Bouffe entre amis

So we all got to choose one thing to do in Paris, and mine was to get together with friends for dinner. The couple with us are my sister’s close friend Marielle and her new(!) husband Donough who currently live in the Marais district of Paris. Marielle and my sister have been friends for a long time, and when I planned a trip to Paris I thought it would be fun to get together and hopefully meet her husband whom she met while living in Dublin. They are a great couple, both very interesting people who share our interests in food and travelling, and they brought us to one of their favorite neighborhood restaurants where we had a fabulous meal. We met for drinks at their place, after I’d rudely invited myself over (come on, I wanted to see where they live!!), and they served us yummy champagne and Sam ate his weight in garlic-marinated green olives. Who knew? We then got to take a walk around the Marais and over to the Place des Vosges, a beautiful square with symmetrical architecture that’s just breathtaking. Donough told us that Victor Hugo used to live in one of the 35+ houses (some say 36, others say 39) and I did a bit more research when I got home. The Place des Vosges is the oldest square in Paris, dating back to 1604 when King Henry IV built a royal pavillion at the southern end of the square and then ordered the rest of the buildings to be constructed of the same design. There were lots of people sitting on benches, admiring the landscape and each other’s company, and Sam ran around chasing pigeons. When we got to the restaurant, Sam had blown off enough steam to sit for a leisurely dinner without incident, and he ate most of his dinner and all of his dessert. The restaurant was fantastic, a truly French place with a tiny kitchen and extremely welcoming owners/servers who knew Marielle and Donough and went to great lengths to make us feel welcome.

We all went with the 3 course prix fixe menu after being tempted by a taste of the delicious fresh pea soup that was quite impressive (it was a gorgeous green). I of course started with the pea soup, and for my main dish had a crispy skin sea bass over mushroom risotto and topped with a tomato and orange pepper relish. Jon skipped the soup, and had an entrecôte of beef with a shrimp and vegetable starter that was wrapped in phylo dough and tasted delicious (much better than it had sounded).  Sam had a ricotta and serrano ham ravioli starter as his main dish, and they made a vegetarian platter for Sara, who was eating the fresh bread as though it was her last supper.  I was too absorbed in my own food to notice what everyone else was eating, and there was lots of delicious red wine and great company. We finished with coffee and dessert and practically stumbled out onto the street. It was the best meal I’ve had in months, and, as my father used to say, was cheap at twice the price. I could definitely get used to this!

image: jean-louis schmidt