The Georgian Cantonese

Since the last post there's been too much eating for easy summary. Shannon took off for the US, my mother arrived, and in the same week I ate with each of them at the Cave la Bourgogne, currently my favorite cafe-restaurant, at the base of the scenic rue moufftard here on the left bank. The kitchen is not an ambitious one - Andouilette, omelettes, plates of charcuterie, salads - but extremely competent. The real pleasures there are of the cave - i.e., vin - and of the ambiance. Its a slightly dark, wood-lined interior space lit in red and yellow tones, and manages to feel lively without being too noisy to hear those around you. And the chevre toast that tops the salade complet, is just great.

Also notable, was the Restaurant Priosmani - one of Paris' few Georgian restaurants - where we had dumplings stuffed with sour cherries, chicken in an almond sauce, and lamb in tarragon. While I wasn't blown away, the experience of eating Georgian food was worthwhile, and the combinations of spices were quite unfamiliar and hence, pleasant. And Tat Ming, a cantonese restaurant off of the largely Asian rue Tolbiac, near my apartment, was just great. I consider their yushiang eggplant, chili fried squid and shrimp shiu mai to be the equal of most places I go in san francisco, and that's hard for a chinese restaurant stuck so far inland, in a city where most people don't like spice.

The best discovery though, was that there's an excellent restaurant, "Au temps du cerises" around the corner from my apartment, serving French workers' cuisine - nothing fancy, but ample portions of meat, beans, bread, wine, and some interesting items like a pear smothered in soft melted cheese. Their wine list is good, the atmosphere very friendly, and the posters and art on the walls conjure Brechtian visions of art as the hammer smashing capitalist reality. Its very bourgeois to treat Marxism as a digestif, but for some of us, its a digestif that works well.

until next time - hopefully soon!