Sunday Afternoon in the ... Resto ... with M'ellen! - Sunday, 22 January

Pro tip:  Avoid Sunday museum crowds by going out for a haute cuisine lunch instead!  You will be immersed in beauty that stimulates all six of your senses (including humor/delight), have the equilibrium or calm you might need restored, be pampered, learn useful stuff, marvel at an artist’s creativity and at an artisan’s skill, and endure way less wear and tear on your feet!  You’ll probably also observe something that is downright entertaining!  Try it, you’ll like it!

So, today’s highlight was a return to one of my very favorite fancy restos, La Dame de Pic, for lunch.  To recap from previous posts, Anne-Sophie 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); she was also named the "World's Best Female Chef" in 2011.  Read about my previous visits here:  http://mariellen-musing.blogspot.com/2022/10/sure-my-retirement-funds-are-tanking.html and here: https://mariellen-musing.blogspot.com/2022/04/the-glories-of-gastronomy-wednesday-20.html and here:  https://mariellen-musing.blogspot.com/2021/09/inauspicious-to-awe-inspiring-monday-27.html  It is at 20, rue du Louvre, just steps north of rue de Rivoli.

For my aperitif I chose a rosé Champagne, the Dame Jane cuvée by Henri Giraud.  Very elegant, dry, with hints of plum, fig, black raspberry, brioche toast, and just a bit of funkiness like watercress.  Tiny, long-lasting bubbles.  Apparently the vinification occurs in amphoras - gotta learn more about that!  I was in a good mood when I arrived, and now I was in an even better mood!

My amuse bouche:

• a small crispy fried rice paper shell with avocado, orange, pickled watermelon (I think) and herbs; 
• a tiny pâte brisée shell with some mild pureed white vegetable (sorry I couldn’t identify it - turnips?), black garlic and Parmesan;
• braised hearts of leek wrapped in sweet supple deeply roasted leek leaf with wonderfully fluffy cumin sabayon, chive oil, fish eggs and herb flowers.  

Fantastic variety that awakened all of my taste buds!

I absolutely swoon over her slighty-sourdough boules, served hot and crusty with the most amazing artisan butter, to which plenty of floral, perfumy pepper has been added.  I don’t know where the pepper comes from, but it’s extraordinary.  When you go, do not forego the bread & butter!

For my first course, “Squid Tagliatelle.”  Actually, no pasta here - the squid body was cut into long strips and cooked to a texture resembling al dente pasta.  It was twirled over a mound of butternut squash purée and braised squash cubes, then topped with orange segments, dark-roasted pine nuts and herbs.  The deeply flavorful, viscous, roasted vegetable sauce was poured at table - the revelatory thing for me was that it was enhanced with just a touch of cinnamon!  Wow!

With my squid, a Chenin Blanc from the Loire, “Au Pas De L'Âne” by Christine de Mianville.  The soil is clay and red flint, perfect for donkeys, which the winemaker apparently loves!  The wine displays a very generous sense of pear and other white fruits, is dry and a bit oakey with a medium viscosity.  It beautifully enhanced the whole dish, but especially brought out the cinnamon in the sauce.

Next, very thin pasta parcels in the shapes of berlingots (Chef Pic’s childhood favorite candy) were filled with unbelievably pure Camembert, and served with broccolini, a thick smooth watercress-tarragon-butter sauce, and herbs & flowers.  And oh, ya, when I arrived my waitress mentioned that they had a black truffle (Tuber Melanosporum), and would I like some slices added to this course or the duck?  Um, ya!  (One of the very good reasons why one comes to France in the winter!)  Sliced razor-thin (under one millimeter), the raw slices were draped over the warm pasta and sent their heavenly aromas right up your nostrils!  What a combo, mingling with the smooth rich cheese and the slightly funky watercress sauce!  Aaahhhhhh.

With the berlingots, two beverage pairings:

A very calming, smooth, Japanese green tea.  My beverage server told me that the leaves are covered before harvest to prevent photosynthesis, making the flavor very pure and just slightly vegetal.  It was served slightly over room temperature and married beautifully with the watercress in the sauce.  

A Bott Frères Alsatian Riesling Grand Cru Kirchberg de Ribeauvillé.  The grapes grow on marble and limestone, giving a beautiful minerality to the wine which cut through the richness of the cheese and sauce.  There were slight hints of licorice and toast, which loved the truffle, on the palate. 

Next, three perfectly seared sweet scallops with a gelatinous barely-vegetal flavored wrap (like a taco shell only floppy!) containing braised turnip puree (somehow sweet and bitter at the same time), some cubes of pickled turnip, dabs of a terrifically sharp lemon gel, and topped with tiny rice crispies, herbs and flowers!  The vegetable and tonka bean sauce seemed to contain a bit of roasted fish bone stock and some spice from the cinnamon-mace-allspice-mild pepper family.  

With it, a 2019 Maison M. Chapoutier “Chante-Alouette” white Rhône made from Marsonne grapes.  My beverage server said that it “played with” the bitterness of the turnip and the sweet denseness of the scallop nicely - what a great phrase - I love the idea of playfulness in creating a dish or pairing a wine with a dish.  This wine was flinty, peachy, a bit floral, with suggestions of walnut, honey, chervil and white tea.  Gorgeous!

Next, my “main” course, medium-rare duck breast and a bit of liver covered with basil leaves and baked in a buttery puff pastry (feuillantine) crust, served with just-seared radicchio, pomegranate seeds, rosehips, a shower of flower petals, and a citrusy brown poultry sauce.  Again, fantastic flavors and textures and contrasts and interplay where nothing was jarring, everything “collaborated.”  It gets me thinking that a dish like this could be a good model for collaboration in other areas of life and work - diverse people and ideas coming together with the intention of making each other better, not suppressing or elevating anything artificially, with some agent or “sauce” that has the effect of honoring all of the contributions while making a harmonious whole.  OK, end of philosophizing.  

With the duck, three Syrahs.  Not a choice from three options, mind you, but a pouring of each!  My beverage server said “I’d like you to try all three and let me know how they work.”  Well, okey dokey then!  The Australian Shaw + Smith Shiraz was fresh and fruity - it balanced beautifully with the spectacular bread and intensely-perfumed peppery butter.  The South African Mullineux Syrah had a bit more caramel on the nose, was more full-bodied, had more sense of black fruit and violets - it simultaneously tamed and enhanced the slightly-sharp radicchio and pomegranate.  The French (northern Rhône) Domaine Cyril Courvoisier Saint-Joseph was more balanced, flinty, with blackcurrant, flowers, and a bit of spice - perfect with the duck and the most elegant (bien sûr!).

One can never turn down the cheese course.  At least this one can’t!  Today’s was a room-temperature mousse made from aged Comté (and probably a bit of cream to make it mousse-able), with shavings of the Comté, mounded over a purée of quince and saffron - sweet, sharp, earthy, floral, smooth - just wow!

Finally, dessert!  I chose the chocolate and chestnut option because, well, chocolate and chestnut!  Thin leaves (about 1mm) of bittersweet chocolate were piled up, separated by scoops of espresso crème Chantilly, little dabs of Port jelly, and tiny parsley leaves.  Three oval sablé cookies were each topped with an oval scoop of roasted chestnut mousse.  Heavenly!  (Sorry that this photo doesn't do it justice.)

With dessert, an espresso martini!  This is the first one I’ve ever had, and won’t be the last, although I’m fairly sure that it will sent a pretty impossible standard for its successors!  Smooth, rich, sweet, bitter, roasty, totally intoxicating (in every way)!

By this point I was so stuffed that I didn’t have room for an espresso.  And I had to take my two mignardises (a chocolate truffle and a tiny lemon cream tart) home with me.  Happily, I could just order a G7 taxi online and stumble outside without falling over and have the driver whisk me home to rest!  

There was one large multi-family group sitting next to me, another family off to my right, and several other couples and small groups of adults enjoying a Sunday afternoon away from the crowds along with me!  The large table next to me was fun to watch - it included two small children (an about 3-year-old boy and 5-year-old girl) who were very well behaved most of the time.  When everyone was clinking glasses after the first course arrived, the little girl made a point to walk around the table with her beautifully faceted water tumbler to make sure she’d clink with everyone.  Later, with the squid course, she loaded the squid on her fork, held it high in the air and lowered the “tagliatelle” into her mouth. 

I couldn’t see what the boy was using to entertain himself, but he interacted with the girl and the adults, was eating everything, and just got a bit restless and cried a bit after a couple of hours.  No “mac & cheese & chicken nuggets” for these cuties!