Paris Journal 2014 – Barbara Joy Cooley Home: barbarajoycooley.com
Find me on Facebook 2013
Paris Journal ← Previous Next
→ << Back to the beginning
|
Lisa sent me a message yesterday, saying that if she were in Paris now, she’d go to the Musée du Quai Branly to see the Tiki exhibition. She’d also go to La Tresorerie, “a new housewares store that I hear is beautiful,” she said. When Lisa says something like that, we listen. Not only does she have exquisite taste, but she also is a dynamite businesswoman who, along with her business partner Noel, created the Harmony Ball Company (here’s their story). I wrote back to her that we did see the Tiki exhibition. I didn’t mention it when I wrote about our visit there because we only spent about 10 minutes looking at it. Then it was time for us to meet our friends at the café. “Tiki Pop” is the name of the exhibition because it focuses on the popular American myths about the South Seas culture that fueled so many popular songs, decorative objects, shows, and even theme restaurants like the former Kahiki in Columbus, where Tom and I used to live and Lisa still does. It was a 1950s and 1960s phenomenon in American culture. “Tiki Pop” is a fun, cute exhibition, located on one of the modestly sized mezzanines of the museum. Lisa’s interest in La Tresorerie means that we must go there. An easy ride on the line 8 from Commerce to Republique, the trek will be our first foray into the Right Bank this summer. Now that I see, on her Facebook page, that Lisa has another company, Areaware, I further understand her interest in a housewares store. She’s a busy, talented lady. We will go to La Tresorerie, and report back to Lisa. We almost ventured as far as the Right Bank yesterday evening when we walked along the Allée des Cygnes (also called the Île aux Cygnes). In fact, we wondered, as we walked, whether this island in the Seine is considered to be in the 15th, or the 16th arrondissement? Wikipedia is no help; it says the Île is in both. No wonder the Île is in a perpetual state of some kind of neglect; neither arrondissement is taking responsibility. Still, pedestrians like us love the place as a calm and leafy walkway, away from noisy automobiles and buses. We stepped into Panoramic at Beaugrenelle on our way back up the rue Linois. Although the weather was not so blazingly hot as on Friday, the humidity was elevated; Paris was muggy. Rain had been drizzling. We rode the escalators up through the air-conditioned mall to the top level, where Bermuda Onion is located. According to its web site, this Parisian restaurant considers itself to be “mythical,” a celebrated place from the Paris of the 1980s. It was a swish resto in the former Beaugrenelle shopping mall. The Noctis restaurant group, which owns twenty-some Paris eateries, is the new Bermuda Onion’s proprietor. The Onion’s décor is inspired by the 1950s, and its cuisine unites “modernity and quality.” That’s a fair description found on the resto’s web site. Because we did not have a reservation, we were not seated right by the window. But Tom did have a fairly good view out over the Seine. I had a nice view of the attractive restaurant’s interior. The Onion is one of those places where Parisians go to indulge in an expensive hamburger. Tom ordered that, and it was very good, even if the bun was one of those fragile brioche-y things. It came wrapped in waxed paper made to look like a newspaper from Honolulu of the early 20th Century. Served with fries, this burger cost 21 euros ($28). I ordered the supreme de pintade (Guinea hen) for only 19 euros. It came in a sauce of finely puréed sweet potatoes, with a foam of citronelle (lemongrass) on top. I’m not crazy about this foam trend, but the dish was delicious. The Onion’s Chef Valentin Néraudeau has earned my respect. And the service was excellent, too. I’d made an appetizer earlier, before our walk, at the apartment. We didn’t feel the need for any dessert, so the dinner was not long. When we left the restaurant and shopping mall, the drizzly rain had given way to a lovely sky, headed for a beautiful sunset.
|
Sunday, July 20, 2014
Poster
in English in the BMW dealership window, on the avenue Emile Zola. This is for my mom, Joy.
Swish
is still the word for Bermuda Onion.
Tom’s
burger (above), and my supreme de pintade (below) at the Bermuda Onion.
|
