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Chef Alain Ducasse’s Restaurant Le Jules Verne in the Eiffel Tower
As we took the elevator to the second level, anticipation overwhelmed me. My parents, whom were my dinner guests, celebrated their 48th Anniversary this year, what more reason could their be to celebrate? We were led around the glass restaurant until we were seated at a perfect table with a view of twinkling Paris at night, more than 400 feet above the city.
Originally, when making the dinner reservations, I was concerned about choosing a restaurant in a high traffic area for fear of it being too touristy—beautiful view with overpriced disappointing fare. When I came across Le Jules Verne in my research, it proved to be the perfect match for our special birthday outing. Science fiction meets French Master Chef and the resulting experience was not one soon to be forgotten.
Everything in the restaurant had been custom made for the Le Jules Verne down to the NASA-like chairs that allowed the guests to seemingly levitate above the floor. The artist’s modern palette of dark purple with silver and white accents was dramatic against the backdrop of the stellar city. The futuristic ‘organic forms’ plates by JL Coquet, lay face down on the table and the design was coordinated with the 3D design of the ceiling.
Beginning the meal, the server offered an amuse bouche or ‘mouth pleaser’ from the chef to the guests of the table, free of charge. Often the amuse bouche is an example of the chefs cuisine to come, and this was no different—simple and delicious, exactly what Michelin six star Chef Alain Ducasse is famous for. The amuse bouche was a parmesan profiteroles. Next, we savored une petite portions of a warm lemon butter cream with perfect vegetables in tiny glass ramekins with tiny glass spoons.
A sea salt pastry, a whole wheat or crusty sourdough roll was offered at the table with fresh butter, there was no doubt the butter was fresh from Brittany. The service was ideally comfortable and not too fussy or overbearing. The crowning moment of service was when three servers delivered our entrees to the table and each placed our plate in front of each guest at the same time, then proceeded to pour the sauce or au jus in unison onto our perfectly painted plates.
The celebrities of the meal for tonight included a pan-seared turbot with crayfish and mushrooms a la riche, roasted veal as a blanquette with seasonal vegetables and cooking juice and a red wine crushed black peppercorn beef filet with puffed potatoes and foie gras with puff pastry. We all passed tiny portions to each other and savored every bite. Combined with the view this meal would prove to be the best we would have on this Parisian adventure. But, the adventure was far from over.
The birthday guest’s dessert came first with a candle and ‘Joyeux Anniversaire!’ written in chocolate ganache around the parameter of the plate. We sampled the bittersweet tower bolt with dark chocolate praline and hazelnut ice cream and a light wild strawberry and coconut cake with lime and coconut sorbet.
The servers again in unison brought handmade lemon verbena marshmallows and bittersweet chocolate truffle squares to the tables in gleaming silver urns and then to ‘gild the lily’ they placed a beautiful silver tray with mignardes or tiny desserts—Madeline’s, macaroons, and bittersweet chocolate napoleons in the center of the table. We had coffee americain and relished the moment.
The stars outside the beautiful panoramic windows reflected the stars in our eyes. As the music in the background played, ‘April in Paris’ serenaded our table, the timing could not have been more perfect.
As we left the Eiffel tower, it began to sparkle like a huge diamond, a reminder that the French are never finished. The experience of Alain Ducasse’s world class cuisine at Le Jules Verne restaurant in the Eiffel Tower was truly out of this world—From the Earth to the Moon.
Comments
By Repp
November 19, 2008 10:26 AM | Link to this
April—-Bunch of rednecks here at the Gun Shop still miss you and your coffee and cakes——Fantastic to see you are doing well——-Repp