t pay enough attention by that point?!?) A very nice "Couronne de Chabot" Saint-Joseph (Rhône) red wine that
is a cooperative venture of Mr. Alleno and Michel Chapoutier accompanied all of our dishes beautifully.
The restaurant was very pleasant and the service
efficient and friendly. I would rate the
food as well-above-average but not brilliant.
I would definitely go back for the wonderful eggs in gelée and would
stop by if I was in the ‘hood, but I probably wouldn’t go out of my way to dine
there again.
(P.S. not ALL of the food was served in glasses/jars!)
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