The Great Parisian Plate Debate

1 rue D’Eupatoria
75020 Paris
Tel: 01.43.58.37.09

It is normal for an individual to be apprehensive when it comes to ordering a plate of French food. Goose liver is a pricey delicacy. Snails, snails, that you pry out of a blackened shell. Shrimp with their ghoulish heads still firmly attached, swimming in a plate of pasta. There really is nothing quite like a decapitation to get you in the mood for dinner. And let us not forget the andouillette - a sausage, the main ingredient of which is the one thing I would have expected all the people of the world to join together in a consensus shunning: swine colon. Of course, it’s not just colon. That’s just pure ridiculousness. This sausage mix also includes tasty morsels of stomach and intestine.

I had plenty of time to review the list of potential culinary mishaps on the metro ride out to the 20th arrondissement. Sadly there are no direct routes for me and I was left alone to my thoughts of accidentally ordering the spleen of an elderly lamb, marinated in a pineapple-blood sauce and served with a side of river grass. Eventually I popped out of the metro and onto the windy streets of eastern Paris, where I promptly followed my common Parisian rule of walking off in the wrong direction. Twenty minutes I found myself standing on the threshhold of the Great Parisian Plate Debate’s first restaurant - le Casque d’Or.

The interior of le Casque d’Or is what I have come to expect from a corner French restaurant. I absolutely despise the word cozy, but I’m at a loss for the moment so it must do. Wooden tables, closely spaced together, a respite from the fluorescent lighting that most of us have grown accustomed to, and an overall casual and comfortable setting. You feel like you could easily sit there for hours on end and no one would mind. It was helpful that we were one of only two tables in there, which means I wasn’t fighting for precious chair space or knocking elbows with a fellow patron inches to my left. Due to my less than punctual arrival time a bottle of Jolly Ferriol, the first wine victim of the challenge, was already waiting.

Our dinner orders were soon documented on a pad of paper by our attentive waitress and I found myself enjoying a meat platter entree. I’m sure there is a classier name to call this, but “meat platter” describes the imagery quite nicely - sit back for a second and imagine a meat platter, and there you have it. The platter offered up a smattering of options - some ham here, a sausage link there - and were very conducive to the formation of little sandwiches when combined with the warm bread (with butter, a rarity!). It turned out to be perfect sized entrée for our group of four.

Despite the presence of hardened liver sausage on the menu I valiantly resisted its allure and instead ordered a plate of beef sausage. The main draw here was l’aligot, which accompanied my plat and is not only fun to say but delicious as well. Essentially, l’aligot is mashed potatoes with cheese melted in. The l’aligot at le Casque d’Or was so thick that if you stuck a fork in there it would stand straight up, and I dare anyone to say that’s a bad thing. It was rich and a nice complement to the other half of my order. The sausage came in a distant second to the l’aligot - it was dry and I wasn’t overly impressed with the flavor (perhaps it needed some colon). Admittedly, the liver sausage - which a fellow diner had ordered - was superior.

Dinner was followed by an espresso - no dessert for anyone - which came with a packaged chocolate covered walnut. I am a strong proponent of both coffee and walnuts, so this was a grand way to end my le Casque d’Or dinner experience. The bill was 116€, which included:

• Two bottles of wine
• One entrée
• Four plats
• Three espressos

So approximately 30€ per, not too bad at all. Despite the positive experience here I must admit that I will not be making it a personal goal to return. The food was good but not great…at least, not great enough to warrant the trek out there. If I do find myself in the neighborhood again I will be happy to point it out to a hungry passerby, but I shall opt for a new café!

Dan: I’m rather saddened that I’m going to have to begin the debate by agreeing with Christian.  I had wished to be able to flout his opening remarks, but they are in fact fairly sound.  Except for his intro, which reeks of cheap melodramatics.  But I suppose everyone has their shtick.

As far as the food goes, I had what was actually an excellent spinach meatloaf that tasted much better than it sounds.  As Braden pointed out, the microwave was a bit off-putting, but such is life.