What Goes In Must Come Out - Monday, 3 April

So when I was out this afternoon I picked up a millefeuille (shatteringly crisp feuilletés (puff pastry) layered with vanilla pastry cream) from Patisserie Boutique on rue Montorgueil, a place that sells pasties from several of the best of patisseries in town - what a great service - you don’t have to slog to all of those places yourself! I figured that I could have it at home after supper tonight if I wasn’t too excited about what might be on the menu at my resto of choice. Or eat it in the morning for breakfast (hey, why not?).

my amuse bouche - creamy
celery soup with olive oil,
hazelnuts, chervil 

I’ve eaten at l’Apibo on rue Tiquetonne a few times, and had some great foie gras there, and they always have it on the menu, so I reserved a table for tonight. Just a few tables were occupied when I arrived, and they were mostly loud Americans, so I chose to sit outside at a sidewalk table.

Sadly, the foie gras was a bit chilly (it should be served cellar temperature) and not quite up to their former standards, but a La Clos de la Bergeron Chenin Blanc by Yves Guegniard (a terrific moderately sweet white wine with hints of apricot, lemon zest and parsley and a smooth medium viscosity) paired nicely and the “drunken cherries” were great with it.

The beef was some of the best I've had here - tender, moist, sweet - served with parsnips, boiled fingerlings, a chunk of fat, and reduced veal stock. My Château Chanteloiseau (Bordeaux Graves) gave a bit of dryness, cleansing, bite, and good digestif quality to the course.

And, in one of those “only in Paris” moments, as I was sitting there enjoying some fine cuisine, the garbage trucks rolled down the street in two waves – green trucks for the general garbage, then beige trucks for the recycles. Gotta say it was entertaining! Garbage is picked up every day in this ‘hood, so it wasn’t stinky (except for the diesel of the trucks), but the crash crash clang clang ding ding clink clink added a nice aural element to the event!

And by the way, the meal was pretty filling so I had my millefeuille for breakfast Tuesday morning.  I knew that you’d want to know!