Paris: Other Food

A few other great places we hit:

Fauchon
26 place de la Madeleine

Another legendary patisserie located dangerously close to our hotel; they had a huge variety of delicious madelines available, from pistachio to chestnut. Great place to stop off to get some fresh juice and a pastry after a long day out.












Au Coin des Gourmets
5 rue Dante (Latin Quarter)

This is a tiny gem of a restaurant tucked away from the tourist crowds on the main streets. A friend of mine recommended this place owned by the Ta family. The restaurant specializes in Vietnamese and Cambodian cuisine. If you want a nice break from richer foods, this is the place to go. The food is light, fresh, and clean. And did I mention tasty? As usual, my stomach overrode my brain and I neglected to photograph the food, but everything was delicious, not to mention new to me. Definitely worth a visit.


Le Grand Colbert
2 rue Vivienne


Yes it's the restaurant that had a cameo in Something's Gotta Give,and no, I am not biased because the handsome maitre'd thought I spoke French well (if he only spoke with the cab driver who laughed heartily after he finally understood my pronounciation of the number "twenty four" ). As usual, we over ordered. Onion soup, salad, frog legs, steak, and roast chicken (in honor of Diane Keaton's character). Salad was passable, a little overburdened with ingredients (see photo; yes, there is some lettuce buried underneath all that) and not a conventional Caesar salad. Everything else was tasty, but the real star of the show was the frog legs.

Okay, the last time I had frog legs was when I was ten, and my dad had prepared some and told me it was chicken. I ate the tasty things until it dawned on me that my dad does not eat chicken (loss of a childhood pet to the butcher's knife apparently). I was a bit traumatized and hadn't touched them since then until I had them again at LGC. They were drenched in butter, oil, garlic, and parsley. They needed a bit of salt, but with a splash of balsamic vinegar, they were incredible! My dining companion's chicken was very tasty and fresh. You will not find the chicken of the Costco rotisserie variety here. We're used to chicken breasts that can feed three people here, but in France the chickens are not of the super growth hormone variety due to the country's ban on such hormones (hellloooo U.S.). The chicken is a lot smaller and a lot more savory; the cuisine relies on the freshness of the poultry versus dousing the poor bugger with a ton of seasoning. Instead, they douse the poultry with cooking wine. All in all a great meal.

Fauchon photo: from www.fauchon.fr

Coming up: Paris--Shopping