Bistrot des Soupirs "Chez Raymonde"

[Margaret Pilgrim]

Saveurs magazine recently reviewed and recommended this tiny 20e dining room. What caught my eye was "l'andouillette AAAAA de Duval". I called from home to reserve for our first night in Paris. This is a tiny and joyously old-fashioned dining room. Madame is the only server, and I believe that the kitchen is almost as sparcely staffed. The clientele is strictly neighborhood, and the food is definitely homemade. My husband ordered an assiette de cochonnailles, and I delighted in watching Madame select and carve off pieces of several hams and assorted sausages for him, plopping on as final measure a large spoon of rillettes d'oie. I looked for balance by ordering simply a plate of raw vegetables which arrived nicely sauced. Good bread. A huge virgin bowl of jambon persille was brought out for a neighboring table. My husband ordered giant prawns in a provençal sauce (not, to my mind a good choice, but seemingly satisfactory to him). But I had come for the Andouillette! My plate arrived with a starkly plain grilled sausage and heap of frittes. But what a sausage and what frittes! The andouillette was so crisp that its skin popped like the crust of creme brulee. The center was tender; the flavor clean and lovely. The potatoes were equally crisp on the outside and meltingly tender inside. I almost ate them all! I don't remember dessert, and my notes don't indicate any. I can't imagine that we had room at any rate. With aperitifs and a half bottle of Beaujolais and coffee, our tiny tab was 69 euros. But best of all, we knew we were in France!

49, rue de la Chine 20e 01.44.62.93.31

(edited to include address and phone)

Edited April 15, 2004 by Margaret Pilgrim (log)

[picaman]

Thanks for this review--this sounds just like my kind of place. Amazing how andouillette is often not only the best thing on the menu, but the least expensive. I had a great andouillette at a lunch on my return to Au Petit Tonneau in the 7th on my last trip. It's not a trip to Paris without great offal.

Jamie

[Margaret Pilgrim]

Jamie, I am so thrilled to hear someone else toot Au Petit Tonneau's horn! This is such a charming little neighborhood dining room, and, yes, her Andouillette is superb.

Do we not need a "where to eat andouillette in Paris" thread? I know that Bux will join us.

[Bux]

Do we not need a "where to eat andouillette in Paris" thread?

No! Absolutely not. Has anyone seen that thread in the Iberian forum, It's Official: Percebes at 125 Euros a Kilo? A later poster chimed in to add that "the current price for elvers (angulas) is 550 euros/kilo." Docsconz says "I expect the prices have gone up as delicacies such as these have become more desired outside of their traditional zones. They are in effect victims of what eGullet represents - the burgeoning interest in all things food." Pass the word, when your neighbors go abroad, tell then they won't like andouillette. To Picaman's " Amazing how andouillette is often not only the best thing on the menu, but the least expensive," I say let's keep it that way.

[Margaret Pilgrim]

Hey, Bux! Welcome to my thinking on all things special. So how do we share these "so interesting to so few" addresses? PMs?

[bleudauvergne]

Sounds heavenly.

[picaman]

Andouillette

Ick. I thought andouillette was a myth created to tease tourists, like calling the pepper mill a "rubirosa."

Not for me.

Jamie

[Bux]

Hey, Bux!    Welcome to my thinking on all things special.    So how do we share these "so interesting to so few" addresses?  PMs?     

We take the site underground and start calling everyone names so no one will pay us any respect.

We will just have to learn to enjoy watching everyone eat the things we taught them to enjoy as the prices rise above our means. Who ever said no good deed goes unpunished. I think we're probably safe with andouillette for a while anyway. I've made very few converts. It seems my most eloquent descriptions actually turn some people away from trying it.

[AmoParis]

Hello to those few, proud connoisseurs of andouillette. I am hoping we don't see a thread devoted to this intestinal theme, it may turn an offal lot of foodies off -- but not me I was almost convinced two years ago by a charming butcher to make my own andouillette from the ones hanging on his wall (I was staying in a home in a very small town in the Cotes d'armor). He gave me very simple step-by-step instructions but I was faint of heart. I was wondering if anyone had tried home-made on their own -- is it as easy as it sounds?

I am actually writing to this list with two questions however. One of my favorite vrais bistros Parigots used to be Les Vins des Rues, in the 14th near Denfert Rochereau. The owner (a fairly vicious curmudgeon and definitely part of the charm of the place as well as a really fine cook -- the terrines especially were extraordinary and arrived on your table in a powerful and noseworthy trio in huge serving vessels, one poisson, one volailles, one viande; cheap yet respectable red by pitcher great with food and after-dinner drinks pretty much at your discretion as long as you laughed at his jokes and were wiling to drink from one of those marc de Bourgogne bottles with the snake in it) retired two years ago. I'm wondering if anyone has been recently or heard of its new staff's success. I hate to waste an evening if someone else has been and can give me some hints.

Second, I have seen and appreciated the list of and commentary on inexpensive dining restos. But would anyone care to share any small places with ebullient owners who just have that knack for food and conversation that makes what I feel is a real parisian evening of a certain kind? I am not discounting the pleasures of more formal dining and thank especially Picaman for such a mindful and conscientious listing, to which I hope to add on my return from Paris this summer. But what I have in mind places like Le Mauzac (near Luxembourg Gardens) before it was sold in 2002. Dinner late into the night, and the owner sits down and you leave with bizous all around.

Much thanks to any who choose to respond.

[Le Zouave]

Andouillette + amazing wine liste + nice bistrot atmosphere = les enfants rouges, in the 3rd, not far away from the lovely market. I think it's rue de Beauce. But the problem is they only have two dinners a week (thursday and friday?); otherwise, you have to go for lunch, without the same crowd and "ambiance". Trust me: try that wine list (especially the rhone valley, the loire valley and all the great stuff from beaujolais).