Quite possibly the coolest people we have come across during our entire stay in Paris are the guys…read morethat run this place! They were located just outside our apartment door and a block away from the Louvre.
First encounter: Arrived in Paris, luggage in hand & map, waiting for our guy to arrive with apartment keys. We are tired and hungry, sit down for a glass of sangria (which is awesome). The server was polite but busy, we asked him a few questions about the map, he turns it a few times at states: "You have a shit map." We all laughed about it. Right next to us were some folks from Spain, so we chatted them up about our next vacation to their country, they spoke no English, but we knew quite a bit of Spanish and were able to converse for a good 30 minutes. They were super warm and friendly.
Encounters two, three, four...: El Tonel has a great menu of tapas, the serrano ham and chorizo are awesome, you can have it thinly sliced or on a baguette with some tomato spread. For just 4-5 euro it's a steal.
Le Piece de Resistance of the menu are:
- Albóndigas - a freaking amazing meatball stew. This is the ultimate comfort food, with meatballs and bean like peas.
- Chorizo Tortilla - this is nothing like tortillas we are used to seeing at the grocery store. It's a thick pancake like dish, that is baked in the oven, It contains (I'm guessing here), masa, potatoes, egg, chorizo. Served with a spicy mayo sauce, I could eat one of these every day folks.
By the time our trip came to an end these guys were like friends, a few late nights of drinking here were a blast.