Still More Paris Food Reports

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Le Sagittaire

77, rue Lamarck 75000 XVIIIème
Paris 75018
Téléphone : 01 42 55 17 40

This is our restaurant find for this visit to Paris. I am almost reluctant to share it with you, in case you ruin it.
This is a small restaurant; it was full on a Wednesday night so a reservation would be in order. Everyone spoke French and seemed to be regulars as they greeted each other. We passed by and it looked nice though you could easily miss it.
The price is €30 per person. €30 is what you will pay. No more or no less. €30 is it.
What do you get for that?
Apperitif
Entree
Plat
Salade et fromage
Dessert
½ bottle of wine
Coffee
Now if you don’t want something on that list they will probably oblige. What will you save? Probably nothing. The cost is €30 per person.
This is value.
We started with Kir Royales for our aperitifs. Interestingly, the "munchie" served with these was a bowl of peanuts rather than those cheesy cream puffs. Peanuts probably indicate a more authentic restaurant.
For our entrees Sandra had pate a la campagne with onion confiture while I had foie gras. The other choices were escargots, smoked salmon, mixed salad with lardons and gesiers, gazpacho or melon with prosciutto.
For our plat principal Sandra had lamb stew and I had duck confit with port wine sauce and potatoes dauphine (deep fried potato balls). We could have had beef, chicken, steak tartare, salmon, red fish, or cod.
The cheese course was brie with a small salad.
When it came to dessert, a man at the next table leaned over and said that he comes here regularly with his mother and, when he does, he phones in advance and asks for profiteroles. So, although it isn’t on the menu, they have profiteroles tonight. The waitress came by with a smile on her face like the cat was out of the bag. I ordered the profiteroles and they were wonderful. The chocolate sauce was real chocolate and, if there ever can be enough chocolate sauce... there was enough chocolate sauce! Sandra ordered the ile flottant, a favourite of hers. Other dessert choices were crème brule, fresh fruit salad, rum baba, chocolate pave, crepes flambes with Grand Marnier, or lemon sorbet with vodka.
As we both wanted the same wine, we shared a full bottle of 2006 Bordeaux reserve. Our option was a Sauvignon de Touraine blanc or a Cote du Vivarais rose. These were not pichet wines…they were served in the bottle.
I love this kind of French cooking. I guess you would call it French country cooking. It isn’t haute cuisine or old French with heavy cream sauces but honest food with good ingredients. Everything was amazing.
As we left, a number of diners said “Bonsoir” - a wonderful French custom.
We resisted the temptation to return another night. I wish we had.
Did I tell you that the total price per person for all this was €30?

Feria Cafe

Feria cafe
Place du Bourg Tibourg

I only mention this cafe because of the typical lunch items we had here. We had spent a couple of hours at BHV, a marvellous store of several floors, to find just about anything. Sitting outside at a cafe in Paris just seems like the right thing to do after some exhausting browsing.
Lunch was two draught beers, a tartine provencale and a croque monsieur. A tartine is a slice of bread (or baguette) with various toppings. It can be butter at breakfast or preserves (confiture) or a piece of brie, or pate. In this case, the tartine provencal was a slice of bread with ham, tomato, mozzarella cheese and onion, placed under the broiler. The croque monsieur was a slice of bread, ham and cheese with a béchamel sauce under the broiler. Both were very good, and I wish were more widely available at home. Then again, I wish this type of cafe were more widely available at home.

Bouclard

Bouclard

1, rue Cavallotti
Paris 75018
01 45 22 60 01
http://bouclard.com/

This was the last in our attempt to prove that one could indeed eat well in the 18e.
Bouclard is an old bistro-type restaurant, run by a man who spent 25 years In New York spreading the word about French gastronomy while working for a major New York P. R. Agency. In 1992 at age 50 he returned to Paris to fulfill his dream of running his own restaurant. He still sits at the door each night and welcomes the patrons.
Sandra’s entree was Gratin de queues d’ecrivisses au macon blanc which was crayfish tails (Dublin Bay prawns) in a white wine sauce topped with bread crumbs and cheese and broiled. His signature dish, this was wonderful ...and rich. My entree was their duck foie gras but served with boiled ratte potatoes garnished with chives and truffle oil. This was a different, but delicious, way to serve foie gras.
My plat was braised chicken in a vanilla and tarragon cream sauce. It was tasty but very creamy rich. Sandra had a grilled duck breast topped with a piece of foie gras. The servings were very large, the largest duck breast we had seen. The meals were served with aligot potatoes whipped with cream and cheese and placed under the broiler.
These meals were rich and heavy and left no room for dessert. This is the old style French cooking with intense, cloying cream sauces. No doubt that the food tastes delicious but there is nothing subtle about the flavours. Sauces like this were used to disguise poor cuts of meat, which these were not. Happily most French restaurants left this type of cooking years ago. You will get your money’s worth here. The portions are large. If you have never tasted this sort of cooking, you might want to try it. We couldn’t help but feel that with a little effort, his menus could be updated. The ingredients were there.
The decor was in perfect harmony with the menu.

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