So what's a Pascade? My friend and I happened upon a
little restaurant that caught our eye on our way to
a traditional brasserie lunch that the hotel had
recommended. We both did an "about-face" when we saw
the window and managed to snag the last table of the hour.
|
Alexandre Bourdas, chef of Pascade |
It turns out that a pascade is a sort of
crepe soufflé lightly
caramelized. It is a traditional dish that comes from Aveyron.
The name
evokes Paques , the French name for Easter.
The restaurant, Pascade, owned by a young couple, Laura
and Marc de Falaise, took off with the discovery of
Alexandre Bourdas, the former 2 star chef Of SaQuaNa
in Honfleur. He suggested that the idea would probably
work for Paris.
|
Laura and Marc de Falaise, owners |
Alexandre says that he always had in his head the idea of
garnishing these little soufflés to make them "sale ou
sucre"…so some he makes as main dishes or starters
and others for dessert.
|
A dessert pascade: this one wasn't on our menu |
The menu changes weekly and on ours was a choice of :
1. Tarte aux Pommes and Boudin
cream of potatoes with herbs, roasted apples and boudin
sausage
2. Filet d Cabillaud
pieces of steamed cod, salad hearts, cream of chicken
sauce, lentils w/ old sherry
3. Coeur d'Artichaut
Artichokes cooked and fried, polenta, chanterelle
mushrooms, lemon and hot pepper
4. Spaghetti Rave
Hearts of celery (celeri rave), hard cooked egg, parsley, lard and lamb
|
Main dish pascade: I think this one is the cod |
We chose to split the apple and sausage and the
artichoke pascades for our main course so we could each
have a taste.....followed by the mini desserts: ones with figs and creme
brûlée, lemon tart
with passion fruit sorbet, meringues and a sort of spun
sugar caramel toffee topping.
This gives you an idea of the "mini" dessert plate.
|
mini dessert sampler |
Everything was tasty and refreshingly different from the usual French
fare.
You can be sure that If I find myself in the second Arrondisement again,
I will be back there for an unusual treat.
We already put in our bid as Nice for their next restaurant venue. Who knows, it might work.