Paris Breakfast Buffet
Paris (last visit: September 2005).
Buffet.
I'm not a big buffet fan, but they're fun to try now and then. From what I had read, the Paris Buffet took top honors for breakfast. The Sunday buffet cost $14. There was a 30 minute wait, but I didn't mind much as I had remembered to bring a book. My overall impression of the buffet was that the selection was small to moderate, but the quality tended to be high (for a buffet). My biggest criticism is that nothing I had was hot - only warm at best. Nonetheless, I thought it was pretty good. I had:
· Eggs Benedict. Fair English muffin, good Canadian bacon; eggs properly cooked.
· Croissant. Good for a buffet, but not nearly as good as at Bouchon.
· Lyonnaise potatoes. Disappointing. Bland; very little onion flavor.
· Country sausage. In many ways, like the link sausage you can get at any pancake house - but done right. Very good flavor and texture.
· Veal sausage and onions. Smooth texture, mild flavor, executed nicely. Very good.
· Andouille grilled sausage. Short, fat sausage in a chewy casing. Strong grilled flavor, coarse, slightly sweet, slightly spicy. I liked this a lot. Very good to excellent.
· Smoked fish (unknown type): hard and chewy, with a strong, smoky flavor; not too salty. Very good.
· Pain au chocolat. OK bun, but with very little chocolat. Fair to good.
· Cinnamon bun. Strong cinnamon flavor, not too sweet. Good.
· Nondescript cookie. Fair.
· Pastry. A flat dense, cakey pastry with slivered almonds and white icing. Inside, a layer of marzipan. Very good.