My first dinner in Paris with my love (who wined and dined me, and in some cases, beered me): entrecote medium (sirloin steak) topped with chimichurri sauce, served alongside perfectly crispy frites. Frisee salade as a starter. Table vin rouge. And chocolate profiteroles filled with vanilla ice cream for dessert (why did I forget to take a picture? WHY?)
Laduree, fine patisserie since le fin de siecle. Creator of the famous French macaron, a tiny sandwich cookie made of chewy nut meringue and usually filled with flavored ganache. I sampled dix macarons, saveurs assortiment. My favorite? The caramel avec fleur de sel. Also, fleur d'orange and fleur de rose were pretty spectacular. Next time, I'm getting something millefeuille-y, and something chocolat mousse-y. I did order fresh strawberries with champagne saboyan, though. Amaze! Fantastic. Insane. I died. My girlfriend is not into patisserie, so she was probably thinking about pretzels, or frites, while I was dying a sweet death.
Breakfast in bed, how many times? Quite a few. My favorite was mind-blowing crusty-outside, fluffy-inside multigrain baguette butts, perfectly tender scrambled eggs with pepper, pain au chocolat, croissants with butter and rhubarb jam, a two-cup pot of cafe americano accompanied by a tiny pot of milk, and fresh squeezed orange juice in a heavy tumbler.
Obligatory French food, remarkable for having been served and beautifully presented at 3am. Note the perfect fried egg, delicately broiled cheese and toast, hot crispy frites, and framboise kir. They do not screw around with food in France, even at 3 am in a corner bar. I was even more pleased to find a paper-thin slice of ham under the broiled cheese of my sandwich.
Salade Visconte: romaine and arugula ("rocket" or roquette), cucumber ribbons, chunks of parmesan, small delicious garden tomatoes, basil pesto, walnuts, poached chicken, kalamata olives. A perfect midnight snack, breakfast, or festive dejeuner.
"Avez-vous des escargots plus?" I enjoyed eating garlicky parsley snails way more than expected. Juicy, chewy, rich, buttery. Much like eating a substantial small mushroom stuffed with cheese and garlic. My girlfriend may have compared eating good escargot to eating a buttered region of female anatomy. JUST SAYING. I'm not arguing with her, either.
Amazing!!!!
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