Locomotoring

Christian Constant’s Les cocottes, near Eiffel tower.

This time it was only a week’s stay in Paris. It was colder than last time and a lot less sunny. Not much appeared to have changed for Les Cocottes in two years. We were still one of the first people to arrive at the restaurant and were seated at the same table as last time. The restaurant had filled up rapidly with tourists and locals. I usually decide between tourists and locals by their shoes. If attired in something comfortable and ugly, I put them in the “tourist” bucket. Right in my line of view was an petite old lady who appeared to be a regular. She sat at the counter and ordered a range of different cocottes, and ate with a gusto any young foodie would be proud of. Next to us sat a young dame in red stilettos with a large pet dog at her heels. She had an appetizer and a glass of wine for meal. I am always grateful that there is something to look forward to as we age!

For starters we ordered a cold tuna, eggplant caviar and tomato jelly. The dish arrived in a jam jar shaped glassware with tuna layer sandwiched between eggplant and tomato jelly. Richness of tuna was well offset by the smokiness of eggplant resulting in a refreshing and flavorful dish. For entrees, I ordered the langoustine ravioli. Perhaps I was dreaming of Robuchon’s ethereal langoustine ravioli, and I shouldn’t have.

Interior	Tuna between eggplant caviar and tomato jelly
Take my word for it that this is langoustine ravioli!	Scallop and braised endives

In Bengal, where my family hails from, we are fish lovers. Fish used to be abundant in local ponds and rivers. So much so that you could catch fish for your next meal in your gamucha while bathing. A fish dish that has too much soup is considered akin to having to go fishing in the bowl with your gamucha in your hand. My langoustine ravioli was served with more cream sauce than daily cream production of state of California! When I eventually found the ravioli, it seemed that its skin was thicker than the skin of a 100 year old cowboy. Hmmm … not a particular success story that one.

My husband had ordered a scallop cocotte with braised endives. His dish was far more balanced with respect to scallop to cream sauce ratio. The braised endives were perhaps the highlight of this dish, their bitterness had mellowed out in the scallop-cream broth leaving behind a somewhat nutty  flavor. I had saved some space for canelés at the patisserie opposite that we had found to be utterly delicious on our previous trip so we didn’t order any dessert. When we finally got done at Les Cocottes and arrived at the patisserie, they didn’t have canelés. That made me sad.