Paris - crunchy pork foot at La Billebaude

As you would expect, we had a lot of great food in Paris.  Some of it wasn't necessarily unique though so I am not in a rush to post on it.  We'll see whether I get back around to it.  We were in Paris for over two weeks.  We did a week in the St. Germain area, a couple days in the Vendome area, and a week by the Eiffel Tower.    My favorite area was the Eiffel Tower area as it was close to lots of small food related stores and neighborhood restaurants.

As we were walking around the neighborhood looking at menus, La Billebaude caught our eye.  The place looked quite gourmet, but with a prix fixe menu for only 20-33 euros.  Sometimes when I see odd items on the menu, I run.  Sometimes, I decide to order them.  

On this menu I saw crunchy pork foot.  I was definitely going to order that.  I used to avoid the pig's foot as I thought it was too fatty, but it has grown on me over the years.  I now find pig's feet more gelatinous(a good thing) than fatty.  I was expecting a pork shank to come out (thinking there might have been a translation error) or a fried pig's foot with hoof showing.  It isn't the most pleasant thing to gnaw on something that looks like a foot, but I have seen dishes delivered that way before and if it tastes good, it tastes good.

What came instead was the French version of pig's foot.  So much more civil than the items I am used to eating.  Meat, some skin, and other crunchy parts are taken off the bone and bundled neatly together (in what I guess is stomach lining), then sauteed.  It was smooth, fatty, meaty, gelatinous, and delicious!  I don't expect everyone would like this, but I am definitely ordering it again next time I find it on a French menu!

I think it looks pretty appealing to any meat eater if you don't know what it is.

Here is a view of the stuffing which should give you an idea why it tastes so good and how the different textures and flavors are created from the pig's foot.

white asparagus browned with parmesan cheese

crawfish tails with beet vinaigrette over salad

roasted duck breast with sesame seed

bitter chocolate cake

grand marnier ice cream souffle

English version of the menu showing all the options

La Billebaude

29 Rue Exposition, 75007 Paris, France

Top Eats - Paris - Lunch at L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon Etoile

Joel Robuchon has the most Michelin stars of any chef at 28.  Yesterday was my third meal at one of his restaurants.  At these fancy places I am often underwhelmed in the end given the high expectations that naturally come with the many dollar signs.  On my 3 visits to Joel Robuchon restaurants, the food has always surpassed my expectations.  I don't like dishes that are overly complex and I like it when just 1-3 flavors burst out purely.

This  L'Atelier has a prix fixe lunch menu with starter, entree, and dessert for 41 euros.  Given the 2 Michelin stars and Champs Elysee location, it was a pretty decent value in my book.  Even better, my mother-in-law was kind enough to treat Laura and me!

Every L'Atelier I have been to has a sleek, dark, and modern design with bright red accents.  Their bar seating looks into the open kitchen which is immaculate and humming silently.

My starter was a cherry gazpacho.  My mother-in-law had it as well and it has been her favorite dish in Paris so far.

Laura had the vegetable starter which was perfectly cooked and I stole half of.

It came with a delicious deeply flavored ginger chicken broth on the side.

I had veal cheeks as my entree.  Two plump and falling apart tender pieces of veal cheek.  The best beef/veal cheeks I have had over the last two months.  I have had beef/veal cheeks at least 5 times over the last two months and it isn't even close.  These were the most tender and had the most flavor infused into it.

Last time we came to Paris Laura almost had steak beef once a day.  I don't think that will happen this time, but she did have beef tartare at this lunch.  I loved that it required no work and everything was mixed homogeneously.  Laura prefers do it herself assembly, but did agree this was one of the best beef tartare variations she has eaten.

Laura was being healthy so that left the majority of the perfectly fried crinkle cut french fries for me to gobble up.

All our entrees came with a side of insanely buttery rich and smooth mashed potatoes.  Some call it the best mashed potatoes.

There were three desserts on the prix fixe menu and there were three of us.  Each dessert found its way to the rightful owner.  Laura's favorite dish in Paris so far is the coffee cream + jelly.

My favorite dish so far on this Paris trip was my fruit salad with basil sorbet.

The third dish was a rasberry sorbet in pastry shell.

 L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon Etoile
133 Champs-Élysées, 75008 Paris, France