Paris
Posted: Thu Nov 06, 2014 9:02 am
Sorry to leave Besançon, we were nevertheless happy to return to the left bank in Paris. This time we are staying in a 4 star hotel on Rue des Ecole. A “4 star” in Paris is like a Hampton Inn but at three times the price. Rooms tend to be minuscule in old left bank hotels, but we are pleased with the deluxe larger room on the top floor that we booked. The staff is very pleasant and accommodating. They even oiled a squeaky hinge on the bathroom door and supplied us with 3 extra pillows with no complaint. Our dinner high light prior to meeting Tim on Friday was to be at Guy Savoy, so we decided to warm up by dining at two of his other restaurants, Les Bouquinistes and Maitre Albert. The latter is one of my long time favorites, but I had never eaten at the former. Both restaurants have the Guy Savoy attention to detail that we like so much. We opted for the attractive bargain menus at both establishments. Every item was good, and the pink grapefruit terrine dessert at Maitre Albert was memorable. On Tuesday we took my postdoc, who was organizing the workshop at the Institut Henri Poincare that I was attending with a student, to the real Guy Savoy. As is his habit, Guy greeted us before dinner. The food and overall experience was as you would expect from a Guide Michelin three star restaurant. There was no “died and went to heaven” dish, but, hey, how much can you expect for $500/person? The main wine we had was 1988 Hubert Montille Pommard Pezerolles (1er Cru). The bouquet was great from the beginning and the wine is in the prime of its life. Alas, we drank the last bottle in Guy’s cellar.
Lucie uncovered a gem of a bistro, Les Papilles, a few blocks from our hotel in the Latin Quarter by reading reviews on Tripadvisor. It is both a retail wine store and a restaurant. Each evening they serve a four course meal. No choice except for the wine that you pick from their inventory. The cooking is perhaps rustic but quite creative. We started with an amazing zucchini soup poured over toast, vegetables, and feta cheese. The main course was roasted lamb chops in a bowl with vegetables and a wine reduction sauce with a side of polenta. Lucie wanted a Burgundy rather than a Rhone (they have good Bdx but those bottles were pricey), but the owner steered us to my unvoiced choice, the Rhone. I was leaning toward a Cote Rotie, but he suggested the less expensive Domaine Vallet Cuvée des Muletiers 2005 from St. Joseph as being a better match for the food. It was quite good, especially when the pepper emerged with airing.
Today (Thursday) I will skip part of the afternoon workshop so that we can go to the Picasso Museum. I fear that it will be as crowded on Thursday as the Musee D’Orsay was on Sunday, which is free on the first Sunday of each month, as everyone wants to visit this recently opened museum.
* * * * * * *
The Picasso Museum is well worth the hour+ standing in line. You can go instead to a 45 minute line by buying tickets online in advance; however, that line is booked a week ahead. I tried for a free entry as a Professor, but was told that rule applies only if you teach in France. The bottom line is that if you live in Paris you should wait a couple of months before going to the museum.
As we expected, the collection is great and contains works we have never seen, mostly from Picasso’s private collection, as well as some famous paintings. There are also a few rooms of other paintings that came from Picasso’s collection. I think that many of these are unsigned even if it is known, and in most cases obvious, who was the artist. You can easily view the entire collection in the two hours we had between entering and the closing of the museum. Because they restricted entry the museum was less crowded than the Musee D’Orsay on First Sunday.
Knowing that time would be short after the visit to the museum I booked our dinner at a place near our hotel. I settled on Ribouldingue, a Guide Michelin Bib Gourmand restaurant near the Quai. It was indeed a bargain for a excellent dinner of marinated salmon with a delicate mustard sauce covering arugla, magret de canard, a tasty steak for Lucie, a lovely grapefruit gelatin with ice cream, and a delicious rice pudding. This was my favorite dinner in Paris so far and second for Lucie after Les Papilles. While it is fun to dine at top restaurants from time to time, in Paris you can eat very well for one tenth of the price.
If I am still standing on Saturday I will do a separate post about our dinner tomorrow at Encore with Tim and François.
Lucie uncovered a gem of a bistro, Les Papilles, a few blocks from our hotel in the Latin Quarter by reading reviews on Tripadvisor. It is both a retail wine store and a restaurant. Each evening they serve a four course meal. No choice except for the wine that you pick from their inventory. The cooking is perhaps rustic but quite creative. We started with an amazing zucchini soup poured over toast, vegetables, and feta cheese. The main course was roasted lamb chops in a bowl with vegetables and a wine reduction sauce with a side of polenta. Lucie wanted a Burgundy rather than a Rhone (they have good Bdx but those bottles were pricey), but the owner steered us to my unvoiced choice, the Rhone. I was leaning toward a Cote Rotie, but he suggested the less expensive Domaine Vallet Cuvée des Muletiers 2005 from St. Joseph as being a better match for the food. It was quite good, especially when the pepper emerged with airing.
Today (Thursday) I will skip part of the afternoon workshop so that we can go to the Picasso Museum. I fear that it will be as crowded on Thursday as the Musee D’Orsay was on Sunday, which is free on the first Sunday of each month, as everyone wants to visit this recently opened museum.
* * * * * * *
The Picasso Museum is well worth the hour+ standing in line. You can go instead to a 45 minute line by buying tickets online in advance; however, that line is booked a week ahead. I tried for a free entry as a Professor, but was told that rule applies only if you teach in France. The bottom line is that if you live in Paris you should wait a couple of months before going to the museum.
As we expected, the collection is great and contains works we have never seen, mostly from Picasso’s private collection, as well as some famous paintings. There are also a few rooms of other paintings that came from Picasso’s collection. I think that many of these are unsigned even if it is known, and in most cases obvious, who was the artist. You can easily view the entire collection in the two hours we had between entering and the closing of the museum. Because they restricted entry the museum was less crowded than the Musee D’Orsay on First Sunday.
Knowing that time would be short after the visit to the museum I booked our dinner at a place near our hotel. I settled on Ribouldingue, a Guide Michelin Bib Gourmand restaurant near the Quai. It was indeed a bargain for a excellent dinner of marinated salmon with a delicate mustard sauce covering arugla, magret de canard, a tasty steak for Lucie, a lovely grapefruit gelatin with ice cream, and a delicious rice pudding. This was my favorite dinner in Paris so far and second for Lucie after Les Papilles. While it is fun to dine at top restaurants from time to time, in Paris you can eat very well for one tenth of the price.
If I am still standing on Saturday I will do a separate post about our dinner tomorrow at Encore with Tim and François.