The best, most ingenious restaurant concept I’ve ever seen was a modest little bistro on Paris’ Left Bank called Cuisine de Bar.
Cuisine de Bar is right next to the world-famous Poilane Bakery, both of them ironically located on the Rue du Cherche-Midi. I say “ironically” because the street takes its name from the everyday expression “chercher midi a quatorze heures,” which is literally translated as “to look for noon at 2 o’clock” and is taken to mean the act of needlessly complicating a naturally straightforward or simple thing.
The irony here is that the Poilane Bakery and the restaurant next to it are shining examples of beautiful French straightforwardness, simplicity and economy. French cuisine is often associated with fussy fine dining, but the fact is that the French are frugal people and will countenance extravagance only if it serves some higher purpose.
The brilliance of the Cuisine de Bar is this: It serves mainly one thing, tartines, open-faced sandwiches made with toasted slices of Poilane’s dark-crusted sourdough bread. Tartines smeared with butter, Bayonne ham and Saint Marcellin cheese, with foie gras and currant, with sardines and sea salt, with garlic mayonnaise chicken in capers, all of them made with high-quality ingredients and delicious.
From a restaurateur’s point of view, the beauty of the concept also lies in its low cost. Everyone in this 30-seat bistro orders the same prix-fixe menu, which includes a salad (made by the servers), choice of water or wine ( “uh … let me think … I guess I’ll have the wine”), and a tartine. The tartines are executed by a single cook, who has a small refrigerator and a bank of little broilers behind him. I should add that the décor seems to be made from old bread dough.
Here is a version of one of Cuisine de Bar’s tartines, made with mashed avocado and crayfish tails.
Avocado and Crayfish Tartine Makes 4 servings
Ingredients
1 ripe avocado
Juice of 1 lime
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Few drops hot sauce
½ pound cooked crayfish tails or small shrimp
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
½ teaspoon sweet paprika
4 slices sourdough bread or rusticco
Directions
Heat broiler or toaster oven.
Halve, pit and scoop out the flesh of the avocado into a small mixing bowl. With a fork, mash the avocado with half the lime juice and 1 tablespoon of the olive oil. Season with the salt, pepper and hot sauce. Set aside.
In another bowl, toss the crayfish tails or shrimp with the remaining olive oil and lime juice, and the parsley, paprika, salt and pepper.
To serve, toast the bread. While the spread is still warm, spread some of the avocado mixture on each slice and top with crayfish mixture. Serve by itself or with a green salad on the side.
