Les Etangs de Corot, 55 rue de Versailles in the Ville d'Avray, 01.41.15.37.00, closed Sunday night, Monday and Tuesdays, opened just a few months' ago when Benoit Bordier suddenly (for me) departed the creapingly increasingly pricey Chez Jean on the Rue St Lazare for this town 18 minutes away on the SNCF from St Lazare (ironic eh?)
We were advised that it was either 10 or 20 or 45 minutes from Paris by car and not wanting to presume on friends and having shipped my car back to the US, I calculated it as 34 minutes by train and bus but it actually took us much longer because of sudden unannounced quirky bus strike on our way there and desire to hike past the lake and through the Ronce Park back to the station. (But if you intend to go by public transport, fear not, after exiting the station it's only a few blocks away.)
In any case, we came in by the street side which was a mistake because the entrance from lake-side is really much nicer from the statue of Corot
to the grape vines over the entrance archway
to the thatch-covered pavillion (Les Paillotes) on the left where they serve during better weather.
We were ushered by painterly smocked waitstaffers into the impressive room with lifesize Corot reproductions all over
and after a lengthy wait, were asked about an apero. The amuse bouche of a bouillon with floating Asian veggies was very good and most Zen.
I choose the menu (unidentified by name on the carte but called on the bill - a menu de Bouche a Oreille, not Bouche a l'oreille, I still have lots to learn about the French language) with a starter of calamari rings and teeny-tiny girolles atop calamari ink - super; then sweetbreads with a slice of boudin noir and apple and its juice and a small potato - very very good; and ended with figs and ice cream - another winner.
Colette liked her St Pierre but hated its bed of a mousseline of watercress which she deemed unworthy of a 32 E dish; however she ended with spectacular dessert of roasted apricots and ginger fromage blanc and ice cream.
The bread was great, the butter (Bordier, I know the chef, Benoit Bordier, says he's not related to Brittany Butter-maker Jean-Yves Bordier, but I'll bet he's never used the geneology computer on the 3rd floor of the Centre Pompidou that tells you, that is, one, that is, me, where Bordiers or Talbot(t)s live and lived in France,) terrific and the cafe serre nickel.
Our bill was 123 E, with a bait-and-switch bottle of wine (Oh, Monsieur, you don't really want what you ordered with lunch - having chosen a wine I especially wanted from my favorite wine-maker couple who always invite me to the bi-yearly - is it?- Salon des vins des vignerons indépendants.)
Go back? Me maybe, but Colette I suspect not, despite the spectacular setting and randonnée. However we both want to try the more informal, so-called wine bar downstairs - the Café des Artistes, where folks seemed to be having a lot more fun.
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