mmm-yoso!!!

Alsace - Exploring Colmar, Dinner at Winstub de la Petit Venise, and a Kinda Creepy Coincidence

While planning our trip to France, I told the Missus that I really wanted to head back to Alsace. I had really enjoyed our time in Strasbourg the year before. And though we'd be a week early for the Christmas Market, I thought having a short break in Colmar would be great! And so, we headed from Reims to Colmar, arriving at around 330 in the afternoon. As we headed to our apartment crossing Rue Turenne we understood why this area was called "Le Petit Venise"; not that it looked anything like Venice, not by a long shot.

But there are lovely little canals and wonderful half-timbered houses, and lovely bridges, like the Pont de Rue de Turenne. Which someone told me was called the "fanny bridge" because at certain times of the day folks would be lining up for photos and selfies with their backs against the railing, so looking from along the way, all you saw was a line of folk's backs and backsides lining the railing!

And to make things even better; we had a wonderful apartment with a balcony that overlooked the bridge. We'd entertain ourselves by heading out onto the balcony several times of the day just to watch folks on the bridge....or even just watch the water flowing by.

This was our view.

More on the apartment later on.

Of course we unpacked, freshened up, and headed right on out.

We headed down the charming alleyway of Rue de la Poissonnerie, to the lovely Quai de la Poissonnerie where some of the most beautiful houses are. Many were built between the 14th and 18th century are very brightly colored.

It's like you walked down the street into the middle of some fairy tale.

Right across the bridge is the Covered Market; the Marché Couvert. Even though we were somewhat familiar with what is available during this time of the year in the region, we went in to take a look. And as you can see; it was getting close to the holiday shopping season!

We strolled around a bit.....took a mental inventory of the shops and what was available.

And then headed out. We'd return a bit later to do some self catering.

Marché Couvert
13 Rue des Écoles
68000 Colmar, France

We walked out the other side of the market onto Rue des Tanneurs. I'm guessing from all the canals (which we learned in Modena) that the leather shops were probably located here. This shop made wonder if it was Valentine's Day or Christmas?

We wound our way thru the charming medieval streets of Colmar.

The Missus was enjoying the window displays.

Eventually popping out at Saint Martin's Church.

It was getting a bit chilly; so before heading back to the apartment we stopped for...ahem, "a spot of tea".

Kind of pricy, though it was right across the street from the Cathedral.

Pâtisserie Salon deThé J-C Clergue
21 Place de la Cathédrale
68000 Colmar, France

We headed back to the apartment; which we loved!

Along with the wonderful balcony; the place was stocked with water - both still and sparkling, Nespresso pods, a gratis bottle of Alsacian wine, Regular and Coke Zero.

It was warm and welcoming! As was Marie, who I believe manages the apartments here. If you're ever interested it's Reflects Sur La Lauch. I had booked our trip quite a bit in advance, so I had no problem getting the apartment with balcony.

I hadn't made reservations for dinner; it was a Thursday night, I thought all the day-trippers would be gone, and the Christmas Market wasn't starting until the following weekend. The place I had on my list was Winstub Brenner. But, when we walked over it was closed. Apparently undergoing some renovation and prep before the busy Christmas season. So we headed one building over to Winstub Le Petit Venise, a charming two story restaurant.

We were seated upstairs amongst the charming, vintage appliances and décor.

The staff were professional and very helpful. The Missus already knew what She wanted, as did I based on our visit to Strasbourg. It's all about the Choucroute Garnie for the Missus...man does She love Choucroute (sauerkraut).

And the Missus claimed that the Choucroute here was better than anything She'd had in Strasbourg last year! It was nicely flavored, sour, but not over-powering, the texture slightly crisp.

And all of those meats! The sausage did have a nice "snap" to it. Quite a nice albeit, heavy plate of food.

Not like my very light Jambonneau…...right?

This, in case you didn't know is Jambonneau = Pork Knuckle. This was quite good, great texture, wonderful smokiness, whatever was used for basting really developed a wonderful lacquer coating. I loved the veggies mixed with a nice sinus clearing horse radish. The potatoes were buttery, but not overly so and studded with bacon....like I was in need of more pork, right?

We had a couple of glasses of wine and called it a night.

Wistub de la Petite Venise
4 Rue de la Poissonnerie
68000 Colmar, France

Nice dinner, right?

Well, so here's the Epilogue.

The next day, as I mentioned in a previous post, we went on a tour of several villages in Alsace. It was supposed to be a small group tour, but we ended up being the only two who signed up for the tour for that day. It was a wonderful time. It was inevitable that during that day, the subject of Anthony Bourdain came up. By this time, I'd actually forgotten that Mr Bourdain had committed suicide in Kaysersberg. Christopher, our guide, mentioned some of the previous requests from folks on the tour. People seemed to be on a pilgrimage and wanted see all the places AB visited. I thought it kind of strange and sort of creepy. And while I understand what he meant to a lot of people, I mean let the man and whatever demons he may have had rest in peace. I really wasn't up-to-date on AB, I used to watch No Reservations diligently. But for some reason, by the time Parts Unknown came along....well, I've only seen about half of those episodes to this day. During our conversation Christopher asked us where we had eaten dinner. I told him we had really wanted to eat at Winstub Brenner, but it was closed so we went to Winstub Petit Venise instead. He asked us what we had...we showed him the photos. He looked at us and asked us if we saw Anthony Bourdain's Instagram. I told him I don't do Instagram; I don't even have an account, but the Missus does. Christopher mentioned that Anthony Bourdain's last meal was eaten at Petit Venise! Yikes! And now folks were making reservations requesting stuff like wanting to eat at the same table he had his last recorded meal at. That just felt a bit creepy and weird. He told us to look at the last photo posted by Anthony Bourdain. We got Instagram booted up on the Missus's phone when we got back to the apartment after dinner that evening. Good lord.......the Missus had ordered what was the man's last documented meal......

I needed to go for a walk.

Man, what a bummer. I'd much rather have ended this post with something like this.

Reims - Brasserie du Boulingrin

After spending the day touring the Champagne Region and having had two dinners at fairly modern bistros, I thought having a nice "old school" dinner would be a change of pace. So we walked on over near the Porte du Mars and the area we had checked out the day before, to an Reims institution, established in 1925, Brasserie du Boulingrin.

Decked out in art deco style, with a menu to match Entrecote Roti, Tete de Veau, Ris de Veau…...

We started with some wine.....we let the Server pick and he did a nice job.

We decided to go with the one dish I was looking forward to trying here and the Missus got a simple salad.

I ordered the Pieds de porc panes rotis au four et lentilles de Champagne......figure it out yet? It's roasted breaded pig trotters with local lentils.

At first our kind Server wasn't sure we knew what we had ordered....so he asked again.....and we repeated what we wanted. "Monseur, are you sure?" We nodded in the positive.

The Missus really enjoyed the perfectly cooked lentils; tender but still holding its shape. She basically went at it like a hot knife thru butter.

As for the trotters...well, they were perfectly roasted; the breading gave the exterior a bit of a crunch. The seasoning was simple, but spot on. Nice tender bits of meat and wonderful collagenic connective tissue.

I think you can figure out how much we enjoyed this, right?

Sorry about the photos; there were red neon lights right above us that pretty much killed the photos.

We enjoyed this hearty dinner. It was a fine last meal in Reims, nothing fancy, but quite satisfying.

Brasserie du Boulingrin
29 rue de Mars
51100, Reims, France

After dinner we took our time getting back to our hotel room. Like I mentioned; there was quite a bit of road and other work going on around Hôtel de Ville (City Hall).

Compared to Paris, things were quite quiet on this Wednesday evening.

We walked on over to the usually busy shopping street; Rue Condorset, which was very quiet this evening, and enjoyed watching Le Carrousel Vénitien.

Then headed back to our hotel for a nice night of sleep.

Our train wasn't leaving until 1245pm, so we had some time to kill in Reims. We decided to head on back to the Cathedral, which I covered in an earlier post.

And enjoyed the stained glass.

And reminded myself of the stories of Joan of Arc. And how, after the French victory at the Battle of Patay, Joan convinced the Heir Apparent (Dauphin), Charles to be crowned in Reims. Thus began what is called "the March to Reims". On July 17th, 1429, Dauphine Charles, was the 12th ruler crowned in Reims and became Charles VII.

Another interesting story is how Charles VII's estranged son Louis heard of his father's impending demise and rushed to Reims to ensure that he and not his brother Charles of Valois, would be crowned king. Ah yes.....such drama and intrigue.

We enjoyed our time in Reims and perhaps we'll return someday.

Reims is close enough to be a day trip; but if you plan to visit, you may want to at least stay one night. It seems that as day turns to evening in Reims, at least during the week, the day trippers sail off into the sunset and Reims becomes a peaceful, laid-back, city, with so much history....and yes, Champagne everywhere.

Some folks will even bend over backwards for you!

Reims - The Significance of 10 Rue President Franklin Roosevelt, Cimetière du Nord, and Dinner at Anna-S - La Table Amoureuse

After having a nice drive around Champagne, we returned to Reims and dropped the rental car off at Gare de Reims. We took a roundabout way back to the hotel, mainly because there was once place I wanted see. Around the back of the train station is a street named Rue President Franklin Roosevelt. There is a red brick building that still functions as a schoolhouse to this day. You'll see the flags of the UK, US, France, and the Soviet Union flying out front.

Walk up to the doorway and you'll see this sign.....

The top sign basically says: “It is here that on 7 May 1945, was signed the act that ended the Second World War in Europe.” Yes, this is the spot where Germany surrendered. You can read Ralph Morse's first hand account here. This street was renamed for Franklin Roosevelt as was the school it houses which still operates.

Nearby is the War Memorial of Reims (Monument aux Morts de Reims).

And right across the way is the Cimetière du Nord, which had a quite haunting look to us as we walked through it.

From here we walked past some of the more important locales in the city like Place Royale.....

There was quite a bit of road and other work going on so I didn't take many photos.

And the sun seemed to set quite rapidly......

We returned to the hotel, freshened up, changed, and headed off to dinner. I'd made reservations at a contemporary bistro named Anna-S - La Table Amoureuse, which seemed quite low-keyed, had an interesting menu, and seemed just right for this evening.

Of course things started off some Champagne.

We weren't very hungry, so we decided to share an appetizer, the Missus ordered another appetizer as Her main and I got one of the entrees, to share with Her of course.

The service was wonderful and accommodating.

We started with, well, the Foie Gras of course, two ways, the terrine was wonderful, rich and creamy, the fig compote and the brioche proved to be a wonderful foil for the richness.

The Missus ordered the Noix de Petoncles dans son Mini Potirron.

Basically, sautéed scallops served in a pumpkin. The scallops were very sweet and tender, I was a bit leery about the fennel sauce, but the strong anise flavor had been decently tempered and the acidity lifted the dish as did the rather sweet flesh of the pumpkin.

I ordered the Magret de Canard, the Duck Breast.

I was concerned when this arrived as the duck seemed to be cooked a bit past where I prefer, but it was very tender, slightly gamey, the jus had a nice balance of richness, sweetness, and acidity. We both really loved the potato galette.

The dessert was a game-changer for the Missus. It was a cheese course. Over time we've really forgotten what we chose; but we won't forget this specific cheese course.

First off, all the cheese on the cart, which was sliced tableside were at the perfect serving temperature....the flavors were amazing. Second, the Missus had always avoided having the sweet compote with the cheese; but since this was served at room temperature, all the wonderful complex flavors came through and the compote just helped to elevate things. So thank you AnnaS, for setting the Missus off on the interesting "cheese ride" we're on.

The service was fantastic, professional, polished, but not stuffy. This was a very nice meal and we'd gladly eat here again!

Anna-S - La Table Amoureuse
6 Rue Gambetta
51100 Reims, France

Like the previous evening, we took a pleasant little stroll after dinner, in the peace and quiet of Reims.

Thanks for stopping by!

Champagne - Driving to Bouzy and Epernay, Lunch at Café le Progrès

While the Missus was enjoying our stay in Reims, She was already itching to do some additional exploring the following morning. Even though we had a private tour of the area the next day (so I could actually sample some champagne), She convinced me to rent a car to do some impromptu exploring.

But first, we decided to walk around a bit, and grab some breakfast. I also wanted to find the location of the restaurant we had reservations for that evening. So we headed down Rue Chanzy and almost right next to AnnaS our dinner destination was a bakery named Le Four à Bois. And the Missus was really excited to see that in addition to our typical Croissant au Buerre, they sold gougeres!

So we got a croissant and a half dozen gougeres. The gougeres were too bready and dense, not light and airy like we enjoy them. The flavor was decent though.

The croissant was a bit too chewy, didn't have enough butteriness, and wasn't flakey enough for our taste.

Le Four à Bois
100 Rue Chanzy
51100 Reims, France

From here we walked across town to the train station and found that Enterprise Rent-A-Car had a nice compact available, which we rented for the day.

And so we headed off through the beautiful countryside.

We stopped at few towns on the way and eventually stopped and walked around the most appropriately named Bouzy. Where we stopped and stretched our legs a bit.

There were a few Champagne houses along the way, but I think many of them are by appointment only. And since I was driving anyway, we thought we'd just wander around a bit.

From Bouzy it was Bisseuil, Ay, and another wonderfully named town, Dizy, before we made our way to the city that is home to what is considered to be the "real" capital of Champange, Epernay. We decided to park at the southern side of town and walk in.

Basically across the street we passed a really nice looking church...

Turns out that this is the chapel of the Auban-Moet Hospital...….if you recognize the name; it's "that" Moet. Apparently, one of the conditions of financing the hospital was that a Catholic chapel would have to be built. Another being that the care was to be provided by Nuns.

We enjoyed the walk into town....the houses were wonderful; each different and original.

As we got to the first major roundabout before getting to the heart of the city we came across this very distinctive structure.

This is the Chateau de la Lune ("House of the Moon"), built in the Art Nouveau style, designed by Architect Henri Clouet.

Near the center of town is the Portail Saint-Martin which dates back to 1540 and is all that remains of the Abbey of Saint Martin.

We did a bit of window shopping, but since we'd be coming back the next day, decided to not visit Avenue de Champagne, where all the Champagne Houses are located.

After doing a bit of shopping we decided to stop for lunch. We just wanted something easy and not fancy and this place seemed to fit the bill.

We enjoyed the al fresco sitting arrangement; Le Progres is what I'd basically describe as a "diner". We just wanted something simple and got the charcuterie and an order of frites.

The baguette was pretty good, crusty and yeasty. The Pate de Campagne was pretty good; the rest rather routine, but really, not bad for the price.

The Missus enjoyed the frites which were nicely fried, crisp on the outside, moist and light inside.

And pretty much what we wanted....

Café le Progrès
5 Place de la République
51200 Épernay, France

What was kind of interesting about this place was that it is located on Place de la Republique, which is the roundabout that I would consider to be the center of the city is.

After resting for a bit, we headed back to the car. We took a different route back. This one along Avenue Paul Chandon. Which we really enjoyed.

The street ended at Église Saint-Pierre-Saint-Paul.....

A soon enough we were back at the car. It was time to head back to Reims...…

We'd had a fun, yet relaxing time exploring Champagne on our own.

Thanks for stopping by!

Reims - Reims Cathedral and Dinner at Restaurant L’Alambic

The Missus and I mulled through several travel options during our last trip to France. As you might gather from our posts; I enjoy train travel in Europe and especially Japan. I find it low stress, minimal hassle (though trains in Europe aren't nearly as prompt as Japan), and basically a rather relaxing way to travel. The Missus shares the same thoughts....except....She gets really bored and really does not want to do more than 3 - 3 1/2 hours on a train. So, while doing some research for this trip; we had decided to just do France, I was rather surprised to find out that Reims, the Capital of Champagne was basically a 45 minute train ride from Paris! And so our plans started coming together.....

We arrived promptly at Gare de Reims and walked....it was a lot shorter than it looked on my map to our hotel; the Ibis Styles.

Our room was ready when we arrived; so we dropped our bags off and decided to explore a bit. Reims was very laid back in comparison to Paris. And the walk to the rather grand Reims Cathedral is a straight shot down Rue Libergier.

It was mid-November and we could see all the booths being set-up for the upcoming Christmas Market as we approached the Cathedral.

The Cathedral itself is very impressive; built in the Gothic style.

And from the time the first stone was laid in 1211; it has had quite a history; Clovis I, who united the Franks, was baptized at Reims Cathedral in 496. From 1027 to 1825, a total of 30 Kings of France were coronated at Reims Cathedral!

Being such an important symbol made the cathedral a major target during World War I where it sustained major damage. Several of the 13th century stained glass windows were saved however, as glass makers removed the stained glass piece by piece and stored them. And many of those destroyed were replaced by works of Marc Chagall.

There's a lot to see here; in fact we'd return one more time before leaving Reims.

That's the Chapelle du Rosaire (Chapel of the Rosary) above.

On this visit; I was fascinated by first this statue.....

And then this one outside the Cathedral.

Yes, it's Joan of Arc (Jeanne d'Arc). So what's the story of Joan of Arc and Reims Cathedral? Well, in 1415 Henry V and his English Army defeated the French at the Battle of Agincourt and Northern France fell into the hands of the English. In January of 1429, a 17 year old girl from Domrémy who saw visions and received divine orders to liberate the French. Joan of Arc. She managed to convince Charles VII of her divine mission and over the course of 5 months the French fought it's way to Reims. After Reims decided to ally itself with Charles VII and Charles was crowned in the Cathedral where 16 kings were coronated before him; sealing his claim as the rightful King.

And the rest, like they say....is history.

We walked out of the Cathedral and down Cours Jean-Baptiste Langlet. We needed to buy some gift for folks and I knew just the thing. Biscuit Roses de Reims is the classic snack of Reims, in fact it is said that the origin of the word "biscuit" ("bis-cuit" - "twice cooked") originated here. And the classic place to get these are at Fossier.

Which is what we did.

Maison Fossier
25 Cours Jean-Baptiste Langlet
51100 Reims, France

From here we explored a bit more.

And then headed back to the hotel to relax a bit before dinner.

I had made dinner reservations at a place a few blocks away named L'Alambic, a place that serves regional cuisine and booked a table in the "caveau" (the cellar)downstairs.

The customers were a combination of locals and visitors. A group of Spanish ladies in a nearby table were having a great time. The atmosphere seemed celebratory and festive....and this was Champagne, so of course we had our Server recommend and get us a bottle of bubbly.

We started with two appetizers; the escargot....in trendy "foam" was fine.

Decent richness and pungency, with a touch of decent acidity. The snails were a bit tough though and nothing like our favorites in Burgundy. This was not bad though.

The Portefeuille de Magret de Canard au Foie Gras, in spite of the temperature being a bit too cold for our tastes was quite good.

The rich, smooth foie gras, folded into a duck breast. I could have used a tad more sweetness to balance out the richness, but the duck, in spite of looks was pleasantly toothsome, and the dressing had the requisite acidity.

The Missus ordered the Filet d'Agneau, a filet of lamb.

Man, that lamb was wonderfully gamey and it went so well with the romarin gastrique; rosemary sauce, not too much rosemary, just enough red wine in the sauce. The herb topping had just enough pungency and chlorophyllic flavors to balance things out. The potatoes were wonderfully flavored, but the tops were a bit too hard for us. The vegetables were so delicious.

And, for some reason, it's the wonderful veggies I remember the most about my Pave de Cerf, basically venison. I believe a cut from the rear thigh.

Very tender, pleasantly gamey; the sweetness balanced things out nicely. But those seasonal vegetables....man, it was good!

Overall a nice meal. The service was warm and friendly.

L'Alambic
63 B rue de Chativesle
51100, Reims, France

After dinner we took a nice walk around the quiet streets of Reims. It drizzled a bit; which just added to the atmosphere.

It was a nice change of pace from Paris.

Thanks for stopping by!

Paris - Cafe Constant, Bar du Central, and Le Moulin de la Vierge

On our last evening before heading to Champagne, we decided to take it easy. We'd had a fun and busy trip so far and thought just heading down Rue Saint-Dominique to revisit Cafe Constant would just be low stress and relaxing - remember when they created a sitting space for the Missus under the stairway? Anyway, we hadn't made any reservations for dinner and thought revisiting this casual, affordable, low-stress might be just the thing. We had a plan B, but they had a table open.

Instead of the typical three course meal, we wanted to try some of the other items on the menu. Plus, we knew that 2 apps and one main course would be more than enough for us.

We each started with some wine and then the Terrine of "Kakos", foie gras, pork shin, and lentil salad.

This was delicious; it was also quite a large portion. Definitely rich, porky, with the lentils adding a nice nutty-acidity. This was really good.

The Salmon Marinated like Herrings and boiled potatoes was not.

The salmon was a bit too fishy for us and it didn't have enough of the wonderful savory-acidity and clean finish of the stuff we really like.

The main we shared was more than enough for the both of us; Tete de Veau (Veal head), Langue et Cervelle (Tongue and Brain) Snackees, Pommes Vapeur, et Sauce Gribiche.

The veal head had been rolled and roasted perfectly. The out layer of fat was rich and crisp, the flavor deep and yet without offal tones. It was nicely seasoned as well. Same for the tongue, which seemed to have such a deep beefy flavor and was much more tender than it looked. The brain was a hard sell for the Missus; I think the iodine-metallic tones and almost fishy flavor freaked Her out a bit. And of course, the Missus had discovered how much She loved Sauce Gribiche the night before at Arnaud Nicolas. The potatoes were fine; firm, but cooked through....and that sauce really helped to cut any overly rich and oily tones the dish might have had. Perhaps we'll have the pigeon or the Oursins (uni) with Eggs next time.

Café Constant
139 rue Saint-Dominique
75007 Paris, France

On the way back to the apartment we stopped for a drink to end the evening at one of the many bars that line the street.

The Missus had a nice glass of  Red and I had the "El Burro".

It looked like there were quite a few ex-pats here. The staff was super friendly.

Bar du Central
99 rue Saint-Dominique
75007 Paris, France

While the Missus was getting ready and packing the next morning, I headed on up the street to the other bakery on the block.

And I got a croissant and two expressos to go.

The verdict; well this croissant was crisp, but not flakey, and could have used more butter and salt flavor as it was rather bland overall. We're still looking for that "perfect croissant" for us.

Le Moulin de la Vierge
64 rue Saint-Dominique
75007 Paris, France

A few minutes later, we were ready to go. The La Tour-Maubourg metro station was basically a half block away. From there it was off to Gare L'est, which we had been to before. So we were familiar with the lay-out. Having a bit of time before our train, we walked to the café across the street and did the "Parisian thing".

Next stop - Reims!

Paris - A Revisit to the Louvre and Ramen at Hakata Choten (Opera Location)

On our first visit to Paris, the Missus overwhelmed by the Louvre. You could spend years there and still not see it all. So, much like revisiting Pere Lachaise, we decided we needed to return to the Louvre. This time, we'd have a bit more focus. There was no need to see the Mona Lisa again. I got advanced times tickets for 9am and this time we needed to use the pyramid entrance.

Right in the pyramid, before the stairs was a work called "The Throne" by Kyoto based artist Kohei Nawa. It was on display from July 2018 thru February 2019 to mark the 160th anniversary of French - Japanese relations.

This time we spent most of our time checking out the Department of Egyptian Antiquities. Here are some of what we saw.

The golden funerary mask of Khaemwaset, son of Ramesses II.

This impressive statue of the god Amun protecting Tutankhamun.

Amenophis IV - the shadows made it look kinda spooky.

Time just flew by.....by the time I saw Luini's "Salome with the Head of St John the Baptist", I was getting kinda hungry......

It was just past noon....it was chilly and drizzling. We were a few blocks away from the area of Paris dubbed "Little Tokyo" for all the Japanese restaurants and shops. Ramen seemed like the perfect thing on a day like this one.

I had a listing of three places; the first being Kotteri Ramen Naritake, but when we passed there were two pans in the window with all the skimmed soup scum, which kinda turned the Missus off. So we walked a bit further up rue des Petit Champs to one of the locations of Hakata Choten (the other shop is near Les Halles). The Missus really wanted some tonkotsu style ramen that we even braved the 25 minute wait outside for a seat.

We were seated at the small counter....so, the first thing was the staff were all Japanese. Secondly, man....ramen here is not cheap. I went with the Ajitama Tonkotsu which was 13 Euros ($14.50/US). The Missus got the Tonkotsu Ramen Noir avec Ajitama - this one had black garlic oil and was 14 Euros ($15.75/US).

She loved Her ramen; with the nice rather sweet and pungent black garlic oil.

I was more than happy with my straight up tonkotsu ramen. The broth had a good amount of rich and creamy "collagenic" goodness, though a bit light in porkiness.

The egg was decently cooked and nicely served....that would be the yolk while a tad past perfect, was warm. I didn't expect much in terms of flavor, but it had been marinated nicely.

The noodles were cooked nicely, good pull and chewiness.

The Missus thought the ramen here is better than anything in San Diego. I thought that Menya was better. But even after spending thirty bucks for two bowls of basic tonkotsu, we were satisfied. Decent ramen in Paris....who knew. Though I'm thinking we need to hit up Ippudo next time.

Hakata Choten
53 rue des Petits Champs
75001 Paris, France
Open Daily 12pm - 3pm
           6pm - 10pm

We took our time on the 2 mile walk back to the apartment. It was definitely time for a nap!

Thanks for stopping by!

Paris - Arnaud Nicolas Revisited

This was our fourth visit to Paris. By this point in time we had developed a couple of rituals; places that we really enjoyed and Arnaud Nicolas was one of them.

We just love the charcuterie here. As I mentioned in my first post on the place. Arnaud Nicolas achieved the title of Meilleur Ouvrier de France (MOF) at the age of 24!

The place just feels comfortable and relaxed to us.

We had early reservations and there was just one other table occupied. As is the tradition here; we were given a small aperitif as we were seated. This time around; it was a nice clean and crisp Sauvignon from Thauvenay in the Loire Valley. The Missus enjoyed it, so we bought a bottle.

We placed our orders; sadly, the wonderful boudin blanc with truffle is a seasonal item and wasn't available so we ordered a risotto to go with our charcuterie.

As always the "Volailles et Foie gras de Canard", foie gras, duck, chicken and the "Caille, Poire et Pistache", quail and foie gras with pear and pistachio were excellent.

And of course our favorite is the Foie Gras mi-cuit. Wonderful balanced flavors, slightly livery balanced with a mild sweetness. The smooth creaminess makes you really feel you're having something oh-so decadent.

On this visit, I noticed that there was a traditional Fromage de Tete on the menu; head cheese. It was served with the traditional accompaniment of Sauce Gribiche, a wonderfully pungent and refreshingly sour sauce made of egg, cornichons, capers, tarragon, and the like. The Missus just loved the stuff! The texture of the head cheese was perfect, a bit of jellied toothsomeness, wonderful deep and complex beefy flavors, with a hint of tangy-sourness. This wasn't too salty and was just delici-yoso!

What wasn't delici-yoso was the risotto. I've often mentioned the "issues" I have with par cooked risotto and this one was another "strike".

Hard centers of the rice and a lack of enough "earthy" mushroom flavors made this somewhat disappointing.

Of course, the Missus had Her Rum Baba.

But I got the real award winner. I'd noticed a Whiskey on the digestif list. It was from Taiwan, from a label named Kavalan. It was also 24 Euros a pour....which, I've come to find is really not expensive.....I've seen it here for over $45 a pour!

This was wonderful; the flavors so complex, the nose full of vanilla tones.

I came to find out that this was the Gold Medal winning Kavalan Sherry Cask "Solist"!

Man was it good. It was this drink that got us started on Kavalan.

Even though we'd been to Arnaud Nicolas three times.....there always seems to be some new wrinkle, a new taste that we experience.

I guess that's why we keep coming back.

Arnaud Nicolas
46 Avenue de la Bourdonnais
75007 Paris, France

We headed back to our apartment and had a wonderful night's sleep and headed out the next morning well rested.

And while the skies were overcast, with intermittent drizzles....it was still Paris!

And a revisit to the Louvre was on the docket for the morning.

Thanks for stopping by!

Paris - Revisiting Pere Lachaise Cemetery and Lunch at Dong Phat

There were a couple of places the Missus wanted to revisit during this trip to Paris. One of those was Pere Lachaise Cemetery. We were a bit overwhelmed during our previous visit and couldn't find a lot graves and sites we wanted to see. This time we were a lot more organized as we got to the Porte Gambetta entry to the cemetery.

The first thing you past as you make your way up L'avenue des Combattants are the various war memorials.

And you soon come to the Crematorium. The building is surrounded by tons of small niches; cubicles for the cremated. We spent some time wondering the courtyard and came across some really fascinating niches.

I found the following really touching.

"Toi et Moi" it simply says....."Me and You".

There are some interesting niches in the structure.

Must've been a Rolling Stones fan?

Painter and Poet.

And of course; the famous soprano Maria Callas.

One could spend a good amount of time here.

Many families have crypts for entire families.

There are graves that look ancient ruins......

To the sweet and touching.

Close by is this tomb.

This is where Oscar Wilde is buried. It is one of the most visited tombs in Pere Lachaise; there's quite a story behind the build. It had become a tradition for women to put on lipstick and leave an imprint of a "kiss" on the tomb. It would be covered with thousands of kisses; the cleaning effort was causing damage to the stone; so they put up a plastic barrier around the tomb.

Monument to national airline disasters.

Gertrude Stein's grave.

There's an entire area which memorializes the victims of Concentration Camps and the Nazi Resistance.

Gaunt, haunting statues top the memorials with names like Dachau, Auschwitz, Buchenwald, Oranienburg and Sachsenhausen.

The concentration camp at Ravensbrück was created specifically for women prisoners and was used from 1939 - 1945. I had never heard of this concentration camp until I saw the memorial. After which, I came home and looked it up. Of the over 130,000 women imprisoned during the period of 1939 - 1945; only 15,000 survived.

My good friend Ale is a big fan of Edith Piaf; so I promised that I'd find her final resting place for her.

Her daughter who died at the age of two is buried beside her.

Bernard Verlhac might not be a name you recognize.

He was one of the twelve people assassinated in the Charlie Hebdo shooting.

Other famous gravesites.

Molière

Chopin

Colette

I guess you're really famous when everyone knows you by just one name. I already took a photo of Jim Morrison's grave on my previous post; so while we walked by, I refrained.

Though I couldn't help but take another photo of this one.

We got back to the apartment in the 7th a bit pooped. It was a pretty damp and cold day. So, we decided to head up two blocks to Restaurant Dong Phat. Some pho sounded like just the thing. The menu is rather small; the seating tight, the two young ladies working fairly nice.

The place was quite busy and it seemed like most of the folks really liked the shrimp chips?????

The Missus went with the Pho Tai and I went with the Pho Sate.

Man, these folks love their sauces....from the cup of Hoisin to the jar of chili sauce; folks on other tables were just dumping it into their soup. Also, notice that mint seems to be a standard herb for pho 'round these parts.

This was a pretty small portion for over ten Euros. It was pretty weak and bland....no wonder folks were dumping all of that stuff into their pho. Just a few slices of rare beef; decent fat, but on the tough side and very squeaky beef balls. The Banh Pho used were really wide and undercooked.

The Missus fared no better with her cloudy, bland, beef ball filled bowl.

I'd read good things about this place and with the history of the French in Vietnam, I thought that would be one cuisine that would be excellent in Paris. Well, this made it "oh-for-one".

Dong Phat
10 rue Malar
75007 Paris, France

Well, at least I was fairly certain dinner was going to be good.....

Thanks for stopping by!

Paris - Tomy & Co

We had done a good bit of walking during our first day back in Paris and I was ready for a nice meal. Luckily, I had made reservations for dinner for this evening and it was less than two blocks away from the apartment where we were staying.

But first, the Missus wanted to take a walk! Yikes.....so we headed across the Seine for a pre-dinner stroll. It was a lovely evening and the "City of Lights" was indeed that.

By the time we got to Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois, I knew it was time to scurry on over to the restaurant.

After all, the place I'd made reservations at emailed me two confirmations and two reminders about dinner. They really wanted to make sure we'd keep are reservations. And with good reason; since Tomy & Co opened in the fall of 2016, it's been receiving lots of great reviews, some from food blogs I link to. Paris by Mouth ranks Tomy & Co as #1 on their list of list of favorite Modern & Creative Restaurants in Paris. The namesake of the restaurant, French-Cambodian Tomy Gousset has made quite a name for himself in Paris and now has two very popular restaurants in Paris.

I had put in the mileage on this day...…..

And was ready to eat. We arrived on time at this little eatery on Rue Surcouf, which incidentally was right up the street from a place we ate at back in the fall of 2016; Restaurant David Toutain. The place was relaxed, but very professional, and we thoroughly enjoyed the experience. We started with a white from Monthélie in Burgundy which the Missus enjoyed.

We decided to forgo the tasting menu and ordering dessert and instead went with 3 starters and 2 mains; which worked out perfectly.

We loved the amuse bouche; a chickpea concoction that was like the best falafel you ever had in terms of flavor, crisp, yet moist, with just enough salt.

Things started off with the Beef Tongue Tartelette with fresh Burgundy Truffle.

To be perfectly honest; the wonderfully refreshing sauce gribiche and the thin slices of turnips that made this dish for us. It was beefy so the pungent and pleasantly sour-acidic tones really balanced things out. The truffle was a bit disappointing as it wasn't very fragrant, nor did it have that wonderful earthy-savory tones we love in truffle.

The Gnocchi, Guanciale, Truffle, and Parmesan Cheese was a nice balanced dish.

The gnocchi was solidly prepared, fairly light, and not overly chewy. The truffle was again very mild, living in the shadows of the Parmesan and guanciale. The zucchini really impressed us as we could still make out the flavor with all the salty-rich flavors. Great acidity and textures.

Of course we had to have the Egg, Chestnut, Bresaola, Cauliflower Puree, and Fried Onions.

The wonderfully rich egg yolk was the prize in the center of this dish. The fried onions added sweetness as did the cauliflower puree, in a mild way. Loved the greens and the salty and almost cheesy bresaola. This was a lovely dish.

The first main was the Wild Duck "Apicius", Confit Beet Root, with Honey and Date Chutney.

Since Apicius sauce/glaze was going to be used, I expected this to be on the sweet side. But the duck had been studded with fragrant, anise like coriander seed, it was crunchy and added quite a bit of oomph to the dish, giving it almost a Middle Eastern flavor. It also really toned down the gaminess of the wild duck. I'm not sure that was a good thing as I enjoy that flavor. The duck was toothsome as expected. What was not expected was how wonderful the confit beets were....they still held a light crunch; but were wonderfully sweet.

The Stuffed Hare Confit and Foie Gras in Brioche with Fresh Burgundy Truffle was a bit too much.

First off, that sauce was too thick for my liking, as before the truffle just wasn't fragrant enough. The brioche hadn't held up well and had a cardboard like texture. We really couldn't make out foie gras other than it being a bit oily. Oh well, can't win 'em all.

As I mentioned earlier; service was very professional and yet still relaxed. The folks here smiled often and made us feel very comfortable. I can understand the allure of this place; the ingredients and flavors run the gamut, it's modern, yet uses an array of techniques with products that are interesting. The dishes are well presented. We'd gladly eat here again.

Tomy & Co
22 rue Surcouf
75007 Paris, France

We headed back to the apartment, bellies full, and quite happy......

In the "City of Lights"...…..