Bookstore Cafe? Hmmm.

Back in the good ol' U S of A, we tend to attach cafés to bookstores - kind of two-great-tastes-that-taste-great-together kind of thing (apologies to Reese's). Here, bookstores tend to be bookstores, because you can't stumble over a stale baguette and miss a café, bistro, or brasserie in Paris...all of which are guaranteed to have plenty of chillin' seats where you can read your book, your Paris Match, your Nabokov, or your biography of Woody Allen, all while downing a lovely café au lait or thé (tea) or snack on a little tarte tatin.

So imagine my surprise when I found an attached café! Not to a bookstore, mind you. No, not a grocery store, either. It was attached to something we don't have all that many of in the US...actually, now that I think of it, I don't think we have any. Yes, it was attached to a store that specializes in Foie Gras, Truffles, and Armagnac - the Comptoir de la Gastronomique.

Yeah, I can hear it now.

"Honeyyyy, can you run down to the Foie Gras, Truffle, and Armagnac store and pick up some extra black truffllles??? We're out! And the Swansons will be here at six!"

Not so much.

Now, however is my moment of pride. Even though I had lunch at the café attached to the Foie Gras, Truffle, and Armagnac store, I had none of those things. I was most restrained. I had the Soupe de Moment (Soup of the Day...it was Asparagus) and a light non-creamy Risotto with Cuisses de Grenouille (Frog Legs) in Chestnut Flour. Dee-lish. And not evil (bwah-ha-ha) at all.

No dessert, just a coffee to help me last the day. Thankfully their desserts were not issuing the Siren's Song to me and equally thankfully, their dessert prices were astronomical (9.50Euro for a Tiramisu - that's like $13...puh-leez!). Another diet bullet dodged, merci dieu.