My husband and I just returned from our first trip to France. Eating was one of the goals and pleasures of the trip, and I wanted to share some favorite restaurants. PARIS: L'Os a Moelle (3 rue Vasco De Gama) was written up in the Sept. issue of Vogue as a fine example of cuisine moderne. Dinner was so good we returned for lunch the following week. Dinner was a fixed menu of 6 courses with no choices except as to dessert. We started with chilled melon soup. (We were served a bowl with 6 melon balls and some shreds of ham and lavender. Fortunately the article mentioned melon soup, so we didn't eat the melon balls; in a few minutes, the waiter appeared with a tureen of soup, which he ladled onto the garnish in the bowls.) Then intensely flavored braised wild mushrooms topped with a piece of marrow, followed by a small serving of monkfish and lobster in lobster-flavored sauce. The main course was roast pigeon, which was as rich as rare roast beef. This was followed by cheese and salad, then dessert. I had the quenelles of chocolate in saffron sauce. They were denser and more chocolatey than mousse or ganache -- I suspect they were a mixture of chocolate, cream, butter, and a bit of gelatin, and they were WONDERFUL. Lunch provided many choices, incuding the same quenelles, which I just had to order again. Coffee was served with small chocolate truffles, about the size of sugar cubes. Lunch or dinner for the two of us, including wine, was about 520 FF (about $104). LYON: We had dinner at Fleur de Sel (3, rue des Remparts d'Ainay, near the Ampere-Victor Hugo metro stop). This was an elegant restaurant with outstanding food. The foie gras appetizer was so buttery I could hear my arteries snapping shut. Our lamb chops were not as rare than we like, but they may have thought since we were Americans, we would not like our lamb as underdone as the French. They served a "pre-dessert" of a small gratin of pears, then a dessert (my husband still raves about the creme brulee, served in THREE dishes per serving), then chocolates and cookies with coffee. Prix fixe dinner, plus wines, for two was 659FF (about $132). ARLES: Guided by a 1989 Gourmet magazine article, we ate at L'Olivier for lunch on a day-trip from Lyon. The restaurant is on a side-street, in an old stone building. The room we ate in probably used to be the patio, but it had been roofed-over, with a large skylight to bring in the bright Provencal sun. We ate there on a Saturday, and there was only one other party in the restaurant. We each had a main course and a dessert. I had half of a small chicken in a black pepper and sweet citrus sauce with pineapple chutney as a garnish. It was fabulous. My husband had a seafood melange in boullibaise (sp?) style sauce. He liked the generous hunk of salmon, but was not thrilled with the other fish. (In general, with the exception of salmon, the fish and seafood we had throughout the trip was not as good as other food. I had a truly terrible piece of racasse in Dijon.) Here, we were served a "pre-dessert" of a small creme brulee, followed by a plate of tuile cookies, followed by dessert. These were followed by a two-tiered candy dish of truffles, candied almonds and homemade gum drops served with our coffee. The tab for the two of us, including a bottle of wine and 2 glasses of very nice champagne ($10 each) came to 507FF (a little over $100). Marcia Sharff [email removed] From [email removed] Wed Nov 13 11:29:18 EST 1996 Article: 28737 of rec.food.restaurants
Paris, France