Volcanic Ash

My friend Mike is in France on a wine tour with his seller. The volcanic ash added and extra week to his itinerary and he's here in Paris. Yesterday I met him at the Jardin de Tuilleries and we walked through them to the Louvre and then had a glass of rose on what was the first or second gorgeous summeresque day in Paris. Sylvain met us then after he finished putting some time in working on his paper. Mike was my first friend to really meet Sylvain when we went and stayed with him in San Francisco on my spring vacation about this time last year. Other's had met him briefly almost in passing but Sylvain and I stayed with Mike for a week, and then Sylvain stayed on with him for another 10 days after I went to Chicago to be a bridesmaid in my best friends wedding. We then headed to Montemarte where we hoped to find a place to take him to dinner- Mike and I originally met in Boston where we had both worked at Sandrine's Bistro in Cambridge. I started spending more time with the waitstaff after hours and Mike and I met at a superbowl party as he had left waiting at Sandrine's I assume because he couldn't stand the sub par food and the behind the scenes drama. Mike has spent most of the time I've known him as a sommelier and offering up some of the most enjoyable meals of my life. I have eaten about 5 meals out here in Paris none of which were places I would necessarily revisit, the problem for me is all restaurants look the same here- how do you know where to go and what's going to be good?

So I was anxious to impress my friend in a city whose food and neighborhoods are recognized as some of the best in the world, still I knew only that I liked the neighborhood Abesses. Having seen most of Paris, Abesses is the only place that charms me. Sylvain likens it's charm to the film Amelie, which isn't surprising as that's nearby where it's meant to have taken place. Last week's date night I took Sylvain to Abesses for a raclette and afterwards we walked home through Sacre Coeur. On the way home I noticed a few places that seemed charming and planned to come back soon to investigate further.

It was here that we ended up with Mike. We had another glass of rose for are apero and then he asked to see a bottle of Blasson d'Isan ordered it to be decanted and we had it with our meal. They had a good prix fix menu so we ordered frog legs to start and Sylvain had an amazing looking filet with sauce au poivre that I want to learn how to make as soon as humanly possible, I had the skate which was delicious but over-portioned and left me uncomfortably stuffed and disappointed there wouldn't be room for tarte tartin. Mike had entrecoute and pomme frites. I will remember this meal for a long time, first because I tried frog legs which don't taste like chicken but do taste something like fish, the wine which was perfect, the sauce au poivre which will probably change my life to some extent, and of course the company. I don't know exactly how to say what I want to say, which is just that meals and sharing food are really important to me, I put a lot of love in cooking for Sylvain, just as I love having brunch with my girlfriends, but whether Mike cooks for us, or just shares a meal, it's always, always an experience that ends up as a great memory.