Feed my Face: Paris

Since it's been three weeks, maybe I should tell you what I ate in Paris, huh? It was all sooooooooooooo good!

We had to stop for a snack on the way to dinner the first night there. Our first stop, and by far the best patisserie we hit in Paris. I got this fabulous raspberry pistachio tart, and Layne had the pistachio napoleon thing in the background. The tart was so juicy and amazingly flavorful, while the napoleon was very rich and had much warmer flavors. YUM.

Our first restaurant was super French! And since it was sort of off the beaten tourist path, they very much only spoke French. And we very much only speak English. Ordering became a series of pointing at the menu and miming, while the rest of the meal was basically just "merci" over and over again. For appetizers, we forgot to take a picture! Really too bad, because it was one of the most visually deliciously of the trip. Layne had bone marrow on a crostini with asparagus and mushrooms, while I had a green bean and peach salad. They both sound odd, but were fantastic. For the main course, I had (right) the quail with bacon and a fried quail egg over spring peas. The sauce was divine, and if you don't love the richness of yolk broken over your salty meats then we simply don't have that much in common. Layne had (left) what was sort of like a lobster au gratin dish with cavier on top. And then I had a strawberry sorbet and Layne had the chocolate ice cream like stuff over a vanilla sauce.

For late lunch/early dinner the next day, we hit up a cute little cafe right on the street. We started with escargot and I LOVED IT! The green you can see was herbs, not the snail itself. For the main course, Layne got the steak with pepper sauce and fries, and I went with the croque madame, which is a croque monsieur (hot ham and cheese sandwich) with an egg on top. The pepper sauce had just the right bite, and dragging the fries through it made me never want ketchup again.

For lunch the next day, we went to a restaurant right next to the Arch de Triomphe. It was pouring rain, but we sat in this room that was completely glass and watched the Parisians dash through the rain. I had a caprese salad with heirloom tomatoes, and Layne had a club sandwich. The picture does not do justice to how big that sandwich was!

For dinner the next night, we went Italian. They had an olive oil dipping bowl with diced garlic marinating in it. I tasted garlic for three days, which is heaven if you ask me. Layne had gnocchi and I had a seafood linguine with mussels, clams, and calamari with the absolute lightest sauce.

Later that night, we went for crepes (for the second time - we had also had crepes right by the Eiffel Tower a few nights before). But these crepes were so much better! I got a strawberry and lemon with whipped cream (or chantilly, which I found hilarious since Chantilly is a D.C. suburb). My crepe was fine. But Mister Fletcher ordered a crepe with salted butter caramel sauce and I almost died it was so good! And the little creperie we were at was so cute I took pictures; don't you love the wall?






Interspersed was a lot more patisserie and boulangers, and a nightly baguette with brie. Basically, we loved eating in France, possibly even moreso than usual! So what if I gained six lbs? I look back on those 4 days and it was worth it!