Trés Haute Cuisine à Le Jules Verne

We had to be able to say we did this. Actually it’s partly because we found that the lines to get into the Eiffel Tower were so long that Joe thought, “hey, we could do a really great birthday brunch or dinner for Abby by coming back here to go to the fancy restaurant and that way we could use the special elevator and skip the lines and at least save on the elevator fees.” So he suggested that and Abby and Sydelle thought that was a great idea.

The special restaurant is called Le Jules Verne and was recently taken over, after a period of declining reputation, by Alain Ducasse, superstar chef. By the time Joe called to make reservations, it was booked up for dinners until Christmas. And booked up for lunch on Abby’s birthday, Sunday the 10th. So Joe made a reservation for October 17; and for Abby’s birthday, at her request, we made meat loaf and mashed potatoes and Joe’s vanilla ice cream. Not bad.
But the next week’s lunch turned into not only Abby’s Birthday Lunch but Joe and Sydelle’s Anniversary Lunch (Oct 22) and maybe a few other occasions as well. This was Extremely Haute Cuisine! Thankfully in all senses: It was 400 feet in the air, cost more than our roundtrip flights to Venice back in August, but was really, really good.

This was the full treatment. A placesetting at the table there only for decoration; removed once they began to serve. A few amuse-bouches during the meal. Perfect service. When none of the desserts appealed to Abby, we asked if she could just have some vanilla ice cream. They said of course and brought a bowl with three boules, garnished with a vanilla bean and a candle! We experimented a little with the entrées – Joe is still not sure quite what they did with the quail egg in his. But everything was excellent, and the dessert – or layers of desserts – was amazing. The little extras they added would have been plenty for a normal dessert.

The view wasn’t bad, either.

We might do something like this again, if I get a tax refund and decide I don’t want to buy a second car when we return to Cleveland. The high life can be pretty attractive – but is a bit beyond our reach, normally!