Casa Olympe, A brilliant bistro!

I have a list of restaurants that sit patiently waiting for me,  for whatever reason, I don't get round to eating at the address and the list grows bigger by the week! Usually for me it is because either the restaurant is in a part of town I don't often get too (I know it's a lame and lazy excuse) or because another establishment close by always claims my buck first. The Casa Olympe stars finally aligned when the Dutchman called me from London and said, I need to be in the 9th quarter next monday at 1500 to meet a bank! Open Monday, 9th arr.... the rest as they say is history.

Missing out all these years on Casa Olympe has been a huge stupidity of mine, it's way beyond bistro status and way beyond being just a neighbourhood haunt too. If you come from the school that good things often come in small packages then you've sat down in the right place!

This pocket sized restaurant is my kinda place!!

 

The most tempting dish on the entire menu was a starter! A small dutch oven (Cocotte) of exquisite earthy vegetables such as pumpkin, Jerusalem artichokes, parsnips, potatoes, swiss chard and smokey bacon! A fair snip of chive, coarse pepper grindings, a tablespoon of good farmy creme fraiche and a little piment d'espilette brought the garden to to my table! Thankfully the bread is so crusty good that you can use it to mop up the final sugars left in the now empty pot.

Here I lay out the fixings from the pot for you to scrute and click on for a closeup!

Proving yet again that simple and delicious is way better than complicated and not!!
The double-barreled Scott (who came with the Dutchman) was not coming to Paris for a plate of roots no sir, he preferred to order tubers and fine french ones they were too. Served with a warm egg "mollet" that dripped its gold liquor to great effect when prodded.

I waited to have some asparagus of my own on my veal chop, in fact they looked so splendid on my friends plate that I asked Madame Versini, the Lady of Olympe whether I could change the garnish planned from wild mushrooms to asparagus. No problem!

There is a rustic quality to the dishes served here that I can relate too, nothing overpowers the main ingredient on the plate, everything seemed to enhance the star turn, not unlike a harmony of tight backing singers behind a great songstress.

Steak (Special of the day) with fondant potatoes (I'm guessing duck or goose fat) bitter leaves meet the dijon and bob's your uncle... we were pushed for time so we all shared one dessert!

Pains Perdue avec sauce Caramel Buerre Salé, translation lost bread with caramel made with salted butter...

To focus your attention here are some other items from the Menu!

If you don't come often to Paris all I can say is read it and weep!!!!

Warm Pig’s Ear salade with Herbs

Chestnut flour Pancake with a poached egg and melted butter

Snails in a lightly Garlicked green Herb bouillon

Pumpkin Soup with Rock Mussels

Crispy Black pudding with a mixture of wild Lettuces

Roast thyme-flavored shoulder of lamb
Pan-fried farm-raised Guinea Hen from Challans with two kinds of cabbage
Crusty sweetbreads with Pantelleria capers
Mackerel in a papillote with Herring“caviar“ and olive oil mashed patatoes
Veal chop with bay leaf, pan-fried mushrooms
Scallops with Celery, Olive oil and Balsam-flavored cream
Bacon-Studded  Tuna fish with onions
Spiced grilled Pig’s Head with green lentil beans

48 rue Saint Georges, 75009 Paris Tel : 01.42.85.26.01
They have a good bilingual web site too with updated dishes and pictures
http://www.casaolympe.com/index.html