The sheer range of goods available at Gerard Mulot is staggering, and it was as if volume of products at the sprawling La Grande Epicerie was fitted into this compact shop.  You can get anything from chocolate to pastries to bread to terrines here.  It would be an excellent resource for a picnic.

Apologies for the pervasive glare in these photos.

On many of these chocolate entremets, the strip of white had a bubbled texture look, sort of like alligator skin.

.

This reminded me of the caramel nut tart that I’d made for our restaurant project practical. It was actually how I imagined to it be originally (gooey), rather than how it turned out (crystallized).  I toyed with the idea of adding pistachios to our tart, but I was little suspicious of how the bright green bits would fit into it.  I think I like it better without them, but it does make it stand out more.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

My attempt to go to Kayser was thwarted when we found the bakery on Rue Monge closed when we got there, but that night my brother happened to give me an article that talked about how Eric Kayser and Alain Ducasse had teamed up as owners of boulangepicier, which is sort of a modern combination of a bakery/gourmet market. I read that they serve sandwich brochettes, so we rushed out for our next available lunch. I couldn’t wait to have sandwiches on a stick.

Mini-Brochette - Pesto and Tomato on Basil Bread, Duck Fillet and Caramelized Onion on Tomato Bread, and Chevre and Olive Tapenade on Olive Bread. I love how so many flavors are packed onto one plate (and along one stick), and yet remain distinct within their separate spheres of sandwich. The duck was my favorite — nicely sweet and savory. The bread was a little chewier than I expected, but I thought it was good overall.

.

Club Sandwich and ‘”be” Sandwich. Both came with four strips of sandwich with two different fillings. One had salmon and cucumber as well as chicken. The other involved curry as well as something else I don’t remember. I liked how the crusts were so neatly cut off and how they were stacked in a skewer vertically, unlike my horizontal brochette.

And although this is very much a sandwich bar, with most orders to go, we were still able to enjoy a lovely bottle of wine with lunch at a counter in the back. No sense breaking our streak…

Edit: I just put it together that it’s Eric Kayser who owns the two Breadbars in LA.  I’ll have to check them out.

We went to Fauchon one afternoon to buy some pastries, and claimed a bench in the Jardin des Tuileries to try them out.

This tart was one of my favorites of the trip. I believe it was called Citron. It has a citron peel-flavored caramel, citron marshmallows, chocolate nougatine, and a chocolate crust. Four textures in a tart is pretty impressive, especially when they come together in such a wonderful citron-chocolate-caramel flavor. I really like that idea of the nougatine on top of the tart, as an immediate contrast to the filling, and a playful contrast to the bottom crust.

This was called Ravage. If I remember correctly, it had a milk chocolate mousse, caramel, raspberry cream, and little balls of biscuit interspersed throughout. Simple, but tasted great.

Caramel Madeleine and Cannele. The madeleine verged a little too close to butterscotch, but I liked how it was moister than most madeleines. The cannele was nicely crisp on the inside, but was too uncomfortably eggy inside for me.

Passion Fruit Macaron and Vanilla Macaron. While the texture was good — crisp and then meltingly light and smooth, but almost to a point of being cake-y by the end– the flavors were off. The passion fruit merely tasted sweet while the vanilla had way too strong of a vanilla flavor.

Here are some pictures taken of their display window… Ignore the glare.

.

.

After the jump are pic’s of the insides of some pastries…

(more…)

We happened upon Atelier Maitre Albert as we were looking for lunch in the Latin Quarter one day. This is another casual restaurant owned by a three star chef — in this case, Guy Savoy. This quote is included on its sign: “La cuisine est l’art de transformer instantanement en joie des produits charges d’histoire.” With indigo walls and marble floors, it’s chic, but it’s also inviting… like a modern, minimalist take on hearty medieval style. I was a little apprehensive about going in with outfits chosen for a day of walking around Paris, but we were treated with absolute cordiality.

The menu is based around the open rotisserie that provides a glowing backdrop for the open kitchen, and it was written on a chalkboard temporarily perched next to our table. There were 4 dishes available for each course, but it felt like there was plenty to choose from. And I liked how a salad on the side was described as “quelques feuilles de salades”.

Aside from a pair of unfortunately pasty gougeres to start the meal off, the food did what food should: popped with flavor. The dishes were quite simple, but they were perfectly made and presented with just a perfect touch of creative flair — like the twig in my cod, the jars of dessert for Chad, and my grapefruit terrine, which was one of favorite desserts of the whole trip.

The style of the decor and food reminded me a lot of gesture drawing during my meal. It seemed like everything had been considered in great detail, and then distilled into a flourish of simplicity.

Gougeres.

Cold Tomato Soup with Mascarpone Cream. I know it’s hard to carry soup without having it splash around, but I was a little disappointed by how messy it looked, despite being in a spiffy bowl. But then, I tasted how good and pungent it was, I was mollified. It kind of looks like the shape of the cream follows the contours of the bowl.

Salmon “Toutes Saveurs” with Herb Oil.

Rotisserie Cod. Chad thought that this looked like a Japanese Garden. I really like this simple twist on the presentation — it made what could have been a boring dish into something that makes you think differently about what you ordered. I usually get annoyed by inedible garnishes, but I think only because they’re usually so random and trite, unlike this.

Potatoes Dauphinois. Creamy, while still holding the potato as its main flavor.

Rotisserie Chicken with Mashed Potatoes.

Grapefruit Terrine. I loved this. It’s simply bits of grapefruit that have been molded into a terrine and sliced, but it was irresistible in a way that I can’t fully comprehend. It was just perfectly flavored, textured, and refreshing.

Chocolate Pot de Creme and Creme Caramel. I like this clever twist on what could have been a ho-hum dessert, even if there is a bit of triage involved to make that small bit of cake last. But, it’s technically a garnish, even if it is given center court, so in the end, the whole thing worked.

A few months before we went to Paris, my Dad asked that I make a reservation at a restaurant that he’d read about in a NYTimes article. A French chef had closed down his three star restaurant in order to open a more casual restaurant that wasn’t trapped within the demands of three star fine dining. Nonetheless, the new restaurant, Senderens, received two Michelin stars. So, I thought that was a cool story, and I made the reservation without another thought or research.

But once I got to this entrance on a prime spot at the Place de la Madeleine, I realized just how special this meal might be…

I hadn’t known that Alain Senderens is one of the superstar chefs of Paris, and I hadn’t considered the ramifications of his running Lucas Carton with three stars for 28 years at this location. The transformation to Senderens is discussed in this article and this article, and lots of others. It seems that the average tab per person without wine is only $130 now (75% less than what it was before)… and there are only 2 sommeliers instead of 8… and as I noticed, desserts are only $25… so it’s that kind of casual.

Anyway, after the initial shock, we settled into a fantastic meal — it’s quite a feat for a restaurant to thrill seven people over multiple courses, and that didn’t happen often during our trip. The food is not fussily elaborate, but it’s creative enough for me, and even more importantly, the flavors were great because of perfect preparation. And the setting was elegant and lowkey, and the service was very polite and helpful.

What I especially liked, too, was that each dish was paired with a wine on the regular menu, and there was a full description of that wine under the description of dish. This saves so much arbitrary judgment on the part of the guest, and it makes sense for a restaurant to recommend a wine that will contribute to the success of a given dish… as was the case with my dessert. Why can’t more restaurants do that?

The menu was a little difficult to navigate because of terms that I hadn’t encountered before, so I’m including the French and my less poetic interpretation in English.

Amuse Bouche. Avocado Puree and Crab.

Bread and Basket.

Trois Legumes dans un Ravioli Ouvert, Beurre Mousseux au Thym Citron, Tapenade du Moulin du Calanquet.

Three Vegetables in an Open Ravioli, Lemon-Thyme Foamy Butter, Moulin du Calanquet Tapenade.

Foie Gras de Canard Roti, Tubes de Navet Caramelises au Poivre Maniguette et Noisettes Torrefiees.

Roasted Foie Gras, Tubes of Caramelized Turnips with Grains of Paradise and Roasted Hazelnuts.

Dos de Saumon d’Ecosse Mi-Fumee a la Maison, Servi Tiede, Rubans de Concombre Glaces aux Epices Thai.

House Semi-Smoked Back of Scottish Salmon, Served Warms, Ribbons of Cold Cucumbers with Thai Spices.

Two people shared one serving of this, and the restaurant was nice enough to give each of the two their own plates. And then they fell in love with that salmon.

Tartare de Veau et Langoustine, Vermicelle de Riz, Parmigiano Reggiano.

Veal and Langoustine Tartare, Rice Noodles, Parmigiano Reggiano.

Agneau Biberon des Charentes au Sautoir, Cocettes de Legumes du Moment au Jus.

Sauteed Young Charentes Lamb, Seasonal Vegetable Stew with Jus.

Framboises Tiedes en Coulis, Pistaches Caramelisees, Sorbet au Caille de Brebis.

Warm Raspberries in Coulis, Caramelized Pistachios, Sheep’s Cheese Sorbet.

I ordered this for two reasons: to have the sorbet and to have the raspberries with this sparkling dessert wine…

Moscato d’Asti 2005 - La Spinetta.

I loved the rhyming of the sensations of raspberry pips and sparkling wine bubbles on my tongue. Raspberries might often be too strong for champagne, but since they were warm and sweetened with add’l coulis, they were mellow and soft enough to further blend perfectly with the sweet wine.

And the sorbet was fantastic, too.

Mille-Feuille a la Vanille de Tahiti.

Tahitian Vanilla Mille-Feuille.

This is their signature dessert, and was just what a mille-feuille should be, with an amazing vanilla note to boot. I especially liked how the puff pasty is rather thin, and flaky and caramelized.

Superposition de Rhubarbe et Pamplemousse, Sable aux Amandes, Caramel au Beurre Demi-Sel.

Superposition of Rhubarb and Grapefruit, Almond Shortbread, Half-Salt Butter Caramel.

I was so stunningly happy by the demi-sel factor; most of the other salted caramel foods we had in Prais were way too salty for us… and I love salt.

Sorbets et Glaces: Vanille, Cacao, Gingembre, Lait d’Amande, Mara des Bois.

Sorbets and Ice Creams: Vanilla, Cacao, GInger, Almond Milk, Mara des Bois Strawberry.

Mignardises: Macarons, Palmiers, Chocolate Truffle Cookie.

And then we left the nice little room that we had all to ourselves for the meal. Senderens mentioned that he saves money by not having tablecloths. If I had tables like that, I wouldn’t have tablecloths, either. I liked the trompe d’oeil lazy susan effect of the oval in the middle.