5.9 Schmidt L'Os a Moelle, 3, rue Vasco de Gama in the 15th, 01.45.57.27.27, closed Sundays and Mondays (Metro: Lourmel) is the old L'Os under a new ex-Constant/Violin d'Ingres chef Stéphane Schmidt.
It's been so long since I've been that I truly don't recall if the interior has changed; why did we stop going? The usual reasons; other places appeared, the prices bumped up, Times winged chariot,...... etc.
Now I have a nose for things German (my first language acquired just before the Anschluss) and while there is an Alsatian spin to some dishes, the onion amuse gueule, for instance and the Alsatian white wines, it's not pronounced.
There is a nicely priced "menu" (2 courses for 24 E and 3 for 29 E) and quite reasonably priced wines (18 E on up).
My dining partner chose to go with the menu, the entree of which was a soup of cepes, foie gras and chestnuts and I ate off the carte with sauteed foie gras with pear, chestnuts and a chunk of baby lettuce; both were quite good.
Then she had the menu main - 5 decently sized scallops with an accompaniment of fall delights and I had the gun-shot special, a perfectly cooked bird with no buckshot but plenty of succulent lentils and a big slice of fatty pork (yum) on top.
My mother drummed into me that I couldn't have dessert if I didn't clean my plate and since I'd Ziplocked-away half my bird/lentil dish, I passed but Madame had the so-called baked apple which was more like an apple strudel with ice cream - again, quite good.
With a glass of that Sylvaner, a bottle of Maine red (I didn't know they made wine in Maine), no bottled water but two coffees, our bill was a respectable 97 E.
Go? The darndest thing, while I had resolved to go long ago, when I saw on my Continental/United ticket from the USA that l'Os a Moelle was one of four places they recommended eating at (the others were the Brasserie de l'Ile St-Louis, Le Jules Verne and the Cafe Marly, I almost reneged, but I'm glad I didn't. One of my colleagues must be spotting these for the airline.)
What happened to the old guard? This was one of my favorite restaurants in Paris!
Posted by: Diane | December 05, 2011 at 12:37 AM