My brother David surprised me with a morning call saying he was coming to Paris on business with a colleague. We decided meet for dinner and left it to me to find a fish restaurant near his hotel. I chose Le Bar à Huitres where I always buy oysters when I have guests.
When we hopped out of the cab in front of the restaurant, David's friend, Jon, could not hide his enthusiasm. He decided then and there that I had chosen the best restaurant for us. I reserved judgment until we actually ate the meal.
The restaurant has its own menu of Plateau de Fruits de Mer--assorted oysters and seafood on a dramatically presented platter, but I decided that we should choose for ourselves. The two men deferred to me, and I told the waiter that I would be ordering for the table. For our starter, we had three sorts of oysters: the flat belons which are redolent of the sea, the succulent speciales, which are my favorite as they are the most meaty, and the delicate fine de claires which have a green hue from the seaweed that grows among them. We also ordered a portion of wonderful pink prawns.
After that, we chose our main course and each came with its choice of garnish. Jon and I shared that magnificent fish, turbot which was simply grilled. With that we had sautéed potatoes and piperade--a Basque assortment of peppers of various colors enhanced with a bit of Espelette hot pepper. With David's wonderful lotte à la provençale came lovely French haricots verts.
Since fish is relatively light, we felt like sharing some of the tempting offerings on the dessert menu. For the table, we ordered a melting chocolate cake with dark chocolate ice cream and a wonderful sablé (buttery pastry) with fresh raspberries, whipped cream and spun sugar.
After the dinner, I could agree with Jon and say that I had chosen a great place.
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