Yes this is the last installment of the French stories and coming a bit late...
While there Francoise decided that JP, Pauline, and I were all going to go to a nice French restaurant. I had this cute pink dress with red flowers all over it that I believe I actually bought there. I don't remember the name of the restaurant but it was a seafood place that sat right on the edge of the sea. We sat down at a table and I opened the menu. It was full of seafood all in French so of course I was totally lost. Francoise told me not to worry, the guys would explain it in a bit. The waiter came by and asked in French what we would like to drink and I told him water. He then proceeded to babble something in French while I sat there looking like a doe in the headlights. Francoise gave an equally uncomprehensive reply. She then looked at me and explained that he had asked if we would rather just order the main dish or if we would rather have all the appetizers and then the dish. She said it was actually cheaper and a better experience to go through all the courses.
While the waiter was getting our drinks two buff guys walk out into the room carrying a huge basket containing about 25 or 30 fish arranged in a circle. (yes the full fish, huge) The waiter came back with the drinks and proceeded to explain in French what the different types of fish were. Francoise then informed him that I was American and really didn't know that much French. He then sort of sighed and went through the whole process again in English. Well, by time he got to the last fish I had practically forgotten what the ones in the beginning were called. So he said hed give us a minute and walked away, the two guys struggling with the basket followed after him. I told Francoise I couldn't remember all of them so she was trying to go back through them with me and explain sort of what they were. Within 2 minutes the guy was back to take our orders. Everyone else told him what they wanted and when he got to me I confessed that I had forgotten and wasnt sure. He gave me this look like "typical American" and shouted for the two men to come back. They brought the basket back and he asked me if I would rather him go through all of it again which I could tell he didn't want to. There was a rather interesting fish in the middle of the basket, bright red, big eyes and four sharp teeth protruding from its mouth. I saw that and thought it looked interesting so I told him I would have that. He said it was Red Snapper, a good choice, though I think at that point anything would have been a good choice just so he could leave.
We were only sitting there for maybe 5 minutes when the first appetizer was brought out. A nice medium sized plate was placed before me with just a fish laying on it. A whole fish, not cooked, beady eyes staring at me, and I was handed a large knife type thing. I looked at Francoise and asked "what is it? do i eat it?" She was like oh yes, in english its...oh what do you call it? raw fish...anchovie?" I nodded and knew right away I would hate it. I boldly pick up the knife because I will try absolutely anything once. I looked at the fish trying to figure out the best way to cut it. Should I cut the head off first? Do I slit downwards through the stomach? Can I possibly do this without having to just grab the lifeless body? JP then taps my arm and says "la" (la is the easiest word in french, you can have a whole converstation with it, it can mean here, there, ok, not ok, I agree/disagree, thats amazing, thats sad...blah blah blah) He sort of picks up part of his fish, takes the huge knife and jabs it into the belly of the fish and slices downwards. He motions me to do the same so I pick my own knife and try to cut the fish. I was having difficulties and couldn't seem to pierce the fish with the bizarre knife I wasnt sure how to handle. JP just pushes his fish to me and takes mine, immediatly slicing it and digging in for the flesh. I follow example and take my fork, opening up the fish to get at the inside. It was very bloody and the flesh was sort of arrainged in two neat little rows. I thought oh my gosh its going to be bloody and disgusting, Im going to puke. So what do I do? I smile and take a bight. Oh dear lord it was awful. It was like taking a bight out of my finger and sucking the blood out of it. It was bloody and mushy and just *shudder*. I took a drink of water and quickly swallowed, smiling at everyone at the table as they gobbled theirs down. JP asked if I liked it and I responded that it was ok but I didn't care much for it. He said that was ok and he would take it. I gladly handed him my plate and prayed that not all the courses would be like this.
After that dish, the next was brought out. It was a two tiered structure with clams on the bottom and shrimp on the top one. Well first of all, I don't like clams, they are slimy and bad tasting. Shrimp I am very fond of. However, we are in France and there is a belief at this restaurant that everything should be as whole as possible and be able to stare at you until you eat it. All the shrimp were still intact, little heads and legs, eyes looking at you, bodies curled around. That was a bit strange but you just have to grab one, pop the head off, and pull off the rest of the body to expose the flesh. (sounds barbaric doesn't it?) It didn't quite taste like shrimp we have here in the US but it was close enough so I had some of those. When we finished that I could feel my stomach getting a little queezy, probably asking what the heck I was doing to it. The next thing that was brought out was a big dish piled with what looked like french fries. I was like yes! real food! Oh I was so wrong...what looked like french fries were actually small fried fish. And, once again, little black eyes were staring at you. Francoise was like "Aren't they cute? It's the whole little fish, just like a french fry!" I sat there thinking, no french fry I have ever seen has had scales, fins, and eyes looking at me as I crunched on it. The idea of eating the whole fish (especially after that first course) was rather nauseating so I just told Francoise that I didn't want to get too full before the dinner came. Pauline, Francoise, and JP finished off the plate clean and the final dish came out. This was a soup with different kinds of fish and lobster in it. The good thing? There were no eyes staring at me as I fully expected. I figured this must be decent and took a spoonful. That is perhaps the best soup I have ever tasted. It was so creamy and didn't taste overly fishy. Oh my goodness I was in heaven (as was my stomach...yes something normal!) and I finished it rather quickly. After that was finished the waiter cleared the table and we sat for a while waiting for the main course. Francoise asked how I liked everything and wasnt that a deal to get everything. I said yes it was good, especially the soup. Then the waiter appeared with our plates and the conversation died down.
As you will recall, I ordered the Red Snapper because it looked interesting so I'll admit I was a little hesitant as to what it would taste like. I take a small bite and discover it is positivly delicious. It was perfectly done, had a light flavor, and a cream sauce over it that could just melt in your mouth. It is the best fish I have ever had...even to this day. The only downfall to it was that it still had the bones in it which were so tiny they were often hard to see. Id take a bite only to crunch down on something outragiously hard or it would just stab me in the cheek. That set a side it was still fabulous. If we had a chef that could cook that somewhere over here, I would like move so I could eat that all the time. I sat there thinking that obviously the main courses are fabulous because they are all cooked and there are no eyes to stare back at you. I wish we had just ordered the main course rather than all of the appatizers but then I wouldn't have anything to write about would I? The only dish I have had here in the States that compared to the French Red Snapper was at a restaurant in Atlanta. I ordered the Red Snapper because I knew I would like the fish in general. That restaurant was so very close to the French one. I might even go so far as to say they tasted equally well...I think I need to have both again before I can honestly say. :)
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