Eating in Paris: Le Moulin de La Galette

After 5 years of having taking French lessons, passing the AP exams at the top of my class, and acing advanced French conversation in college, I was finally able to put my French language education to practical use last week in Paris.  It is true about what they say:  Paris is the most beautiful city in the world! I don't think I've ever been anywhere as gorgeous, sensual, and enchanting as Paris, and I felt more at home there than I have in most places.  While I did get to see a few museums and the various landmarks, this trip was about eating, and I wasted no time in sampling some of Paris's finer cuisine on my very first day after a visit to the Sacré Coeur church, which was about a 30 minute walk from our hotel.

One of the wonderful things I discovered about the dining scene in Paris is that almost every restaurant has a formule, or a prix-fixe menu, that varies in what it offers from restaurant to restaurant.  On the lower end there are formules that offer 2 courses (appetizer and entrée, or entrée and dessert), and then there are the more generous ones that offer 3 courses.  Most often,  there is an amuse-bouche that arrives at the table free of charge, which can be very elaborate or as simple as a plate of olives.  The other thing I love about dining in Paris is that the menu prices are all-inclusive of taxes and service, so it can oftentimes (even with exchange rates) come out to less than eating out in The States...for much better food, most of the time.  Diners are expected to give some loose change or a couple of Euros if the service was good.

Using a Time Out Paris app for my iPod touch, which does not require WiFi connection, The Momster and I decided to go to Le Moulin de La Galette for lunch after visiting Sacré Coeur in the Montmartre area of Paris.  Le Moulin was one of the few restaurants recommended by time out in Montmartre, and we were excited to sample our first French meal in Paris.  Located by an old landmark windmill (moulin translates to windmill in French), the location was cute and a little touristy (the guide warned us), and the interiors were well-appointed and elegant, but the cuisine was really lacking....at least what came as part of our formules.  I was so disappointed in the poor quality of the food, especially having such high expectations about dining in Paris, that our lunch left me angry and depressed.  Fortunately, the rest of my eating experiences in Paris more than made up for it, but it did teach me a valuable lesson about Parisian restaurants: just because it's in Paris does not mean it'll be good, and the discerning gourmand should take the time to do his or her research because, just like NYC, you can't expect to walk into any restaurant and have good food.  In other words, Paris has its share of merde restaurants just like any other city.

Our lunchtime formules at Le Moulin de La Galette were priced at 18 Euros per person and included 2 courses each (appetizer + entrée, or entrée + dessert).  We opted for the appetizer (called an entrée in French) and entrée (called a plat) option.  We were first brought an amuse-bouche of mildly tart caper berries marinated with a few cloves of garlic, which really primed the palate along with the couple of kirs that we ordered to toast our trip to Paris.  The kir is one of the quintessential apéritif cocktails of the French beverage repertoire and consists of dry white wine with a splash of crème de cassis, a liqueur made from black currants.  A kir royal consists of the same formula but with champagne in place of the white wine.

Our first courses arrived shortly after we finished the bowl of caper berries.  The Momster ordered a velouté of cauliflower that came with an apple-filled puff pastry.  The velouté was, as its name suggests, simply velvety and warming, which the apple puff pastry offered a nice contrast in both texture and flavor with a buttery crispiness from the crust along with a slight tartness and sweetness from the baked apples.  My first course consisted of sheet of salmon carpaccio served with a mild salmon tartare seasoned with lemon zest and chopped scallions.  Surrounding the plate were dollops of red pepper coulis, a thick concentration of green apple juice, and a viscous sauce made from orange rind.  The combination of the three sauces with the superbly fresh salmon was nice.  While we weren't blown away by our first courses, they did seem to offer a promising start...unfortunately, the finish did not deliver.

Several minutes after completing our entrées, we were brought our plats.  The Momster ordered a braised chicken quarter served with a white sauce and winter vegetables with a side of rice pilaf.  I received a crispy-skinned thick filet of a local fish on a bed of risotto flavored with fish roe with a puree of pumpkin.  You can blame it on my Latin American heritage, but I am hugely picky when it comes to rice and am a firm believer that with so many different starches to choose from, one shouldn't attempt rice if its not going to be absolutely perfect...especially at a nice restaurant.  The Momster's pilaf was akin to something out of a box of Rice-a-roni or Zataran's and was both mushy and undercooked...something I'm still scratching my head over.  My risotto was almost uncooked it was so crunchy, and while I was expecting the lovely little bursts offered by a judicious dollop of fish roe either gently blended into or topping the risotto, what I got was the dissatisfaction of fish roe being beaten and cooked into the rice rendering a flavor akin to that of a cheap can of kippers.  My filet of fish was overcooked to the point feeling like wood pulp in the mouth, which was the same experience The Momster had with her chicken.  I actually left half of the food on my plate and was anxious to get the check.

Strolling around Montmartre after lunch, we ran across Le Café des Deux Moulins, which is where Amélie worked in her namesake film.  Taschen's guide to Paris actually recommends it for its good, honest French brasserie fare, and after our experience at Le Moulin de La Galette, I kind of regretted not having lunch at this landmark restaurant.  Furthermore, speaking to a local later that evening (who stated that Le Moulin was très touristique), I discovered that the restaurant across the street from Le Moulin (which was popping when we passed by) was actually THE place to eat in Montmartre.  Unfortunately, I forgot the name, but I remember where it is.

After such a disappointing lunch, I was on a mission to make it up for dinner, which I managed to do exceptionally well, and which will be described in my next blog post.