Tony and Judy in Paris: What's to Eat?

Our first guests for dinner were Craig and Julien who own/operate the two American style restaurants in Paris called Breakfast in America. (see Craig's book, Pancakes in Paris, about his struggles to open this restaurnt.) We had breakfast with them soon after our arrival and saw that Julien is nearly a vegetarian and Craig ate the Lumberjack special so we knew he was a meat eater.

So we decided on vegetable lasagna with meat sauce on the side. We found a recipe on line by two Aussie brothers (I think) that was pretty good. We made a ton of it so even though we all had seconds (thirds?) there was still enough for another meal or two.

One thing I had to learn in retirement is to never ask, "What's for Lunch?" With that in mind, we set out on a walk to find a restaurant and to see what was going on at the Pompidou Center near our apartment. There were a few interesting exhibits but there were lines (not too long, but, still, lines) so we kept walking and went into the massive St. Eustach church.

The Alter

We had been by it a number of times but never stopped in. What an incredible structure. It was started in the 1200's and took more than a century to complete. Usually when something takes that long, there would be several styles of architecture, but this church is all in the same style.

The Giant Pipe Organ

Just beyond the church is the famous restaurant, Au Pied Du Cochon. We were just going to have a bowl of soup for lunch. But after an aperatif called Aperol...

The restaurant seemed so warm and inviting that we decided to stay for lunch.

They are known for their Onion soup and all things related to the pig, like ears, feet, tails, ribs, hooves, etc. Judy had fish and I had chicken

So, a few days passed and we were looking for lunch again. So we took a stroll down the Rue des Rossiers in our neighborhood.

And we lined up for Falafal at one of the several Falafal stands on this busy little street.

Hey, a man's got to eat!

Saturday was market day behind Hotel de Ville so we invited, Jacques, Claire and Jo for lunch. I had my mind on Choucroute ( a sort of French version of a New England boiled dinner ) since we got here, so we went to the vendor who sold everything from Paella, to beef bourguignon to piles of choucroute. You basically order for the number of diners and then they weigh it all and you pay by the kilo.