Class Dinner - Restaurant Review

I haven't really been able to savor truly amazing French food (except for guest C.B. Chefs) mainly because the price tag on most *great* food is more than my budget allows. 100 Euros for a main course? Me thinks not. This is why I was so excited for our class dinner.

We had it at Le Procope :
" The oldest café in Paris...This prestigious place, founded in 1686 by Francesco Procopio dei Coltelli, welcomed such famous patrons as Voltaire, Danton, Robespierre, Molière, Diderot and Benjamin Franklin. The restaurant, which is steeped in history and has a decor largely inspired by the great Parisian events that took place there, will undoubtedly entice you."

Cordon Bleu allows students to bring a guest to the class dinner...for 65 Euros...so while I knew this wasn't going to be the Ledoyen (http://dariainparis.blogspot.com/2008/01/300-euro-meal.html) It should be pretty good!

The evening started very well. We were in the Benjamin Franklin room:
... and were immediately served with cherry infused champagne (Cherry Kir Royale) which was heavenly!


From there, we started with "Salade Gourmand au Foie Gras" which on the main menu is "Salade du Café Procope" and includes a mix of lettuce, lightly cooked green beans, tomatoes, and Foi Gras. This was, of course, served with baguettes which, like most baguettes in Paris, were wonderful. Though some of the other people at the table thought that this appetizer was a bit juvenile, I liked it very much. The service left a bit to be desired though... we were supposed to be served with white wine with the salad, and it took the servers about 10-15 minutes between serving us our salads to pouring us our wine.

The main problems came with the main dish... "Lamb Shoulder '7 hours' with Rosemary and Coco beans." First of all, my plate was cold (though my neighbors was piping hot, most of ours were cold). I also noticed *many* greasy fingerprints on the side of my plate - a BIG no no. In class, we always make sure to wipe the edge of the plate before chef tastes it. The main dish so far gets a 2 for "mise en place." Then I try it.

The meat is tender. (It better be, considering it was braising for 7 hours!) but had no depth in its flavor. The beans didn't add anything either. The saving grace was that it was served with a very nice red wine and since reds are served at room temperature, we already had a bottle on the table. Overall, it was no better than an "everyday" dinner. And even Chef remarked that we could have made better.

Chef with Patricio and Ayako:



I shouldn't be too hard on the restaurant...this dish wasn't even listed on their menu! And I'm only somewhat sure that they served this to us because it was a cheaper dish that they could make for a large crowd (we, basic pastry and cuisine, were about 70).

Despite mediocre performance from the first two dishes, dessert was excellent. The name of the dish we were supposed to have is "Croustillant aux 2 Chocolats" ...but I'm not sure thats what we ended up getting served since "Croustillant" is supposed to be "crunchy" or "crisp" and what we had is much more custard-y. But nonetheless, it was yummy (its hard to mess up dessert):


After dessert, we had espresso (no one ever drinks "cafe au lait" except in the morning) and then the entire class went out drinking. We had an excellent time, and I was surprised that we got out of the bar at 2:30am, by which time the Metro had closed. I taxi-d it home with a full belly, a only somewhat clear head, and happy memories of people in my class.

Not as yummy, but definitely fun!

-Daria

P.S. More pictures to follow...my camera ran out of batteries, so I'll have to wait for one of my classmates to send me her pictures.