Le Polidor, Photo by Florence Richburg
Parler Paris Nouvellettre®
Your taste of life in Paris and France
ParlerParis.com
Monday, March 29, 2010 • Paris, France
Dear Parler Paris Reader,
Don't tell my mother, but Passover Seder is going to take a slightly different turn from the usual roast chicken or turkey with "charoset," "matzoh" and "gefilte fish."
Normally on the first night of Passover, the hand made melamine "Seder Plate" that my daughter made in elementary school comes out of the cabinet and it gets prepared along with a dinner for close friends and family. Then the "Haggadahs" are pulled off the shelf to read through the service, even though we heretics often end up reading jokingly from the "Two-Minute Haggadah, a Passover Service for the Impatient" by Michael Rubiner) and then pouring up the wine (that's all part of the fun)!
But not this year. This year we're having two staggeredly held dinner parties (one with my friends and then 30 minutes later my daughter with her friends) at Le Felteu, a restaurant in the Marais (15, Rue Pecquay, 4th, 01 42 72 14 51) that serves the best lamb chops you ever eaten in your life. (Mom, I promise not to eat any bread and we will bring the matzoh.)
Do I feel guilty? Well maybe. But not really. We friends all in cahoots on this and the story of Passover will not be forgotten while we're digging in to the lamb chops -- I'll bring copies of the Two-Minute Haggadah and that will fix everything. I'll also bring matzoh. I swear.
Friday night I had dinner in a restaurant in which I hadn't stepped foot for at least 15 years -- Le Polidor (41, rue Monsieur le Prince, 6th, 01 43 26 95 34). As tourists it was one of our favorites. When we came to Paris with close friends to celebrate my 40th birthday, we literally went from the plane directly to the Polidor.
While at lunch, our friend quickly left the table to go to the bathroom without giving us the chance to warn him about the Turkish toilets. He came back white as a ghost -- it was the first of its kind he had ever seen and it hadn't been a pleasant experience. I'll never forget his face or the big laugh we had. I didn't look this last visit, but I believe they have upgraded since then!
Meanwhile, unlike Le Felteu, which is one of our best kept secrets, Le Polidor is one of Paris' most touristy bistrots, ranking way up there with the likes of Chartier and Les Deux Magots. They are still packing them in, serving up the most basic of French country cooking. The waitresses now all speak English and in fact, even though I spoke only French to ours, she responded in English. The clientele were clearly mostly non-French, from the looks of their physical appearance alone, if not for the boisterousness and multi-languages being spoken.
None of this makes Le Polidor a 'bad' restaurant, but now that I've waited 15 years to return, I could easily wait another 15 years and leave it for the tourists to enjoy.
Passover will be spent in Paris, but Easter will be spent in Amsterdam. We'll be trading the matzoh for "rijsttafel," a Dutch word for an Indonesian meal consisting of many side dishes served in small portions, accompanied by rice prepared in several different ways. (It's one reason to love Amsterdam, although there are many.) The reservations have already been made for one of Amsterdam's most touristy Indonesian restaurants, Sampurna, on the Singel (number 498, +31 20 6253264 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting +31 20 6253264 end_of_the_skype_highlighting) just on the famous Amsterdam Flower Market.
In Amsterdam, I can happily be the tourist. In Paris, I'd rather be "La Parisienne" and save my dining out for the well kept secrets...but guess this Nouvellettre® just let the proverbial 'cat out of the bag.'
A la prochaine...
Adrian Leeds
Editor, Parler Paris
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