The girl who ate more than everything: falafels and gelato (Part 3 of 3)
- By Robyn Lee
- Nov 8, 2006
- Comments
[IMPORTANT NOTE THAT I JUST REALIZED WAS IMPORTANT: The follow story is about my third visit to the dentist for my root canal. Just the finishing touches. Nothing invasive! Hence the lack of painkillers. ;)]
"Do you feel anything?" asked Dr. Chargari as he tapped my tooth with something metal and pointy, basically the kind of thing you would rather not have near your tooth.
"I can fell the tapping, but it doesn't hurt."
"Oh good, then you probably don't need a shot. Would you want one?" Would I want a shot? How about I stab your gums with a needle, eh? Would that feel awesome?
"...If you don't think I need it, then no."
He continued to do drilly things to my tooth that caused toothy bits to fly out of my mouth. No pain whatsoever, aside from the sad psychological consequences of being disconnected from my toothy bits. Sweet. After smushing some stuff on my back right molar, he declared my root canal to be finished. MY TOOTH IS FREE! OH BABY.
So if you have tooth problems in Paris (and you never know considering what you'll be eating here), I highly recommend that you visit Alex Chargari. He's quick, friendly, speaks English, and the office is clean and all high-tech like.
And that was your non-food message of the day. BACK TO THE FOOD.
we rock, vegetarian-friendly style
- LENNY KRAVITZ-APPROVED!
Last Friday night Sophie, Alex and I went to L'as du Fallafel, the famous falafel joint in the Marais that is loved by many (including Lenny Kravitz, as the restaurant likes to remind us. There's also a "LENNY KRAVITZ RECOMENDED" sticker on the window. A sticker! He has a sticker! When can I get a sticker?).
- outside, inside
There was a constant line in front of the take-out window and although we were seated right away, the inside of the restaurant was continously crowded as well. We squeezed ourselves into a corner table. Or at least I did. BECAUSE I'M CHUBBY. HAHA?!
(The ?! punctuation means that you have to imagine me saying whatever precedes it in a maniacal loud questioning way. I'll act it out for you if you ever meet me in real life; there's a moronic wide-eyed look that goes with it.)
- special falafel sammich
Sophie and I ordered the special falafel pita sandwich (I think Alex got the regular non-special one...and we probably made fun of him for that) composed of cute falafels plops (falafels are always cute), tangy sauce stuff (stuff like tahini, hummus and whatnot), chopped cabbage, cucumber chunks, and—my favorite part of all—fried eggplant nuggets, all smooshing together in a soft, thick and chewy pita bread pocket.
- innards aren't as blurry as they appear
Is it the best falafel I've ever had? Truthfully, no. It's one of the better ones I've had and the large, hearty, not-too-guilt-inducing sandwich is a good deal, but I can't praise this place up the wazoo like so many other people have already done since I've already had a relevatory falafel-eating experience.
- falafel time!!!
The best OMG-worthy falafel I've ever had was from the tiny, unassuming Taim in the West Village just around the corner from one of my favorite sandwich joints/yuppie farm, Doma. What was the difference between LDF and Taim? I felt like Taim's falafels tasted lighter, fresher, and more flavorful. Taim's bread was also exceptionally fresh tasting, while LDF's was...well, much better tasting than most pitas, but not to the point of "OMG THIS PITA MAKES ME SEE JESUS!"
- fries!
LDF's fries were good (as in worth getting if you really want fries, and who doesn't?), but still not as good as Taim. Taim wins for freshness, I suppose. Maybe it's not fair for me to compare them. :\ It's not like LDF was disappointing; I had just set the bar too high. If L'as du Fallafel is really the best place to get falafels in Paris, I'll try it again. However, if anyone has recommendations I'd be willing to try the other falafel places in the area (there are a bunch without view of each other).
Sophie wanted to go to French gelato institution Amorino, but I insisted on visiting Pozzetto since I had never tried it before. With bellies full of chickpea mash, we walk to the nearby gelateria while huddled in our jackets. There's no better time to eat gelato than when it's freezing cold, eh? (It really is a good time to eat frozen things when it's cold if you ask me. It won't melt!)
Luckily there weren't many other people with mad gelato cravings or else we may not have secured the small round table next to the shelf of panetonne and gianduja chocolates. The friendly gelato man spoke to us in English despite that Sophie and Alex can speak French. Of course, we were conversing in English because my American-ness overpowers everything else like an atom bomb that obliterates an entire city. After we placed our orders (three flavor cups for all, oh yeah), the man let out a crazy infectious laugh that sounded something like "Hehehehehe"...
...wait, that's how all laughs sound. You had to be there. I can reproduce this in real life if anyone wants me to. It sounded a bit restrained, but strong at the same time. Imagine putting your thumb slightly over the mouth of a hose with running water...and then replace the tube with a human and the water with laughing. It's kinda like that.
"I want that laugh as my ring tone!" exclaimed Sophie. Oh yes, don't we all?
He soon came back with a sample for each of us. Alex wasn't interested. SILLY HUMAN! Sure, we were about to eat excessive cups of gelato, but there's no harm in a little sample. The cioccolato fondente was the stand-out flavor. I'll talk more about that soon.
- hehe...yes.
Let the gelato-eating begin.
- my cup!
I'm sure my face did some kind of happy smiley glowing thing when the silver bowl stuffed with slabs of pistachio, stracciatella, and hazelnut gelato was placed in front of me. It's a natural human response, I think.
- texture!
Oh lordy, creamy flavorful non-artificially-colored-or-flavored goodness, take meee. I was going to say that I prefer gelato that's a bit softer and airier than Pozzetto's, but it doesn't really matter as long as it tastes awesome. And this is pretty awesome. The flavors aren't uber-strong, but they taste real. It can be sadly difficult to find ice creamy substances that go a step beyond just being a sweet tasty product by incorporating real stuff. And I wish I could think of something more poetic than "real stuff", but you know what I mean. Also, I'm not poetic. More like apoetic.
- Sophie's cup and Alex's cup
Sophie ordered pistachio, fior di latte, and maybe hazelnut (memory...fading...) and Alex ordered fior di latte, cioccolate fondente and...wait, we didn't all get hazelnut, did we? [scratches head] Well, whatever. While everything tasted good, as I said before the standout flavor was cioccolate fondente.
Actually, I have to admit that I don't remember which chocolate flavor it was, but it was...well, something chocolatey.
...God dammit, this isn't turning out the way I hoped. A real food critic would've taken notes or something, like "THIS IS WHAT WE ORDERED." Instead I'm looking at brown gelato and thinking "CHOCOLATE", then looking at the menu and seeing MULTIPLE CHOCOLATE FLAVORS, then realizing that I don't remember which one it was. Well, whatever he got tasted like sweet chocolate ganache in gelato form, which in my opinion is a helluva lot tastier than ganache. The flavor outshone all the others for its instant brain-perking quality. One little taste and all of a sudden your brain goes, [beeboop] "WHOA GIMME MORE." (Yeah, my brain beeps. What do you wanna make of it?)
- macaroonies!
Our gelato cups were accompanied by these weenie pea-sized cookies that were like French macarons made with hazelnut flour instead of almond flour (I have no clue what they're called). Pozzetto sells huge bags of them in case you want to keep a stash with you at all times.
- HAPPY!
You bet that Sophie and I were enjoying ourselves. You'd be crazy not to. CRAZY.
It's easy to say that my pants weren't getting any looser by this point. I could've stopped eating, but that Sophie, oh man, she wanted to keep on going. Amazing, I tell you. She deserves some kind of award, probably in the form of food.
- Les Philosophes
We sat outside at Les Philosophes (they keep huge-ass heaters out there so that the tradition of sitting outside can continue in freezing weather) for more dessert and drinks. Sophie had her eye on a cheesecake of the luscious creamy graham cracker crust type, but instead got the weirdest looking cheesecake I had ever seen that was more like a cream pie if the cream were cream cheese flavored. It may have gotten a thumbs up if they called it a cheesecake cream pie, but...nah, this was wrong for something labeled as a cheesecake.
- coffee with milk
Drinking coffee is a very Parisian thing to do. (It might also be a "normal human" thing to do.) So I tried it. And I failed. Using 10 sugar cubes to mask the bitterness of the coffee totally defeats the purpose of drinking coffee, but I don't really mind coffee flavor in desserts (sugar concent plas a key, obviously) so I thought, "HEY THIS WILL BE PALATABLE." Nah, I can't do it. (However, this year I had a cup of complimentary coffee at a Colombian restaurant in Queens and thought that was rather good...after a generous dousing of sugar.)
Weird cheesecake. Coffee that I can't love. A waiter who barely noted our existence. They also have "real" food so maybe the experience is better inside the restaurant. [shrugs]
I know going to three places in one night on a regular basis would spell ultimate doom for my health and fat percentage, but it's just something you gotta do every now and then. Because! I said so. It can be hard to find people who are willing to do that, but for better or worse I seem to find these bottomless-stomached people easily.
The morning after
- mm, brunch!
The next day the three of us met up again for brunch at La Tour Maubourg cafe. Sophie and I went for the 11 € set menu that included a croissant, butter baguette, pot-o-jam, an omelette, fruit salad, orange juice, and coffee or hot chocolate. It's a wide variety of food that's filling without making you feel uncomfortably pregnant (not that you'd feel comfortably pregnant, but ye know what I mean).
- mm, eggy
There were salt and pepper mills on the table to season our plain omelettes with. I may just not pay enough attention, but I don't recall every seeing a salt and pepper mill on a table. Maybe pepper. I liked that I could sprinkle my egg with giant salt crystals and pepper chunks. None of that wimpy powdery stuff.
- wheeeat
The light and crusty bread tasted awesome with a generous slathering of butter and the croissant was exceptionally good for its softness, flaky layered-ness and buttery flavor.
- something healthy?
The fruit salad was thankfully made of fresh fruit, including MANGO (besides grapefruit, apple, orange, grape, and kiwi)! There wasn't much mango, but that it was in there at all made me happy. I love mango, oh yes.
Sophie had to leave right away to go back to London and Alex and I had to go to class. Ahh! But the madness isn't over yet; I'm visiting London from December 8th to the 10th. Soon there will be more Sophie-Robyn fooding adventures. Hehehehe.
Do I eat anything healthy?
- Vegetables!
I know my eating habits aren't exactly what any nutritionist would recommend, so I'm sure my body appreciated to get some vegetable matter in the form of Alex's vegetable and tofu stir fry on Friday night. Yay, someone fed me! And it didn't come out of a can or the freezer! I was quite overjoyed. I was less overjoyed by the character-less Hello cookies that I choose for dessert that tasted like...I dunno man, don't buy em.
Good times. I love em. I hate that after you're on such a high the only place to go is down, but I guess that's unavoidable. You know you won't be sad all the time; you know you won't be happy all the time.
During the sad times, I just eat chocolate.
addresses
L'as du Fallafel
34 Rue des Rosiers, 4th
Metro: Saint Paul (1)
Pozzetto
39 Rue du Roi de Sicile, 4th
Metro: Hotel de Ville, Saint Paul (1)
Les Philosophes
28 Rue Vieille du Temple, 4th
Metro: Hotel de Ville, Saint Paul (1)
La Tour Maubourg
58 Boulevard de La Tour Maubourg, 7th
Metro: La Tour-Maubourg (8)
Comments
Hmm... but can you make a fallafel cone for your gelato? XD
Love your blog. Just wanted to say, because you mention it so much, I just had a baby and being pregnant is not uncomfortable! Most of the time anyway... :)
I am actually in desperate need of a dentist! I might give your dentist a call. Are the prices scary?
Oo, oo, oo! Good gelato in Paris? Yummy! And those maccaroonies look so good! Oh anyway, when you're in London, check out the gelato in Harrod's food hall. It is served with these adorable Harrod's Bear biscuits and they have a multitude of delicious flavors too!
Robyn...Hold the fucking phone. You didn't get a shot when you got the root canal?????????? Are you kidding me? OH MY GOD! You said there was no pain. Girl, are you lying? LOL.
Glad to see the awesome pics of brunch...my favorite meal for all eternity. Eggggggs. And Bread. Ohhhh... Mmmmm.
i LOVE your orange coat! where did you get it.
as always, the food looks amazing!
That fruit looks awesome! A cup of fruit around here is almost all cantaloupe and honeydew w/ a few mushy or brown chunks of apple and grape.
Garrett: Okay, I definitely do NOT want to do that. %P
cc: Thanks for visiting! I don't believe that pregnancy isn't uncomfortable, but maybe it depends on who you are. I'm not uber, but my belly ALREADY makes me uncomfortable! Oh god.
Anglofille: Oh noo! I went with Alex because he takes my school's health insurance; otherwise I don't know how much he costs. (I haven't paid him anything for my root canal...er, I don't know if I have to.)
maria: DUDE I am so going to that gelato place! Sophie said we can share one of those huge-ass bucket ..dishes. I'm all for it.
Honey: Thanks for reminding me to add a note that it was my third visit to finish off my root canal. ;) Hence the non-hurty. I got needle-poked the first two times. Thank god.
I don't really need eggs at brunch, just bread!
Lauren: I LOVE IT TOO (and have gotten a lot of compliments about it)! And that's saying a lot because I rarely find things I like. You can get it from Anthropologie. I think it was the only thing I bought when I visited the store.
Jessica: That is not a happy fruit cup. :(
Ha ha ha, you bought the Hello Cookies :p
Now you know why they never came out of France ;)
I am DEFINITELY trying Taim tomorrow.
The place near where I live, Oasis (N. 7th and Bedford) would be really really awesome if they didn't pad with iceberg lettuce. They have everything you mentioned for ingredients in that French place, otherwise. And savory hot sauce. Mmmm. Now I'm hungry again.
Sad news - the owners of Taim are thinking of returning to Israel, according to a mutual friend. So inundate them with love and money so they'll stay!!
Damn, somebody beat me to the punch about the coat.
That is a nice coat. Look at them gorgeous round buttons. And that colour! It's like Alice in Wonderland tossed into a blender with orange and mango slices.
Hi Robyn, I've been following your blog from afar - it's (and you) are very funny (I mean that in a good way). I know you ADORE gelato, but since you're in France you should also try French ice cream. I don't remember from your past posts if you've ever tried Berthillon ice cream but it's sublime. There's a branch in the Marais near the falafel shop - steps away from Amorino. They have wonderful sorbets and ice cream - absolutely fantastic.
Finally, the third installment. :)
Anyway, just wanted to say that I LOVE MANGO TOO! Seriously. Our whole family does, and there's a lot of it where I live.
And eating a ton is fine now and then, like you said. Hope you have more fooding adventures! (I'm sure you will haha.)
Mickjagger: YEAH, I had to try them after you mentioned them. Never agaaain. ;)
John: Yaay! I hope you love it as much as I do.
BOO TO ICEBERG LETTUCE!!!
piccola: NONONO go there and tell em not to leave or else I'll cry.
Adalmin: I thought the buttons would be annoying at first (I don't like buttoonnnns) but...nah, they're nice cos they're large. I like your description. :)
Susan: I did try Berthillon! Not from the official shop though (from a stand near the official shop..uh) so I guess I have to go back. I definitely like gelato more than their ice cream (not that I didn't think the ice cream was good, just that I LOVE GELATO), but ..yeah, I'm in France, I should eat their ice cream.
Daisy: You'd be crazy not to love mango! KUHRAAHZZAY...right?..oh, but I hate cutting them. That's why I don't eat em much. I end up with a pile of mango mush.
I ate falafel yesterday afternoon at the marseillais equivalent of LDF.
The sandwich looks a lot like yours but the pita is heated in the micro-wave and it makes it rubbery...
Well it's the best we can have here anyway!
I'm salivating here! I have so many fond memories of L'As du Falafel and Les Philosophes, as one of my friends lived in the Marais during our study abroad. In fact, I would sometimes sneak over to her 'hood for falafel and not even tell her! Le Roi du Falafel was good too, but I'm not sure if it's still around.
Holy mortadella! These three episodes have been your best ever (except for the ones while you were in Norway as they involved me). Very interesting, very funny, and very mouth watering. I'm glad I have food on the stove that will be ready soon.
Robyn!
Yay! I now officially have a root canal buddy - it's like proof of our true love for sweets, cakes, puddings and gelatos...hehe :) (let's pray we never ever get another one again!)
Ick. I've had entirely waaaaaaay too much mouth stuff done and that was just braces. I wince in sympathy at your root canal and wish I could stop by and have some macarons in Paris (instead of sitting here in Wisconsin doing temp work with my caramel latte).
As for fooding on study abroad, I finally did post that bit I'd been working on regarding said subject. Go me!
Hi,
I was abroad last year in Paris and I see you are visiting a lot of the same places I loved! Have you ever been to Bread and Roses in the 6th?
www.breadandroses.fr
This place is so good - my favorites were simply the bread with jam, but they have scones, fig bread, and "giant brioche" which are all amazing too. You don't need to post this, I just couldn't find your direct email on your site. Enjoy!
Mmm. Falafel, gelato, and fries, oh my!
This post describes my version of Heaven times a million.
- S
Oh why oh why is your site blocked at work? :( I've been trying to go to your site for ages...
Anyway, glad the dentist went well for you. :) Yummy food pictures... they look absolutely gorgeous. I may just have to learn how to "post process" now...
plume: I think it can be hard to find a good falafel place. :\ But as long as it doesn't totally suck, then...WOO!
bev_ny: I remember there's a Falafel King place nearby, but it's actually called Falafel King and not Le Roi du Falafel...I think...or maybe I need to go back and make sure.
MORTEN!: Oh yes, nothing will ever beat Norway. I can't get those POTATO BALLS out of my head! Those chewy..balls..of tato...anyway. :)
Kathy: We should make t-shirts! ROOT CANAL BUDDIES 4 EVER!
Rhi: Oh, I had braces tooo. And my wisdom teeth removal thing. And the root canal. I hope that's all I need. :\
aes: Thanks for the rec; I've heard of Bread and Roses, but haven't visited it. I better check it out!
Stephanie: Don't forget chocolate! And bread! And cookies!
Yvo: I've heard of a few places that block my site. :( So sad! Maybe it's too distracting.
Post processing is addictive. DON'T DO IT.
at my work the url blocker scans content in websites and blocks those that have questionable words. i think yours must be blocked becuz u write "food porn" often.
Denists have always scared me, I'm such a big baby! In fact, reading the first part of this post gave me the chills. Eek!
bionicgrrl: Damn, I can't say PORN? PORN PORN PORN PORN oh well.
Ari: Oh noo, they're there to help you! By massive teeth poking. I hope you've never had a really traumatizing experience with a dentist or anything like that...
I went to Taim today! It was incredible, as you said. Oh my god they have four different falafel flavors. I tried the 'traditional' one. I'll definitely go back. I'll try the spicy harissa one next.
Why are they thinking of moving? :(
One way around company blocks is using Bloglines. I can at least read everything up to where you have the cut, anyway. Then I have to wait to get home for the rest. :\
those baby macarons are like jewels! precious, precious jewels!
i've always wondered something about your eating habits - do you have the habit of saving your favourite thing on your plate for the very end?
oooh the shins, lucky nyu-ers . . I am dying to see them.
speaking of, the new CD doesn't come out until January but my sister just gave me a pirted version that her friend managed to geta copy of =) it's quite good - i wouldn't mind sending it to you if ya like
John: YESSS, it was awesome! I'm so glad oyu went. :D When I come back we're gonna party TAIM STYLE.
Teresa: Tasty jewels! Mrrrrhrh!
I don't save my favorite thing. I mean..well, dessert is my favorite thing, and that's the whole dish. :D Otherwise I just eat everything. I think.
Susannah: OH OHH ohh yes, I've been listening to the new album for the past...some odd weeks. I love it! And I didn't even like the other albums. Weird, eh? :) Some of my other friends thought the same thing.
OMG! The gelato is drool worthy and I'm craving for some now...and some falafel sandwich, too! Err...hunger inducing photos.
Fortunately, NYC is not that cold than it supposed to be (probably global warming?) so I can enjoy some ice cream and I want some pie (Turkey Day's coming, probably I'll search for a slice soon).