This past weekend, I had my first visitor since my arrival in Paris. My friend, whom I haven't seen in a year and a half came for a quick visit from Boston. We both LOVE food and wine, so I really had to make sure I made reservations at some impressive restaurants.
This was also a chance for me to dine a bit more fancily at dinner. Normally I only dine out at lunch as it is cheaper and not as weird to dine alone.
For our last night together, I made a reservations at a small restaurant not far from my apartment in the 14th arrondissement called "Les petits plats," meaning small plates. The concept is to let diners try out different things in smaller portions. The set dinner menu lets you choose 4 small plates for 35 euros. You can choose any combination that you wish: I opted for 1 entree, 2 maind dishes, and 1 dessert, as did my friend. We found out very soon that these plates aren't exactly as petit as we thought!
There was a little "mise en bouche" to start, with small crostinis and this amazing olive tapenade. My first course was a white fish gravalax with a creme fraiche sauce wrapped in thinnly sliced carrots. The creme balanced the fish well, and the piece of baguette was the perfect accompaniment. My companion had a foamy soup that was poured into a bowl with fresh breadcrumbs right in front of us. Again, one could probably go through a loaf of bread with the soup alone.
My second dish was pan-fried fish on top of a small crepe filled with leeks and pancetta. The skin of the fish was crispy, but a bit under-flavored. But the crepe certain made up for everything! My friend's second dish was a "riz de veau" carpaccio. It was served sliced cheese and an excellent cream sauce. I think this was probably the best dish of the night. The veal was flavoreful and tender (did I mention it was raw?)
My third course was kind of a decomposed paella. It was served in two small hot plates, one with the seafood, and the other a wild black rice. The sauce from the seafood was amazing that I could not resist another piece of bread, even though by this time I was already stuffed. The other dish was a duck confit ravioli served with sliced pears and grapefruit. Another inventive and unique dish.
We were both overly full by this point, and expecting our dessert to be just a small sample. But then out came this big piece of hazelnut eclair and a big bowl of sweet fresh grapefruit and shaved ice. If that was considered a small plate of eclair, then I don't even want to know what their version of a regular size eclair is! The flavor of the eclair was to die for, and the caramel sauce complemented it perfectly. My grapfruit ice dessert was a little lighter, but it was so much that I could barely handle the rest.
Les Petits Plats is a small and quiet restaurant that serves up fun and inventive dishes. The service was good, and the wine options are plentiful with reasonable prices. The menu changes everyday. It is definitely a place that I would go back!
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