Dinner with Anisa, and Fantomette's b-day

So, after the unpleasantness of last Tuesday at l'Ourcine, I was eager to show my friend Anisa a properly good Parisian bistro dinner. After trying to make reservations at a few other restaurants on short notice, I got a recommendation from my boss for a restaurant that he had discovered hear the Parmentier métro stop, called Le Marsagny.

We arrived too early for our reservation (they were still having the server dinner when we arrived), so we spent a moment chatting outside under our umbrella. Once seated, we took a look at the menu and were suitably impressed. For 22€ you could get an appetizer + main dish, or a main dish + dessert. For all three, there was an extra 6€. Anisa had an avocado and shrimp millefeuille (essentially, a pile of sliced avocados and shrimp with a vinagrette), while I had their foie gras (which filled me with the usual mixture of delight and guilt). For the main dish, Anisa chose a grilled steak au poivre (if my memory serves me well), while I had a roasted filet of seabass. Both were delicious--my fish especially, which was crisped on the outside yet soft and moist on the inside, without being too translucent or raw. For dessert, Anisa had a crême brulée with saffron, which was delicious although a bit too bitter (the burnt sugar taste). I had an "evantail de poire" (poached pear partially sliced and fanned out) with chocolate ice cream. I wish I could remember what wine we had, because it was lovely.

After polishing off a great dinner (with great service, I might add), we headed off to a nearby bar, On Cherche Encore... to celebrate Fantomette's birthday.

Fanto's b-day @ On Cherche Encore

Happy birthday, Clothilde! Clothilde / Fantômette's birthday was actually a week earlier, but she scheduled her celebrations for tonight at On Cherche Encore... , a bar located near the Goncourt métro stop. Clothilde is one half of the DJ duo Be My Chose, who have appeared on this blog several times. I must admit that I wasn't really in fieldwork-mode that night, so I didn't keep a close eye on the evening's events and personalities. It was mostly just a great opportunity to hang out with Clothilde and her friends and catch up with Laurent, Nathan and others. Nonetheless, I did come up with a cute set of pictures:

A shot of the crowd from next to the DJ.

Nathan (mixing) and Laurent (live set) keeping the party going.

Nathan and Laurent again, plus some very happy guy in the foreground.