Seeing Paris with other people is always a special treat. Why? Well it’s always nice to see friends of course. Being here day-after-day-after-day, the city has becomes more of a routine for us, and we often lose sight of some of the wonderful things there are to see and do. But people who visit Paris for just a week are intensely focused; they need to use their time efficiently and usually act accordingly. And a little bit of that “intensity” rubs off. Thanks Stan and Margie!
And thanks now to Anna Maria and Guy! They arrived from New Jersey this past Wednesday and we joined them that evening for dinner at Sapporo, a funky, noisy little Japanese noodle bar in the 2nd arrondisement. (2 rue Daunou 75002 Paris, Metro: Opera or Pyramides.)
After initiating the weary travelers into the absurd intricacies of the Metro system at Chatelet (too boring and painful to go into detail) we soon found ourselves in “Little Tokyo”. Just a few weeks back we had come to this neighborhood after Susie’s graduation and had a great meal at one of the small noodle bars here and decided then and there we wanted to come back and try another one. So here we were!
Although the four of us were wedged into a small table in a room the size of long closet, the food was quite good and we had a grand time eating noodles, rice and catching up since the last time we were together (Thanksgiving in Siena). How time flies.
After dinner Susie and I said good night to A-M and Guy and while they walked back to their hotel we hopped on the Metro at Pyramides and headed home.
Since Susie had a heavy schedule the end of last week – she didn’t get home until 10 pm Thursday and then had a practical session in the middle of the day Friday – A-M and Guy were on their own those two days (four museums and tons of explorations).
At 7:30 pm Friday evening we met up again at their hotel the “St. Merry” in the 4th (right around the corner from the Pompidou Center). As we stepped outside into the cool night air, into a street packed with people hurrying one direction or another, we strolled leisurely for about 90 seconds and stopped at a café to have an aperitif.
Over a bottle of Nouveau Beaujolais the four of us sat and talked – and watched the people strolling by. A-M and Guy thought their hotel very nice and accommodating, although it suffers from a fair amount of street noise (sleep had become an elusive commodity Thursday night apparently).
A large part of the conversation revolved around where we were going to eat that night -- this being Paris and food being one of if not the most important topic at any given time on the streets of the city. I had put together a short list of possibles but A-M and Guy had come across a seafood place earlier in the day that they thought looked pretty good and it was just a short walk past the Les Halles area. So off we went.
L’Ostria turned out to be a real gem, a wonderful place to eat fish. In fact what had caught their eye earlier in the day was the bouillabaisse on the menu (minimum of four people). Sad to say we found out later that it was out of season. But we were not disappointed.
The restaurant is small, seating maybe 30-55 people, and was operated by two guys: one working the tiny kitchen within view of us all and one working the floor so to speak. Very efficient, very smooth operation (at the end of the evening a woman joined them as well).
For starters (“entre”) Susan and I had a goat cheese and haddock salad: a bed of fresh greens, with slices of grapefruit, apple, and ultra-thin slices of smoked, salted haddock (raw), and in the center were two small pieces of bread each topped with sliced goat cheese and then placed under a broiler to melt. A-M had a salad of greens covered with “crevettes” (small shellfish); and Guy had a mussel (“moules”) salad. The wine for the evening was a crisp Sancerre.
For main course (“plat) we all had the sea bass (“bar”). Fresh? They brought each of us an entire fish, “sitting upright” (rather than on its side), with the head and tail still on, cooked to perfection; and surrounded by a small handful of sliced cooked vegetables: potatoes, fennel, turnip. We skipped dessert.
Sitting next to Susie and A-M, bistro-like, were two young men who had struck up the occasional conversation, talking about food of course. Susie, ever eager to work on her French and Anna-Maria, ever eager to just talk to people. Anyway a friend of theirs soon joined them, another young fellow and we ended up sharing our wine with them – we certainly had plenty to spare! They in turn bought us all “digestifs”. And it was our first taste of Marie Brizzard, an anis-flavored concoction that we thought to be less oily than ouzo and less syrupy than most Italian anisettes, and very tasty.
We walked back in the direction of their hotel and said good night as we turned toward the metro.
L’Ostria: 4 rue Sauval 75001 Paris. 01 40 26 08 07.
No comments:
Post a Comment