Yesterday And Today

(ed. ~ Shauna, guest restaurant reviewer, chimes in under Jeff's name. Going forward, she'll be posting under her own. Welcome, Shosho!)

We ended up going to Hier et Aujourd’hui twice in four days (actually, we went three times in five days, but I’ll get to that later). Pudlo Paris gave the restaurant “This year’s value for money award” and after being denied entrance on Monday night (full, or we got there too late…that whole language barrier thing), we couldn’t wait to go back Tuesday, this time with a reservation.

Hier et Aujourd’hui (meaning “Yesterday and Today”) is in the 17^th arrondissement (145, rue de Saussure) in a working class neighborhood that the average tourist would unlikely visit. We walked from our hotel, but it’s about fifteen minutes from the closest Metro stop (M: Villiars). The outside is fairly nondescript and provides little insight into what’s inside.

Quite simply, Hier et Aujourd’hui is the perfect French bistro. The ingredients are fresh, the dishes are unique, the service is friendly and the food is truly excellent. The interior is casual, but elegant in that perfectly effortless French way.

The sole server (and co-owner) Karin was welcoming and extremely supportive of our embarrassingly poor French skills. All of the dishes are written on a large chalkboard; any three-course selection (entrée, plat, and dessert) is 27 euro (which doesn’t include wine).

Each meal starts with a large jar of cornichons, rustic bread and a loaf of pate. Mind you, the bread arrives in a canvas bag, and the pate is served with a Lagiole knife. It’s perfect. Unfortunately, the pate is removed once your entrées arrive. But everything that followed was sublime, elegant, and of course, perfectly effortlessly French:

For my entrées, I had (forgive any weak translation): Crème chaude du mousserons de printemps a l’huile fumee (warm spring mushrooms in crème and smoked oil). Jeff had: Presse de lapin a la toutarde et romarin (pressed rabbit served chilled with greens).

For our main course, I had: Noix de St. Jacques poelees, pommes de terre et carrots ecrasees au lard (scallops with potatoes, carrots, and yes, you read right, lard), while Jeff had Brandade de moulec a l’huile, petite salade (salt cod and potato mash with greens).

For dessert, we shared: Baba au rhum classique, creme fouette (sweet bread with whipped cream and rum) and Crème cappuccino chocolat caramel (you can figure that one out).

Mid-way through our first meal we decided that there were too many other dishes we wanted to try. We made another reservation for Friday night, silly Americans!

Here is what we had on Friday night:

Entrees:
Jeff:      Foie gras de canard a la fleur de sel, pain grille
             (duck foie gras with grilled bread)
Shauna:  Salade cremeux de pousses d'epinard a la viande des grison
             (spinach salad with cured meat)

Plats:
Jeff:      Tendron de veau mirote, petite pois et fevenes a la francase
             (veal with peas and fava beans in veal jus)
Shauna:  poulee de sot l'y laisee e gambas avec petits legumes
             (the oysters of a chicken with shrimp and vegetables)

Apologies, but I did not write down the desserts and at this point, I most likely had a lot of wine (Domain Les Pins, Bourgueil 2006 Cuvee les Rochetts). The wine list was very simple but tasty and well priced (20 to 30 euros).

Hier et Audourd'hui
145, rue de Saussure
Metro: Villiers (it's a walk)
Tel: 01.42.27.35.55
Closed Saturday, Sunday and 2 weeks in August
Open until 10:30 PM
Prix fixe: 17 Euro (lunch) 27 Euro (dinner)
Karin Ouet is the front of the house and Franck Dervin is the chef. Both worked at Guy Savoy and with Alain Dutournier.

Comments

[David C]

Sho - you've been holding out on us! You can write reviews anytime you like...

[jeff morgan]

I'm hungry!

Good review.......vive la france!

[Marshall]

Having dropped in last week after remembering this review, I can attest that it's OUTSTANDING. Maybe the best meal I've had in Europe. Ever.