On this last trip to Paris, I was getting over a very bad cold that hit me just before we were to leave California. My voice was barely audible, I was still coughing, and I was exhausted, so I barely had any desire to sit at a restaurant among other people (my most memorable solo meal up to that point was a shawarma wrap from my local kebab shop).  By the time my husband landed at CDG and made it to our apartment in the 6eme, it was 9:30pm. We hopped onto the Metro and got out at Odeon, hurrying up a block or two to find the restaurant.

I’d done the research on what restaurants were open late, and my criteria was simple: the food had to be something we would both like, and couldn’t give us a hard time for being late diners. Luckily for us, we were able to slide into Roger La Grenouille before they stopped seating people. They were fairly crowded, with many of the diners in the middle of their main course or just starting dessert. Prior to my visit here, I’d never had frog legs, and on this trip, I decided to throw caution to the wind and try them. (While my husband loves them, he also loves andouillette, so his tastes cannot be trusted to match mine.)

We ordered fried frog legs as an entree (that’s an appetizer in France), he had the Poulet basquaise and I had the Navarin d’agneau. Turns out, frog legs are pretty excellent, and shortly thereafter, I became enamored with the navarin, a lamb stew that I ended up making for my in-laws later that trip.

No meal would be complete without a little something sweet to finish, so we ordered a Paris-Brest to split. Straight out of the oven, the chou was warm and a little toasted, and the filling was perfectly balanced (not too sweet).  Our server gave us some Chartreuse as a digestif, and we floated out of that restaurant full and happy, and strolled home.

ROGER LA GRENOUILLE
26-28 Rue des Grands Augustins
Paris, France 75006
www.roger-la-grenouille.com