Bistro Bliss in Paris

PARIS--It is the third time in as many years I’ve tried to get into the bistro La Regalade. Whether I contact the restaurant by fax or by phone, even months ahead, the place is always fully booked. In late August, at least two months before I was intending to dine there, I began calling the Paris number for a reservation. I got the same answer as on previous attempts: complet.

Convinced I was mistaken or misunderstood, my husband wrested the phone away and tried calling himself. From the other room I could hear him reeling off dates--the 19th? the 20th? the 21st? the 22nd? All fully booked. How is this possible, he wondered aloud. I picked up the extension just in time to hear a polite female voice reply, “We’re a very small restaurant.”

In the end, I juggled our itinerary until I found a likely slow night, a Tuesday, and succeeded in securing a reservation for two at 9 p.m. Soon after, a Los Angeles friend decided to join us (and a few other friends) in Paris. He’d had La Regalade on his dream bistro list for a long time, too. Inspired, he employed all of his considerable schmoozing skills to get a reservation for six at La Regalade on a Friday night--at 11:30 p.m. Yes!

I was game, but no one else in our group was impressed enough to willingly eat that late. Our friend bided his time and as soon as he hit Paris, began the assault of charm. It worked. Somehow--I was afraid to ask how--he got us a table at 7 if we promised to vacate it by 9:30. Done. I knew 7 was a bit early for Paris, but when I called my friend Chicco to confirm, he groaned. “That’s practically dawn by Paris standards! Besides, I have a meeting that starts at 7. You better count me out.”

La Regalade is indeed small, just about 50 diners by my rough count, squeezed into the space of an L.A. living room. The bistro definitely looks the part with its worn mirrors, red banquettes, overladen coat hooks and a blackboard with the specials scribbled in a graceful hand.

The menu is inspired bistro fare, much more personal and quirky than what you’d find at Chez Georges, say. Consequently, we took a long time deciding, weighing each of those tempting specials into the equation, too.

But when the food came, it was clear you couldn’t go wrong no matter what you ordered. No wonder everybody wants to get into this place.

I hadn’t yet canceled my reservation for two the following week, and decided right then, after the first bite of the complimentary terrine de porc, to keep it. It came in a rectangular porcelain dish--with a knife. The idea is to cut slabs of it yourself. “Eat it directly on the bread,” instructs the server. Rough-textured and infused with the taste of pork, herbs and, yes, fat, this was the mother of all terrines and, believe me, we had to pace ourselves.

My first course was carpaccio of tete de veau, served tepid, so that the marbled fat in the head cheese almost melted away, its richness cut by a sauce ravigote made with white wine, shallots and finely chopped cornichons (those tiny vinegary pickles). I sneaked a bite of the confit of cepes and foie gras next to me. It’s extravagant and rustic in the same bite. There was a gratin of Swiss chard with pigs’ ear, too, swathed in rich, gelatinous juices. And a Basque piperade (a fried egg on top of a delicious mess of peppers and tomatoes) with tuna mi-cuit--what we’d call seared tuna.

As a main course, I had the wild duck, dense and flavorful, so wild that Luis across the table found a piece of buckshot in his. Rouget (red mullet) tastes like the Mediterranean fish it is. A lusty cassoulet arrives in a huge terracotta bowl with a proper gratineed breadcrumb crust. But the show stopper is the rosy, perfectly cooked canette, or female duck, with Jerusalem artichoke.

Some of us managed dessert, too: luscious figs roasted in yellow Jurancon, a dessert wine from the Jura region, or prunes in Armagnac wrapped in a twist of pastry. This is precisely why we were in Paris--to sit at a table with friends and feast like this.

La Regalade, 49 Ave. Jean Moulin, Paris (14th arrondissement: Metro: Alesia); 011-33-1-4545-6858. About $30 per person.