Les Enfants Rouges Restaurant, technically at 9 rue de Beauce in the 3rd but it's so narrow that it's better described as at the north-west corner of said marche.
Backstory (very long, skip to bottom if you wish): Colette and I convinced our friend whom I've known since 1953, who has lived here the longest of anyone I know, in the Marais of course, to go to let's call it Restaurant C., walkable from her bureau. She wrote back that she'd really like to try Les Enfants Rouges trusting on my reviews but Colette said "Nah, I want to go to where you (me) went last month, Restaurant C." OK. I called Restaurant C. - no answer, left a message. Arrived 12h30: closed; called old friend - "where are you?" "Rue du Temple." "Change of plans - to your preference after-all - Les Enfants Rouges." Colette calls and miraculously there are 3 seats left. Get in cab, driver's GPS is screwy, arrive 20 minutes late. We enter to the effusive greetings of Tomoko Shinozuka, ex-Regalade and chef Dai,the former sous-chef at Le Comptoir de Relais shouting out a hearty hello from the kitchen - cool! So our friend is here and all is well.
First off came a platter of abat charcuterie which we scooped up quickly, great bread and butter and amuse-bouches of gougeres with olives - oh my! Then my old biking pal and I and Colette stealing a bit, loved the veal brains with beans and pimento strips. This guy knows his offal!
Then our Marais denizen had the crispy veal tongue and Colette and I had the daily special - crispy sweetbreads (of which the 12 E supplement was hardly enough to honor this fine dish) - both with a ton of shaved and braised veggies.
At this point, the ever-charming Tomoko asked if we wanted dessert and Colette, taking one look said, "Yikes, I should have ordered the chocolate moelleux made with myrtilles with caramel beurre sale ice cream, but it says "must be ordered in advance." "I push past 10 other patrons to the comptoir and pulling on my incredibly receding forelock say "Ah, Madam, would it be, could it be, should it be possible to have one at this late date?" "But of course, M."
But before it arrived we got another treat - a dollop of green tea sorbet with a miso sauce that was as sweet as maple syrup - really good, as was the eventual dessert.
Our bill, with two bottles of wine, no bottled water and this incredible food, even with the supplements, was only 118 E a couple.
