TL:DR What we had was very tasty and satisfying. I highly recommend it. Slightly over priced is the…read moreonly drawback, but still glad I ate there.
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Been staying in the Paris area for business for a few weeks and have at least one more week to go. When I get back from late from work in Gennevillers, I would like to just find a place within walking distance so I don't end up going to bed too late. So I've been looking for relatively low cost places that have some simple healthy food other than beef or pork.
The front desk here at the great Le Grand Normandie Hotel in Saint Lazare (need to yelp that one) recommended we go to Brasserie Mollard. This is the first bad recommendation I've gotten from the front desk here. I don't know what he was thinking. I don't know if the Mollard is good or bad, but its not simple, or inexpensive.
Then I remembered seeing what looked like a nice Italian place on the other side of the Train station. Yep, La Taverne Sicilienne.
Walked over there and checked it out. It was empty (around 9:30pm on a Monday nite) but homey. We're studying Le Carte (or whatever you do, when you really can't read French) when the owner/matre'd/chef came over and pointed out they had a video menu outside with a choice of languages! There were several options though the price was a bit on the higher side, but not out of scale for similar restaurants we'd been to in search of "simpler food".
I've been kind of craving a Pizza ever since the thought of Italian crossed my mind, and they had a nice selection. I could sense that the food was pretty home-made here. So we decided to give it a try even though no one had ever yelped here before. Since no one else was there (and thus not smoking) we could finally eat sitting outside. Normally the cigarette smoke keeps us away from all the other outdoor dining places. But that was just luck. Ive walked past there before and usually there are folks sitting out smoking there too.
I had the Vegetarian Pizza which had not a light covering of pepers, eggplant, and I don't know what else, not much, probably some onions and bit of tomato. It had a good amount of cheese on it, though I'm not quite sure. It was not mozzarella. The menu said something about Gruyer and/or Emmental. Which I've never had on Pizza before. It didn't have a strong flavor, but a definite one that I found very pleasant. There was tomato sause, but its was painted on. And then there was the crust. Oh My. The crust was heavenly. But so is most bread like creations here in Paris.
Important Note: Don't come here expecting American/New York/Chicago or even California Pizza. Its not going to satisfy you if that is what you are craving. Its a European Pizza! (I haven't had Pizza in Italy so I can't compare). It doesn't have a pile of stuff on it. It doesn't have a ton of cheese and or oceans of tomato sauce. Its pretty thin crust and somewhat thin in general. But it was a full 12" or so and mighty tasty with lots of subtleties. I was full in the end.
Sue had the Spaghetti Bolognese, which she loved and finished the whole thing, which she normally can't do. And it wasn't because it was a small portion. It was a full bowl with plenty of meat sauce. And very tasty (I gave it a sample and it agreed that it had a fine taste. Clearly home-made).
The total with a bottle of Badoit sparking water was just under 35 Euros. That's a bit expensive, but considering location, and the taste and the lack of other choices, we left very happy and satisfied. I highly recommend it if you find yourself in the Saint Lazare area and in need of a tasty meal. I suspect they could do a vegetarian dish if you needed that but I did not confirm.
One other note, they take credit cards but their credit card device didn't have the swiper option for the American Style (primitive) magnetic stripe cards. So we paid cash. Don't know if we had made a big deal if they could still accomodate the card some other way.
