Viola C.
Yelp
If i lived in paris, i would eat here AT LEAST twice a week!!!!! it was one of the highlights of my trip a few years ago and the feelings i had while i enjoyed my meals there (2 days in a row!!!) still linger with tremendous joy and fondness. the owners/hosts could not have been more hospitable. as an armenian, it is hard to find "my" food anywhere, but i did. in a little corner of paris. and a hidden one at that! i ordered the manti -- the meat-filled dumplings and i loved it! best was the hostess, a most endearing woman who came over and i was able to speak with her in our language. i arrived at the tail end of lunch service, but no one made me leave. in fact, quite the opposite! i was invited to stay as long as i wanted to. eventually, i stopped lingering over the remnants of my demi-tasse of armenian coffee. as i was leaving, the proprietors were ready to eat their own midday meal. i stopped at their table to offer my profuse thanks for a phenomenal experience. i looked at their bowls filled with krchik -- a dish made with pickled cabbage, potatoes, tomatoes and broth. the reaction was visceral! it was a dish i adored !!!! i told them that while i loved the manti, had i known that krchik was on the menu, i would have ordered it. it was a dish i had not had since i was 5 or 6 years old. a russian-armenian woman who rented a flat to my newly immigrated parents to detroit (MI) and who i loved as a grandmother used to make it all the time for her husband. i would sit and eat this rib-sticking dish with my surrogate grandfather just before he went to work at the local auto factory. it was, by all standards, peasant food, but manna to me! the host and hostess explained that it was not a menu item, but something they prepared for themselves. they asked if i would join them for some and i said i was too full to do that, but i sat down anyway and we simply conversed freely. we compared and contrasted life in france and the USA. i spent almost an additional hour there -- and i loved every word i heard. it was music to my ears. as i was really leaving this time around, i was invited to return to have the krchik the next day. i was not declining that invitation. i RAN back!!!! and i had a HUGE bowl of the krchik -- on the house! i could not take a bite without shedding a tear, but the tears stopped when i took the first bite and i flashed back 55 years!!! it was delicious!!!! i did not stop eating until the bowl was completely empty. i was invited to have some more, but i had nowhere to put it. admittedly, i ate many amazing french meals in paris, but this was the best damned thing i ate in paris that trip. i have to say that it was dish whose ingredients contained quality ingredients and unquantifiable amounts of kindness, love and nostalgia. it nourished my heart, my soul and the love for my culture. the whole experience was a strong, fierce embrace! i will never forget this - even in my dotage!
