La Butte Chaillot, a Guy Savoy restaurant
I’m still trying to digest everything that has happened in the past seven days. In the space of a few days, I celebrated the birth of a baby boy, someone’s 60th birthday bash and the death of a family friend. We knew he was suffering from cancer, but he had been in remission for over a year now. And then, boom! A call to say he was in the ICU and 12 hours later he passed away. He didn’t really pass away. Someone made a mistake. Can’t be. He loved life. He was too young to die. People die when they are 80 or 90 in this country.
After the news, I walk around like a zombie. I am sad to the core. I carry this heavy weight with me everywhere. The grief and anger is bottling up and I need to have a big cry.
Below is the start of this crazy week, where the celebration of a new life began:
As you know, I work right smack in what I call “Le Seizieme Profond” (the deep 16th). Every now and then, during lunch break, I take a long walk at lunch time to get some fresh air, away from fussy women and their bratty kids. A long time ago, a woman kindly pulled me aside and whispered “We should never wear black during the day. Try camel or beige colors. ” I almost died. Sometimes, I walk as far away as Avenue Kléber towards Etoile. I’ve always walked by La Butte Chaillot and thought that one day I’ll have lunch there, like celebrating an important project.
So when Ben came over for lunch to celebrate some good news, I thought of La Butte Chaillot, the same time he said he saw a nice restaurant on the way. This is telepathy after 5 years of marriage.
Guy Savoy needs no introduction. He’s one of France’s most celebrated chefs. The story goes that this French star earned his first Michelin star in 1981 only one year after opening his restaurant. He earned his second in 1985 and his third in 2002. He has taken great chefs like Gordon Ramsey and Hélène Darroze under his wing and his staff has only good things to say about him. I eat better knowing that the chef’s not psycho.
La Butte Chaillot is one of the several Guy Savoy restaurants. It doesn’t have a Michelin star but the food and service are good. The d&eactue;cor is warm, modern and feels low-key. The waiters are polite and dressed casually in black T-shirts and pants. The lunch crowd is young, trendy and it seems that most people come here for business lunches. The women from the 16th with their gigantic fur coats and frou-frou dogs don’t fit in here for lunch. Thank God for some respite!
Lunch was fennel soup (EUR9), a slice of roasted sea bass with snow peas (EUR21) and a glass of freshly pressed orange juice (EUR4.50).
La Butte Chaillot (google map)
110 bis Avenue Kléber
75016, Paris
Tel: 01 47 27 88 88
Métro : Trocadéro