we returned from our lovely paris and london trip very well fed. while in paris we ate some wonderful croissants (do they even know how to make bad croissants?), and some great meals. two most notable meals in paris were at les papilles where we picked out our wine from the store shelves and ate a delicious market menu with gazpacho, lamb, blue cheese with prunes, and a strawberry panna cotta, and then the next night at bistrot paul bert, where i had a white asparagus, beef daube, and an amazing cheese plate. they actually dropped of a giant cutting board full of cheese and i was allowed to leisurely cut off chunks of whatever cheese i wanted. i can’t imagine a restaurant in the us doing something like that. in london we had our best meal of the trip at anchor and hope (after staring out at the cloudy, cold, drizzly london skyline on the london eye). to start a had a salad with snails (eww!) and bacon, and i had a terrine of foie gras, duck and pork. so yum. then a had the best entree–potato cake with a poached egg and morels on top. i had a rabbit with polenta, and while very tasty the rabbit was a bit tough. to finish we split a pear tart with a crunchy, crumbly crust on the bottom and top that made it very satisfying to eat, and was a nice contrast with the soft pears.
we flew back on a tuesday night (and had a great flight back with lots of leg room and personal video monitors. i watched children of men which was good but very very bleak, and catch and release). we had one day to ourselves before my parents came into town for my brother’s graduation (i’m now the only one in my family without a doctorate or m.d.–i am officially a slacker) so i cooked at home wednesday night. neither of us went to work and shopped at union market which is always slightly disappointing. i get excited at the idea of going there, and everything looks great when i first walk in, but upon examination the produce always looks slightly wilted, and the meat counter guys are sort of rude. case in point, we decided to get soft shell crab, and when i asked the meat/fish counter guy if they were cleaned he said no in a way that seemed designed to make me feel stupid for even asking the question, and after several beats finally asked if i wanted them cleaned, which of course i did. for dinner that night we had soft shell crabs crusted with a panko/flour blend, on a fregola salad with ramps, arugula, and pancetta, with lemon drizzled on top. it wasn’t bad, but a asked if i was ever going to use a recipe again. not a good sign. but i think it might have something to do with the fact that he doesn’t like soft shell crab so much, which he readily admits.
this post is running long, so i’ll return tomorrow to report further on why i’m so full, which will have much to do with eating at a variety of nyc restaurants with great food…
