-1.0 Ratapoil du Faubourg, 72, (not 78 as Rubin had it) rue du Faubourg Poissonniere in the 10th (Metro: Poissoniere) closed Saturday lunch and Sundays, 01.42.46.30.53 got the great man's 3 hearts and has been on my list for a few weeks. We entered and liked what we saw, but one of our two friends who had lived under Communism for most of his life said "I cannot eat here" and pointed at the painting by the bar. "Lenin" he said, pointing. "Oh oh," said I, "want to leave?" "No." That was our first mistake.
The pleasant wait-guy came by and delivered two cartes, one for lunch with 2-2-3 choices and the other for dinner with 3 dishes for 30, 4 for 40, 5 for 50, 6 for 60 E and I supposed on and on; we looked at the lunch menu which seemed cheap and chintzy and concluded we could ordered from the dinner "small-plate" one since they had given it to us and it was posted in the window and decided what to have. "No, no, messieurs, that menu is just to screw with your minds, it's not truly available now." (Well, not his exact words but you get the point as did we.) So we ordered off the 18 E lunch menu - That made Mistake #2.
Colette had the potimarron soup with cumin which she deemed "OK" and we three boys had the Breton razor clams which needed something added (salt, pepper, Siracha, soy, TNT?) and something taken away (the sand). Mistake #3
Then Colette had a reasonable piece of cod and we three had what were (at least for me) the most over-cooked, poor product, pork pieces of the year with purple potatoes. Mistake #4.
My friend D. from up the Mont had his heart set on the chocolate tart - Whoops "Out of it, Sir," so all of us had an uninspiring lemon concoction ontop a cookie that it took a hammer and chisel to break. Mistake #5.
My friend from behind the old Iron Curtain picked up the check, as he always does, in gratitude for Mr. Reagan's getting that wall torn down, but I sneaked a look (it was 143 E, or 71.50 E a couple).
Go? Not on my life again.