6.6 Franck Enée, ex-Chez Monsieur Lapin, 17, rue Moliere in the 1st, 01.42.96.22.19, closed Sundays and Mondays (Metro: Pyramides) moved here in June but has received scant notice which is a puzzlement as Yul Brynner might have said because it's no mean place. Dark, quiet (60-80 dB) and with various pillars and alcoves that makes it seem like a 12 not 30 cover restaurant, it is a gem waiting to be found.
There is a 26 formula and 35 E menu, but La Fourchette is offering 30% off a la carte so my two friends paid for two courses almost exactly what I did for three.
The amuse was cucumber cubes on top of pumpkin, very refreshing; then one friend had the sauteed sliced foie gras with a dusting of nuts and bread crumbs and the other two of us had urchins with herring eggs and sliced vegetables and trumpets of death - a clever combination that permitted the strong-flavored seafood to offset the mildly-flavored veggies or vice-versa.
For mains, my friend R. (who discovered this place) had what I thought was the best of meal - pigeon fermier with artichoke centers and cepes; my pal J. had the turbot on top of more pumpkin with slices ofacidulated/cironed something; and I had the intriguing-sounding a looking crunchy rabbit rolled like a spring roll with dried fruits and wood mushrooms in an intense sauce with sesame seeds and mustard greens.
J. and I shared my pumpkin souffle (yes potiron again) that came with an astonishing tasting baton made from brioche pastry and we all had the mignardises of a mini-Paris-Brest, pumpkin candy and canelés.
Our bill with a bottle and 4 glasses of wine, one bottle of sparkling water and one coffee was 185.40 E, thus 133.60 E a couple, but skipping all the frou-frou, could amount to 107 E a couple.
Go? It's not for everyone, like Colliot, Aizpitarte and Ledeuil, he's clever, uses fresh ingredients and unexpected combinations, but some of my friends would find it too "edgy."
