The Great Parisian Plate Debate

38, Allée Vivaldi, 75012
Tel. 01.43.40.13.43

Eating lunch with Jesus is always an intimidating affair, made even more so when removing olives from your plate only to have several roll off onto the floor.  Feebly attempting to talk to waiters in French while in the presence of the divine doesn’t help, either.

L’Espace Cyrnea is the epicenter of all things Corsican, located at the east end of the Promenade Plantée in the 12eme arrondisiment.  It is a slightly perplexing place.  Upon walking through the door one is instantly confronted with a variety of consumer options - purchase a new Corsican folk guitar compact disc, or perhaps peruse the paintings and photographs hanging about?  Or, does one pick up a nice travel pamphlet and begin planning an excursion to the small island, which just so happens to be the fourth largest in the Mediterranean?  Opportunities abound!

Fortunately for the Great Plate Debate there was another option, and that option was lunch.  This was not without a little bit of effort, effort in this case consisting of aborted travel to the 12eme and futilely placed phone calls.  You see, given the powerful Corsican cultural titan that it is, L’Espace Cyrnea has many alternative interests, such as pasteurizing large quantities of cheese and shaping it into the large wheels that rest comfortably in the refrigerator near the entrance.  They are open to group dinner reservations, but if you happen to be just one man looking to snare some Corsican food on a random evening, call ahead - our dinner attempts were dashed several times before we settled on testing the restaurant at midday.

Entering the restaurant felt a bit like trespassing onto a strange patio.  The ambiance was splendidly unique, dissimilar to any restaurant I’ve ever accidentally wandered into.  It is this décor which is arguably L’Espace’s greatest asset.  The floor is a pleasing mosaic of stone, with simple wooden tables and chairs scattered about.  It is impossible not to notice the balcony along the left wall - its purpose, besides sheltering a rack of merchandise below, is unknown, and I am afraid it shall remain so.  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 the Jesus.

Truthfully, the very tall white statue in the posterior of L’Espace Cyrnea is not necessarily Jesus.  When queried, our waiter replied (mysteriously?) that people see what they want to - and sometimes that is the son of God.  Why not!  Whatever it is meant to be, it certainly makes a unique centerpiece to any lunch.  Much better than a bouquet of flowers, or even an enormous rotating beer bottle, if one existed.

Lunch was a solid fare but nothing overly spectacular.  The cannoli-lasagna hybrid creation was a mild success, with layers of cheese and spinach flooded with a nice red sauce.  The other two plats - a lamb / mushroom mix and a veal / pasta power combo - were good, but I have zero to few plans to write home about them.  As an individual that is fairly anti-olive I found the prevalence to which they had invaded my plat to be less than ideal.  The cheese was served with an accompanying orange-ish jelly, which easily and deliciously facilitated the finishing off of our Corsican wine.

Total damage was 74 euros for three people, including two entrees, three plats, two desserts, a bottle of wine, and several coffees.  I find myself recommending this place, but mainly for its very unique ambiance and its location at the east end of the Promenade Plantée.  The friendly waiters are a plus as well!