Backstory: Today, a Sunday, I had intended to go for lunch to Holybely (who knows what that means), an interesting sounding Anglophonic/Anglophilic place deep in England-town in the 10th, no reservations, no phone, no space - 8 people waiting on the sidewalk and 8 inside, none older than 25, menu not terribly interesting for an old guy anyway; so onto Back-up Resto #1, the new cafe on the surface of the Place de la Republique called the Café Monde et Médias run by the SOS Group (not very encouraging eh?) which Wiki says has "10 000 salariés et ses 300 établissements" but was supposed to have a menu concocted by some famous (helicopter) chef, but was just serving a brunch/buffet; so on to my Back-up Resto #2, the Bistro du 15eme, closed two weeks ago exceptionally, for renovations - drat, closed again, this time due to new scheduling. Hummmm. So start walking down the rue du Commerce, recall that my good friend Pierre45 said I ordered incorrectly at the Café du Commerce in 2005 and was great for steak - OK, there it was and has bivalves too. Super.
5.0 Le Café du Commerce, 51, rue du Commerce in the 15th, 01.45.75.03.27, open 7/7 (Metros: Commerce or Emile Zola) is a spectacular looking place, 3-4 stories high with a nice carte.
I started with 6 Utah Beach oysters, ordered BIG but delivered and charged small, which I ate with relish (not relish). So far so good. Then I had the bavette with shallots which didn't add much and fries which needed something so I asked for an English steak sauce (A1 or Worchester) and malt vinegar, insread got some nice bearnaise sauce and mustardy sauce and some regular vinegar, visably brightening my day.
My bill with white and red wines to go with my oysters and beef respectively, plus quite nice bread and butter and a coffee, was 54.50 E.
Sometime during my meal I looked at my fellow patrons - French all - and concluded that the old folks like me, despite their deafness, were interesting to have nearby, all beautifully dressed whereas those men under 50 were schlumps while their (non) wives were elegant. How could a nation's male population schlumpify in 50 years (cf Nicolas Hulot) while their significant others elegantified (cf Christine Lagarde). The lady besides me on the Metro going home only reinforced the point (see below). I asked permission to take the shot.
So Go? Good oysters, fabulous setting, but I think not.
