The Great Parisian Plate Debate

We were quickly served a large carafe of cold water. For those of you that don’t appreciate this fact, it’s a minor miracle. There were only two people working, and I pegged the waitress to be the daughter of the chef. They were both incredibly nice.

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« Je le prends à point, s’il vous plait. Et aussi une bouteille du vin rouge. » That’s all you need to know when you’re ordering at Le Relais de l’Entrecôte. They only serve one appetizer and one main course. The menu, which you’re not even automatically presented, has more wine choices (not necessary) and dessert (not earth-shattering). The line outside that perpetually snakes into the street is here for just one thing: the steak-frites.

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Café Panique is a restaurant that someone opens when he or she is tired of cooking food that potentially scares his or her friends and family. I cannot think of any other explanation for making a soup entirely out of beets, or cooking an eggplant dessert. The oddly delicious thing, which destroyed any hopes I may have of becoming a chef by proving I likely lack sufficient food flair, is that it all tastes pretty good.

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I somehow drew the short straw, but before I could take my seat in what seemed like an 18” gap between the bar and the window, the waiter had to pull another occupied table out of the way so he could move ours. Grinning and cracking smartass comments all the way, he waited for me to crawl in then shut off my exit. The bastard was clearly enjoying the entire thing.

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The lack of customers during the lunching hour, combined with the quasi-backyard atmosphere, contributed to the “trespassing” feeling, but luckily we here at the Great Plate Debate are brave souls. If we had been men of lesser fortitude I may not have been forced to write a poorly structured essay about this restaurant. As it was, we had cautiously reached the back of the rectangular restaurant by the time a cordial gentleman popped out of a side door and offered us a prime seat in front of Jesus.

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It took over two months and at least three false starts, but we finally made our way back down to the 15eme. While it had been packed the first time, now that it was nice outside, the restaurant spilled out onto the sidewalk, leaving us a little more room inside.

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