La Nuit Blanche in Paris would be a lot more blanche if not so many fucking drunk rugby fans ventured out into the nuit, shouting “vive la France.” Who can blame them, they just got done tooling New Zealand. Be hilarious to see drunken English fans getting the snot beaten out of them when they come over for the next round.
Nonetheless, we avoided the cultural extravaganza, consisting of a bunch of light shows that you really had to plan beforehand, impossible-to-hail taxis, and the Musée d’Orsay (closed event for some clothing label), in favor of, you guessed it, good food. Not great food, mind you, but that was mainly the result of our still being sick as dogs. Had we not been miserable, sniffling wrecks, it would have been great food. Great enough for one of my French friends at INSEAD to raise his eyebrows.
Ze Kitchen Galerie (cool name) (sic) in St. Germain was something we picked out of Zagat’s Paris (for its cool name) and it lived up to its cool name. The interior is noisy but has some nifty paintings, and the food, have I mentioned? It’s great. Only good if you’re sick.
I’m going to ascribe the fact that I have no recollection of what we ate, beyond Karin’s excellent ravioli soup starter and my joue de boeuf (also great; it managed to have a very hefty taste without being heavy in the least) but it was all good. Every dish had a superb combination of flavors that really complemented each other. Jesus, I’m sounding like a cheap restaurant guide hack. It was great. The chocolate cappuccino for dessert as well, and again, whatever mystery dish Karin ordered. Head colds and culinary decadence do not mix well, although the superb bottle of Fitou Vieilles Vignes we had went a long way to putting that concern aside.
Only complaint: the otherwise excellent service was too fast (something we were sensitized to from Ecuador) — the main courses arrived almost as soon as we’d finished the starters, and I think our asking the waiter to slow down scared him a bit. Nonetheless, two thumbs up, check it out.
Our second time there, service wasn’t as friendly, rather a bit arrogant, but the food got even better. The starters, especially the shrimp stuffed with scallops with mango (nice and tangy) and the gnocchi and beef mains were superb, and the Côte du Roussillon Clos des Fées went great with it. So much better going to a nice restaurant without a horrible death disease…
Note to restaurants: it would _really_ help if you put your entire menu and wine card online. That way I could remember what to order (again) the next place I drop by.
Ze Kitchen Galerie
4, Rue Grands Augustins
75006 Paris, France
+33 1 44 32 00 32
And I’m not posting their page here because it’s broken in Firefox.
