6.0 Comme Chez Maman, 5, rue des Moines in the 17th, 01.42.28.89.53, open 7/7, but brunch on weekends, is a place I rated a 6.0 on March 19th (amazing consistency eh?) when they had a menu on which were only featured dishes for two. Interestingly, the outside sign is no longer a red on white Chez Maman but the above white on green one.
I returned because I'd heard they'd abandoned that conceit and the new version (v2 if you will) has a huge number of possibilities for one person, from which decisions were hard to make.
My Romanian pal made a brilliant choice though and ordered one portion of coquillages brûle main for all four of us; mainly mussels and razor clams cooked in a cast iron pan, not unlike the signature burnt fingers mussels dish (aka Moules de bouchots brûle-doigts) at La Cagouille - quite yummy - photo shows how quickly it was consumed.
Colette had scallops on braised endives that we both thought were truly unique, sweet and with that wonderful burned flavor correctly-cooked endives have; my Eastern pal had a seafood pot au feu which he rather liked and two of us denizens of my neighborhood in the 18th had superb spicy (aromatic) kidneys on a bed of mashed potatoes.
Desserts were also a bit out of the box, in a very good way; the tarte tatin was like nothing Colette had ever had (and I learned after 50.5 years of marriage that she's a strict constructionist) - while I loved the deconstructed, puree-like apple; my friend up the hill had a chestnut cream that I thought was dreamy and our other pal from the Oriental side of Europe had slices of baba with a very fine rum.
Our bill, which we usually and traditionally wrestle over, literally and figuratively, was 175 E; and that with 4 glasses of white as aperos, a bottle of Bordeaux, very good bread and pretty good coffee.
Go? I'd say go now before the French Pentagon brass move into their over-the-top post-Hussein palace in the Batignolles dessert intended for the 2012 Olympics that the perfidious Anglanders stole from us.
Bonus points for those who live nearby - they have take-away.
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