Cafe Constant Review: Lunching at Cafe Constant in Paris
Last time I talked about how Kayser has good pastries in Paris compared to their own shop in New York City. As much as one would love to survive on pastries, cheese, and charcuterie, at some poine one must eat real meals. On our trip to France in 2011, we enjoyed lunch at Les Cocottes, and this time we decided to try another restaurant from the same owner. This other place was called Cafe Constant, named after the owner, Christian Constant. Oh and the restaurant is walkable from the Eiffel Tower, which is a boon for American tourists.
Cafe Constant runs a prix fixe menu lunch menu that is a two-course menu where you can mix-and-match between appetizer, entree, or dessert. If you just pick two out of three, it’s only 16 euros, which is pretty affordable for freshly cooked food in Paris. The day that we were there, I picked the appetizer and entree combo because the appetizer was head cheese! Talk about a very French dish for the first real meal during the French leg of our trip.
The pork head cheese came with some sort of dressing on top and some bunny food. Weirdly enough I thought this dish was really refreshing after the long plane ride we had and only having a chocolate croissant for breakfast. With definable bits in the head cheese, it’s definitely not for the normal American tourist in France, but if you read food blogs, this type of dish is probably right up your alley.
The entree for the prix fixe menu was more aligned for the typical American in Paris. Tomates farcies or stuffed tomatoes are pretty much common in the U.S. as they are in France. These tomatoes were stuffed with meat and they sat on a pile of rice. This was one of those vegetarian sounding disguises for meatballs on rice. I was glad for the dish and it was very filling.
Steph went for something from the regular menu, and it was basically a classic dish – steak and potatoes. The steak was very ‘black and blue’, with a rich sauce on top. The potatoes were pureed and velvety smooth. I think the steak was around 20 euros and it was very tender and delicious.
Since I was full from having an appetizer and Steph skipped that portion of the meal, she had room for dessert. She got the Ile Flottante, which is a floating island. The dessert dish consisted of a meringue ‘island’ that floats on top of creme anglaise. The version at Cafe Constant also had drizzles of caramel on top, because caramel is like the bacon of dessert toppings. I actually didn’t have room except to taste a bite of it, but Steph cleaned her plate completely.
After lunch we tried to relax a bit, because we had a big dinner that night. We actually saw someone who was a contestant on Top Chef Just Dessert at that dinner location. And then we later saw she tweeted a bit during her dinner too. Anyway, that and more coming up in a few days. Meanwhile, Happy New Year and stop reading food blogs for a few days. 2014!!
Cafe Constant139 rue St Dominique.Paris, 7500733 1 47 53 73 34
Posted by Danny on December 31, 2013 at 6:32 pm
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