——- Sunday ——-

Brandon: Where do you want to go for your birthday?

Me: Les Papilles! Oh no! They’re closed on Mondays! <about to cry>

Brandon: I’ll make a reservation for Tuesday, and we can go someplace else.

Me: But I don’t want to go anywhere else!

Brandon: Okaaaay…

——- Tuesday ——-

Brandon: I got us a 10pm reservation.

Me: 10pm?! Who eats at 10pm?! You didn’t take that reservation did you?

Brandon: Uh, let me call them back and reschedule for wednesday.

Me: <heart breaking, stomach grumbling>

Brandon: Ok. Wednesday. 7:30pm.

Me: <broken heart starting to mend, stomach still grumbling>

——- Wednesday ——-

At 7:30 we walk up to Les Papilles and I am giddy. Absolutely giddy. We walk through the door, and there is only one other diner there. It’s 7:30pm. No one in Paris eats this early. I, on the other hand, have dinner ready pretty much the time Brandon walks in the door which is anywhere from 6-6:30pm. By Parisian standards, we are basically eating at senior citizen’s hour…uh, if senior citizens in Paris ate early as they stereotypically do in America, but even senior citizens in Paris are cooler than we are. Anyway, I digress.

First, a little history. I read about Les Papilles in the NY Times while I was researching good places to eat while I was out here visiting back in January. We came, we ate, we were conquered. Hands down the best meal I had, nay, ever had, in Paris. The restaurant only serves one 4-course meal at dinner. In January, we had a delicious carrot soup, chicken with penne and pesto, a cheese course, and an awesome panna cotta with roasted apple and caramel foam.

The menu at Les Papilles changes daily. So I was crazy excited to see what culinary delights would be on tonight’s menu. Our coats are hung and we were shown to our table. The owner comes up and goes through his spiel about how the restaurant works and then proceeds to read of the evening’s menu… “For the starter course we have a carrot soup served with shaved carrots, croutons, bacon, and cumin. <I’m thinking, ok, cool. I loved the soup last time. Great! I get to have it again> For the second course, we are serving roasted chicken with penne pasta in a pesto sauce…” I can’t even look at the guy anymore because of course, I can finish his sentences now…third, brie cheese, fourth, panna cotta. It was like a joke, and I was waiting for him to say stop me if you’ve heard this one before.  I let out this really annoying giggle while he was still talking. I felt kinda bad about that. I hope he didn’t think I was laughing at him!

Yes, I was a tad bit disapointed. But it quickly faded when my glass-half-full husband says, “at least we know we’re going to have another good meal.” Yes, that is true.   So I put the giddy back on.

Optimistic Brandon, :)

Shaved carrot salad, croutons, bacon, creme fraiche, fried parsley.

Then you ladle in the creamy, carroty, goodness.

Second course arrives. Quick photo before we dig in.

Roasted chicken the the crispiest, most flavorful skin EVER. Penne pasta with a pesto cream sauce, snow peas, sun-dried tomatoes, onions, and roasted garlic.

Third course: brie cheese with caramelized onions in a balsamic reduction and greens.

Fourth course: A little variation here…it was a panna cotta with orange zest marmalade topped with a caramel foam sauce.

Can you see the orange? :D

The flower at our table.

The restaurant is doubles as a wine shop and triples as a specialty foods shop.

As you can see, another good meal. While we were eating I kept thinking…the menu changes daily, daily…daily. Aha! The last time we were here on a Wednesday, and 2 months later, we are here again on a Wednesday! So Brandon has agreed to take me to Les Papilles again on a different days of the week. In a couple weeks, I think we’re going to shoot for a Friday (Last time we tried to eat there with Luke, it smelled so good, and they were serving some kind of rosemary beef dish that looked amazing, AND it was a Friday).

Well, that’s all folks. This is Piggy signing off. Oink! Oink!