Monday, October 12, 2009

Contemplation and Gourmandism

More walking, this time at the Jardin du Luxembourg (map here) -- nicknamed Luco by the locals -- a large public park behind the Palais du Luxembourg, the seat of the French Senate. It's quite lovely and even though Jon and I have both been here on previous trips to Paris, the tranquility of the place is always worth a return visit. Most folks are drawn to the space immediately behind the palace, with the famous Medici Fountain and the pond where children sail model boats. If you continue going south, there's an open strip of lawn lined on the sides with precisely-trimmed trees where couples can often be seen making out (a common sight around Paris). It's all as wonderful as advertised and there are plenty of other things to see and do in the park (over 100 statues, tennis courts, large fenced-in playground, etc.) but my favorite part of the Jardin du Luxembourg is a small section along the very southern edge, just west of the long strip of lawn. There, one can find an open expanse of grass bordered by a walkway and lined with chairs. The parterre facing the palace has umpteen chairs all around but you'll need luck, speed, and daring to secure one. The section to the south always has available seating and it's far quieter than the sexier parts of the park. Jon and I sat there in repose for a good 45 minutes in a contemplative frame of mind, just soaking in the rightness of it all. Nearby, a middle-aged Frenchman in a sharp suit reclined in his chair, reading a newspaper and smoking a cigar. On the grass in the distance, 2 little girls ran around without supervision (at least until their father swooped in playfully and gently wrangled them off to the side 20 minutes later). Strolling around town and eating excellent food are both great vacation activities, but stopping the universe for a short while and reflecting on everything and nothing makes for a deeply satisfying experience. Highly recommended.













We continued wandering around the 6th arrondissement, including a disappointing detour down a narrow side street. Jon and I share a similar sense of adventure, and we'd been having pretty good luck at going off of our planned route when spying a tight street jammed with shops. We went down one such street off of Boulevard Saint Michel, just to the north of the park. We were quite dismayed to find that while absolutely packed with lively bars and restaurants, the area purely catered to tourists (Americans in particular). The nail in the coffin was a stretch of restaurants each with an aggressive barker outside to lure folks in. We beat feet out of there as quickly as possible. (A little research after the fact indicates that we were on Rue de la Huchette, affectionately referred to by guidebooks as "Bacteria Alley".) While we certainly are not qualified to assess what is or is not authentic Paris, we're making an effort to avoid restaurants with English menus and neighborhoods with plethoras of souvenir shops.

Dinner was at a place recommended by my good friend Chung, who visited Paris a few months ago. He and I share a very similar palate so he's one of the few people whose eating recommendations I take at face value. When he suggested Bouillon des Colonies, I was a bit skeptical since he described it as world food, but I trust him implicitly so off we went. It's actually a relatively recent next-door offshoot of Bouillon Racine, an Art Nouveau-style French brasserie opened in 1906 that's classified as a historic monument.

The restaurant is not very large and the décor is eclectic. Some of the items on the walls according to the website: hangings and masks from Senegal, a Fulani spear from Nigeria, a Masai spear and shield, a Crocodile Dundee hat, a Balinese mask, a Shinto monk's rope, a Buddha from Ceylon, a tapestry from Rajasthan, opium pipes from Hong Kong and Thailand, and a Burmese prayer book.

We started with Vapeurs Cochinchine (Chinese steamed dumplings) and an Assiette Afrique Orient (East African Plate). The assiette contained four items: tchoutchouka (an Algerian dish of cooked strips of bell peppers and onions), hummus, baba ghanoush, and carrots cooked with honey and cumin. The first three items were all fairly mild in flavor and not particularly interesting, but the carrots were fantastic. The cumin lent a really interesting savory note that I rarely associate with carrots, while the honey provided a nice glaze that kept the very soft carrots intact without interjecting too much sweetness into the mix. It seems like it shouldn't be difficult to make at home and if I ever learn to cook, this would definitely be part of my repertoire.

The dumplings were all very tasty, with one each of pork, beef, shrimp, and vegetables. There were two dipping sauces provided. One was just plain soy sauce which was frankly disappointing, as I've never been to an Asian restaurant in the US that would provide a dish of soy sauce without adding something to it like rice wine vinegar, scallions, sesame oil, wasabi, etc. The other dipping sauce was as awesome as the other was disappointing; it was something like sweet-and-sour sauce in color and texture, but with only a faint hint of sweetness, no real sourness, and a distinct kick of heat that was a "wow" without being overwhelming or persistent. The spiciness was in a perfect zone to generate endorphins but not set off any alarms. After I finished the dumplings I kept sampling the sauce by itself to figure out why it was so tasty. I never figured it out but I'm happy that I had the chance to experience it.

Jon ordered the beef saté with basmati rice, while I went with the duck pastilla. The beef -- cut into strips sized 6cm x 0.5cm -- was served in a hemispherical lump with sautéed onions and was ridiculously tender, truly falling apart in the mouth with a bare modicum of dental effort. The flavor profile was expansive, with a somewhat peppery and very savory brown sauce. Not quite earth-shaking, but very, very tasty. The duck was the best dish of the trip so far, consisting of a densely-packed square of shredded dark duck meat inside of a thin phyllo-like pastry. The duck was super-rich, even by duck standards, with a well-rounded flavor profile: a little sweet, texturally fatty and meaty at the same time, with mostly round and dark bass notes of cumin, coriander, and any number of well-blended spices. The thin coating of sauce on the side of the plate was akin to the concentrated sauce or gravy that the French create when deglazing a cooking vessel. The sauce was very thick (pulling the meat through the sauce left a channel that was not immediately filled in by the surrounding sauce) with a distinct caramel note and a broad spectrum of spices, of which I can only confidently identify black pepper and curry powder. To push things over the edge, the pastilla was served with a side of warm hummus. If you've never had warm hummus, definitely give it a try because it really changes the mouthfeel (softer) and makes the hummus an outstanding team player. Words really don't do the dish justice, as Jon and I looked at each other dumbfounded at just how crazy delicious we found the dish. I would have licked the plate if I didn't think that would have gotten me tossed out of the restaurant. On a side note, we had a bottle of Côtes du Rhône -- selected by Jon -- with dinner which worked out very well, as the varietal has a bit more body than a typical pinot noir and paired well with the relatively strong flavors of the dishes. Just a great, great meal.

I again apologize for the horrendous quality of the pictures, but we've been putting far more effort into the process of eating food rather than the process of photographing it.














Continuing to fall further behind in these blog updates, I'm now 2.5 days in arrears. In real time, our stay in Paris has just ended and we leave our apartment for a train to Amsterdam in about 90 minutes. Up next on the blog, more club action and a passel of mussels from Brussels.

Number of waffles topped with whipped cream purchased from a street vendor: 1
Ratio of napkin wipes of the mouth to bites of the waffle: 1:1
Number of battery-powered electronic devices brought by the two of us: 8
Number of those devices carried on our person when out: 5

1 comment:

  1. The number of pictures of food contained in this blog is staggering! I didn't say it was surprising, just staggering. : )

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