LETTER FROM PARIS @29 - an Italian treat

No, this is not about an opera. It is about Puglia, a little noted part of Italy east of Naples. It is about a saltimboca made by a female French chef. (Is there a gender spelling change?) It is about asking for alio y olio and having it understood and delivered as huile et ail. And you thought I had promised not to keep writing about food!

I keep harping on: some of the great food you often find in unexpected places. There are no celebrity chefs vying publicly for Michelin stars. There are no well-heeled investors creating gustatory Edens with white gloved serveurs.

This is not to say that there are not also some really bad things to eat. The other evening we went to the little kosher restaurant within Shirley’s bad leg walking distance. We took the plunge. What can go wrong with something on a bagel? Everything if they have no idea what a bagel should be. Luckily we ordered some hummus which was served with freshly toasted a slightly oiled pita. We should have stopped there. I won't bore you with the details, except that a bagel is supposed to have a chewy exterior and hole in the middle.

No, this is about a discovery. An Italian restaurant about two blocks away. It is called “La Divina” which can very easily be a kind of restaurant hubris. But it wasn’t. The host, manager/owner – I don’t know – was born in France, the son of a Sicilian father and a Spanish mother. We chatted about everything. The night before he had entertained a man from Quebec who, he says, owns an alligator farm! He sells the hides and the meat. Go figure. I thought perhaps he was keeping up the chatter to distract me from the food. Not at all. First he presented my with a sumptuous red wine from Puglia. Exquisite. All the high points: nose, finish, legs – all the stuff wine snobs love.

Shirley’s saltimboca was served in a small casserole. It was as good as I have ever tasted. The veal was provimi. The cheese and ham were slightly crisp because it was finished in a broiler. (I didn’t see anything as elegant as a salamander.)
My alio y olio was utterly ravishing with just the right amount of basilio.

You may be in Paris on a “foodie” trip. Or like us, you enjoy good food but you won’t trek halfway across town just for the sake of it. You would have enjoyed it with us as “La Divina” on Rue Bayen on the way to the market.

But the real reason I am “selling” it is that it came in at 77 Euro. including the wine and lavish desserts. Not cheap, but certainly far below the almost 100 Euro for a salad, some fizzy water and d the best rice pudding ever dreamt of at L’Ami Chez Jean. But that was three stars. “Divina” deserves at least one except they don’t hand them out for simply being very good cooking traditional food. It had no glitz. It just tasted great.