We highlighted L'Ardoise as one of our picks for Paris Restaurants open in August, along with Spring Restaurant, which we reviewed earlier. We had stayed the night before at Le Burgundy, a luxury boutique hotel just a 5 minute walk away, so we couldn't have asked for a more convenient place for lunch.
L'Ardoise serves its 35 Euro menu for both lunch and dinner, so that, plus the fact that this is not a tourist restaurant and many of the restaurant's local clientele were probably on vacation, might explain why it was completely empty when we walked in for our 12:30pm reservation. Normally that would have given me huge pause, but I had confidence our meal would be excellent, and I was not disappointed.
A friendly server welcomed and seated us at a comfortable corner booth, and smiled when she saw our 3-year old–always a good sign! In general I was pleasantly surprised how much the hotels and restaurants we went to welcomed our child. I know where to go in NYC to be welcomed, but I was less sure of how child-friendly places in Paris would be. Back to L'Ardoise–we perused the French menu, which I translated for my husband. Since we (correctly) anticipated fairly generous servings, we only ordered prix fixe menus for the two of us, choosing dishes we could share with our son.
After we ordered, our server brought some marinated tomatoes and fresh pain de campagne, country bread. I've always enjoyed the heartier pain de campagne, with its distinctive tangy, mild sourdough flavor and nuttiness from the whole grain and rye used in it, and this bread was exceptionally fresh.
For our appetizers, my husband chose the terrine de foie gras, which was layered with prunes and probably laced with a bit of Armagnac or Cognac–delicious!
I chose the Gratin d'Escargots, 7 plump escargots bathed in herb garlic butter and crowned with crisp toasts. My husband hadn't thought he'd want any, but he happily downed 3 of them:
For an entree, my husband opted for a simple braised chicken dish with mashed potatoes, so that he could share it with our son. Even this simple preparation, however, was delectable, and among the top chicken preparations either of us has ever tasted. Our kid seemed to agree, since he probably ate two thirds of it himself.
I opted for braised pork cheeks (which our server seemed at first a bit surprised that I ordered) and these vied with our dessert for being the top dish. I've no idea how long it took to braise this dish in red wine and then reduce the sauce, but it must have taken many hours, the flavors were so deep, and the pork so tender. Another highlight were the chanterelles used in the dish. It was a good thing my husband could help me finish, since with the accompanying butter potato puree, this was a very rich dish.
For our two desserts, we opted for a cheese plate for one of them (which we knew our son would love as well–he would eat cheese at every meal if he could). It was a very nice assortment of Brie de Meaux, Comte, a sheeps milk cheese, a hard aged cheese and Epoisses–this very pungent one is the first cheese that our kid has ever declined (and I believe it is one of the few actually banned from public transportation in France).
The other dessert we chose was a special of the day–a strawberry creme brulee topped with strawberry sorbet. I wouldn't have ordered it, since I don't even care for creme brulee much, but am glad my husband wanted it since it was one of the best Paris desserts I've ever tasted.
Lunch at L'Ardoise was much more French comfort food, contrasting with the haute cuisine we'd sampled at Le Cinq at the Four Seasons Paris the day before, but I enjoyed both (can't compare apples to oranges) and my husband actually preferred L'Ardoise more. If you don't have a kid in tow, I'd recommend trying L'Ardoise for dinner, when it's probably a bit livelier, and an even better deal (since it's still the 35 Euro prix fixe, and dinner tends to be pricier in most restaurants).