Paris: in pursuit of culture

A few days before we set off on the most recent Gluttons At Large adventure, it occurred to me that with all our reservations made ahead we'd have time between meals to do something other than worry about the next meal. Now theater in Paris is a touchy subject here at Flintstone Towers. A few years back, I had read about a brilliant production of Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme at the Comédie Française which would be on while we'd be in Paris. I'd "done" the play in school, it's a marvelous social satire, and "new money" is always a current topic. As I cross the street to catch the bus, I often observe the changing cast of oil barons, musicians, oligarchs, etc., bearing shopping bags and baccompanied by the underfed and over-garnished. Not so much anymore, of course, but when the French critics raved about how the production updated Molière's jokes while remaining true to the integrity of the drama - plus it was at the Comédie Française! in costume! I couldn't resist. Himself said "Why not?" Um, I may have overstressed the table manners scene. A little. Somehow he got the impression there'd be a food fight. (Actually as I think about it this would be a fine addition. Look what it did for Animal House.) So, ok, we got tickets. You know what updated social satire is? Jokes about minor politicians unknown outside of France, who come from towns the names of which are hysterically funny but only to Parisians, speak in patois, slang and argot as incomprehensible as Villon's, are cheated on left and right, and can't even steal successfully. And that's about all I got out of it. Himself still points out that the tickets cost almost as much as a meal, and we could have been eating.

Gertrude in Paris

Buddha

Gertrude down the street

Gertrude NY close up

Happily, on this trip,  we were able to get tickets in advance for the Gertrude Stein exhibit at the Grand Palais, which would open while we were in Paris. No, I don't have connections, but I do have a computer! More accurately, the exhibit was entitled "Cézanne Matisse  Picasso… The Steins' Adventures," and it told a story about Gertrude, her brothers who also came to Paris and moved in the same circles, and Gertrude's professional, artistic and personal life. I was interested to learn that the first Stein to arrive was in fact Gertrude's brother Leo, with whom she set up housekeeping. And Gertrude... a magnetic personality. There was a cast of the famous bronze statue of her towards the end of the exhibit, large, content, serene... I knew I'd seen it, but where? I was reminded of the Buddhas in Nepal and Myanmar, oblivious to the beauty and terror of their surroundings. As I thought of all of the Buddhas I've seen, in all of the different places, I realized that I was overlooking the obvious: this very statue lives in the courtyard of our very own New York Public Library at 5th Avenue and 42nd Street!

That night, we had a wonderful dinner at Apicius, which never lets us down. I think if I were going to have only one extravagant splurge this would have to be it. Do lunch if you think dinner is too, too. As you enter the courtyard, you wonder if you've been transported by mistake to the Chateau country. At one time, there were many private houses like this in Paris, and this one has been beautifully redone into a restaurant with a number of spacious dining rooms. The producer Luc Besson has his offices and a film school in the rest of the building. The restaurant staff is warm, welcoming, and thoroughly professional. I'd call the décor "modern eccentric:" attractive, comfortable, and just a bit whimsical. To be continued

Paris: Friday night, dinner at Apicius

This is one of my favorite places in Paris. The location amazes: it's in its own private park, with parking in front of the house, behind tall hedges. There are several dining rooms, and some small and some larger private salons. We started coming to Apicius when they were where they started, an unprepossessing neighborhood restaurant, and this is quite a change, in location and in character.



I'm sure sure there's a story; there always is. Fortunately the cooking hasn't changed, only gotten better and better.

The beautiful red cocktail to the left is the house apéritif. It is called a Royal Red and it is champagne and fresh raspberry juice.



The amuse-bouche was a play on mushrooms: in the little cup were three layers, mushroom froth on top, then creamy warm mushroom soup, and then on the bottom cold mousse of mushrooms. The chef-owner, Jean-PierreVigato (actually I think the ownership might be more complicated), has always been sensitive to the seasons and likes to do more than one thing at a time with his ingredients. He's that rare professional cook who's completely self-taught; he learned to cook because he loves food.  His food is original and thoughtful without being prissy. He has two Michelin stars; we think he deserves another.

White asparagus has a very brief season; it was just about over when we were in Brussels and really who goes to Lyon for vegetables? So when we learned that there was a special asparagus entrée not on the menu, we said Yes please!


At the left of the plate, green asparagus topped with a salad of slivers of asparagus and baby fava beans, touch of coriander, the whole thing topped off with an incredibly flavorful fried basil leaf. At the right of the plate, warm white asparagus in truffle sauce, a little beef marrow in back of it.

Our main course was something we've never had anywhere else; it looks like a well-roasted duck with a generous slab of hot foie gras in a nice sauce. And it is. And the sauce is very nice, tangy, rich, a little sweet-sour, a little spicy, perfect

accompaniment to the duck. And when there's no more duck and no more foie gras, and you run your spoon across the plate for the last of that sauce, now cooler, little thicker, the sauce makes itself better known. It's bittersweet chocolate. I try not to order this every time I come here, because there are so many other good things to choose from, but every once in a while...

Dessert: symmetry. Having begun with a raspberry apéro, we finished with a raspberry soufflé with raspberry coulis.  Oh, and a scoop of raspberry sorbet. Can't wait to come back.

And not to complain, but after I got this post and a few that follow done in Paris, on my Iphone, Blogger bounced them, so I'm cleaning them up and posting from New York. Just think, all that time thumbing away when I could have been eating. Or shopping.