A new year, unseasonably warm weather, and the Paris sales are on....a perfect combination. We have vowed to eat at one new resto per day during this trip, and are falling just a bit short of our goal. We returned to Chez Janou the first night, jet lagged and needing something both close by and familiar. As usual, the place was packed, and we were stuffed into the side banquette with a multi-national assortment of people.
If anything the food has improved, and there are a few new menu items. I was tempted by a foie gras stuffed cabbage or oysters, but I was in the mood for comfort food. So I settled for two stand-by entrees always on the menu, the mussels gratin followed by the chevre rosmarin --- a warmed round of goat cheese on a bed of herbed tomatoes. Perfect. Both my companions had the shrimp/avocado/grapefruit salads, and we shared the chocolate mousse, of course, for dessert.
We also have returned to Septime, this time for dinner. And, again, it was superlative - creative, delicious, and fun. My only complaint is a small one...perhaps because we were three women, we were put at the large table near the front door, and not in the main room. It is still intimate and well-attended by the staff, but does not have a good view of the open kitchen. But the food made up for any seating shortcomings! We began the meal with paper thin slices of ham and an inexpensive bottle from Burgandy (yes, that is not an oxymoron). Then the fixed prix meal (55 Euros/person) began in earnest. Different from our lunch experience, the menu was, like at Agape Substance, a list of primary ingredients, and the waiter asked if we wanted anything left out.
The first course was an unusual salad of greens and "epinard marine," or sea spinach. An egg foam and thin herbed croutons topped the salad. The croutons were a mystery - one of us thought it was bacon or proscuitto, while another thought it was shaved parmesan...but, no, it was simply a snippet of whole grain bread. The salad was followed by, what I have been told, was an incredibly delicious soup. A rich miso-like broth was spooned over a squash puree, barley-like grain, slices of Jerusalem artichoke, and topped by a perfect slow-poached egg. Sadly, one of the ingredients, the Jerusalem artichoke, hadn't been listed on the menu, or I would have told them ahead of time that I'm deathly allergic to that tuber. But they graciously whisked it away, and brought me a perfectly grilled small calamari body, also on the squash puree, and with a beautiful sauce to match.
The fish course followed - a melt-in-your mouth merlat (spelling?), similar to a rockfish, again poached perfectly, with an onion-lime foam, and these tiny olive-looking berries that turned out to be cauliflower buds. Wonderful full flavor, but also subtle and addictive. Meanwhile, we were on to our second bottle of wine, a very peppery St. Joseph with a wonderfully soft mouth feel. Then, the piece-de-resistance, a pave of roasted duck breast, rosy and flavorful, served with baby beets, small corkscrew tubers (cornets) we'd never seen before, and fennel. I was in heaven.
Finally, the dessert - an oval of minted vanilla ice cream nestled against an unsweetened coffee foam and a small square of a very dark chocolate cake (maybe flourless). They were flawless together, and we all scraped our plates for the very last bits.
Reservations are hard to get, but this is a restaurant I will try to eat at, for lunch or for dinner, every time I am in Paris. The chef is young, and will only improve...though it's hard to believe the food could be better than it is.
