Day 1: Starving Sundays

The worst part about arriving in France on a Sunday is that very few things are open. After begging about at one of the local cafes that was still open on Sunday late afternoon, we were told to head in the general direction of the local cinema. We passed an unassuming kabob/pizza place before we stumbled upon Le Flamand Rose, a little pizzeria with a fantastic exterior and an equally wonderful couple running the place.

Jet lagged and starving, pizza was a quick and easy fix to our dilemma of being cold, tired, and hungry. The dining room was plenty warm from the wood-burning oven. The wife greeted us happily as we were the first customers for dinner. She obligingly and sweetly put up with the mangled jet-lagged French that I tried to use to make sure they were open for dinner and to politely ask to be seated. I love pizzerias when they are as casual as this place was for us.

Jacob ordered a mozzerella pizza and a simple side salad. I ordered tagatelli carbonara hoping for a nice cream, carb, and pork product fix that would fill me up and send me off to bed. As we waited for our order, we watched the husband prepare pizzas at his oven. Painstakingly we watched him take thin slices of mozzerella that he thoughtfully placed on the sauced dough. The dough and the cheese were so paper thin we wondered how it would stand up. After raking the coals away, he popped it into the oven for 2-3 minutes, carefully turned it, then it was another 2-3 minutes for done. Crisp, light, and fresh are the only ways to describe how simple becomes a masterpiece.

My tagatelli was good but too heavy. First, the portion was huge. Just absolutely huge. I could have eaten the whole portion served to me over four meals. The ingredients, once more, were excellent. The tagatelli was a fresh pasta, the cream sauce was made with a bit of emmental in it, the ham had a good but mild flavor, and the yolk was served fresh on the side to mix in along with some grated parmesan.

Perhaps the best part of the meal was the simple green salad. Plain old, every day bib lettuce was dressed in a delightfully rich olive oil, shaved parmagiano regiano cheese with a strong nutty flavor, chopped fresh garlic, and wedges of tomatoes. Simplicity once again transcended to divine in our eyes.

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