Pre: Six weeks ago, Aitor Alfonso in Le Fooding wrote “If the Bistro Liberation Front existed, this would be its headquarters.” Wow! After that, how can one not go?
6.0 Le Bougainville, 5 rue de la Banque in the 2nd, 01.42.60.05.19, closed Sundays and Monday nights (Metro: hummm, Bourse maybe) is the kind of place only an omnivore with a big appetite and 45 minutes to eat, presented not with a check written but the table number written on the paper placemat, would love. I’m sure I and you have been by it a thousand times, it’s right next to the great wine store LeGrand on the rue de la Banque and in the Galerie Vivienne on the inside. The decor, the staff, the carte, etc., are straight from 1950. No froufrou here, just real food, homemade. Even the toaster looks ancient.
I was in the Auvergnat mood, so I started off with herring and potatoes, what could be more classic?; then in homage to Jacques Chirac, their tete de veau with a fabulous gribiche sauce, which my surgical skills allowed me to dissect and eat the brains and meat, leaving aside the fat and gristle; and finish with a pot of chocolate mousse.
My bill with a carafe of red Pinot D’Alsace and a coffee was 45.40€. Db’s = 78.6 not bad. Nor the bread.
Go? If you’ve never been to a real 1950 French bistro and you’re bunking downtown, I’d say, this is the place.
*Yankees, for my generation of French folks, refers to the Yanks who flooded France in 1918 and 1944 and includes gays from Key West, farmers from Iowa and booksellers from Seattle.
Comments