after dinner sneeze

t says: On the third day of France-mas, we continued with the sights, but mixed it up g & t style by hitting up Le Bon Marche in the middle of the day. We started with Musee D’orsay which was absolutely amazing. There were so many works in there that I would have never imagined seeing in person. It was truly humbling. Unfortunately, Olympia was closed that day, but next time, right?

As for Bon Marche … on one hand, it was little more than an “interesting” department store, but on the flip side, they had “La Cave” in the basement. This place had an impressive selection of VERY recognizable Bordeaux … including the ones inside their fancy cellar:

Something new …

… something old.

Behold! Norte Dame.

We took SO many pictures inside, but this one was by far my favorite, especially given the certain current events that were going on in Paris the weekend we were there, as well as the wrong order of colors on the rainbow.

We also visited St Chappelle which was amazing, but my panorama shot was too big to download, so I’ll just leave a space for it here ….
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We then visited Pierre Herme, which proved to have some very nice macarons (superior to Laduree) and beautiful other desserts. I quite liked it. And the millefeuille I bought was very good – but about one ounce of chocolate away from being the best dessert of the trip.

After these awesome holy grounds, we then went to La Cremerie, which provided us with an amazing bottle of cheap wine and a good time (it was probably The BEST red wine we had in our entire time in Paris!)

This day concluded with dinner at Les Papilles, an eat-in wine shop (where reservations are recommended) with a fixed price menu for anywhere between 30-40 Euro.  You don’t get to choose much, but I can guarantee that you’ll leave stuffed …

Appetizer was perhaps the most complex vichyssoise soup I’ve ever had … no … after further thought, make it the best.  Plain and simple.  Sorry a, this one is taking GTC’s to the cleaners … Plus, the family-style giant terrine worth means we could go back over and over.  So delicious.  Easily the best soup of the trip.

The sommelier-ish guy suggested this bottle of easy-drinking Burgundy, and he nailed it.  It was a fantastic bottle to share and easy on the wallet.  However, for big-spenders out there, there were plenty of options (they had some Petrus for ~900 Euro).

Welcome to the most controversial dish of the trip.  What you see is duck.  Now, normally, duck is a slam-dunk to be had at pretty much any “contemporary American” or BYO or “farm-to-table” restaurant in Philly.  But at Les Papilles … the duck was very different: it was a bit more toothsome than nearly every other duck I’ve ever had – however, the it was clear that the duck was a perfect medium rare – so what’s the deal?  g blamed her lack of sharp knife.  I blamed her lack of knife velocity.  n felt it was lack of sharp teeth.  m quietly ate his duck without much fuss.  In any case, we agreed that the duck was a little tough and let it go … but then later on, in Burgundy, g and I encountered an identical slab of duck with the same done-ness and somehow the same degree of toothsomeness.  What the?  Well, maybe we’ve just never had French duck before, but I hope that someone over there visits the US for either a lesson in duck cookery or access to US duck supply …

The cheese and dessert courses followed, both of which were rock-solid, but not necessarily mind-blowing.  But don’t think that we had a bad time.  On the contrary!  At the end of the trip, the four of us voted, and Les Papilles was the clear winner of “restaurant we’d visit on our next visit to Paris” as well as “best overall experience” and “best value”.  Bravo Les Papilles!