Paris - Day Three - Continued

Oct 6, Wednesday 

After a wonderful lunch experience at Nomiya, a prix-fixe five course meal with wine pairing, Kellie and I met our friend, Joan, who arrived earlier that morning.  Our meeting place was botched, but fortunately through back and forth texts, we were able to find each other at Avenue Montaigne and Champs Elysees, a six road junction where crazy cars careen criss-crossing lanes to their destination in a blur (or was that the wine).  Our itinerary for the remainder of our third day in Paris, included leisurely exploring parts of the 8th arrondissement.  You have to do something in between meals.  

From our meeting place on Champs Elysees, the Obelisk of Luxor at the Place de Concorde is at one end, and the Arc de Triomphe at the other. 

 

In between, the wide sidewalk is great for wandering in and out of shops without causing pedestrian traffic.  Besides the obvious; luxury shops, cafes and people watching, this boulevard impressed me with it's massive rectangular trimmed horse-chestnut trees lining both sides - apparently, it's even more impressive during the holidays when the trees are strung with twinkling lights.  You would think that with all the retail space, the buildings along Champs Elysees would look "commercial", but the detail and extensive iron work exudes class and elegance.  The French call the boulevard, "La plus belle avenue du monde", the most beautiful avenue in the world.

  

Place Charles de Gaulle (Place d'Etoile), is a junction of twelves straight streets including Champs Elysees,  with the Arc de Triomphe sitting in the middle.  The monument honors those that fought during the French revolution, with names of generals inscribed inside and outside of the arc.  After strolling around the Arc, we paid our fee to go to the observation platform on top.  Climbing the stairway may be a challenge, there are no elevators and 284 steps, but once you reach the top, it's well worth it, it's the best way to see the layout of the broad boulevards designed by Baron Haussmann during Paris's modernization and urban renovation in the 1860's.  You get great views of Sacre Coeur, La Defense, Eiffel Tower, and nearby neighborhoods.

Underside of Arc de Triomphe

One of the many narrow staircases to the Arc de Triomphe's observation platform

Two of the twelve streets that make up the "Square of the Star"

La Defense on the other end of Champs Elysees 

Sacre Coeur high on the hills of Montmartre

Eiffel Tower

Kellie, Me, and Joan on the Arc platform

After we had our fill of history, views and crowds, we headed toward our metro stop that took us to the left bank, to explore the 7th arrondissement, home of the Invalides and the Eiffel Tower.  The Invalides is a complex of buildings which includes a military museum and hospital, church and the gold dome.  Directly underneath the dome is Napoleon's tomb

Entrances to the military museum

Dome of the church and home of Napoleon's tomb

Unusually Big Door

Courtyard of the museum of the army

At this point our little diversion before the next meal was dragging on, so we went in search of a cafe for a beverage.  Cafe Le Centenaire is located on the corner of Boulevard La Tour Maubourg and Rue Saint Dominique.  We sat, sipped, chatted, and watched people walk by, we could have passed for Parisians, with the exception of our cameras, souvenir bags, and the fact that we were wearing flats and not heels.  

I read somewhere, not sure if it was a food blog, site, or magazine, that Cafe Constant was not to be missed while visiting Paris.  Chef Christian Constant owns three restaurants on Rue Saint Dominique.  Cafe Constant, serves classic bistro fare that incorporates many of his grandmother's recipes and who doesn't love a French granny and Les Cocettes (means dutch oven), is his version of an American diner? (the chef must be confusing an American diner for some other great place where they serve dutch oven worthy - yummy - braised all day - fall apart with a fork dishes) and Le Violon d'Ingres, a deluxe brasserie.

Cafe Constant and Les Cocettes were meant to be neighborhood spots, pop in for a quick breakfast or a late dinner, serving really really great good  - yes the reviews used two "reallys" in their write up.  Neither restaurants take reservations.  When we arrived at Cafe Constant a little after 7:00 pm, there was a crowd of people hanging around the entryway.  I checked to see if we were at the right place, and I spotted the the violin, their signature logo on the window.  I had hoped that if we arrived when the door opened, we would not have to wait long.  Others must have had the same idea.  The cafe door opens right into a casual dinning room with small square tables along the glass wall, several booths tucked in the corner and under the staircase and from what I could see all the tables were occupied and the bar on the left running the length of the small dinning room also looked busy.  I semi-optimistically asked for a table for 3, looking around the small space thinking if you moved some of the tables closer together, maybe they could add a table, please?  The maître'd, who was more like a friendly bartender, did not disappoint, he asked if we would mind dining upstairs, which of course, I gratefully accepted.  There was already a crowd in the low ceiling dinning room on the second floor.  We were seated next to a loud group of Americans.  It was evident that they had not read the French etiquette book, their conversation could be heard by all.

Our waiter presented us with the English menu to peruse (how did he know that we didn't read/speak French, which we don't, but still).  Being the end of the day, my tourist feet and the dampness from the light drizzle, made us that much more appreciative to be sitting in a warm, inviting dinning room, and seeing pumpkin soup on the menu was destiny.  When the waiter came to take our order, I made eye contact with him and glanced disapprovingly over at the offending table, letting him know that we were not like them (in most cases we are, but not here).  We ordered Parisian-like, talking quietly, taking interest, but not too much interest.  Of course, I ordered the pumpkin soup with buttery croutons and roasted chestnuts drizzled with truffle oil to start and the foie gras terrine with toast as my dinner - I figured I might as well enjoy the dish in a land where it is protected by law as a cultural and gastronomical heritage, unlike many places where gavaging for plumper fatty liver is controversial (thanks Charlie Trotter and PETA).  The pureed pumpkin had the perfect blend of spices and texture, creamy but retaining pure pumpkin essence and I am a big fan of mixing up textures so the crunch of the buttery croutons was perfect and the roasted chestnuts, well it was so homey - I don't know who's home, not mine, but maybe a French Granny's?  My slice of foie gras terrine was better than I expected, slightly gamey sweet but delicate with a hint of I can't quite identify the liquor and creamy smooth to spread on toasted brioche.  We ordered a bottle of Sancerre, which was brought and placed on our table in what looked like a small gift bag with handles, made out of heavy plastic, filled with ice, just fitting the wine bottle, it was so novel that it felt like it belonged in Ft. Lauderdale, not Paris, but the French white wine did not disappoint. It is rare that I clean my plate, be it at home or out, let's just say you could fool me that there was food on those plates.  Kellie had the soup as well, and I think a shrimp dish and Joan ordered what looked like perfectly poached fish in delicate broth with vegetables.  My dining companions equally enjoyed their delicious dishes and we all shared a floating island for dessert, a big round of light meringue drizzled with caramel floating in a pool of creme anglaise, so simple, so perfect.  I struggled to leave my camera in my bag especially at this point but I didn't want to be lumped in with the loud table of Americans next to us - too bad for you all.  I agree with other reviewers, Cafe Constant is not to be missed if you happen to be in Paris.

Paris - Day Three

Oct 6, Wednesday - Nomiya@Art Home

The metro from Montparnasse to Trocadero was packed when it arrived at noon, but we were running late for our lunch reservations so we got on anyway, we didn't have a choice, passengers behind us, pushed us on.  Talk about "packed like sardines", "stufffed to the gills", it felt like a group hug with strangers and although I am not claustrophobic, I believe in the art of personal space.  I knew that we had gone over the maximum weight limit, so I was not surprised when the doors wouldn't, no couldn't close.  As if on cue, the crowd did a collective inhale and somehow the doors banged shut.  The relief was short lived, in the next moment, the engine shut off, the lights went out and we stood silently still  for 15-20 seconds, as uncomfortable as the closeness of a stranger's breath, it pales in comparison to the fear of being trapped in a dark train.  Miraculously, the engine started, lights came on and off we went.  After several stops along the Metro's underground labyrinth, the crowd thinned out and we traveled above ground.  We got a glimpse of the Eiffel tower and the surrounding neighborhoods.  Once at Iena, we ran to the Palais de Toyko. 

I was looking forward to lunch at Nomiya @Art Home for weeks.  Nomiya is a temporary restaurant constructed by artist Laurent Grasso and erected on the the roof of a contemporary art museum.  The exhibit combines structure and food as art.  The seasonal menu changes daily over the course of the year, comprising of ingredients from the local open air food market.  I learned about this exhibit from my friend Deanne, when she was contemplating it for her Paris trip and wanted my opinion.  We watched various videos of artist Laurent Grasso's constructing and installing his glass room on the roof of a museum directly across the river from the Eiffel tower.  We sensed  that this was something special, so Deanne and her husband booked their lunch and after hearing rave reviews upon their return, I booked our lunch tickets on- line through their website. They offer lunch or dinner bookings which they release one day at a time, one calendar month in advance at 10:00 am (Paris time).  Tickets go fast and for some reason you can only get tickets in pairs, Art Home.

When you enter Palais de Tokyo, the Nomiya reception area is on your left as you pass the gift/book shop.  A hostess took our group on a tiny elevator (another cozy situation) to the roof.  Stepping out on the roof garden you make your way to Nomiya by following a path lined with planters containing tomatoes, zucchini, green beans, and dwarf fruit trees to a short flight of stairs until you are eye to eye with the Eiffel Tower and Grasso's master piece, Nomiya.  I read somewhere it was fashioned after Japanese bars.

You enter at one end of the glass room, there's a restroom to one side (luckily, this part is not clear glass), a bench seat on the other. The kitchen runs down the center with a prep table and walkways on either side until you reach the dinning area, all in all, it takes about 20 steps from one end to the other.  As we made our way to the dinning area, I noticed and admired all the kitchen appliances by Electrolux, I happen to be one of those who appreciate kitchen appliances like art pieces, but the great view of Paris and the Eiffel Tower pulled me forward to the dinning area.  There are twelve seats, so I was one of twelve lucky diners that day to have an experience that I will not soon forget. With the exception of Kellie and myself, all of the diners were French.  We were greeted with a flute of champagne by a tall thin French waiter, he also spoke English and asked if anyone had dietary restrictions.  I didn't think the French cared if you had dietary restrictions, how nice of him to ask, fortunately for the chef, everyone in our group were thumbs up for anything.  While others were milling around the small dining area sipping their glass of bubbly and admiring the view.  Deanne's husband, Jeff had told us to grab the seats with the view of the Eiffel Tower, so we nonchalantly laid our purses down on a couple of seats, at the far end of the table on the left side.  We admired the Eiffel Tower throughout our multi-course lunch (thanks for the tip, Jeff).

We started with beef carpaccio prepared gravlax style (I think that's what how the waiter described it).  A perfect piece of raw beef tenderloin, brushed with olive oil with a sprinkling of pink Himalayan salt and black pepper.  The texture is chewy but not tough, the salt added a little crunch and it had a cured tasted.  It was served with a crisp white wine.  The second course, scallops cerviche and wasabi jello dusted with lobster powder served with cepe mushroom drizzled with lobster oil.  The scallops were fresh and dense with a briny flavor from the lobster powder, and the wasabi jello had a silky texture with a kick as it slid down your throat.  I wished they would have crisped the mushrooms because the texture of the scallops, jello and mushrooms were one note.

The phantom third dish.  A trio, foie gras confit, white eggplant  and green fig preserve.  It was delicious, fatty, flavorful, and fruity. I devoured it before I could even get a picture.

The fourth course was a large smoked pheasant breast with spinach, topped with spaghetti squash and parmesan foam, surrounded by yellow squash and romanesco broccoli (roman cauliflower or broccoflower interesting fact about this vegetable, it is a "fractal" - google it).  Sometimes smoke overpowers everything, but the squashes did their part in adding texture and flavor.  In addition to the notable vegetables, a Mas Foulaquier's Le Rollier made up of Grenache (60%) and Syrah (40%) complemented this course wonderfully.  The winery produces organic/biodynamic wines south of Paris, near Provence. 

The dessert course was a poached apple with caramel rolled in hazelnuts topped with sorbet.  We took our time over this one.  We barely made it to the core and who could blame us, after 4 courses, all I want is a bite.

After the meal, we had a chance to meet the chef. The chef was young and engaging, he thought his stint at the "restaurant in the sky" was going to be extended in Paris for another year.  He had worked under Gordon Ramsey in London prior to being "installed" at Art Home.  Our waiter, had a great sense of humor and I have to credit him for trying his best to describe all the dishes in English.  Throughout our meal we chatted with a French couple, Jelko and Collette, sitting directly in front of us with their backs to the Eiffel Tower (obviously they didn't have a Jeff).  To say it was an amazing meal, would not do it justice, the view alone will make this one of the most memorable meals in my book.      

Our waiter

Jelko, Collette

Our Chef

Our view

Art Home on the roof of Palais de Tokyo

Paris - Day Two

Oct 5, Tuesday 

The Original Farmer's Market

Of the many good things about Paris, one for sure is that you just can't get a bad cup of joe.  We ordered ours from a cafe stand just a few doors from our rented apartment.  In the morning, Parisians order an espresso, a tiny cup of pure caffeine and they down it like a shot at the little one person stand, be they business men in Armani suits, prettily made-up office girls with their Marc Jacob bags, or little old ladies with really good shoes, and off they go, the ritual takes maybe a good two minutes with even a sparring conversation with the barrista, of course, as Americans we order our cafe creme "to go," the whole conversations takes over 10 minutes and what's with paying with coins.  When we wrap our hands around the cup and sip/savor, it's worth the hassle and we can walk, chat and sip, the art of multi-tasking.  I don't think I ever saw another soul walking around the city with a cup of coffee.  That's what separates US from THEM, that and the many ways they wear their scarves....

Only a few blocks away, we walked to Marche Raspail between Rue du Cherche-Midi and Rue de Rennes.  What is it about fresh cheese, meat, produce, flowers, all in the open, it's just so exciting... like you want to pull on your Hunter boots and start farming something.  I know we can't all be farmers but we can all cook something and share it.

I had the chance to taste foie gras pate from an artisan and duck farmer from the south.  He spoke about his region, which I was not familiar with, with such passion and almost violent enthusiasm... at least that's what I think he was talking about, there was the whole retirement age issue going on... but he was speaking French and I was just in awe of my friend, Kellie, translating in her high school French...  I nodded a lot and tasted with a lot of ohhhs and ahhhhs.  The market comprised mainly of food stuff, some clothing (which was odd) and beautiful market baskets from Madagascar, if only I didn't have visions of people yelling at me about it not fitting in the overhead bin, I would have snatched one up. 

 

I had to see the famous Poilane bakery, where the business has been handed down some thirty years ago and the younger generation is continuing the seventy year tradition of baking famous brick oven  bread that is guaranteed internationally to be at your door step in 48 hours.  But this is not the white french bread you see people walking around tucked in their back pocket.  They refuse to make that type of bread... order some and find out why it's so popular....

We continued our stroll down Rue de Raspail (this is still morning, we will come to a snails pace come evening) down to Rue du Cherche-Midi, where we happened upon this statue, the Centaur by French sculptor Cesar, which is just down the street from Le Bon Marche, the best place for retail therapy as any I have ever seen.  Every designer shoes, handbags, clothes and home furnishings that you can, again, ohhh and ahhh at.

I was so glad that Kellie decided that this is where she needed to get her husband a souvenir.  It gave us a chance to practice the hunt, not for a deal, there are none to be found here, but for the perfect gift.  She found it with the help of a Frenchman with a similar cranium, a perfect gray wool pageboy hat.  We decided that we needed some food after looking at and thinking about food all morning.  We walked into the a cafe across the street where the host/waiter tucked us into a great spot for people watching, right in front of a busy intersection (rue de babylone and rue du raspail) at Sip Babylone,  Kellie and I both admired and critiqued people's fashion sense, we noticed that Parisians definitely dress up and were a little daring in their choices, whether they were college students or older (a lot older) retirees. When our food arrived, we were as quiet as if we were at church, we didn't say a word until after several bites.  This could be the best quiche Lorraine I have ever had, and I have tried many in my day.. Story has it, this dish is not named after a granny or some crazy aunt or even a well meaning neighbor.  It's a region in France where this specific quiche was made popular, the French, they are so efficient that way.  Ours had the perfect blend of ham and cheese and eggy goodness and the perfect crust.  I think it can also be made with thick bacon. After a good session of people watching and a preview of this year's fashion do's and don'ts, we plucked ourselves off the cafe seat and dusted the baguette crumbs and headed toward the river. 

We noticed several neighborhood markets in different areas and they all had fresh produce in common, how can you not cook and eat fresh when you have this within walking distance?  I think it's as Adam Gopnik said,  "Everyday things in Paris are wonderful, " in one of his books.  And I agree.

After walking all morning, we decided to take the Batobus, a little shuttle boat cruiser on the Seine River that takes you from the left bank to the right bank and all the way around with stops at every major monument.  We caught ours at the St. Germain stop and went around the Notre Dame to the Louve stop.  We got off to take in the site and enjoy the cloudy day in the Le Halles area. Historically, the market place of Paris, the great markets are no longer there, but there's a nice little eclectic neighborhood with boutiques and many kitchen wares store, notably E. Dehillerin, which is more like an old fashioned hardware store, but for cooks, with every imaginable cookware/bakeware one would ever need or even imagine that they would need.  It is paradise, but crowded and serious people needing serious things, I even noticed a package set aside for someone from Guy Savoy to pick up, so we didn't spend much time although we should have.  We took a break from all the walking and enjoyed a refreshment at Cafe Noir, which is known for it's friendly owner, but not a one was to be seen or heard, but we enjoyed the Arabic music and a glass of Stella beer.  After more window shopping, we were back on the Batobus for a cruise around the Eiffel tower and back to our stop.  Even when it drizzles in Paris, it's a beautiful thing.

We walked back to the apartment for a quick change and went to find our second dinner spot in Paris, after the first dinner, we were determined to be a little more discriminating..  As we were walking around the Montparnasse area, we encountered the Eiffel tower light up in all it's glory (sorry for the bad grainy video).

 

 After walking around, we settled on an establishment that looked old, it was called Montparnasse 1900, I hoped it was the age and not the address.  We were discouraged upon entering, it looked abandoned in the parlor or so we thought.  Upon entering the inner chamber, there was a crowd of people, and beautiful stained glass ceiling, we were lucky to be seated  Again mostly French people, but they actually had good looking food in front of them and bottles of wine.  After perusing the menu, I ordered the 7 hour roasted lamb a jus and potato puree and Kellie had the roasted chicken.  We eaves dropped on the diners to the right, a father and daughter (I hope) and a table full of businessmen to the left.  We sat and soaked in the the hustle and bustle of the professional waitstaff as we enjoyed our bottle of Sancerre in a champagne bucket.  Nourished and exhausted from our second day in the city, we prepared to be joined by our friend, Joan, the next day for the rest of our Paris adventure.