4.0 La Tete Dans Les Olives, 2, rue Sainte-Marthe in the 10th, 06.73.75.74.81, is closed Sundays and Mondays (and sure looks closed in the above photo) and has but one table for 5 persons (it's really an epicerie between lunch and dinner) with a fixed menu of 30 € and a "suggested" Sicilian white box wine for 10 € a bottle. It was a "business" lunch, my having been invited by a bunch of boring psychoanalysts to discuss the ranking of Lacan in the scientific firmament, so there was more attention paid to the conversation than the food.
As Emmanuel Rubin clearly stated a couple of weeks ago, it "cries out simplicity." It's sort of like one big antipasti festival, with first-rate Sicilian ingredients from the sea and land.
On the table awaiting us was plain bread, olives, capers, two kinds (black and green) of tapenade and bread with a salty herb spreads (below).
Then we had three dishes (below) : a carrot wrapped around a mint filling, red pumpkin and stuffed mushrooms:
Then a bresaola of tuna of Capitano Cangemi, dried tuna and anchovies of Nino (apparently both some big deal in Trapani); which as at Montparnasse 25 with the cheese(s), we were advised to eat in order of spice-ity.
Then an extra, bottarga (dried tuna eggs) again courtesy of the Capitano:
Now we get the pasta Norma (in an homage to Bellini's famous opera, he from Catania) with eggplant, salty ricotta and tomato sauce:
And top it off with some almond cake and espresso.
The bill = 39 Euros a person.
Go? If you live nearby and are really passionate about Lacan, sure. I should mention that the guys who run it, cook it (Marco) and sell it are superb ambassadors for Sicilian products.
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