La Semaine du Goût - Merged topics

[admajoremgloriam]

As some of you may have noticed, today is the first day of "la semaine du goût", i.e. "the week of taste".

Many restaurants all over France offer their contribution to the event by offering a set menu designed to match their specialties with wine. Either a bottle will be served or a few glasses matching the dishes. Most of the menus have a very interesting price, all the more as they are often offered for dinner as well as lunch and almost always include four or five different dishes. (Also, if any of you are students, as I am, no matter the subject you're studying, you often get a 50 per cent discount, and pretty much always at least 20 per cent off).

Last year, I tried "Le Divellec" and "Le Violon d'Ingres": both offered an amazing menu, at an incredibly great value, even at non-student prices.

For a complete list of participating restaurants see: www.legout.com (they include Jacques Cagna, Gérard Besson, l'Espadon, le Bristol, Les Crayères, Georges Blanc, le Buerehiesel, etc.)

[admajoremgloriam]

Two very satisfying meals during "la semaine du gout"

* La Poste, a brasserie rue d eLongchamp (75016), thursday evening

Feuilleté d'escargots aux girolles

Sanglier (with the required purées, chesnuts and cranberry jelly)

Figues roties au miel d'acacia, glace à la vanille bourbon

All of this for 25 euros, including three glasses of wines, matching the dishes (nothing too exciting but nice choices, including a 1999 chateau Carbonnieux for the boar)

* Le Violon d'Ingres, saturday lunch

Incredibly nice people, we got full service even though we were only paying the semaine du gout price and they did not charge us for mineral water (Chateldon)!

Amuse bouche - nems de légumes with a 1997 Veuve Cliquot Rosé - this was not part of the set menu, which begins with:

Amuse bouche 2 - pumpkin and cheese crème

Pithivier de gibier, asuce grand veneur (glass of cote du rhone)

Coquilles St Jacques, endives au suc d'agrumes (glass of Saint Véran)

Canard aux figues et dragées (glass of languedoc)

Crème de marrons, mascarpone et gelée de café

Café, mignardises

We paid about 48 euros for the menu and 16 for the champagne, which amounted to a grand total of 130 euros for two for the whole experience, needless to say, I'd do it again in a second.

[admajoremgloriam]

This thread is becoming a "Violon d'Ingres" special but I thought I should let you know about my lunch there today, be it only as an example of how great the service is over there. I went there expecting to try the lunch menu but it turned out they were still doing the special menu from last week. As I told them I had enjoyed it so much but thought it a pity to try the same dishes, the offered to change some of them and I decided to keep the starters but trade the duck for a ringdove, which was havenly cooked and served with wild mushrooms. They also changed the dessert and made it a very subtle and incredibly light-textured chocolate and coffee pie.

The sommelier offered to have me try some other wines and matched them with the dishes, and all of them were great, better than the ones from the regular menu (especially the Meursault 1er cru matched with the scallops). I was not charged a single supplement for all the effort they went through!

As a final note I would like to point oiut that their normal lunch menu seems very nice as well, is 3 course for 39 euros and, above all, includes many game dishes (such as hare and pheasant, if I remember correctly).

[Bux]

The kind of service and attention you received seems in line with Christian Constant's generosity when we were introduced to him after the eGullet dinner in Paris earlier this month.

I only regretted that we hadn't eaten at his cafe, but up the street at l'Auvergne Gourmande which was just better suited to handle our table of eight.

[daemon]

Since 1990, this "culinary festival" takes place all around France, in restaurants and other places such as schools, librairies....

in restaurants, chiefs propose foodies special menus including wine, for a sweeter price than usual (and even less for students). In Paris places like Le Bristol, Le Ritz, La Régalade, Le Pré Catelan are part of it as is Le Square ( a small bistrot next to my office in the 18th, that is worth it ) : parisian restaurants list .

[Freckles]

This is a really amazing event! I recommend it to anyone who has the opportunity to take advantage of it...

[Felice]

La Semaine du Goût

15-21 October

The Semaine du Goût starts this week, with countless food-related activities throughout France. You can visit their website for a list of all activites, including a list of restaurants offering special menus—with much lower prices-- including Arpege, August, Drouant, and the Ritz amongst others.

www.legout.com

[Abra]

What I find adorable about this week is that our local paper, Midi Libre, is showing each day what the little kids are doing in school as part of the semaine de gout. Today, for example, it's all about apples.

[John Talbott]

La Semaine du Goût

15-21 October

The Semaine du Goût starts this week, with countless food-related activities throughout France.  You can visit their website for a list of all activites, including a list of restaurants offering special menus—with much lower prices-- including Arpege, August, Drouant, and the Ritz amongst others.

www.legout.com

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Wow, thanks Felice.

Last night on the flight from Dulles to R/CdeG the debutante attendant lady was so excited to be here for Food Week that she pumped everyone for info (cute!)

[pierre45]

La Semaine du Goût

15-21 October

The Semaine du Goût starts this week, with countless food-related activities throughout France.  You can visit their website for a list of all activites, including a list of restaurants offering special menus—with much lower prices-- including Arpege, August, Drouant, and the Ritz amongst others.

www.legout.com

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Wow, thanks Felice.

Last night on the flight from Dulles to R/CdeG the debutante attendant lady was so excited to be here for Food Week that she pumped everyone for info (cute!)

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You have to deduct oct 18 and 19 because of the transport strike,unless you're lucky to have some of the restaurants in your neighborhood.

[John Talbott]

For those who plan way ahead, Web Radio du Gout announced the next Semaine du Goût, now 18 years old, will be held October 13-19 2008 - for more info contact here.

[LindaK]

Habitués: is it worth a transatlantic voyage? I'm overdue a trip to France and wonder if this is worth planning around? Merci.

[Felice]

Habitués: is it worth a transatlantic voyage?  I'm overdue a trip to France and wonder if this is worth planning around? Merci.

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I don’t think it would be worth a special trip. I actually have never even been to any of the Semaine de Gout events but many of the events revolve around activities for students. I know they have special lunches at elementary schools. Restaurants do offer special menus but I haven’t seen much else.

[John Talbott]

Habitués: is it worth a transatlantic voyage?  I'm overdue a trip to France and wonder if this is worth planning around? Merci.

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I don’t think it would be worth a special trip. I actually have never even been to any of the Semaine de Gout events but many of the events revolve around activities for students. I know they have special lunches at elementary schools. Restaurants do offer special menus but I haven’t seen much else.

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Yah, I agree, I probably shouldn't have implied it was worth a trip.

On the other hand, if one is looking for an excuse to come, why not? And October is a fabulous time of year.

[LindaK]

On the other hand, if one is looking for an excuse to come, why not?  And October is a fabulous time of year.

It is indeed. But I learned my lesson the last time I was there in early October 2003, which I remember as a sleep-deprived haze of American baseball watching. I'm a life-long Red Sox fan, which I now know trumps my francophilia. I hadn't taken the late September-early October baseball playoff schedule into account when I planned my trip--the first in 5 years, quite a drought for me after years of annual trips to France. As it turned out, between the division playoffs and the seven game series against the Yankees for the AL Pennant, I spent my last two weeks in Paris watching baseball 2 am - 5 am, taking the first Metro back to my apartment and crashing until noon.

It sounds crazy, it certainly wasn't what I'd planned. I did manage to squeeze in some good cheese, and always had the first croissant at my neighborhood patisserie on my way home in the morning. But aside from some long sleepy lunches, I didn't eat out much. Oh well. Even though the Sox lost in a 7th game heartbreaker, I wouldn't trade it for anything.

So until I'm sure the Red Sox won't be playing post-season baseball, October is out.