This morning was to have featured three special exhibits
at the Louvre (Winged Victory, Sacred Images, Thracian Kings), and I got up
early-ish, but the brain was total sludge and the body not far behind. Dang jetlag.
It’s not nice to (try to) fool mother nature! Must find time for those exhibits later this week.
So after getting a few things done in the apartment and
meandering around the ‘hood a bit, I headed up to my lunch reservation at
Ellsworth. It’s the new casual “daughter”
restaurant of the highly regarded Verjus (where I was fortunate enough to have
dinner about a year ago).
Just because it’s casual doesn’t mean that its food
carries any less PUNCH! Knocked me out!
First I had thick spears of warm blanched (or maybe
steamed) violet asparagus with fabulous tangy/citrusy and spicy feta cheese (the
heat came from harissa) and some scattered herbs and sunflower nuts and other
seeds. A brilliant combo. I’m guessing that they mixed the harissa into
some buttermilk and then soaked the feta in that mixture to spice it up. In any case, the cool-yet-hot cheese combined
with the still-slightly-crunchy warm asparagus was a revelation!
Then the best chicken sandwich EVER! No hyperbole here. The deeply flavored sweet succulent warm
fried chicken pieces sat on top of some spicy wholegrain mustard. It was topped
with a cloud of zippy & refreshing homemade “pickle” of very finely julienned cabbage
& red onion. It was all contained in
a sweet brioche-like lightly toasted sesame seed bun. Perfection.
Finally, I went with the deeeelicious Sainte-Maure cheese
(from the Loire region, made with unpasteurized full-fat goat’s milk) with
rhubarb compote (tart, concentrated by cooking out most of the moisture,
partially pureed, sweetened with just a touch of honey). The chèvre was fresh
and earthy, with just a bit of sweetness in the rind. The rhubarb compote was wonderfully intense.
A rosé from the Languedoc enhanced everything
beautifully. It even played nicely with
the rhubarb – no small accomplishment, trust me! An intense, thick, hot espresso, the best of
my trip so far, rounded things off nicely!
34€ (about $39 with the good exchange rates right now)
for everything. Hecuva deal!
The place seats about 30 people. It’s not as charming as Verjus upstairs, and
there’s not really a view, but the food and other diners make up for that! It sounded like about half of the tables were
speaking French and half English. 34, rue de Richelieu in the 1st
arrondissement. http://www.ellsworthparis.com/en-main
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| The door you look for! |
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| From my table towards the entrance |
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| Food |
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| Drink |
2 comments:
Interested to see your reference to St. Maure cheese, as my in-laws regularly vacationed for a number of years at a converted farmhouse just outside St. Maure, in a tiny hamlet called Soulange. Cindy, the boys, and I spent about 10 wonderful days with them there in 1995. One of the local highlights of Soulange was a pen of very playful goats just down the lane from the house where we were staying. Good times, and good cheese.
Great story, John! Thanks for sharing it.
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