Day Four- Cuisine de Bar and Les Fines Gueules
First off I'd like to thank Kathy over at A Passion For Food and Serious Eats Sugar Rushed once again for sending me her recommendations. Between her list and blog we had a lot of great food we might not have found otherwise. So much so that almost our entire Friday was due to her recommendations. So here's to our Kathy day!
Instead of regular croissants this morning I thought we'd try out Poilane's restaurant Cuisine de Bar. Right next door to the bakery, this tiny spot has a 13€ lunch special which includes a glass of wine or bottle of water, salad, tartine and espresso to finish. I continued my Rose kick while Mr. T went the water route which was perfect since the bottle was so big we ended up sharing it.
The salad to begin was tasty. It came with a strong mustard dressing which was a little overwhelming but honestly after two days of Foie Gras a little bowl of greens was much appreciated.
I ordered the Tomato, Mozzarella and Basil Tartine while Mr. T had the Smoked Salmon. Mine was just perfect with simple, straight forward ingredients of the highest quality on top of Poilane's delicious grilled bread and a little bit of spicy olive oil to finish it off.
A few espressos alongside Poilane's delicious shortbread spoon cookie (how cute is that!) and we were ready to begin our day. What a great lunch! Why there aren't more places like this in America I have no idea. By the time we left there was a line of about 10 people waiting outside so it looks like we sat down just in time. This was a great place to get a meal before our big afternoon.
I won't get into too many un-food related details but we did BOTH the Pere Lachaise Cemetery and the Louvre that day which is quite a feat. Jim Morrison's grave and the Mona Lisa were the highlights of course. We even threw in a quick drink in between at the Lizard Cafe (quite appropriate after visiting Jim). Then it was time for dinner at Les Fines Gueules.
We had a reservation for 8:00 and arrived just in time to get the last table outside. After a quick look at the daily chalkboard menu we put in our order and relaxed with a nice bottle of red wine.
We had been on our feet for almost eight hours of non-stop walking so sitting outside with the warm breeze and a little wine seemed like heaven. Our first dish was a little slice of heaven too- a Duo of Buffalo Mozzarella and Burrata Cheese with Prosciutto.
We love our meat and cheese and this Burrata was absolutely just oozing with beautiful cream. I loved the slivered almonds on top that gave each bite a satisfying little crunch. Can you believe I haven't had a Tartare yet on this trip? Neither can I- but finally it was time.
Just looking at Les Fines Gueules version you can see it's very different than what I've been eating at home. They kept the meat chunky with a strong dollop of sun dried tomato on top. I really, really enjoyed this version. I could taste the richness of the meat and it was stronger, almost manly, compared to what I've had in the past. The salty potatoes were a nice accompaniment but I was a little sad there weren't some frites instead.
Mr. T ordered the Pork Chop and to say this thing was big would be an understatement. It reminded me of something the Flintstones would eat and the flavor was just as huge with big notes of thyme and mushroom. See all that au jus at the bottom? This pork stayed incredibly moist the whole way through. Quite possibly the best pork chop I've ever had. Really amazing.
For dessert I immediately went for the Cafe Gourmand which is basically a plate of mini desserts. Here it included a creme brulee, chocolate pudding, pound cake and espresso. What girl wouldn't like this? Les Fines Gueules was absolutely delicious. We happily paid, had a quick drink near our hotel and went off for some much needed sleep. This was another great day of food. Tomorrow would be our last full day in Paris- how quick it seemed to go by!
Cuisine de Bar
Les Fines Gueules
Instead of regular croissants this morning I thought we'd try out Poilane's restaurant Cuisine de Bar. Right next door to the bakery, this tiny spot has a 13€ lunch special which includes a glass of wine or bottle of water, salad, tartine and espresso to finish. I continued my Rose kick while Mr. T went the water route which was perfect since the bottle was so big we ended up sharing it.
The salad to begin was tasty. It came with a strong mustard dressing which was a little overwhelming but honestly after two days of Foie Gras a little bowl of greens was much appreciated.
I ordered the Tomato, Mozzarella and Basil Tartine while Mr. T had the Smoked Salmon. Mine was just perfect with simple, straight forward ingredients of the highest quality on top of Poilane's delicious grilled bread and a little bit of spicy olive oil to finish it off.
A few espressos alongside Poilane's delicious shortbread spoon cookie (how cute is that!) and we were ready to begin our day. What a great lunch! Why there aren't more places like this in America I have no idea. By the time we left there was a line of about 10 people waiting outside so it looks like we sat down just in time. This was a great place to get a meal before our big afternoon.
I won't get into too many un-food related details but we did BOTH the Pere Lachaise Cemetery and the Louvre that day which is quite a feat. Jim Morrison's grave and the Mona Lisa were the highlights of course. We even threw in a quick drink in between at the Lizard Cafe (quite appropriate after visiting Jim). Then it was time for dinner at Les Fines Gueules.
We had a reservation for 8:00 and arrived just in time to get the last table outside. After a quick look at the daily chalkboard menu we put in our order and relaxed with a nice bottle of red wine.
We had been on our feet for almost eight hours of non-stop walking so sitting outside with the warm breeze and a little wine seemed like heaven. Our first dish was a little slice of heaven too- a Duo of Buffalo Mozzarella and Burrata Cheese with Prosciutto.
We love our meat and cheese and this Burrata was absolutely just oozing with beautiful cream. I loved the slivered almonds on top that gave each bite a satisfying little crunch. Can you believe I haven't had a Tartare yet on this trip? Neither can I- but finally it was time.
Just looking at Les Fines Gueules version you can see it's very different than what I've been eating at home. They kept the meat chunky with a strong dollop of sun dried tomato on top. I really, really enjoyed this version. I could taste the richness of the meat and it was stronger, almost manly, compared to what I've had in the past. The salty potatoes were a nice accompaniment but I was a little sad there weren't some frites instead.
Mr. T ordered the Pork Chop and to say this thing was big would be an understatement. It reminded me of something the Flintstones would eat and the flavor was just as huge with big notes of thyme and mushroom. See all that au jus at the bottom? This pork stayed incredibly moist the whole way through. Quite possibly the best pork chop I've ever had. Really amazing.
For dessert I immediately went for the Cafe Gourmand which is basically a plate of mini desserts. Here it included a creme brulee, chocolate pudding, pound cake and espresso. What girl wouldn't like this? Les Fines Gueules was absolutely delicious. We happily paid, had a quick drink near our hotel and went off for some much needed sleep. This was another great day of food. Tomorrow would be our last full day in Paris- how quick it seemed to go by!
Cuisine de Bar
Les Fines Gueules
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