Today I ran off to school, my professor was having baby sitting issues so we ended up with a new teacher and her class. My classmates are changing too, a lot of new students including a woman my age from New Zealand. This new merged class had a planned activity; we were giving a map and a list of questions. We had to walk the streets of the 9eme and the 2eme finding locations and describing them on the paper. I really got a kick out of this as these were my haunting grounds in the 1980s. I used to go to a great night club called “The Palace” and we were haunting the area. http://www.cityzeum.com/en/faubourg-montmartre-rue-du
The first stop was a restaurant I have eaten in many times but not in a long time. The name is Chantier and it has been in business for over 100 years. While it is not fancy the interior and the menu are classic Paris. And it is cheap but decent. We moved from location to location answering questions. Some of the nicest things to see in this area are all of the glass covered malls that stretch between streets barely detectable from the outside. They are gorgeous turn of the last century architectural features. http://www.cityzeum.com/en/verdeau-passage
Below are two photos one of the group in the Gardens of the Palais Royal and the other of the Gardens. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palais_Royal
After walking all over I talked a group of 10 students into coming to eat at Chantier. They loved it. The food is basic but such a steal it was 17 euros each, 2 courses with wine and coffee. Here is a photo of Lolla with the dining room behind her.
Afterwards the New Zealand student and I took coffee at a small place and then took the train over to the new museum called Quai Branly to see the gardens. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mus%C3%A9e_du_quai_Branly We both agreed that the museum was out of place. Here is a picture of some of the leaves on a wall turning red and orange… 
We bought chocolates for her and then sat for a drink at a café on the Rue Cler before coming home. On the way home I stopped and bought ½ roasted chicken, some sautéed potatoes, a bottle of wine, a baguette and some endive for under $10 bucks. Dinner…
My friend Krista comes tomorrow for the day so I am pretty excited to play tour guide.
Monday 22-Sept 2008 Blog #5
Today I ate lunch at a small place called, La Grille. It is located in the 9eme very close to my school. 80 rue de Faubourg-Poissonniere. They are only open M-F for dinner and lunch. I went there as it was the only place near my school recommended to me by my new friend, the Gourmet Magazine writer, Alec Lubrono. A classmate, Jimi from China, went with me. He is the only other student who is not on a tight budget. The place is very pre-war Paris. When we walked in it looked as if the place was closed, there were a group of men in the entrance sharing some major courses; we felt like we were crashing someone’s private party. Of course they looked at the two of us and tried to figure out how we found this place. The rooms are small and filled with knick knacks. The owners are a husband and wife who opened the place more than 40 years ago. She is the hostesses and he the chef. It was very old school French cuisine. Upon arrival they served us rillettes de lapin on toast (minced bunny) while we looked at the menu. This may sound gross to some, but I love bunnies, baked, roasted, minced, etc.
For our first course we had a salade frisee aux lardon, this is a classic Lyonnaise salad with curly bitter endive, chunks of fatty bacon well cooked and a sherry vinaigrette that is heated and then tossed in the salad to wilt the leaves. It was perfect, even without the crouton and poached egg that I would normally have expected.
I have not ordered Boeuf Bourguignon in at least 20 years but I am glad I did; this was the most perfect I have ever had. The beef was tender with well cooked but very fresh carrots and onions. They serve it with a gateaux de pomme de terre (basically smashed potatoes with melted onions), Michael makes this for me at home and this was as good as any he has ever done. We had the house red in a pitcher, which was great with the beef. We passed on dessert but had coffee. The meal was not cheap but not too expensive either, about $80usd for the two of us. Two courses, wine, coffee, tax, tip, etc; for this kind of meal I think $40 each is a bargain.
The whole experience was amazing. The owner, the space, the food, very old pre war France. I am glad we ate here. I will come back here again for sure. Did this sound too review-ish?
Parked in front of the place was a new Fiat 500, I love this car! See my older posts about the Fiat 500 Retro make-over. And yes that is a UPS truck behind me.
OK so the rest of Monday I went home, bit of a red wine hangover, I read my book, did some studying, early night I think.
My friend Krista comes tomorrow for the day so I am pretty excited to play tour guide.
Monday 22-Sept 2008 Blog #5
Today I ate lunch at a small place called, La Grille. It is located in the 9eme very close to my school. 80 rue de Faubourg-Poissonniere. They are only open M-F for dinner and lunch. I went there as it was the only place near my school recommended to me by my new friend, the Gourmet Magazine writer, Alec Lubrono. A classmate, Jimi from China, went with me. He is the only other student who is not on a tight budget. The place is very pre-war Paris. When we walked in it looked as if the place was closed, there were a group of men in the entrance sharing some major courses; we felt like we were crashing someone’s private party. Of course they looked at the two of us and tried to figure out how we found this place. The rooms are small and filled with knick knacks. The owners are a husband and wife who opened the place more than 40 years ago. She is the hostesses and he the chef. It was very old school French cuisine. Upon arrival they served us rillettes de lapin on toast (minced bunny) while we looked at the menu. This may sound gross to some, but I love bunnies, baked, roasted, minced, etc.
For our first course we had a salade frisee aux lardon, this is a classic Lyonnaise salad with curly bitter endive, chunks of fatty bacon well cooked and a sherry vinaigrette that is heated and then tossed in the salad to wilt the leaves. It was perfect, even without the crouton and poached egg that I would normally have expected.
I have not ordered Boeuf Bourguignon in at least 20 years but I am glad I did; this was the most perfect I have ever had. The beef was tender with well cooked but very fresh carrots and onions. They serve it with a gateaux de pomme de terre (basically smashed potatoes with melted onions), Michael makes this for me at home and this was as good as any he has ever done. We had the house red in a pitcher, which was great with the beef. We passed on dessert but had coffee. The meal was not cheap but not too expensive either, about $80usd for the two of us. Two courses, wine, coffee, tax, tip, etc; for this kind of meal I think $40 each is a bargain.
The whole experience was amazing. The owner, the space, the food, very old pre war France. I am glad we ate here. I will come back here again for sure. Did this sound too review-ish?
Parked in front of the place was a new Fiat 500, I love this car! See my older posts about the Fiat 500 Retro make-over. And yes that is a UPS truck behind me.
OK so the rest of Monday I went home, bit of a red wine hangover, I read my book, did some studying, early night I think.
