Le Soleil plus a little shopping in Paree

[Steve Plotnicki]

I'm a big fan of flights that leave Europe for the U.S. that depart late in the day. I mean why take the 12:30 flight from Milan when you can take a 6:55pm flight from Paris or even an 8:00pm flight from Heathrow and spend the day eating and shopping?. And you don't have to schlep your bags around because they check them through. So on saturday which was the day we traveled home, we took a 9:30 flight from Milan to Charles DeGaule and laid over until the last flight of the day. Having no luggage to deal with allowed us to be in a taxi by 11:20 and at the Marche aux Puces in Clignancourt by noon. After a half hour of checking out what the Marche Serpette had to offer, we met up with eGullet member Marc Cosnard des Closets and wife, the winemaker Stephane Ogier who was up from Ampuis for a Rhone wine show in Paris the following monday and another friend of ours who lives in St. Helena (notice how only eGullet members or food and wine celebrities are worth mentioning by name .

I had wanted to eat in Le Soleil for awhile. A number of NYC restaurant and food business owners had recommended it to me. It sounded like a welcome addition to the Paris weekend dining scene which offers significantly less choice then on weekdays. And if one enjoys the flea market, the choices are really slim. Considering how many weekend days I have spent strolling the market, a quality restaurant was a big plus. And just from an initial glance, the recommendations seemed to have some meat on the bones as the feel of the place when we entered was more in line with an upscale Paris bistro and not the crappy places you usually find at the market. And the decor eventually set the stage for a clientele that could only be described as weekend casual chic.

The food at Le Soleil is in keeping with it's name. It's sort of sunny country style cooking with a nod towards Provence. I started with some nice wild salmon. Four perfect slices of raw salmon that were slightly thicker then one usually finds in a carpaccio. They were served with a dollop of aioli and some steamed rattes. Then a pan sauteed veal chop that had a tinge of garlic to it (rubbed with cloves before going in the pan?) served with some garlicky mushrooms and more rattes. This nice and hearty cuisine really hit the spot on a cold rainy day. Other dishes people enjoyed were a tuna tartar seved in a large mound, a lovely platter of thinly sliced carpaccio of coquille St.-Jacques, and a tranch of swordfish that was baked in a casserole dish (maybe Marc can weigh in with the exact preparation.) I ended with some sabayon with fresh figs. And we drank a 2000 William Fevre Chablis 1er Cru Fourchaume that was reasonably priced at around 30 euro. A good meal and a big improvement in dining for those who like to stroll the flea market.

We said our goodbyes at about a quarter to three and then we were off to do a little shopping. First we headed to Place Maidelaine to check out the new wine shop opened by a company from Barcelona. Lavinia, must be the most beautiful wine shop in the world. It was more like going into Niketown then a wine shop. And they had a selection to match the space. A huge number of choices from every region in France as well as loads of choices from the rest of the world. Except the prices, double ouch. Anywhere from 20-40% overpriced on French winesup to 100% overpriced on high-end California cabs. So we didn't pay them a very long visit. Then we jumped back in the car and headed over to the Pierre Herme shop on rue Marbeuf to pick up some of his terrific Coconut Tuilles (wheat free, hurray,) expect I found out they don't carry the cookies there. Then over to Barthelemy for some Vacherin to take back to the states, but they were closed for the holiday weekend. Back in the car, over to rue Boneparte to the other Herme shop where I stood on line for 25 minutes to get in and be served. Despite my annoyance at waiting in line, I kind of liked the idea of people wanting to eat well to the extent that they would wait on line. The world needs more quality food products like that. Four packages of tuilles, 24 miniature macarons of assorted flavors (a house gift for the truffle dinner the next night,) and one Ispahan for eating on the flight home later, it was back into the car and over to the Casa del Habano where someone in our party bought cigars. Then a stop at Hediard on rue de Bac to buy sachets of verveine, and a final stop at our hotel of Tuesday evening where we had left some luggage and then poof, we were back at the airport by 5:45. Surely a great way to spend the day.

[Wilfrid]

And you're back in New York for supper!

[cabrales]

Speaking of Place de la Madelaine, do members have input on Maison de la Truffe? The facility not only sells for consumption off-premises, but has a little restaurant area. I wonder what food quality and prices might be like.

[Wilfrid]

The Beloved and I had an impromptu lunch there about two years ago. My tasting notes are in the archive somewhere, but I recall we enjoyed it. A short menu with an obvious emphasis. I know I ate a nicely braised rabbit with black truffles. I was reminded of the ambience last time I was in Caviarteria up in the 1950s - an interesting combination of cramped and elegant. Thumbs up.

[Steve Plotnicki]

Maison de Truffe is a bit tired, but not a bad place to have lunch. In particular I like the truffle studded sausage. The risotto with black truffe ain't bad either. And they have an excellent, although a bit expensive, list of Bordeaux. In fact those gritty Graves wines make a nice pairing with black truffe.

[Jinmyo]

Steve, what are ratte potatoes like?

[Steve Plotnicki]

Jin - Hmmm, maybe fingerlings. But not like the yellow fingerlings I get in NYC. These were on the white side. They serve them in little circles about a 1/2 inch thick. They're great when they are slightly smashed, drizzled with olive oil, grated black truffe and some sea salt. Crispy salad on the side and a glass of red wine. Sounds yummy huh?

[Jinmyo]

Yes, they sound great.

[Toby]

Steve, what are ratte potatoes like?

La ratte potatoes, available in NY greenmarket, definitely have a yellow flesh, and a pale yellow skin. Joel Petraker in his greenmarket cookbook, says they have a "waxy, smooth textxure; rich flavor with overtones of chestnut and almond"; (I think he's quoting Rick Bishop, the potato farmer). I've always served them either boiled or roasted and then smashed slightly. They're a smallish fingerling, heirloom variety, grown in France since the late 1800s.

[Jinmyo]

Toby, thank you thank you.

Unfortunately, the best I've been able to find for the last few days are baby Yukon golds. Still...

[Bux]

Rattes are kind of like fingerlings, but they are very irregularly shaped. Each one is rather unique. We just bought some this weekend, but have used another kind with the pot roast last night and no potatoes with the pea soup that was our main course tonight. My recollection is that they are among the waxiest of the little potatoes we are finding at the Greenmarket and excellent for potato salad.

I agree with Steve on the 6:55 pn flight out of CDG. We were on the Tuesday flight. We were returning from the countryside and I didn't think of returning to Paris having been there for close to a week earlier in the trip, but the late flight did give us an opportunity for a last lunch in France. After spending the morning and the night before in Chartres, we stopped for lunch at les Magnolias in the Paris suburb of le Perreux. Moving at cross purposes and directions from all the autoroutes designed to get people in and out of Paris we had a lovely chance to get lost in the streets and avenues of the Parisian suburbs. We actually did quite well until we came to the neighboring town of Bry, from there we couldn't find a sign to le Perreaux and spent the next 45 minutes getting lost. Each set of instructions we got from pedestrians was only comprehensible for the first two or three turns. After finally reaching the Nogent-le Perreaux RER station an inquiry about the restaurant brought a sort of shrug that said you can't get there from here. It seemed it was behind us, however. We tried going in the general direction as indicated, but she was right as all the roads were one way against us. Finally we tried tracking our way back to the station and lo and behold at the end of the street facing us at the cross road was our restaurant and we were still reasonably early for lunch, although we had probably blown the chance to shop for some more groceries to bring home. Little matter one case was already filled with jams and honeys from the Salon Fermier in Paris the week before and a few other items were tucked in here and there.

Les Magnolias, a one star, was far more chic than I expected and far more creative in its cuisine than I expected. There were probably more men in ties and jackets in this little store front suburban restaurant than in the Relais et Chateaux dining rooms in the provinces. The Chef was quite accomplished and we enjoyed lunch very much, but my feeling was that there were too many flavors in the food and that it was more interesting than it was successful on the level of taste. It did alter my perception of the French. I was really surprised to see such creative food in the suburbs and then to see the restaurant full on a weekday afternoon.

[Beachfan]

Steve, I thought there were a few good buys at Lavinia. One that they have (but couldn't find the day I was there) was Ogier 1999 Cote Rotie at 30 euros. And 1988 Pegau CDP for maybe 24 euros (maybe a little more).

Are those prices high?

[Steve Plotnicki]

No those are pretty good prices. The Ogier would be about $40 in the U.S. Can't say about the Pegau though. We spent most of the time in the "rare wine" room. Those prices were pretty poor. I wanted to take a catalog but they were charging 6 euros. Can you believe that?

[Beachfan]

I wanted to take a catalog but they were vharging 6 euros. Can you believe that?

That's a lot. However, they let me stroke the rare wines for free.

[thefoodhunter]

The great thing about Lavinia for us Parisians is that notwithstanding obscene prices, at least we can buy foreign wine there. I don't want to sound like a snob, but it is nice to be able to pay 30 to 40 euros for a fine American, Spanish, Italian or other New Worldly wine. Ubtil Lavinia, there were only a few places selling non-French prices at even more exorbitant prices than Lavinia. I especially love taking Califirnia wines to dinner with French people covering the label and saying "Guess where it is from?". They usually love the flavour and deliver the ubiquitous chauvinistic response "I had heard they made pretty good wines in California".