Restaurant 1728
Last night, Fred and I had dinner with some people who were in Paris for a conference. One of the 3 people grew up in France. He chose Restaurant 1728 for dinner. It appeared to be a beautiful dining room but he had booked the upstairs private room. If ever in need of a private room in Paris, this is not so bad.
The food was delicious and so was the wine. The meal lasted almost 3 hours. A tad too long for my taste but there is this leisurely attitude in Paris which can be charming. One on hand, if you stay somewhere for 3 hours, you can drink a helluva a lot more wine and are never really full. On the other hand, that is a lot of time.
We all began with a amuse bouche that was in a very small shot glass. The bottom was filled with a whipped avacado puree and the top was a spicy red pepper coulis. Simple, summery and good. For an appetizer, I went with the sashimi ( only served on Mondays). Raw tuna and salmon, sliced with soy sauce on the side. Fresh and simple. Since I didn’t really know the people at dinner, I didn’t lean over to Fred’s plate and have a bite. I did think long and hard about not digging in to the person to the right of me. He had a tuna tartare that was almost blue. It looked fantastic.
For the main course, I went with the duck. The portions were quite small. A spicy duck breast and a simple duck leg. On the side were whipped carrots. Interesting combo. Eventually they brought out the dessert plate and everyone chose one thing. It was good but not an omigod. I would have gone with the cheese but that supposedly would have taken too long and one person needed to get on a board call. After all, how can you pay for the meal with out a few board calls here and there.
I will cower in the corner while people shoot pellets at me but food in Paris, although excellent, is not any better than NYC. As a foodie, who truly tries to make each meal delicious, I have found that the food in NYC is the best in the world except for the croissants. Perhaps one sided, but I think not.