Rue Lepic

As you all surely know by now, what with the duo Anniversary Posts and all, Monday was our 13th Wedding Anniversary. We had some different ideas as to what to do to celebrate…we thought of going to Napa, or to a play, etc. We finally settled on taking Maya with us, and going into the city to one of our favorite restaurants, Rue Lepic. We haven’t been there in perhaps 12 years or so, but nothing has changed. I don’t know if you would consider that a good thing or a bad thing, but we considered it a good thing.

The story as I remember it is that the chef, who is Japanese (I thought Viet Namese, but her name, Michiko Boccara, proved me wrong) learned to cook wonderful, tradional french food from her chef husband. They got a divorce, and she opened a restaurant. I don’t know if this story is true, but I’ll keep passing it on in a gossipy way, just for fun. The restaurant is sucessful in that it has been open for quite a few years now, and does a good business. It is a tiny restaurant, with perhaps 12 or 13 small tables, total. The same waiter and chef have been there every time we have gone, and since they’re open 7 nights a week, that leads me to wonder if they ever take a day off.

We started with a very yummy cream of vegetable soup, which included asparagus, leeks, and potatoes. It was flavorful and delicious. Next, Ted and Maya had Caesar salad, and I had smoked salmon. Both were top notch, very yummy. Then we moved on to the main course…Ted had Rack of Lamb, and I had Duck A L’orange. Both were very, very tasty. If you’re a fish eating vegitarian, they also had salmon and halibut on the menu, but I didn’t see anything there for a serious vegi-type person. Maya just ate some of Ted’s lamb, and some of my duck. She liked them both.

Dessert was creme brulee for Ted and myself, and was very, very good. Maya had chocolate mousse, which she enjoyed, but what she really loved was the sauce that it came with. I believe it was a créme anglaise. The waiter noticed, and brought her more sauce. Thanks, Vincent!

I didn’t have a peek at the wine list, but Ted said the prices seemed very reasonable. The waiter steered us toward a truly lovely, mid priced bottle of French red wine to accompany our lamb and duck, but sadly, I don’t have any idea what vinyard it was from. Overall, a wonderful meal in a tiny neighborhood restaurant. Highly recommended.