My sister in-law arrived from Oslo on Saturday afternoon armed with real Norwegian smoked salmon in her bag and all I wanted to do was to chow down on the salmon all weekend.
I wanted to show her the town so I got off my lazy a— and we went to see the Exhibition Artistes et Stars: A Collection of Photos by Paris Match at The Musee Jacquemart Andre. The museum hidden behind the busy, commercial boulevard Haussmann is yet another gorgeous, 19th century hotel particulier (private mansion) turned into a museum space that has an odd mix of works of the French 18th century school, Dutch and English masters, and the Italian Renaissance.
The Paris Match photos were displayed in intimate, dark walled but well lit, rooms and they were small, jewel like portraits of artists, actors, dancers, writers, fashion designers, musicians, etc. It is one of those rare shows where every photo was meticulously shot and showed it’s subject (most who have been photographed hundreds of times before) in a unique way I had never seen before. Some of the highlights were the entry photograph of Jeanne Moreau holding a stuffed crow, The Beatles combing each others hair, a stunner of Grace Kelly in Capri pants sitting on overturned row boat on the croisette in Nice I believe, Coco Chanel in a chair with a lion in front of her wearing Chanel jewels, and my favorite of all, a black and white close up of Yves Montand and Simone Signoret on a pebbled beach. I could see where maybe Annie Leibovitz gets some of her ideas from.
My sister in law is a serious as a heart attack foodie, so I did serious research in finding just the right restaurant to impress her with. I selected Mon Vieil Ami on the Ile Saint Louis because I had read good things about it from both sides of the Atlantic. Our already late hour reservation at 9:30PM was pushed to 10:05PM which dampened my first impression. Once, we were seated everything else was perfect. We sat on a long communal table in the black walled dimly lit dining room and the genial, attentive service by the pleasant, attractive wait staff started to dry off my first impression. Chef Antoine Westermann’s adventurous but still on the classic side Alsatian food was savory, delicious, and rich but not heavy. Some of the dishes we enjoyed were a pate encroute with foie gras, chicken tagine with artichoke hearts, dorade with slow roasted seasonal vegetables, and yummy desserts including a modern Peach Melba and coffee granita on top of coffee ice cream. We drank an excellent bottle of Chinon with the meal. We walked across the Pont Marie full but not stuffed watching all the colorful activities on the banks of the Seine.
By the way, I found out the name of the incredible back-up singer I raved about in the Rolling Stones post: Lisa Fischer.
Musée Jacquemart-André 158 boulevard Haussmann 75008
Mon Vieil Ami, 69 rue St.-Louis-en-l'Île, 75004
(33-1) 40.46.01.35
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