L'Avant Comptoir and other deliciousness

I have become a very adventurous eater since moving to France. Here are some things I have eaten (and liked!) here that I never would have touched in the U.S.:

Foie gras
Steak tartare
Blood sausage
Veal (just because in the U.S. people judge you)
Frog legs
Escargot
Camembert
An assortment of raw things such as eggs, tuna and salmon

One can sample all kinds of delicious things at l'Avant Comptoir, an excellent restaurant in the 6th. The little sister to larger, more famous le Comptoir de Relais (both opened by Yves Camdeborde), often people only stop in at the former for appetizers before a large sit-down meal at the latter. In fact, l'Avant Comptoir doesn't even have tables and chairs. You squeeze into the tiny space and stand at the counter. However, Kay and I have decided that l'Avant Comptoir is a great place to create a delicious (and inexpensive) lunch out of several hors d'oeuvres. We made friends with the chef (the one who prepares the food, not the one who opened the restaurant), Sebastien, so it's a fun place to go, too.

They offer several different types of sausage and ham, thinly sliced and served on a wooden cutting board. You can also get brochettes of foie gras with roasted red pepper, fried pig's feet, oxtail with horseradish cream, and grilled chicken hearts with garlic and parsley. I've also seen them serve a bone marrow dish, and I've heard tell that you can occasionally get grilled duck's neck. L'Avant Comptoir has a great atmosphere, too. You get to chatting with your neighbors (in a bizarre combination of French and English and sometimes Dutch and Japanese when you're with Kay) and you pass around a communal bread basket. They have butter, sweet pickles and other condiments on the counter to go with your bread and charcuterie.

My reawakened excitement about food has also made me want to cook more. This past week has been cooking playtime. Last weekend, Kay's friend Thomas (also a chef) taught Kay and I to make our own fresh pasta. Then on Wednesday we went to the huge market in Chinatown to buy ingredients for pad thai (we totally winged it - we didn't really have a recipe, just kind of an idea of what goes into it - but the dish came out really well). Then last night I whipped up some Thai green curry with veggies.

It's probably weird to be cooking so much Thai food in France, but one complaint I have about French food is that it's often quite bland (not the case at l'Avant Comptoir, yet another reason I love it). You see, my American palate loves having spicy Italian, Chinese and Mexican food on a pretty regular basis. I just get really bored with mustard and cream sauce being poured over literally every kind of meat and served with bland, overcooked vegetables. Obviously food at high-end French restaurants is not like this, but the stuff you eat on a daily basis is heavy on the cheese and cream and light on fresh vegetables and seasonings. The French want to hold on to their reputation as the gastronomic capital of the world, but for the most part it's the haute cuisine that will help them retain that title, not the daily fare in your average cafe.

I find this problem in fashion, too. The haute couture shows give Paris its reputation for being a fashion capital, but Parisian street fashion lacks creativity. In terms of every-day fashion (and every-day food), I find New York and London more exciting. In defense of Parisian fashion, though, you can totally get away with joutfits here.