Le Mesturet

I'm here. I had a day that I couldn't have imagined better. I had a day eating in Paris, reading modern French literature and old American literature, drinking cafes and soaking in the smells and sights of a sophisticated, petulant, friendly, raining city. And I had my first meal that required a reservation.

Tonight I ate at le Mesturet, a restaurant not far from me in the 2nd arrondissement, a small but friendly restaurant I took from my "Hungry for Paris" book. Not the most original of restaurant-seeking methods, but a tactic I will use again.

It's a tribute to Paris that I can accidentally take an exceptional picture.

After running an errand (not the singular and the fact that the errand was getting a SIM card) I rewarded myself with a macaron. Life here seems to require few errands and when they do occur, they must be celebrated.

This small boutique, Macaroon, is between me and my SIM card store. Beyond the normal selection, Macaroon served fois gras-chocolate, which I of course couldn't resist. The first half second of the bite was laughably awful and then the flavors started to meld into a delight of sweet, salty, and foie-y. It was exquisite.

I walked toward my dinner reservation, which wasn't for another two hours. In the meantime, I had to amuse myself.


I'm getting the impression that my classes will be even less intensive than I expected them to be (which wasn't much in the first place). I decided today that to not lose my mind, I must do Paris stuff and then study French (as of now, it's reading a modern French novella; I'll work up to Zola or something, don't worry) at least two hours a day. Today that studying involved a petit apero (snack), Ricard (anisette), and vigilantly looking up the words I didn't understand in my book in my French-French dictionary. I did this for 1.5 hours near La Bourse. The other half hour today was around Le Quartier Latin.

Well, studying with a tarte aux pommes and un cafe. I had to reward that studying with another trip back to le jardin du Luxembourg.

For dinner, again, I dined at Le Mesturet, also near La Bourse and within easy walking distance. Of about 10 tables, there were only two comprised of French diners; despite being off the beaten track, it was popular with tourists but certainly was the best meal I've had yet. And I was delighted that a Japanese tourist was delighting in her meal as much as I was, taking pictures of her food as well. In the world of tourism, she was ma sosie (new word I learned today: someone who has a perfect resemblance to another).

My waitress was charming, but despite the fact that I continued to speak in French, she continued to speak in English. I'm discovering that this is a prevalent problem when I go out: restauranteurs are as eager to practice their English with a native English speaker as I am with a native French speaker. Anyway, I ordered le menu and after ordering another pastis for my apperitif and a verre of vin rouge, I had some delicious olives:

And had the terrine de foie gras. My waitress affirmed that the yellow was la graisse (the fat) and you could eat up to la jaune and take little pieces of it. With the terrine came toasted bread studded with les raison secs (dry grapes aka raisins) and an apricot chutney.

For dinner, I had the blanquette de veau à l'Ancienne, with rice and mushrooms. It was exquisite: tender, rich, flavorful, delightfully forgiving mushrooms with a rich sauce and meat you could cut with a knife. Veau is veal and blanquette in my poor translation of my French dictionary's translation is a light-colored ragout made from meat, where the sauce is bound by egg yolk).

At each pause, my waitress was disappointed I didn't eat everything on my plate but I didn't want to explain to her I had already had two desserts today and had to pace myself. The third was Paris Brest maison. Before she delivered it, she put down another full set of silverware and said, in English, "yes, you will need a knife."

A thin donut-looking pastry is divided in half and filled with a praline creme. And drizzled with caramel and powdered sugar.

And then I ordered, of course, the neccessary coffee to keep myself motivated for the walk home, instead of curling up on a warm grate.