After our wonderful walking tour of the Marais we headed off to lunch. After "striking out" on our previous two meals in the city….something that had never happened to us before, I didn't want to take any chances. So, knowing that one of our favorites, is usually not very crowded on a weekday for lunch we headed on over to…..
Les Enfants Rouge:
And yes, I was correct as the place was quite mellow during the lunch hour.
The restaurant, helmed by a Japanese Chef, who does a comingling of French dishes with Japanese touches, has become a favorite of ours. We think there's more of a Japanese influence to the menu items. As with both of our previous visits, I was actually greeted first in Japanese…then in English by the Hostess!
For lunch, a 50 Euro three course tasting menu is presented and we were glad that some of our favorite dishes were on the menu!
Because I've already done two previous posts on Les Enfants Rouge; I'm just going to mostly do photos.
We love the Lamb Terrine; it's mildly gamey-winey, quite tender.
It goes so well with the bread. And yes, that is Kyuri Asazuke that is on the plate.
Of course we had to get our favorite dish at Les Enfants Rouge; the White Fish Tempura, served with a super umami nori "dashi".
The maigre (croaker) was so moist and tender, the tempura batter light and crisp.
As you can see that dish above really skews to the Japanese side in terms of preparation. While the Blanquette de veau – veal stewed in a white sauce takes it toward the French side of the scale.
Though the Eryngii Mushrooms were sauteed with a bit of soy and perhaps mirin.
The Missus went with the restaurant's version of a Paris-Brest which has to be ordered at the beginning of the meal.
While I, the one who really doesn't have a sweet tooth was happy to have the Cheese Plate…..which the Missus enjoyed as well.
You can see why we enjoy Les Enfants Rouge, right? I wish we had something like this in San Diego….it would be a regular stop for us!
Previous posts on Les Enfants Rouge here and here.
Les Enfants Rouges
9 Rue de Beauce
75003 Paris, France
After which we headed back to the hotel and relaxed. We'd put in a good amount of mileage!
It had drizzled while we were napping and upon awakening we were blessed with a rainbow….something that I miss about living in Hawaii. And of course, rainbows always makes us remember Frankie!
We had done quite a bit already on this day, so we basically just hung around the 2nd.
Then the question arose….."what's for dinner?" I hadn't made any plans for this stay in Paris. The Missus really wanted some escargot; She was so disappointed at what we'd had for lunch at Aux Crus de Bourgogne. Then it came to me……on Rue Montorgueil, before you cross Rue Étienne Marcel was a place we passed perhaps 40 times during our stays in Paris.
It was named L'Escargot. But, much like Aux Crus de Bourgogne, we've always thought of the place as being a "tourist" restaurant. Though the sign says that it was established in 1832, when Louis Philippe I ruled France!
Well, looking online, it seems that perhaps I might have been mistaken, as the reviews were pretty good. So, we decided to head on in.
The dark, ornate interior, screamed stereotypical neo-classic/second empire decor.
Our Server was a very serious, "humphing", almost a caricature of a French waiter; Olivier. We would later find out that he was a long time Server at L'Escargot and actually has a sense of humor.
The menu itself seemed like a cliche of what one would think at stereotypical French gastronomy would be.
And of course I ordered a Kir Royale, which got a nod of approval from Olivier. And upon m first sip, my opinion of L'Escargot started changing; the ice thawing as it was perfect.
Perfectly bubbly, with balanced tart and sweet tones!
Of course we had to have the Escargot. Of which we found that there were several preparations. Versions with Black Truffle or Foie Gras!
Of course we had to get the traditional preparation. We got a dozen; which the Missus absolutely loved.
So meaty, the snails had the perfect slightly toothsome, yet tender texture. The menu says the snails are precooked in a court boullion with herbs…it is indeed delicious! Nice herbacious-savory tones; so delici-yoso with the provided baguette!
And of course I had to get the Pan Seared Foie Gras. So this was 24 € but there were two pieces of perfectly cooked, "firmly-creamy" foie gras.
The sauce added a perfect touch of fruity sweetness and the brioche even held up. Which went well with the rich-slightly offally, savory Foie Gras. Be still my heart…literally.
The only clunker of the evening were the Frog Legs.
These bow-legged stanced hind legs of said amphibian were dry and on the chewy side. The herbal topping was fine; but we just didn't care for the heading toward sourness of the flesh.
Still, the escargot and foie gras more than made up for the frog legs.
We enjoyed this meal so much that we'd return the following night for more!
Sheesh…..hidden from us in plain sight all these years!
L'Escargot Montorgueil
38 rue Montorgueil
75001 Paris, France
We headed back to our room taking a roundabout route…a nice after dinner walk…"la balade".
After having two not so good meals the previous day, the two wonderful meals on this day was a perfect correction. And for at least this evening; all seemed right in the world.
I liked the fact that they "flagged" the cheeses for us. I especially enjoyed the Mitica KM39, firm and flavorful, it went well with the bread. I'm a fan of blue cheeses so I enjoyed the Stilton. I wish they sold Port by the glass, which would have been perfect with this; but unfortunately they don't. The Missus enjoyed the Spanish Chorizo and I the prosciutto and pate. The Pico went well with the candied walnuts as well.
We ordered the meat rare. but only the large piece was rare, the rest were medium-well, skewing things to the tough side of the scale. The meat was well seasoned, though the "sauces" really didn't go well with the proteins but was necessary for the really dry "garlic bread" bites in our opinion. The Bloody Mary aioli was interesting, but pretty bland; the BBQ Sauce was too sweet. 
Seeing that the ridges were falling off the viennoiserie made me somewhat concerned, but the pastry did not shatter into crumbs upon consuming. The exterior was light and crisp, the interior fairly fluffy and "honeycombed". It was sorely lacking in butter and even salt for that matter. Quite bland overall.
We ended up getting a couple of gifts for folks. Downtown Los Alamos is basically a four block stretch, so we left our car parked on the street and walked on over to Bell's a block away.
