Paris Journal 2015 – Barbara Joy Cooley Home: barbarajoycooley.com
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A walk along the Allée des Cygnes is usually reserved for weekdays at rush hour, because it is a good place to avoid walking near automobiles. But we decided to take this pleasant stroll on a Sunday afternoon, during the couple hours before the Tour de France team time trials would start on channel 2. We reached the end of the rue Linois and after crossing the Quai de Grenelle, we looked down at the riverbank where the Viking River Cruise boat docks. There we saw something new: a food truck called En Route Pour La Joie (on the road for joy). It was parked very near the Viking boat, out on the tree-lined blacktop. Several folding chairs, tables, an umbrella, and a couple potted plants formed its “terrace,” where some customers were lounging. What do you call a food truck in French? Well, it is called a “food truck,” I guess because the concept began in the USA. We noticed signs up on the street level to attract pedestrians to come on down.
The French side of the sign says: Food Truck – All home made – World Cuisine. The English side says, as you can see, Food Truck – Homemade Food – Drinks – And much more. I guess the translator didn’t think English speakers would understand “World Cuisine.” Hmmmm. The business is so new that its web site is still under construction. But its Facebook page tells us that “En route pour la joie is ready to share fine cuisine with you: dishes prepared every day and a mélange of flavors from elsewhere.” The business probably started up in April/May. So what does this food truck serve? According to En Route’s July 10 Facebook posting, an example of offerings would be: Quinoa salad with shitake chicken. On July 8, it was real fries, and hamburgers for the gourmands. July 7 included “Onigiri, Edamame, and tapioca with jaquier.” Tapioca is the only thing I understand in that line-up. On July 1, Paris experienced a real heat wave, with temperatures reaching 104F (40C) in the shade. The food truck forged ahead, serving ceviche with scallops, rice stamina (rice with beets, soy, eggs, chicken, and green beans, served on a bed of Quinoa), and tapioca with coconut milk and jaquier. Impressive. We crossed over the bridge to the Allée des Cygnes and began the verdant part of our stroll. When we reached the place where the Capitaine Fracasse dinner cruise boat is normally docked, we noticed a table with two young men who were promoting a company called “Navigation Douce” that offers an ecological tour of three islands of the Seine: The Île aux Cygnes (on which the Allée des Cygnes is located), the Île Saint-Germain, and the Île Seguin. The dock at the Bir Hakeim end of the Île aux Cygnes is one departure point on the tour, and the other is the Port de Sevres, across from the end of the Île Seguin. The Sevres museum is nearby. Five tours are offered weekly, from Wednesday through Sunday. The one yesterday was leaving the Allée at about 2:30PM. The group also offers a cruise of the locks on the Seine, and a “cultural cruise,” but it isn’t clear what is included on that option. Perhaps the Sevres museum of porcelain? And on the other side of the river, maybe the Albert Khan museum? We’ve seen the Albert Khan museum, but not the Sevres museum. Since we both love French porcelain so much, maybe we ought to go there, but it is easy enough to take the Metro’s line 9 to the Pont de Sevres. Because I take so long to go through a museum, we’d best go on our own instead of with a tour group. Tom really liked the look of the little boat used on these “Navigation Douce” tours. Who knows, maybe we will get a boat now that we have a dock at home in Florida. On our way back to the apartment, we thought we’d do a little shopping in the Beaugrenelle mall. But nearly every store in it was closed for Sunday. How quaint. We really needed a few items, so I navigated us over to the Carrefour City store near Le Pario on the avenue Emile Zola. Convenience stores are so . . . convenient! After watching the Tour de France time trials taking place on a beautiful island in Brittany, we did some reading and then it was time to dine, right around the corner at the beautiful Café du Commerce. Dinner started with a shared special of the day, an eggplant tart with tapenade and salad (below).
I ordered the main special of the day, an excellent salmon steak served with a beurre blanc sauce and ratatouille (at right). Tom’s main course was barbequed spare ribs, and while the potato purée served with it was divine, the spare ribs were almost entirely fat; there was very little meat to consume. Fortunately, I had more than enough salmon, which I gave to Tom. Dessert was the wonderful Baba au Rhum, which the Café du Commerce does very well. One of the qualities of this resto that we particularly enjoy is the service. The servers wear the formal white shirts/black vests/black slacks/white aprons, and they are quite professional. That, combined with the over-the-top Art Nouveau décor makes for a special dinner. Sunday is an ideal day for us to dine there. Sundays are special, after all. |
Monday, July 13, 2015
From
left to right: the Allée
des Cygnes, the Eiffel Tower, the Front de Seine, and the Viking River Cruise
boat.
Walking
under the canopy of mature trees on the Allée des
Cygnes.
Tom
likes the little boat used for La Balade Des Iles
tours.
Even
the least important corner of the Café du Commerce is fascinating, because of
the mirrors and décor. You see Tom’s
back in the dark sport coat to the right in this photo.
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