Two places to brag about
Had I a camera -it’s on its way, I just have to buy it now-, I’d show you where and what I ate during my Christmas break.
I came back to Sfoglia. I was happy to go back there because I started this blog (or the previous incarnation of this blog) with this restaurant nearly three years ago. Also, because Sfoglia is one of the Upper East Side’s prime donne. It’s not super easy to eat there and it’s often for a good delicious reason that restaurants are booked weeks ahead. How many times did we try to book a few days before? Sfoglia doesn’t need to be on OpenTable and when you call, a feminine voice tells you that no tables are available before the following month unless you’re ready to eat late (like us) at 10.30 PM. It’s good to be French in New York!
I tend to like these places where the food is simple and subtle. Is it good? For sure, I had nice cheeses and pasta (bad sign: ten days after, I don’t remember how they really tasted). But I wonder if it was really worth the wait. And is it worth traveling to the Upper East Side? I’m not that sure. New York is filled with -not too many but enough of them- Italian restaurants that serve unsophisticated but delicate food in an almost Italian farm setting (and when the interior designer missed it, you can say “Welcome to Disneyland!”) with their rustic walls and wooden tables: Peasant in the Lower East Side, Il Buco in the East Village…
In Paris, I had the opportunity to have lunch at Le Comptoir St Germain. It used to be a wine bar where I used to have a glass of Brouilly, rillettes on Poilane bread before going to one on the nearby movie theaters. Yves Camdeborde, famous for his delicious La Régalade (went there a few times), took over the bar and the next-door hotel to create one of the most well-known gastropubs and boutique hotels of Paris. The wait for a table can be over three months. Last year, I wanted to go there with my foodie friend Ben but when I tried to book a table early December 2008 for mid-January 2009, the waitress on the other side of the line nearly started to laugh. Instead, we went Chez Michel and the fact that Robert Parker was having dinner there convinced Ben that I picked a very good place; and the food too in the end.
But a few days ago, back in Paris for the holidays, I was around with a friend and we walked by, looking for a place to have lunch. There were tables available on the open terrace. So, we ate in the cold but under a gas burner and with a blanket on our knees. Christmas was a few days ahead and I chose an octopus salad, to the point, light, well-seasoned. One complaint: too many black olives but is it a real complaint? It’s time for me to better plan my next trip to Paris. La Régalade should be on the list too. I heard it’s still pretty good even without Camdeborde behind the stove.
