Lucy W. H.
Yelp
Brasserie Lipp has a long standing literary tradition, and I confess, I wanted to dine where many movers and shakers have dined from Antoine St. Exupery, Hemingway, Malraux, Mitterand, Chirac, Depardieu. I ordered the plat du jour which was cassoulet, and it was terrible. The first couple of bites were warm and inviting because I hadn't eaten in 24 hours, but the meat tasted old, rotten and was tough. My friend ordered the brandade morue and it was divine. He cleaned his plate, and I coveted his plain green salad. While we ended up with a kind waiter, he did not bother to ask me why I didn't my dish, what was wrong, and so on. My dining companions think the staff simply can't give two hoots to a visiting American.
Why was I so reticent to complain or send my cassoulet back? When you haven't seen your friends in a long time, you hardly want your reunion to be tainted with sour memories. My, you've changed! An altercation with staff that would label me as the Ugly American -- I'm already being asked at every turn, how do you feel about Trump?
Maybe, however, it was the nice woman in the corner was upset that she asked for a double portion salad, but her portion did not look twice the size of my friend's.
This woman had been eating at Brasserie Lipp since she was chid, and when she is in Paris from Los Angeles, she said she eats here every other day. She resented how the staff dismissed and scolded her. I was floored that a restaurant wouldn't just add a few more lettuce to keep a loyal customer happy. She's eaten at Brasserie Lipp for well over 40 years, and this is how they treat her?
And that treatment gives me pause. Perhaps I ordered wrong and should give this place another chance. Clearly if I had the brandade morue, I would have been happy. And I hear that their charcoute is a winner. But I may have to go alone should I decide to give this place another try. After this incident, my Parisian friend says he will never go to Brasserie Lipp again.