Mon Vieil Ami

Say what you will about the French but at the end of the day....they can cook. I was recently in Paris after a grueling travel week throughout the south of France and I had a bit of time before my Friday night departure out of CDG so I took my co-worker into the City of Lights for a farewell lunch. We asked a shop owner for a recommendation in the area and it turned out to be a gem. I wanted French food, with French waiters and French menus was all I asked. No tourists allowed! She didn't lead me astray. The outside of the restaurant was nothing special and probably often gets overlooked. It's a plain stone facade with a small sign above the open door. When you walk in the atmosphere is modernly rustic. Wooden beams accent the stone walls and floor and small wooden tables line the walls while a large centerpiece of a wooden/stone buffet style masterpiece is centered perfectly within the room. We sat down and were handed two menu's written in French. We were off to a good start. We ordered the Osso Bucco which was served in a large cast iron tangine with couscous and roasted fruits. The juice, gravy, sauce, call it whatever you want would bring tears to even the most staunch critic. The veal fell gently away leaving nothing but a hard exterior of bone to showcase the small hidden gem of marrow perfectly cooked to pair with the farm house bread with it's chewey center and sturdy crust. Oh my, it was La Morsure Parfaite. And to compliment an already perfect meal our waiter in true French fashion did not fail in offering us the perfect complimentary red wine.
Mon Vieil Ami or my old friend in English was carefully hidden within the too frequented shops behind Notre Dame but even as I type, I'm hesitant to give this one away for fear it will change.

The Blue Pepper

My husband and I were walking back to our hotel in Amsterdam after a stroll through Vondelpark. We were both hungry and wanted to find a place to eat. We stumbled upon a place called
"Blue Pepper". We quickly did a search in our small collection of guides prior to entering. Blue Pepper was a find indeed and executive chef Sonja Pereira has been featured in The New York Times. It's a contemporary Indonesian restaurant. The interior was multiple shades of ocean blue with only about 12 tables. Arrive hungry because there is no shortfall of food. You are presented with three set-menu options. In order to fully understand the depth of her cooking we went with "the Sultan and I" a degustation menu so thorough and complex that even a true foodie would have difficulty distinguishing the different level of flavors.
My favorite was the sampling of lamb, chicken and prawn sate with accompaniments. The Asinan Segar crackly crab salad was also noteworthy.