[originally posted October 12, 2007]
Sarah and I went to Cafe de Paris last night for dinner. After we saw a show on Food Network on Saturday we really wanted French Fries. The Secret Life of French Fries is a great show. They do a lot of historical information on a number of different foods. Well Sarah’s been wanting good French Fries since then.
The more we thought about it, the harder it was to think of a place that makes good French Fries. There’s McDonalds and Burger King, but the rest of the menu is kindof lacking, and places like Red Robin make those horribly soggy and limp steak fries. We couldn’t really think of anywhere else to go. Sarah remembered seeing the ad in some junk mail which had a coupon, so we figured we give it a shot.
The restaurant is located on 8808 Centre Park Drive in Columbia. It is really hidden and took a bit to find. At first the restaurant looked kindof empty, but there were a number of people in the back, and lots of senior citizens. That’s usually a good sign. We both decided to have the Prix Fixe menu for $35.95. Sarah had the Lobster Bisque, SwordFish, and Creme Brulee, while I had the Escargot, 13oz Angus Ribeye, and the Warm Peach and Pear Cake.
We found the Lobster Bisque to be a bit salty. It had a good creaminess and mouth feel. The Swordfish was grilled very well and came on a wonderful bed of risotto and vegetables. There was a shelled lobster claw, which Sarah thought was a carrot 
, which was a little overcooked. The creme brulee was made with real vanilla bean, and was quite good, but I didn’t care too much for the slightly burnt sugar topping.
The escargot was conveniently shelled for me, but wasn’t perfectly fresh. The garlic pesto sauce was strong, and suited the snails well. The ribeye was excellent, and perfectly cooked to medium rare. The brown “gravy” was perfect and there was absolutely no need for steak sauce. Of course they included pomme frites, (french fries for all of us uncouth americans), which were perfectly crispy and tasty. They easily satisfied Sarah’s craving. The warm peach and pear cake was topped off with an excellent vanilla ice cream and was generally very good. The crust was a little dry, but with my expanding belly, I could definitely afford not to eat it.
Cafe de Paris was overall a pretty good restaurant, and we would definitely entertain the thought of going back. If I had to give a rating, I’d say a 3 of 5.
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