Au Revior

Today was our final day in France.  Tomorrow we leave the apartment at 10:15 am for 1:40 flight out of Orly Airport that arrives in Newark at 4:15.

Our top priority today was to walk and enjoy the sights of central Paris.  We began by walking down our favorite street, Rue St. Dominique, where our apartment, the Cabernet was last year.  It is also where the Christian Constant restaurants are, as well as La Fontaine de Mars.  We had lunch at Alfio (see previous post).

Then we wanted to get one last walk along the Seine to the Tulleries, the garden that is in front of the Louvre.  We stopped for ice cream at our favorite gelato stand, Amorino (which also had a location in Strasbourg, which we visited).   We noticed that they have one store in the US, near NYU.  How convenient!

You can see Amorino in the distance, on the far right.

We saw two separate groups of bike riders with interesting headgear.  They both wore yellow, one had fuzzy yellow wigs on, the had spiky yellow mohawks.

Here are some views of our walk.  I know we have published similar pictures last year, this time it was sunnier.

By the time we returned to our neighborhood it was after 6 pm.  We could not work up the energy to get ready to go out for the evening.  And Gina had 3 loads of laundry to get to (priorities!).  So we stopped at our local G20 market and picked up a few supplies to cook dinner with.  We even bought our only souvenir from this trip to remind us of this market (a great place to cool yourself off).

I picked up some mushrooms, chicken, shallots and basil.  We already had some mustard, butter and cream to make a little mustard sauce.

Although the kitchen is tiny, it is laid out efficiently and it enjoyable to cook here.

Here is the final product.  It actually turned out pretty well.

It was a nice relaxing way to end a wonderful trip!

Did I mention we had some pizza in France

I think we mentioned in an earlier post, you just can't discount a restaurant because it is in between two souvenir shops.

Alfio is a restaurant on Avenue de la Bourdonnais, the street our apartment is on.  We walked by it often, and the pizza looked appetizing, and the seating looked appealing.  The restaurant was comfortable, and its easy proximity resulted in two visits.  The outdoor seating is shaded, as the street is lined with beautiful trees.  Here is a view from the restaurant.

On our first visit we both got pizza.

On both visits we shared the tomato and mozzarella salad.

On our second visit Gina ordered a penne with arrabiata sauce and I had the veal milanese.

We won't elaborate too much.  It is a good italian option in this neighborhood.  The mozzarella tomato salad and the bread is delicious.  The pizza is no Amano (we are spoiled in Ridgewood). If we lived here this place would be a weekly staple.

Return to Fontainebleau

We woke up yesterday and knew it was going to be hot.  Not as hot as it is has been back home in New Jersey, but very hot for walking around Paris.  We decided it was a good opportunity to revisit one of our favorite places in France. . . Fontainebleau

I suggested we rent a car for the day, so we Gina quickly made a call to Avis to reserve it.  We reserved it at Gare Montparnasse, a large train station in the 15 Arrondissement.  We chose that location because they are open until 10:30 pm, and we were not sure of our itinerary.

Pro-tip, when it is 90 degrees out, don't assume that the car you are renting has air conditioning. At least check before you are 20 kilometers outside of town.  This car, a Peugeot, was about as no frills as they come.  Because of our tardy reservation, it was about all we were willing to spend. To get a lower rate, they require 3 hours of lead time.

It is an easy drive once you get out of the city, about 71 kilometers (44 miles).  I must say that the GPS on my iPhone (and my navigator, Gina) has been a godsend on our trips (except for Germany, where it did not work), it really has gotten us where we need to go.  Especially for exiting and entering the city.  It is very hard to see street signs in Paris, since they are on the buildings and not on the streets.


View Larger Map

It took us about an hour to get there.  Our first destination was the Fontainebleau Golf Club.  We just wanted to get a feel for it, to see if I would be comfortable playing there.  It reminded us of Otterkill.  One thing we noticed, and liked, was that we didn't see anyone using a cart, everyone was walking the course.

The clubhouse looked comfortable, though we were a little skittish about getting too close.  It looked like a large crowd of members were eating outside.  Here are a couple of pictures.

From there we found a little central parking place and walked to a restaurant, Antica Trattoria Italiana that we ate at last year.  The waitress was nice enough to let us in, the kitchen was closing in a couple of minutes. We were welcome to eat as long as we made a quick choice.  We noticed that Fontainebleau seemed to have a siesta happening in the afternoon, many of the stores were closed.

We both got a pizza.  If I had a couple of more minutes to order, I probably wouldn't  have chosen the pizza with egg on it (very big in France).  But it really did add a flavor to the pizza.   I know our favorite Jersey Food Blogger enjoys this as well.  Gina contends that this was the best pizza we had in France.  You may be asking yourself, you are in France, how many times did you have pizza?  More than I care to say.  As much as Gina loves France, a two week vacation would be difficult without some old reliable staples.

From here we took a quick walk around the beautiful grounds of the Fontainebleau Chateau.  It was just as beautiful as we remembered.

We drove back to Paris, stopping off at a shopping mall that was really nothing special.

We got really lucky on the drive back, it was rush hour, but we were not held up by any traffic. Finding the parking garage to return the car was very easy.  We then walked the 2 miles back to our apartment.

La Fontaine de Mars

We have previously blogged about this restaurant, which has been in this spot since 1908 . . . see website here, and as promised we returned one more time last year, and ate there again last night.  It is currently in a tie with Cuisine du Bar, each with three respective meals. Who will get to four first?  We are not sure, but once that tie has been broken, we will be providing the breaking news.

UPDATE: We have a winner.  We didn't plan on going here last night, but our other options looked like they had a wait, or only bad tables to sit at.  So we saw some nice tables available and were able to sit down immediately for the second night in a row.

What is not suspenseful is what Gina will be ordering (and she held up her side of the bargain), in either place.  Once she finds a favorite dish, she does not deviate.  In our favorite restaurant on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, Monaco, I believe Gina ordered the Chicken Tagine 48 out of the approximately 50 times we ate there.  I must say, she makes a lot fewer ordering mistakes than I do, so I can't criticize.

In fact, the night we got engaged I stopped in at Monaco prior to meeting up with Gina to propose.  I had a little time so I stopped there for a glass of wine and to confirm our table, that I had arranged in advance, for some guests to surprise Gina to celebrate our engagement.  I was explaining who Gina was to the staff of the restaurant, and while they didn't know her by name, once I told them what she ordered they all said, aaahhh, Chicken Tagine girl.

Back to La Fontaine de Mars.  It serves provencal food, food from a region in southeastern France.

One great thing about this place is that you don't have to waste space describing the meal Gina has, all you usually need is that first description, though we will provide a fresh picture here.

The bread continues to be a hit, the waiter told us where they get it from, but we couldn't quite make out what he said.  We thought it was the boulangerie across the street, but that is not the case.

I have countered Gina's consistency by ordering four different meals in four trips to the restaurant. It has given me a chance to explore some of the french classics.

Two nights ago I had escargot for an appetizer, an option that is on the menu.  They came in a tray with six cubby holes, buried in a garlic butter without their shells.  I enjoyed them, Gina did not partake.

Last night I chose Steamed Leeks with Herbs as my entree (which is the appetizer in France). This was a hit with both of us.  It really had an appealing flavor, and included some wonderful crispy croutons.

On Wednesday night I had the coq au vin, the weekly Wednesday special, a rich chicken braised in wine with lardons (like bacon) and mushrooms over pasta.  Very well done.

On Thursday I remembered reading about how Fontaine was a place that you could get a good crispy duck, (duck confit).  This is what I ordered, and will definitely be ordering again.  What you get is a crispy duck leg over potatoes with a little frisee salad on the side.

On Wednesday we were not able to fit in dessert . . .  that changed on Thursday.  We returned to a previous favorite, the chocolate mousse and also ordered a special, what they described as a chocolate cake covered with raspberries.  It was more like a dense chocolate tart, and it was delicious.

I saw a man that I think I know.  Not sure if it is because I know him personally, or he is a writer or actor.  I acted like I was taking a picture of Gina and was able to get him here. Hopefully someday I will figure this out.

We can't wait to come here on our next trip, probably on the first night.