A Sunday in the summer is not the best time to
eat in Paris. Not only were most of the nice restaurants closed
on Sundays, but the famous Sunday-friendly ones (Pierre
Gagnaire) were off for summer vacation. The result is that on
Sunday night we didn't really have a place to go. We ate lunch
at a Chinese place of all things, just off the Champs Elysées,
which was actually pretty good. It was a needed break for my
grandma and grandaunt. For dinner, they decided to stay in and
get room service. My dad's friend Johan was flying into Paris
for the night and wanted to meet for dinner, so I tagged along.
Our
concierge was able to get us into
La Tour D'Argent,
a Michelin two star, and one of Paris' oldest restaurants. It
supposedly opened in 1582 as an inn, and has
survived. For most
of the 20th century, it was a Michelin three star—one of the
early favorites in the guide. It was dubbed France's best
restaurant for like 70 years or something. But after the
prolonged success, it apparently lost a step as other
restaurants evolved and improved. It finally lost a star (in the
early-mid 90s, I think?) despite its prestige.
Well, nothing was open and my dad was keen to
retry the restaurant and see if it has picked up any slack since
the wake up call of the lost star. The restaurant sits at the
edge of the Seine. You actually take an elevator up a few floors
to the main dining room, which has probably the best view of
Paris I've seen. It's really amazing up there, and the view
alone would cement the place as a surefire special occasion
spot. To be honest though, that's all it had going for it. The
place was just straight-up gimmicky. It really tried hard to
shove its history down your throat. It is famous for its duck, a
dish they've been serving for like centuries or something. When
you eat dinner there, they give you a little postcard printed
with the number of the duck you're eating. I don't even remember
what number we got, but I think they served their millionth not
too long ago. Anyway, the whole atmosphere just screamed
gimmick.
hors d'oeuvres
Our dinner began with this tray of hors d'oeuvres: a cheese
puff, a pastry I don't remember, a curry-based samosa, and a
salmon with cream on toast thing. They were alright, but really
didn't taste any more special than hors d'oeuvres you'd get
anywhere.
quenelles de brochet André Terrail - 45 euros
These pike dumplings were the highlight of the meal. André
Terrail is either one of the old owners or Chefs or something in
the restaurants history. Claude Terrail, the current boss,
actually came around to say hi to most of the diners. He's
really old now, and it was kind of interesting seeing him sit at
a table in the corner and survey the place throughout the night.
Anyway, the quenelles were soft and flavorful, with a rich,
thick sauce. Then again, I wouldn't say they were notably better
than the version at, say,
Jeanty at Jack's in SF.
caneton 'Tour d'Argent', part 1: breast with blood sauce -
60 euros
The famous caneton 'Tour d'Argent' is a pressed duckling
served two ways. The first is this breast with a blood sauce.
The little fried things are some kind of puffed potato. This
duck was pretty good, but really nothing too special, especially
given all the hype. There was just too much sauce, and while not
bad it was a bit overwhelming. It certainly didn't score any
points in the presentation department.
caneton 'Tour d'Argent', part 2: leg with
béarnaise sauce
More mediocrity here. Again, nothing wrong with the duck. It
was actually a pretty tasty leg, just nothing special. At least
the béarnaise was on the side so we could pick how much we
wanted. Also, not much presentation and no sides to speak of.
financiers, chocolate/nuts, macaroons, berry tartlets
We waited a bit and after a while these pre-desserts came.
They didn't offer us cheese, despite the cheese cart we saw
rolling around. We didn't mind that much because we didn't
really feel like it anyway, but that's a pretty glaring glitch
for a two star place. These treats were, again, just average.
peach flambée with raspberry brandy, vanilla ice cream, and
orange flower cake - 28 euros
This is my dad's dessert. I forgot to take a picture of my
coffee millefeuille, which was too sweet and pale in comparison
to some of the others we had. The peach was a bit of a show.
They brought the peach out, poured the brandy on top, and
flambéed it at the table. It was pretty dark by now so it was
quite cool-looking. My dad said it was pretty good, but again
nothing special.
So in the end, this was definitely one of the worse meals we had
on the trip. The restaurant has a myriad of problems to deal
with. First, the food isn't stellar. Second, the service was
subpar. It was really the only meal where we experienced any
remotely snobby attitude from the staff. The thing that annoyed
me the most though was the cheesiness and the gimmicks. It's
obvious this place is riding on its historic fame, and letting
everything else just freeride. I'm not saying it wasn't a good
meal, but I'm comparing it to some very high standards here.
Based on my admittedly limited experience, I'd say La Tour
d'Argent is worthy of at most one star. Baumanière, Le
Meurice, Chez Bru—they're all light years ahead of this place. But damn, does it have a
nice view...
© 2005 Arthur Che. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Arthur Hungry "eating one meal at a time"
www.arthurhungry.com
