Paris Journal 2015 – Barbara Joy Cooley Home: barbarajoycooley.com
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The cool, steady rain continued through the day and all through the evening yesterday. Fortunately, our dinner reservation was only five or six blocks away, at the Restaurant Stephane Martin. We’ve been dining at Stephane Martin’s for many years. This year, we didn’t manage to dine there before the resto closed for vacation. But a couple weeks ago, I made the reservation for yesterday evening, which was just a couple days after the re-opening. The timing was especially good because the big specialty of the house is a pork roast for two – something we’d only want to indulge in on a chilly evening. The roast, called a jarret de porc, is pretty much the same cut that I use to make pulled pork (Boston butt roast), without the outer layer of fat removed. It is served with a red cabbage that has been slow-cooked in red wine and honey. The dish is a traditional Alsatian preparation. The server said this roast had been cooked for an entire day. I only cook my jarret pork roast for about nine hours, I told her. Although I usually do pulled pork (for Tom’s poker buddies or for a family barbeque), I have prepared this exact same Alsatian jarret de porc dish, with the red cabbage and all, at least once in the past. I just duplicated the Stephane Martin roast based on taste and memory. I always look forward to cooking in my own kitchen when we return from Paris. The server acknowledged that the dish is so copious that it is okay to take some home with us after dinner. Tom did not understand her, so I repeated back to her, in French, “It’s okay to take away after dinner?” She confirmed it, even using the term “doggy bag.”
Tom thinks we got a doggy bag at Stephane Martin last year, too. I vaguely remember that. Anyway, this is the exception to the rule that Parisian restaurants just don’t do doggy bags. I hope it becomes a trend instead of an exception to the rule. Business-wise, it is smart for the restaurants to allow, and even encourage, doggy bags, because that way people are far more likely to order more courses – especially desserts. Our dinner began with a mis en bouche of salmon rillettes again – but these were not quite as spicy and interesting as those of l’Alchimie the night before. However, the moelleaux at Stephane Martin’s was richer and more beautifully presented than at l’Alchimie. It was also several dollars more expensive. The special chocolate in the moelleaux at Stephane Martin’s comes from Tanzania. The tarte aux pommes that Tom had last night was absolutely beautiful. It was thicker than the tarte fine aux pommes at Le Cap, but that’s because there were far more thin slices of apple stacked up on it. The tarte aux pommes at Le Cap is therefore crispier, but the one at Stephane Martin’s was chewier and more substantial – more generous. Tom wouldn’t want to say one is better than the other; they’re just different. And he’d say the one at Stephane Martin’s was more refined and more elegant. The chef/owner, Stephane Martin, usually does not appear when we are there. He stays in the kitchen. So I was surprised to see a request to connect on LinkedIn that he sent me about a month ago. Of course, I accepted. We’ve been on the restaurant’s email list for a few years. Even though we aren’t in Paris for the holidays, it is nice to receive the invitations to New Year dinners or special wine dinners. It’s nice to feel included. It’s nice to dream of Paris while we’re away, even though summer is the only time we want to be here. For everything, there is a time and a season. |
Friday, August 28, 2015
The Restaurant Stephane Martin.
Salmon
rillettes (spread) and thin, toasted crisps.
The
beautiful desserts at Stephane Martin’s:
Moelleaux au chocolat,
above, and tarte aux pommes with a good, thick caramel
sauce, below.
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