7.3 The restaurant of the Maison de l'Amerique Latine, 217, blvd St-Germain in the 7th, open weekday lunches only (don't believe what you read elsewhere), 01.49.54.75.10, (Metro: Solferino) has changed hands and everything else except for the great garden and wonderful private rooms. The chef, one Thierry Vaissiere, has been everywhere for someone so young - la Maison Blanche, le Café Faubourg, le Jardin des Sens, la Tour d’Argent, Lucas-Carton, and Drouant, when it was under Yannick Alléno's hands. I was warmly welcomed by the front man, Jean-Pierre Galmisch, who doesn't know me from Adam but I felt right at home.
On the 40 E 2-course and 51 E 3-course menu, the entree that leapt out to all three of us was/were the foie gras raviolis which were ravishing. Then Madame from the Tour Totem (no, not Madame Courtois) had nifty crispy strips of bar in a divine sauce and M. and I both had the 7-hour snout to feet pressed pieces of lamb that came with a royale sauce just like lievre a la royale - head-spinning.
To terminate, my friends and I shared an apple tart with an apple syrup that one of us thought was maple syrup, it was so rich and tasty. Now a word about the wines; unless you're a 1%'er, you either go with South American ones or as we did, a Brouilly, which was very very good.
A bill, for a couple having 2 dishes, 1 bottle of wine, no bottled water, 2 coffees and quite fine bread runs one 114 E (and here's a kicker - one pays 1 E per person Membership charge - neat eh?)
Go? For sure, indeed I plan to come back in a few days to try what they call their "bar" see above, which has a terrific selection of items - no reservations here though, but one must reserve at the main resto - it was totally full by 13h00.
