Le Cinq

I had the best meal of my life in Paris on Sunday. We went to Le Cinq (at the George V Four Seasons hotel) for lunch. A small mix-up about the location left Andrew and me waiting for the others in the restaurant's waiting area, which gave me time to admire the decor. There are these little bamboo things, and chairs that make you sit up straight, and lots of ornate ceiling decorations. Also, "smart casual" means "sure, the ladies can wear khakis and button-down shirts, but sir, please borrow the house jacket".

I was going to say that this was a six-course meal, but I realized I'm not sure how many actual separate courses there were, because food kept arriving. We ordered from the market suggestions menu, so that's definitely three courses there, but there was a starter of cucumber gazpatcho with little poofy pastries containing brie. Yummy! And we were offered chocolate on at least three separate occasions. My first course was tuna belly with tabouleh salad, which I wouldn't have ever guessed would go together. (The other choice - salmon with green jellylike stuff around it - was tasty too.) I had the entree of beef carpaccio, which was good except that I think I might not be a huge carpaccio fan. Between all of us at the table there were also chicken and goat entrees, which had really interesting sauces. We ate all the chocolate that was offered to us (chocolate rice pudding; squares of chocolate; coffee that involved chocolate; boxes of chocolate), and it was all good. What sets this restaurant apart from other fancy places I've been is the level of service. The waiters ancipated everything and kept all my wine glasses full. This was just a fantastic experience all around.

Afterwards we went to the Louvre, which is a lot harder than it sounds if you've had that much wine. We revisited part of the renaissance wing and saw part of the Greek sculpture wing before the museum closed.