Cuisine à la Maison in Paris

I am also really excited about this place you guys. Au Petit Fer à Cheval. This place was also featured on one of Anthony Bourdain's shows (I can't remember which). But it's traditional, comfort, down home French cooking: "cuisine à la maison."

The special is a Lamb dish, which I've just ordered with the help of my google translate app (no English menu) and he two locals sitting next to me, who informed me that while the food is good, classics traditional French, the wine is only average by the glass, however I ordered a glass in spite of their disapproval, and it is actually quite good.

The meal is basically a hearty lamb stew with vegetables, a perfect way to warm up from the chilly walk past Norte Dame from my hotel. This place seems more like a local, no-nonsense kind of establishment, evidenced by the lack of an English menu, and the expectation that you know how to order, unlike the international dining experience I had yesterday, with wide-eyed food pilgrims gushing over every dish from every corner of the globe (mostly Americans). Here, the two guys next to me ate a lamb special each and drank a half carafe of wine in what seemed like 20 minutes, and were gone by the time I got my cheese.

I followed this up with a cheese plate. However before it came out, I couldn't resist trying some of the mustard on the table, spread on a piece of bread. It's great just with the bread, but I found myself looking forward to the cheese before I'd even finished my lamb.

Of course, the bead is also good for mopping up the gravy-like sauce from the lamb stew. I've been on a "slow carb" diet, on and off for the past two years. But I've given myself a pass when it comes to the bread here. It's just not possible to pass up.

Well now the cheese plate has arrived. Alright you guys, everyone has an opinion on goat cheese. It's gamey, it's too strong... and so on. I read somewhere that the distinctive "goaty" taste is due to the fact that goats are not shaved "down there" and so it's actually a urine contamination somehow (I cannot corroborate this, so believe it or don't).

But here we have a chevre goat cheese, creamy, drizzled with olive oil, and kind of light and fluffy even. This is goat cheese at its finest. For some reason, olive oil just goes with a soft goat cheese. It just does.

Normally, I go for the hard cheeses because a really strong soft cheese can be too much, to much in creaminess and richness, something to be spread in moderation. But here's what I'm learning. Something like this is about finding a nice parlance on the palate. I mean, all cheese plates are, really, aren't they? Most good ones will have crunchy and soft, savory and sweet, salty and bitter, and if you got too much of something, you can offset it with something else on the plate. The spicy mustard is perfect for this, not unlike the function of wasabi in Japanese cooking.

Look I have no food education, and I'm just describing my own experience, but it makes sense, doesn't it?

But I'll tell you what: the chevre goat cheese with olive oil spread on a piece of bread? It's perfect. It requires no compliment, chaser or reset.

I ended the meal with an espresso and one small piece of chocolate. I love it when a meal gives me so many experiences. Simple, straight forward, good ingredients, in the right order.

Merci beaucoup, Au Petit Fer à Cheval!