Cooking Dinner at Le Troisieme Café

So the big day arrived on Thursday for my return to the kitchen. 

I was at the Le Troisieme Cafe at 4:30PM to cook dinner for 30 people and start serving at 7:30pm. 

I was already a little ahead of the game because I baked the dessert at home, so all I had to cook was the appetizer and the main course. Even with that advantage, I found myself prepping until almost 7:30. Things went pretty smoothly, and I had two excellent volunteer assistants Evagn, and Natalie (who was the original owner of the wine bar/bookstore La Belle Hortense in the Marais). They were efficient and easy to get along with, which I appreciated so much. There was no way I could have done all the work myself in time. 

Most of the guests arrived between 7:30 and 8pm and enjoyed some wine and beer before dinner was served. Twelve people were a combination of friends or blog readers and 10 others made reservations from the café’s website. 

The interesting part about cooking at Le Troisieme, was I realized I had never cooked in a restaurant before and also never cooked in an open kitchen with people watching me. It was a bit of an adjustment at first, but then I liked the idea of not being isolated in the kitchen and to be able to talk to people while I was cooking. After serving the main course, I took a break for a while and talked to my friends in the dining room. 

This was the menu: 

Appetizer

Tomato leek soup with Middle Eastern Spices

Main course 

Spinach and Emmenthal cheese gratin 

Zucchini and Emmenthal cheese gratin

Chickpea rice with cumin and caramelized onions

Cucumber and yogurt salad with Zaatar 

Dessert 

Coconut American-style macaroons with fresh mandarin orange 

When I was growing up, every Thursday night was dairy night at my house and my mother would frequently serve the main course dish. I eventually incorporated it into my catering menu as a vegetarian option and it was a big hit. 

The coconut macaroons were my most popular dessert when I was a caterer, and at one point I was selling them to Dean & Deluca in Soho. 

The night ended at about 10pm and many of the guests thanked me for the experience. It was a fun and fulfilling night for me and it reawakened my cooking and baking skills. In fact, I’ve been mulling over the idea of introducing Parisians to my coconut macaroons by possibly selling them to food shops and cafes. I’ll let you know if I do. Meanwhile it’s back to blogging, touring and photography for now, but leaving room for the possibility of cooking again. 

Le Troisieme Cafe serves a three-course lunch for 10€ and a three-course dinner for 12€. 

Le Troisieme Cafe 

16 rue de Beauce, 75003

https://troisiemecafe.org/

Open Tuesday to Sunday for lunch and dinner

Cash or check accepted, no credit cards 

I am pleased as punch to have my friend Lisa Anselmo as my guest on A Bite of Paris. Lisa is the founder of Save the Paris Cafe/www.savethepariscafe.com, a website which celebrates the Paris café and the preservation of them, which in recent years has been threatened by rising rents and cultural changes. 

Click here to watch video or link below 

https://youtu.be/Jyt4wx3K8ZQ

Come experience Eye Prefer Paris live with Eye Prefer Paris Tours, which are 3-hour walking tours I personally lead. Eye Prefer Paris Tours include many of the places I have written about such as small museums & galleries, restaurants, cafes, food markets, secret addresses, fashion & home boutiques, parks and gardens and much more.  In addition to my specialty Marais Tour, I also lead tours of Montmartre, St. Germain, Latin Quarter, in addition to Shopping Tours, Gay Tours, Girlfriend Tours, Food Tours, Flea Market Tours, Paris Highlights Tours, and Chocolate & Pastry tours.

 

Comments

[Cheryl]

Oh my! Richard, that all looks amazing. I wish I could have been there to taste it all. You should definitely keep cooking for people. They looked like they all had a great time.

[Richard Nahem]

thanks Cheryl, i wish you could have been there too.