FoodNet

The gourmet's guide to Europe

1903

Page 20

Presented as published in 1903. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
Justice. The students in the “Quartier” when they are in funds sometimes dine at this restaurant, which they call “ Le Navigateur ” — there is a portrait of the old sea-dog and a sketch of his ship the Astrolabe on the carte du jour. Some of the specialties of the house are Filets de Sole Laperouse , Bouillabaisse , which is served always on Fridays, and Tripes a la mode de Caen , provided on Thursdays. The connoisseurs say that the Maison Joanne in the Rue Montorgueil cooks the finest tripe in Paris ; but the little upstairs room in that establishment near the Halles is not to be compared in comfort with the rooms of the “ Navigateur,” and I have tasted the tripe at both establishments and could detect no difference. The burgundy at the Laperouse is excellent ; Corton and Chambertin of 1878, Richbourg 1874, Clos Vougeot 1893, and a beautiful Romanee 1887. Its Bordeaux, its Chateau Yquem in particular, and its wines of the Rhone are also to be recommended. Foyot’s, where one lunches well if one is going to spend an afternoon in the Luxembourg, and Foyot, 33 Rue where one dines before going to the de Tournon Odeon, is quite an aristocratic restau- rant. It is one of the restaurants which M. Charles Mourier controls. The restaurant is at the corner of the Rues de Tournon and Vaugirard, and when the Anarchists thought that to blow up a restaurant would be a warning to aristocratic diners, Foyot’s appeared to them to be very handily situated for their purpose. The bomb exploded, but the only person hurt was an Anarchist poet who had been so false to his tenets as to have taken a very pretty lady to dine a deux in this restaurant of the well-to-do, and to have given her Truite Meuniere to eat. Needless to say, Paris laughed at the incident. Potage Foyot , Riz de Veau Foyot , Homard Foyot , and Biscuit Foyot are some of the dishes of the house, and are all excellent. c 'Paris 33 Of the restaurants of the “ Quartier ” I write in conjunction with those of Montmartre. The Restaurants of the Parisians In labelling some restaurants as being Parisian I only wish to indicate that they are more patronised by the French people and less by the cosmopolitan world of Paris than the “smart” restaurants are. If we start from the Madeleine Square and walk up the boulevards towards the Place de la Bastille, we shall pass most of the best known of the typically French restaurants. In the Madeleine Square Lucas, Place de is Lucas’s. It used to be a very quiet la Madeleine and rather sombre restaurant, and its clients were very steady-going, a number of the better-class visitors from the provinces making it their headquarters at meal- times. Large windows, in nouveau art frames, have now taken the place of the old-fashioned casements, and the interior has been rather garishly decorated. I suspect the prices of having gone up a step when the alterations were made, but the m ' T9,V6m6 cuisine remains quite excellent. The Anglaise, Harengs Lucas are the most appetising 28 Rue Boissy hors d* oeuvre I know, and in the cellar dAnglas there are some fine old cognacs which are not at all unreasonable in price. In the Rue Boissy d’Anglas, behind Lucas’s, is the Taverne Anglaise, a quiet establishment, the patrons of which say that they get Lucas’s cookery at considerably less than Lucas’s prices.