The Cone Issue #7 Fall 2015 - Food | Page 21

Roast Chicken. So on that same trip to Sevilla, I ended up in Paris, where I hooked up with a
couple of friends of mine. Luckily, one of those friends was an intrepid foodie who is much more
diligent in doing research. I know, I know. While I myself don't do much planning on these trips, I
do enjoy it when my traveling companions do their due diligence. Sue me. Anyway, upon arrival my
friends Judy and Linda whisked me from our hotel at Place Pigalle to an open air market in an
arrondissement I don't remember. I don't think the specific location even matters since there are
markets all over Paris like this. I was famished, so we bought a whole roast chicken. Then we
bought bread at a boulangerie. Then we decamped at a little cafe where Linda and I ordered a bottle
of rosé, which we used to wash down the poulete. We asked the waitress for silverware, but in
typical Parisian fashion she angrily said "no" because we hadn't ordered food. We didn't want to slip
into further barbarism by
simply tearing into our food
like primitives, so I went back
to the chicken joint and
requested that they cut up our
carcass. The guy at the counter,
like the waitress at the cafe,
was vexed by my request, but
my constant s'il vous plaits
wore him down, so he had
another chap of lower rank
break down our fowl. Finally
Linda, Judy and I were wolfing

s
i
r
Pa

down the incredibly tender
chicken, using the bread to sop
Photo by Cajsa Lilliehook, via Wikimedia Commons

up the juices. Writing this now,

I don't even know if we washed our hands before or after the meal - but I think that my state of
starvation was such that I didn't care about hygiene. We three had other great meals after that - like
the three course meal at a fancy shmancy place where we met the Root Beer king of Nantucket (he
had won a free trip to Paris for selling the most inventory in his area - Judy, Linda and I were
making such a hilarious ruckus that he and his wife had to get in on our conversation).

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THE CONE - ISSUE #7 - FALL 2015