Our first night we went for dinner at Le Bouledogue, a brasserie/cafe down the street from the apartment. Originally, I had contacted them, via e-mail, asking for a 7:30 reservation, but since I never heard back from them, I assumed they didn’t receive it and we were on our own. So it was funny when I popped in there at 5:00, to make a 7:00 reservation (didn’t think the teens would make it until 7:30), and they had the reservation, which they agreed to make earlier (normally, I do not think they start dinner service until 7:30).

As it was, we arrived at 6:45, after scouting a one block radius of the apartment and contributing to the Paris economy (a shirt for Jake, a shirt for Sammi, tee shirt presents for some people, a scarf for Sammi and a “special” surprise for Becky later…). Being early, they still graciously sat us and offered us some pre-dinner drinks. Mom and I shared a medium pichet of rose (a sancerre that I thought a bit tanic but drinkable and cokes for the teens), along with what seemed like some homemade chips – very nice.

We received English menus, so no translating contests for the kids tonight. Jake found a steak served with shallots that the agreed to leave in the kitchen, Mom went with the duck confit, I had a filet of duck breast in a green peppercorn sauce and Sammi had difficulty. Not a much of a meat eater, she opted for the trio of steamed fish along with rice cooked in …. lotus leaves … I can’t remember – but it reminded me of the presentation of sticky rice in Chinese restaurants. Other than Sammi’s fish, they all came with house frite (fries) and a green salad, which was presented “family-style” in one bowl, from which we all shared.

Dinner at Le Bouledogue

Dinner at Le Bouledogue

Jake ate his steak, which he described a bit “crispy” on the outside – It was seared to a coating, and actually medium and tender. Both kids tried our duck dishes and both preferred the duck confit to my duck breast, as the peppercorn sauce threw them off. Sammi was not happy with her steamed fish (I tried it though and it was good), but she was a trooper, trying everything but I think filling up on mostly chips and bread.
For dessert we had two chocolate fondants with custard sauce (one for Jake and one for Mom), while Sammi and I shared some profiteroles with vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce.

All and all, a decent meal, can’t say if it was really pricey as no comparisons yet but it came in about €135 euro. A highlight though was getting to meet the bulldogs – yes they do exist, three of them, that seem to live upstairs but came down to hang by the bar for a chunk of time while we ate. They were quite camera shy though.
After dinner, we returned to the apartment for four rounds of Rummikub (only three that counted though in our trip tournament because Mom had the rare occurrence of never being able to meld before we ran out of tiles and none of us wanted to stick her with all those points from which we doubt she’d ever recover. Of course, if she ends up winning the tournament, you know we’re all going to cry foul.)

It was off to sleep for the women about 11:00pm while Jake watched the first half of Fellowship of the Ring on his DVD player before turning in close to midnight.