Mariellen's (a)Musings: Merci, Petit Lapin!

Young chef Omar Dhiab’s cozy and warm restaurant sits just a half block off the Place des Victoires, which is just off the corner of rue du Louvre and rue Étienne Marcel – very handy for those of you visiting all of the fabulous cookware and provision shops that I recommend! He grew up in Paris and has worked at some top restos (Lasserre, l’Abeille, Loiseau Rive Gauche), but his parents came from Egypt so there are occasional Egyptian surprises in the rock-solid French cuisine! His resto got its first Michelin star in 2023 (and again this year); I just had to visit it for lunch!

The minute I sat down, the host brought me a lovely traditional Egyptian welcome drink of hibiscus juice with spices.

For my appetizers:

A warm shredded beef “lollipop” with beef demiglace clinging to the meat, coated with crispy onions. I barely needed to chew it – it just melted in the mouth!
Tuna tartare with a quenelle of seaweed ice cream and caviar. Sweet, salty, herbal. I noticed that the caviar kind of disappeared in the fish and ice cream, but happily I was able to rescue a few eggs to eat on their own!
A tempura battered fried bay leaf with three small dollops of chickpea purée. Very pleasant; the flavors were a bit less intense than the other two appetizers.

With my appetizers, a glass of JM Seleque Solessence Extra Brut Rosé Champagne – strawberry, lemon zest, pomegranate, thyme, medium bubbles, lengthy. Delightful!

OK, this was the best unenhanced-with-flavors-other-than-salt butter I’ve ever had! Raw milk “madame butter” from the west of France per my server. It seemed creamier and tangy-er than most, and had an unusual yellow-orange color. Hoooo boy!

For my first course, a giant white asparagus spear. The bottom 1/3 was dressed with a slightly spicy (cinnamon, mace, not a lot of heat) apricot glaze; the middle 1/3 with a nice basil oil; the top 1/3 with a floral crème Anglaise with coriander. Perfectly cooked, but when the asparagus is this thick you really do need a sharp knife to cut it!

With the asparagus, a beautiful 2022 Condrieu “Vernon” from Domaine Chambeyron. It was fresh, juicy, a bit floral, slightly vegetal/earthy. I was a little surprised that it didn’t enhance the dish more (and vice versa), but it was a wonderful treat nonetheless.

Next, perfectly grilled (on one side only) red mullet with spinach and three fabulous sauces that included butter with preserved lemon (holy moley – this totally knocked my socks off), chicken brown demi-glace, and spinach jus. On the side, a small bowl with roasted (I think) mullet liver and some toothsome (not overcooked) bulgar. A triumph!

With the mullet, an unusual pairing of Belgian beer “Gueuze” from Brasserie Cantillon (the sommelier told me that mullet is normally served with white wine, but she thought that this would be a great pairing). Not too bubbly, more acidic than most beers, woody, almost the sense of hard cider, dry. Invigorating and cleansing, especially with the mullet liver. The preserved lemon made the beer taste sweeter. A great pairing indeed!

Then the rabbit! Maybe the best I’ve had anywhere, and in great French style, Chef used the whole animal. The liver was roughly chopped and formed into a sausage shape, then seared. The loin and kidney were simply braised. There were a couple rectangular muscles that I think were diaphragm. A few homemade ridged pastas (sort of a gnocchi shape) circled the plate. It was served with seaweed, a seaweed sauce, a chive sauce, and a spectacular sauce of rabbit jus, smoked sardines and a bit of lemon zest (I almost fell off my chair!). Merci, mon petit lapin!

With my rabbit, an wonderful red Burgundy – a 2019 Beaune 1st Cru Pertuisots by Jean Yves Devevey. Really good – salty, vegetal, a little earthy, black fruits, chervil, just enough tannins – beautifully balanced. I was so enamored with the rabbit that I sadly didn’t give the wine enough attention!

For dessert, chocolate three ways! A piece of sweet crystallized seaweed with a dollop of bittersweet chocolate. Chocolate ice cream with lemony crème Anglaise. And a thin disc of tempered bittersweet chocolate topped with semisweet chocolate mousee and then chocolate sable cookie crumbles. Yummers!

With dessert, Taylor’s 10-year Tawny Port. As always a perfect accompaniment to chocolate, lending pear and apricot essences and some earthiness to the experience.

Then a wonderfully aromatic, blistering hot espresso! Really, that aroma must have filled the whole room!

With it a parting morsel, a piece of traditional Egyptian semolina cake with orange blossom syrup and grapes. Sort of like a rice pudding (a French classic) except that it was made with semolina.

The room was lovely and comfortable. It seated maybe 20 diners. The open kitchen filled the front half of the resto. The aural environment was gentle except for a couple of Brits in the corner who were loudly discussing real estate, the stock market, employees, artificial intelligence, ….