I was originally trying to get to Autour d'un Verre, which is just a street down, when I realized that it was closed on a weekend. BUMMER. I was seriously devastated because it was my friend's last meal in Paris and I really wanted her to have a good one. She suggested that we just find one that looked decent, and we stumbled upon L'Echevin. We were lured in by the very tempting lunch formula - 13€ for an entrée, dessert, and coffee. (You can get an appetizer instead of a dessert, if you want).
I have to admit that I was a little judgmental when I saw that the waitress who welcomed us was Asian; was it still a legit French restaurant ... ? She was very nice, however, and our menus had a surprisingly large amount of choices. My suspicions went up another notch; for some reason, I've come to think that restaurants are better the less options they have. I shrugged away my anxieties, simultaneously confused and delighted by the picture menu. Yes, there is actually a menu with a picture of all the food. I do have to say that the pictures don't look particularly appetizing, but there are pictures nevertheless. :)
I ended up getting the wing of skate with hazelnut butter (and replacing my pommes vapors with frites). My friend got something that resembled bœuf bourguignon (but was in smaller chunks - I don't remember the actual French name for it). They were both really good - especially for the price. I was very pleasantly surprised. The thin hazelnut butter sauce with capers was really good, and I couldn't resist sopping it all up with my bread. And I love fries. :) I got a bite of my friend's meal, and I was really impressed by the tenderness and flavor of the meat. She was really pleased, too. :) For dessert, she got the crème caramel (which is pretty much flan) and I got the glace mystère (ice cream mystery). Her flan was a little burnt, but it was good for the most part. My ice cream mystery was indeed a mystery, but I really liked it as well. I asked if we could get café crème for the coffee, and she graciously obliged. She was really nice. :D
All in all, I think this would be an excellent, inexpensive place to take an American. :D No reservations needed; it's very large and unfortunately, does not have enough customers. I don't know why. (Well, maybe because it's down a side street). read more