WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2008

A special day today. It's Erwin's birthday. We had timed our stay here so that we would be here for both birthdays. In spite of the day, we still had some laundry to do and a bit of shopping. Afterwards, we went over to the L'Europeen across from the Gare de Lyon. It is one of our favorite places to sit because there are so many interesting people going by. Even the waiter was a bit bizarre, a bit busy and not too well-organized. If you look carefully, you can see Alexandria in the shade next to the potted tree.

The day was a lovely one with lots of sun and a coolish breeze. We went back to the apartment and relaxed for a while before getting ready to go out to dinner.

We had chosen a restaurant that we had wanted to try on an earlier trip here, but they were fully booked for the days we wanted. This time I called on the first day of September, their first day back from summer vacation, and we had no problem.

The restaurant is called "Benoit" and it is near the Paris town hall, It was recently taken over by a chef named Alain Ducasse who is well-known with several fine restaurants in Paris, Monaco, and very recently one New York. It is also called Benoit and only opened in April of this year. The one we went to was owned and run by the same family for almost 100 years. They sold it to Ducasse in 2005.

The restaurant is a very fine example of the typical Parisian bistrot with the banquettes, and spaces behind them for a coat or a package held in by a brass rail. We were seated in a small room with about 10 tables in the corner next to the window. We thought the best table in the room. By the time the tables filled, we noticed that all but one table had English speaking guests. I asked the waiter if we were in the English-speaking room and he told me that there were only a few tables in the entire restaurant that had French speakers. Maybe the French can't afford this type of restaurant, or maybe they eat out more at noon. The items on the menu were not cheap but the food was very good. We had a champagne cocktail as an aperitif. Alexandria started with escargots followed by a fine piece of turbot. I had some excellent foie gras de canard followed by one of the house specialities, the cassoulet. This is a dish with duck (or sometimes goose), pork, sausage, baked in a casserole with white beans. It is really good, but very filling. I ate all the meat and had two servings of the beans with some still left in the casserole. We shared profiteroles for dessert followed by espresso (decaf) and little gourmandises, chocolates and madelaine's. We also enjoyed a half bottle if Saint Joseph, a red wine from Burgundy. We chatted for a while with two women from Chicago and experiences and ideas of things to do and see. We had arrived at 8 pm and didn't leave Benoit until about 10:30.

The only bad part about the evening was we went to several taxi stands (in Paris, you don't normally hail cabs, you go to designated taxi stands) and at each one there were cabs standing but no drivers. We waited but no drivers showed up. We took the Metro back to the apartment which did involve a bit of underground walking and stairs. Other than that, a perfect evening.