Sometime after we first bought our pied-à-terre in Paris in 1990-1991 we read a review by then Paris Food Critic Patricia Wells (now a colleague at Paris By Mouth) in the IHT about the Bistrot du Dome in the 14th and we're blown away by the great quality of the fish, the selection and the prices, including the wines, all of which, if I'm not mistaken, priced at 99 FF a bottle (about 18 E then.)
I'm happy to say that in these 20 or so years, the decor is as bright and semi-nautical, the service as wonderful and the wine as well-priced (although now at 24.10 E a bottle) as ever. The ardoise, however, is a bit different; it used to feature coques or patagos, salmon tartare, grilled sardines, tuna and smelt but today featured langoustines, solettes, bar, cod and the like - a step up in popularity and price. And the staff, all of whom I knew and vice-versa, have turned over 20 times.
I alone ordered a starter, shown here as a half-consumed, decontructed "salad" of perfectly cooked langoustines with greens on a lukewarm tomato/onion base; quite nice.
Colette had two wonderful (but too much for a single dish) rougets with an OK ratatouille side-dish and our downstair's neighbor and I had the ray with capers which instead of the subtle browned butter sauce of my memory, had an enormous amount of creamy cream on top, with superb potatoes aside - and I'm no potato-judge.
The deserts all looked familiar, classical and good. You may note something on the chalkboard Colette and I have never seen before - a reduction in the price of the chocolat (and it was similar with the ray) - hummm.
The millefeuille with rum had a great crust and good rum but a ton too much whipped cream, or am I just getting crankier and older?; Colette's moelleux was made with about the best chocolate ever; and my baba was of good texture with the same good rum but also had a ton too much whipped cream, or am I getting even crankier and older?
Our bill with a bottle and glass of wine, typical served-with-bivalves-bread and three terrific coffees, was 139.50 E, ergo 93 E a couple.
Go? As they say in my crowd; "let's give it a rest."
Hi John,
190FF is almost equal to 29EUROS (1Euro=6.55957FF)!
the Mille feuilles does not look like it has 1000 layers! no crust in the center?
Posted by: Chrisos | January 01, 2012 at 08:54 PM
You are correct; I just consulted P. Well's book and found that the wines then were 99 not 190 FF, thus closer to 18 E but still a bargain.
As for the crusts, they were there, albeit smothered in fluff.
Posted by: John Talbott | January 03, 2012 at 09:48 AM
What's the Muscadet that they serve there? I dined at this restaurant back in November and wish I'd noted the name of it. Great place and very fresh produce.
Posted by: John | January 28, 2012 at 10:32 PM
Sorry I don't know; I'll be walking near there today so if I do I'll look.
Posted by: John Talbott | January 29, 2012 at 08:45 AM
I was eating around the corner so I looked at the wine list in the window and didn't see a Muscadet, entered, asked to see the current one, same. No Muscadet apparently.
Posted by: John Talbott | January 29, 2012 at 09:05 PM