One Last Day in Paris

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As I write this post, it is Thursday, so I am now a couple of days behind on my blogging, but we had a couple of busy days and a very early and long travel day. We are now in the South and have a couple of hours before dinner, so I will try to get caught up.

Our final day in Paris was fairly chill. We did not really have a packed agenda. We got up at a reasonable time, had our morning croissant (our last for a while) and coffee, then headed out. Our first stop of the day found us back in the 14^th, Montparnasse. The day was overcast, so the view from the top of the 59^th floor of the Tour Montparnasse would be somewhat muted.

Turns out that the best time to go to the top of the tower, is in the morning, before new and during the week. There was no line and maybe 20 people on the top deck of the observation platform. We spent a little over an hour, taking a picture from every side of the building. The tower is about 90 meters shorter than the Eifel Tower, but the few is equally as good. On a really clear day I am sure you could see Versailles. What we could see, is all of the monuments, of Paris, what you don’t see is the Seine. The Seine, while it winds through Paris, actually not at the same level as the streets of Paris, there are high walls on each side to prevent flooding.

The next stop was a return to a favorite lunch spot Chez Josephine Dumonet. This is a very old restaurant; the inside has probably not changed much from the time it opened. Its heyday was during the time of Josephine Baker, this was one of your favorite places to hang out. The first time we had lunch here was during Part 1 of my 50^th French Birthday. It has not changed at all.

We had originally thought we would do the beef bourguignon competition between Chez Josephine, and Café des Musees, but there really was no need, our first time eating here we had the beef bourguignon and it hands down was better than that at Café des Musees.

The Sauce Lunch

We ordered a nice 2016 Pomerol, as we were going to be having beef. It was a perfect choice.

Jerry, had a simple green salad (which wasn’t that simple and a lot of greens) and I had green (not white) asparagus with hollandaise sauce. This was literally the best hollandaise I have ever had, and maybe, just maybe slightly better than mine. I only say maybe, because I server mine warm, which means it can break easier. This hollandaise was smooth as silk.

We then both had the same steak for lunch, Chateaubriand with bearnaise sauce. I have never had a chateaubriand, because you always have to order it for two, but here we each to the perfect lunch side steak, and it was cooked a perfect medium rare, for some maybe to rare, but for us, perfection and it melted in your mouth. Then when you had the bearnaise (again hands down better than Café des Musees) it was just a bit of Paris in you mouth. This was exactly the same way I make it at home and other than it be room temperature rather than warm, it could have been mine.

But that is not all, the potatoes that came with lunch, were incredible a cross between a fritte and a roastie (you have to had read my London blog to understand my reference to a roastie). The point is that they were good and dip them in some bearnaise, let the heart attack begin.

We did not have dessert; we were close to the food coma as it was. Just as were settling our bill, lunch for the two French women sitting next to us arrive. The had the steak for two, it was half a cow, there was so much meat on that plate you could feed a family of 10. The amazing part was these women were thin.

It was time to walk off the best lunch of the trip. Our next stop was a very new part of Paris, it technically is not in side Paris proper but it is at the end of the 1 Metro. At the other end of the 1 line is Chateau Vincennes. So, if you ride the 1 line from one end to the other, you go from newest section of Paris to one of the oldest. The area we were headed for is called La Defense. Basically, it is the new business center of Paris, many modern high rises and international business are located here. However, while it is modern and several high rises, it is also designed with open space in mind and of course art. The center of the area is the Grand Arch, which is the end of an imaginary line that runs from the pyramid of the louvre, up champs-Elysees, through the Arc de Triumph ending at the Grand Arch. There is also a larger underground mall. This was a photo op stop only, so the photo was snapped and we were off to Wester Paris, to end our day in the 16^th, amongst the works of Hector Guimard. This portion of the day, was all for Jerry, I was just along for the ride. Brief Hector Guimard was one of the 5 designers/architects were part of the Art Nouveau movement. The Castel Beranger, our first stop after Radio France, is considered the first Art Nouveau structure in Pars and was designed by Hector Guimard. You can’t go inside because they are private apartments but you can view the building from the outside. From here we just walked down Rue Jean de la Fontaine and happened across building after building designed by Hector. Hector Guimard also was commissioned to design many of the metro stop you see through out the city. Most of the pictures you see on this blog of a metro stop are most likely one designed by him.

Finally, we ended with a stroll down Rue d’Auteuil, famous mostly because it escaped the boulevardization of the rest of Paris. It is more like walking down a small street of 19^th century Paris.

With that we headed back to the hotel to pick up the laundry we had dropped off on Saturday and get ready for our final dinner in Paris.

Le Mascotte

We have been here before, so were looking forward to a return trip. It is the one place in Paris we go for fish and fish only. That is basically what has kept them as a destination in Montmartre for decades. It is in the heart of Montmartre, below the climb to the top of the butte.

While we were not too disappointment, it did not live up to what was in you minds about the last visit. Every restaurant, goes through changes, especially in Paris. Being a waiter here is not a job, it is a career, so when those career waiters retire, then there is a training period of the new waiters. This is what we were experiencing with this visit. They were in transition from old to new staff. This was evident in the little things, such as presentation, the opening of the wine, the de-boning of the sole (yes had a few more bones than I care for in my sole) but it was still a decent menu, certainly not as good as lunch that day, but good enough that we will return on another visit to Paris.

To the meal:

Started of course with Champagne and the complimentary chees puffs. Ordered a nice bottle of Sancerre to go with the rest of our meal.

The entrées

A Tartare of langoustine and scallops (really the best dish of the night) – this was mine

A Salmon with a mousseline, a puree of carrots topped by a puree of white beans topped with poached salmon. – This was Jerry’s

Plats

Sole meunière (the sole being from Brittany) - this was mine. It was really good; just wish he could have gotten more of the bones out. You know your in trouble when the waiter says, “I did the best I could.”

Whiting in Herbs. This was Jerry’s, it was served with tartar sauce (oops mayo) so I gave him my lemon to squeeze over it. Again, good but just missing the mark.

We passed on dessert as we really needed to get back and pack for the trip south.

Our last dinner in Paris may not have been what we hoped for, we will get another chance, because our last dinner of the trip will be back in Paris.

Clearly the dish of the day was the Bearnaise.

On to the South of France.

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Photos

Pay no attention to that green stuff
It is all about the SAUCE

Gran Arch
La Defense

Tartar of Scallops
No, I didn't eat the beet