Lunch at Le Grand Colbert

Just 5 minutes walk from my apartment is a restaurant called Le Grand Colbert. If you saw the movie "Something's Gotta Give", you know the restaurant because a scene in the movie was filmed there a few years back.

Towards the end of the movie Diane Keaton and Keanu Reeves' characters are in Paris celebrating her birthday at the restaurant when Jack Nicholson unexpectedly shows up because he has realized he is in love with her. (Great movie by the way!)

I decided to sit down and have a late lunch at Le Grand Colbert today. I loved the ambiance of the restaurant - very Parisian, with soft/dim lighting. I thought it might be touristy because of the movie being filmed there, but it wasn't. The restaurant has a Tea Room that supposedly serves up the best Chocolat Chaud (hot chocolate) in Paris - maybe that's where the tourists were. But in the main restaurant, I was surrounded by mostly French business men taking their long, mid-afternoon lunch break. The restaurant is very close to the Bourse (the Paris Stock Exchange).

I ordered Onion Soup Au Gratin to start and it was unbelievably good. One part homemade croutons, two parts onion soup and 5 parts melted cheese. Talk about rich! Really, I was full after finishing the soup. But then came the main course...

Beef Moelleux with Mashed Potatoes - yum! This was basically a slow cooked pot roast topped with roasted tomatoes and served with homemade mashed potatoes. I was so stuffed when I was done eating, I felt like crawling under the table and taking a nap!

The meal was pricey. But except for that splurge in London at Gordon Ramsey's restaurant, I haven't really eaten out at all. So since I only have a few days left in Paris, I decided to indulge in some fine dining :-)

Click here to view all of today's photos (12/17/08)