In celebration of the first day of Hanukkah, I think it's the perfect time to describe to you one of my favorite areas in all of Paris: The Marais District. The Marais District is historically the place where Paris' Jewish community has settled. It is home to the Picasso Museum, Bastille, Victor Hugo's house, and my favorite restaurant of all time: L'as du Fallafel. The first time I ate at L'as du Fallafel, it was a planned activity for the study abroad students. After my life was forever changed by that first falafel experience, I made a point to return to the same restaurant with Alek not once--but twice more--during our short time in Paris together. Never have I ever been to such a busy restaurant or one with better service. For all my fellow Marylanders, it's like a charming cross between Damascus' Jimmie Cone and Annapolis' Chick n' Ruth's...but so much better.
Unfortunately, words cannot properly credit or accurately describe this brilliant creation. All I can say about falafel is that it is a delightful mixture of vegetables that resemble meatballs but tastes completely original. I learned by looking at everyone else sitting in the restaurant that there are multiple ways in which one can enjoy their falafel; each time I had mine in a gyro with grilled eggplant, cucumber & radish slivers, and topped with a creamy yogurt sauce. Boy would I give anything for some falafel right now. With mango juice from Israel.
Falafel #1
Falafel #2
Falafel #3
P.S. I read in my Rick Steves' Paris 2010 guidebook that Lenny Kravitz is a regular at L'as du Fallafel.
P.P.S. The last time I was there, Alek and I had the honor of sitting at the table next to his picture!
I had my first taste of falafel in Egypt (because I guess it's a Greek/Mediterranean thing and most Egyptian food is more Mediterranean than Middle Eastern - who knew?) and LOVED it. The ones we had were a little greenish in color (from the vegetables I guess) and kinda resembled dried out meatballs. Wow, I'm not making this sound appetizing AT ALL, but it was so good! I have a picture on my computer at home, I'll have to show to you over break.
ReplyDeleteMy man, John Stewart, did a nod to Hanukkah last night on the Daily Show (he's Jewish) so your post this morning made me smile!
I think you did a much better job at describing the falafel than I did! The thing with my falafel was that it was so good that I don't want to try making it and have it turn out wrong. Nor do I want to go to a different falafel restaurant because I feel certain that the one I was at can't be topped. It's like I never want the memory of the falafel in my head right now to ever be altered in a way that makes it less than what it really is. Thus, I am going to have to return to Paris just so that I can have some more falafel!
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