**** This is a pretty long post; though it does feature our favorite meal of our recent trip.
We slept well after having done a good amount of walking the previous day. While we had reservations for dinner on this evening; which I was lucky to get since our initial dinner reservations we had made were canceled just a week before our trip….I think the restaurant had forgotten that it was going to be Labour Day. And even more interesting, it was both a Sunday, when many businesses are closed anyway. But I was told that museums were going to be closed as well as most shops and restaurants; much as indicated in this blog post. On May 1st, France celebrates worker's rights and also "La Fête du Muguet" (Lilly of the Valley Day)….we saw many folks carrying little bouquets of Lily of the Valley. I read that on Labour Day, it would be fun to just go to a park and see families enjoying the day.
And so we just headed out, walking the few steps to Rue Montorgueil to find that both Café Montorgueil and Café du Centre were open. As I've mentioned before, one of our favorite things is to sit outside at a café on a street like Rue Montorgueil and watch the world go by during the day; before or after the lunch crowd and before apéro time. Over our visits I've kind of gotten the signal down as to if it would be ok to occupy an outdoor table for just coffee and sit. To me it's a simple rule – if the table has place settings, that would be forks, knives, etc; it means that folks sitting would be expected to eat some food. If the table is bare….with perhaps an ashtray (yes, folks still smoke when dining/drinking on the sidewalk) or a menu, it's okay to just grab a seat at an empty table and have some coffee or tea….or perhaps a glass of wine. Our favorite at Café du Centre is right on the corner, where we can watch life passing by…..
And of course there are the many pooches….
Many of which believe they are "in charge"……
We saw this couple walking down the street with the cutest, obviously loved, and pampered pooch being carried and I had to take a photo…..
The gentleman saw me and waved, I waved back and smiled and they decided to come on over for a more "formal" photo.
Remember all those folks who told you that people in Paris were uptight and not friendly?
Café du Centre
57 Rue Montorgueil
75002 Paris, France
From here, I thought it might be nice to head on over to Jardin du Luxembourg to see how folks were enjoying the holiday.
So we set off, past Les Halles and then down Rue des Déchargeurs. Crossing Rue Rivoli we saw this distinctive building.
According to Atlas Obscura, 59 Rivoli was:
"An artist squat for years before being renovated by the city and returned to a collective of artists."
We crossed over the Seine and decided to take a detour to see if our favorite Croissant Bakery, La Maison d’Isabelle was actually opened on this holiday. We were in luck, the place was open, but the line was rather long.
It seems like Parisians are fine with waiting in line….so, why not?
Sadly, they were out of Croissant au Beurre; so we settled for the Croissant Ordinaire (the version made with margarine).
La Maison d’Isabelle
47T Boulevard Saint-Germain
75005 Paris, France
From here it was a straight shot down Rue Valette to the Pantheon, which I posted on before. Of course it was closed on this day.
Though as you can tell; folks were out and about….enjoying the sunny day.
And then right down Rue Soufflot to Luxembourg Garden; where everyone seemed to be having a great time.
The folks renting out the little boats were during some bang up business on this day.
We strolled around a bit; then found a nice bench and tried out the croissant.
While the texture was every bit as good as the "butter" version; we definitely missed the balance of butter to salt and this seemed a bit "bland". Not bad though.
We sat and enjoyed our time sitting on the bench in the shade; though there were quite a few people just enjoying the sun.
After a period of people watching, we decided to head on back to the apartment for our afternoon nap.
We really love all the green spaces in Paris.
Wew passed Hotel de Ville where there seemed to be some kind of fair going on.
And heading down Rue Aubry le Boucher at Place Edmond Michelet (in case you're wondering who Edmond Michelet was) we saw this mural.
We had enjoyed the morning and enjoyed our nap even more.
Before our trip I'd tried to make dinner reservations for the first of May……but because it was either a Sunday OR a Holiday I was having a difficult time. Then, I did manage to get reservations to a place I'd been wanting to try, Automne, only to have them cancel on me. After going down my list a bit; I found that another place from said "list" actually had early (at 7pm) reservations. The restaurant, located in a part of the Marais I'd always wanted to check out, right around the corner from Marché des Enfants Rouges, named Les Enfants Rouges. It was, as many of the places we'd tried in the past like ERH, Pertinence, and Alliance helmed by a Japanese Chef along with Michelin Stars. There's something about French cuisine with Japanese touches and sensibility that we really enjoy.
We headed back up the now bustling Rue Montorgueil to Rue Reamur. By the time we got the point where Rue Reamur became Rue de Bretagne we were running ahead of schedule. So we decided to take a break and people watch at Square du Temple. It was such a nice stop; it's hard to imagine that this space was where the Knight Templar once had their castle in the 17th Century!
From here, it took us less than 5 minutes to reach our destination.
As we turned down the alley like Rue de Beauce….well, a certain "fragrance" permeated the air…….the Missus wasn't sure that She'd really wanted to eat here. And well; at least we know why they wouldn't have any outdoor seating!
We were kindly greeted when we arrived….the Hostess spoke to me first in Japanese, which I fumbled badly thru, switching to English! The restaurant was tiny and I was glad we'd made early reservations.
The staff here were wonderful and accommodating which was really on display when a couple came in and when it was time to order……apparently the woman was allergic to stainless steel and nickle (?!?) and made it known that she could not consume foods that had been exposed to certain metals nor anything that had been braised. The hostess came out and even brought out the cookware that was going to be used to make their dishes for inspection!
The Missus went with some wine off the carte…..
Of course we kind of shared things….starting off with the Roasted Padrons and of course I had to get the Foie Gras on Toast.
The Padrons were nicely fired and salted…..there was of course the "pepper roulette" as a couple were nice and spicy.
The Foie Gras was from Landes in the Aquitaine region portion was quite generous.
Both appetizers were good, but nothing amazing.
But after the bread and "Trou Normand" the show really started.
The White Asparagus with Smoked Haddock was a show stopper.
My goodness; the wonderful sweet and tender white asparagus, we were so glad to be here during asparagus season; along with the smoky, yet not overwhelming smoked fish…the cream sauce tasted like there was some dashi in it….this was wonderful.
I got the Lamb Terrine which was also a winnah!
The texture was terrific; just enough toothsomeness. Loved the balance of gameyness, wine, and mild sweetness. I could eat this everyday. The tarragon based pseudo Sauce Gribiche was too good to put to waste. Lovely pickled radishes and shiso helped to restore one's palate between bites.
Then came the dish of the night; the Tempura Merlu.
The batter was light and crisp; the Merlu (hake), from a place we'd visited before Saint Jean de Luz, had a mild sweetness and was so moist and tender. Though it was that sauce; made with seaweed…it did look like nori, was amazing! Deeply savory, with umami for days. This was a really Japanese cuisine leaning dish. Man, some rice with this would have been amazing!
I ordered the Pork Belly.
Of course the Missus poached that tender, crisp asparagus spear. The tempura broccolini was nicely crisp as well. The morels and the risotto was nice and earthy-sweet. The pork belly really did taste like a cross between Vietnamese Thit Kho and Buta Kakuni and it was delici-yoso!
I decided to celebrate the dinner with a nice glass of Yamazaki.
Whilst the Missus enjoyed the desserts……in line with the Japanese touches; the desserts weren't overly sweet.
That Lychee granita and grapefruit supreme was wonderfully refreshing.
Like I mentioned earlier, the service was wonderfully accommodating. We noticed that many of the customers were Japanese. Our dinner, with wine, drinks, etc was $265/US! Cheaper than some places in San Diego!
I think we'll be back to this somewhat hidden, cozy spot.
Les Enfants Rouges
9 Rue de Beauce
75003 Paris, France
We had a nice, relaxing walk back to the apartment. And slept soundly……
Our flight to Edinburgh wasn't scheduled until the afternoon, so we didn't have to check-out until 11 or so.
While scheduling and researching this trip I started noticing more craft coffee places in Paris, something I didn't come across during previous trips. There were two places within walking distance and on this morning, I walked on over to Motors Coffee on Rue des Halles.
It's quite the modern craft coffee shop and wouldn't be out of place in San Diego.
They even did cold brew and pour over….called "drip" here….they even had 3 "Geisha's" on the drip menu! I ended up getting the Missus a natural brew and we'd return later for Her to try the pour overs.
I actually had an Americano, which I thought was pretty good.
Motors Coffee
7 Rue des Halles
75001 Paris, France
I even grabbed a Croissant au Beurre from Bo & Mie since it was kind of on the way back to the apartment.
We seemed to be just getting into the groove here in Paris and were somewhat reluctant to leave. But Edinburgh beckoned and we'd be returning for a few more days on the way back!
If you've stuck around to the end of this super long post; I thank you so much! Have a great week!
A wonderful green space, which is fairly peaceful in the morning, but gets more lively as the days passes and is really buzzing at night.
Which was quite striking in its own right.
While some of the pieces of zucchini were under cooked and too hard for my taste, there were a couple that were nice and creamy. These were nicely seasoned and not overly salty.
As we strolled on over to our car, the Missus and I remarked about how much we enjoyed the vibe of Los Olivos. We just wished there were better accommodations (like under $400/night) and perhaps a nice destination restaurant.
I'm sure you know if foie gras is on the menu, we'd be ordering it, even with a $20 supplement. The fois gras was nicely seared, the interior nice and smooth, rich, earthy, though the roasted and compressed apple was perhaps a bit on the sweeter end of the spectrum for us.
