Taking Pictures of Food - Yay or Nay? (Café Constant)

Foie Gras

It's nearing the end of October, and I still haven't even finished writing about my visit to Paris from the end of July. I'm such a terrible blogger; no wonder why nobody reads my blog. But anyway, continuing on with the recap of my three-day foodfest in Paris, I visited Café Constant for dinner on a Saturday evening. I had actually wanted to eat at Chez l'Ami Jean, but they were full, so I resorted to my backup plan just a couple of blocks away. As the restaurant is very close to the Eiffel Tower, there were a ton of places catering to tourists in the neighborhood. While Café Constant -- with its English-speaking staff and English menus --  is quite obviously one of the restaurants in the area catering to tourists, the quality of its food makes it clear that it is anything but your typical tourist trap.

Taking the Plunge (Christophe)

Veal Brains with Polenta

When I was a kid, I was a notoriously picky eater. As I've already established, sushi wasn't something I had any interest in trying. Tripe, duck feet, tofu, and some other mainstays of Chinese cooking? Nope, I turned those down, too. But while these foods are, admittedly, a bit on the adventurous side, my pickiness wasn't restricted to just the likes of raw fish and intestines. Even the simplest and most basic of foods -- tomatoes, eggs, ice cream (I used to say that ice cream was "too cold" -- yeah, I have no idea what I was thinking, either) -- were rejected by my ten-year-old palate. Fast forward to the present, and thankfully, my tastes have changed. I have become much more open-minded about trying new foods and am no longer squeamish of unfamiliar foods. Kidneys, tripe, gizzards, and bone marrow are just a couple of the foods that, twelve years ago, I wouldn't have wanted anything to do with. But now, when I see something like veal brains show up on a menu, I am not only intrigued, but I'm ballsy enough to order it.