Saturday turned out to be another beautiful day in Paris, a bit warm perhaps and a light wind. But gorgeous sun and a brilliant blue sky (at intervals).
Susan worked at the shop until well past 5 p.m., while I returned to Pere Lachaise for an afternoon of videotaping.(No I don't know why; I just know I have more than 24 hours of tape thank you, not to mention the hundreds of photographs.)
We met up with friends Anna and Pietro for dinner Saturday evening (3 March). We hadn't seen them since last December when we joined Valerie (another former Le Cordon Bleu student) and another couple for dinner at their home outside of Paris. Shortly afterwards Anna and Pietro and their two kids returned to Canada to spend the holidays with family. Anna, who met Susan and Valerie during the basic level at Le Cordon Bleu last August, has an abiding love for great food matched only by her husband Pietro. In fact Pietro's work requires that he spend quite a bit of time in restaurants (pretty tough to take) and during the seven years or so that they have lived in Paris he has developed quite a bit of insight into where to eat (and where not to eat).
Through emails and phone calls we arranged to meet for dinner at 7:30 p.m. at a small bistrot in the 15th, Bistrot d'Hubert, 41 Boulevard Pasteur (yes that Pasteur; his institute is right around the corner). Pietro had eaten here before and knew the reputation of the chef as well as the quality of the food (and we were not disappointed on either score).
We left our apartment at 7 p.m., walked to Les Gobelins, caught the no. 7 to Place d'Italie, switched to the no. 6 (Susie's old route to school) and got off at Pasteur. We were right on time and Anna and Pietro were already waiting for us.
The restaurant is quite small but very nicely laid out with a superb view of the kitchen space to the rear. I should also add the staff were pleasant, attentive and alternated between French and English with ease (although of course Anna and Pietro both speak French, it was obvious Susan and I did so very poorly.)
What a grand time we had talking mostly about food but every now and then the conversation would drift toward the challenges facing all of us in returning to North America. Anna and Pietro are looking at the very real possibility of having to move from Paris within the next year; and of course for us we're having to tackle that very real prospect in a matter of weeks.
At one point during dinner the conversation drifted back to food in Paris and Pietro said they had just been to one of the finest fish places in Paris and had such a wonderful meal and that we really should try this place. They mentioned the name and it sounded vaguely familiar to me. Well after a few moments of hasty interrogation it turned out the name of the place is l'Ostria, on rue Sauval near Les Halles and we had in fact had one of the best meals in Paris there last November! Friends from New jersey who were here in Paris for a week or so came across the place while out strolling and the four of us ate there that very night! Anyway you can read my Siena to Paris blog entry about this place or just surf over to the archives and look for the entry under 18 November 2006.
So we enjoyed the evening immensely. Everyone had fish (2 swordfish and 1 cod) except for me. I had an Asian pork tenderloin on a small bed of rice and still I got a small sidedish of gratin duaphinois potatoes! Pietro chose a nicely acidic white wine.
Cost of dinner with wine (but no desserts) was €60 per person.
The four of us left the restaurant a little before 11 and decided we would stroll a bit up and down Blvd. Pasteur. As we returned back to the vicinity of the restaurant we couldn't help but notice the Eiffel tower twinkling with it's champagne fizz lights on full blast. So we stood and stared, mesmerized like children. And when we turned in the very opposite direction there was the lunar eclipse taking place right before our every eyes. Quite a fitting ending to an evening out in Paris I thought.
Wish you were here,
Steve
Click here for Bistrot d'Hubert's very nice , very user friendly website.
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