Domaine de Lintillac

Domaine de Lintillac

When I told my extended family over Thanksgiving dinner that I would be spending my spring semester in Paris, the first thing my wine/cuisine expert uncle did was promise to send me a comprehensive list of all the best restaurants in Paris that he knew of. A few weeks later, I got it, six pages of tiny print, detailed reviews of dozens of incredible sounding places, names, addresses, personal anecdotes, even citations from professional restaurant reviewers. Each one sounded unique in its own way; there was La Cave de L'os Moelle, the all-you-can-eat-for-20-euros place set up like an old French cafeteria (long hefty wooden tables, a fire burning in the back, laughter, smoke and conversation amongst strangers) where foods like rabbit mushroom stew, full roasted quail, and homemade tarte tatin are served on huge platters next to baskets of fresh made bread and jugs of hearty wine; Astier, one of the more expensive places ("...maybe save this for when your parents come visit and take you out to dinner...") which boasts high quality French fare, three full courses and wine, at the end of which an enormous platter of cheese, every kind of cheese one can imagine, is served and left on the table for as long as you can bear to keep eating; and Domaine de Lintillac, the "pretty much all duck so if you don't like duck, don't bother going here" place. I love duck. Anything duck. I booked this one immediately.

On a Saturday night at 9 pm, I went with my roommate to the 1eme location (there are 2 others, one in the 18eme near Montmartre, and one in the southern end of the 7eme). When we arrived, the restaurant was just starting to fill up, but our reservation had saved us a great big table near the back, and we shuffled in past the already drunk and feasting parties of Parisians, hours deep in duck and wine. The restaurant was beautiful, sweet, lit warmly by dozens of candles near the windows, each table covered in a classic red and white plaid tablecloth. The waiters were friendly and smiling (somewhat rare in a fancy Parisian place!) and brought over a wine list to start. We selected a bottle of fine red wine (9 euros, practically retail price) and ordered off the entree menu a duck pate to share. Now I had looked at the English language menu online (which was accompanied by pictures) beforehand to make sure I knew what to get, and judging by the placement of the item in the list of plats, I chose what I thought would be a thick duck steak for my main course. Not long after, our meals were brought to us, and I realized that I had been quite mistaken. What I had ordered, the boudin de canard, was in fact a duck black pudding pate with roasted potatoes on the side. At first I was nervous, but as I said, I love duck. Anything duck. So I dove in. It was delicious, salty and crumbling. The potatoes, cooked in duck fat, were sweet and crunchy and wonderful. The wine was tasty and bitter, a perfect compliment. I could barely finish all the food on my plate but I knew I'd regret it if I didn't. All in all it was an amazing meal, an amazing restaurant, and am amazing Parisian experience.

P.S.

I apologize that this post is shamefully late; if I can be perfectly honest, I read the due date as March 21 instead of March 12. Sorry.