Merci Maman

Mama says brunch is the DEVIL!It’s not for a few more weeks here in France, but back where our moms live in the US, this Sunday is Mother’s Day. And because we’re not jet-setting TV chefs with a frozen food line, we’re honoring our mamas by working our all-grown-up versions of dishes we learned from them into our brunch lineup.

While our respective mothers foraged and hunted in a logging camp and caught fish by hand on rocky shorelines (true story), their cooking evolved as they made families on the West Coast of the United States but stayed true to its natural and simple flavors.

Thus this week’s vegetarian frittata is inspired by Mom’s Pea Salad, a fresh blend of garden peas, snap peas, cherry tomatoes, ramps and water chestnuts. The Hash of the Week pays homage to (other) Mom’s Japanese heritage, with a nikujaga inspired blend of simmered beef, dashi broth, onions and herbs with a chilled soft-boiled egg, izakaya-style.

The dessert case will also pay tribute to Mom with rhubarb custard cake and Zopf bread with apple (because one of our Moms also lived in Switzerland).

All will be joined by your usual parade of eggs, bacon, breakfast burritos, honey granola, spinach salad and strawberry-kiwi-basil salad.

Brunch x Emperor Norton
@ Coutume Café
47 rue de Babylone
75007 Paris

Mº Vaneau, Sevres-Babylone, Saint-François Xavier

Served from 11:00am to 4:00pm
Saturday & Sunday

 

Protector of Mexico

Three AmigosIt’s the second part of our title. After “Emperor of the United States.” Before “Ambassador to Paris.” Longing for the food we inhaled at multitudes of late-night joints in our beloved San Francisco’s Mission district, our very first food gathering was limited to 8 brave souls who let us regale them with what at the time were the only real tacos, tamales and properly made guacamole in all of Paris. There has since been an explosion of Mexican joints around town, many of whom actually do some pretty good stuff, relieving us of the need to bust out the tortilla press and masa whenever anyone has a craving for proper taqueria grub.

We’re confident we’ve been able to bring this same San Francisco sensibility (or perhaps dogma) to the brunch scene, liberating Parisians from the grip of €20+ formules of largely prefab or banquet-quality crap and offering unique dishes à la carte for barely more than a tenner.

As such, it only made sense to combine our two major coups this weekend for Cinco de Mayo – while it’s not the big party in Mexico as it is in Gringo-land north of the border, it’s symbolic for marking the Mexican army’s defeat of the French in the battle of Puebla. And as we chose to name ourselves after the self-proclaimed Protector of Mexico, we feel we still have to defend its cuisine from the hands of inept local cuistots.

Join us this weekend at Coutume Café for fabulous coffee in your cup and Cinco de Mayo on your plate. The usual suspects will be joined by a huevos rancheros inspired vegetarian frittata. We’re bringing back (once again) the highly in-demand duck carnitas Hash of the Week. As a bonus, we’ll also be offering chilaquiles. On the sweet side, expect Margarita cakes and the return of our infamous Mexican brownie.

Also make sure to follow us on Twitter (@nortonofparis) to get access to what will be our most awesome secret menu item to date.

Brunch x Emperor Norton
@ Coutume Café
47 rue de Babylone
75007 Paris

Mº Vaneau, Sevres-Babylone, Saint-François Xavier

Served from 11:00am to 4:00pm*
Saturday & Sunday

*NOTE: End of service is subject to change, exceptionally this Sunday, May 6

Hommage à T-Kizzle

Remy RatatouilleBefore our alter-ego Emperor Norton was even a glimmer in our eyes, we were simply a couple of food enthusiasts from California. We were brought up on the diversity of foods made from the Golden State’s bounty of produce which, while always appreciated, became that much more of an object of reverence after many trips to Yountville, home base of Chef Thomas Keller. The French Laundry. Bouchon. Ad Hoc. As much as the two of us love each other, we always joke that one would forsake the other to eat at T-Kizzle’s restaurants. (Because, well, that’s what our band of buddies had decided to call him. Once to his face, even.)

TK has been getting a lot of love lately, and it’s well deserved. After a pop-up version of The French Laundry at Harrod’s in London late last year, his name has been everywhere, being honored at Pebble Beach Food & Wine to the lifetime achievement award from World’s 50 Best to a slew of articles about restaurants and chefs impacted by the man, 2012 has been a Thomas Keller lovefest so far.

While we may have never worked for him, his influence is in much of what we do. What we ate in Yountville became a gold standard, whether when making casual fare or stepping things up. When faced with the countless frozen, microwaved or otherwise prefab foods that litter much of the Paris casual dining landscape, we fight back with the Republic of California as our muse, with a little apparition of T-Kizzle on our shoulders. (Or under our toques if we actually wore those.)

Long story short, this weekend’s brunch menu is an homage to Chef Keller. Partially because we’re jumping the bandwagon. Mostly because we’re craving fried chicken.

Fried chicken, you say? Thomas Keller’s (and Chef Dave Cruz’) Ad Hoc serves – unbeknownst to many non-Californians – the best fried chicken on Earth. So good that even facsimiles of TKFC are amazing, and that’s what we’re working into the Hash of the Week, along with asparagus coins and shaved radish. On the vegetarian side of things, the Vegetarian Frittata is influenced by the French Laundry’s “Peas and Carrots,” which will feature peas, pea tendrils, a couple of varieties of carrots, cream cheese, and – instead of lobster broth – borage. For dessert we’ll do our own riff on the French Laundry’s riff on “Coffee and Doughnuts.” Our weekend home is, after all, a coffee shop so there will be awesome coffee for sure.

We sort of wanted to do Bouchon’s foie gras dog biscuits while we’re at it, but with only two of us in the kitchen to serve an ever-growing brunch crowd, we decided it’d be better to stick to the humans.

As for this week’s picture? Well, of course you already knew that T-Kizzle was Disney/Pixar’s chef consultant for Ratatouille…

Brunch x Emperor Norton
@ Coutume Café
47 rue de Babylone
75007 Paris

Mº Vaneau, Sevres-Babylone, Saint-François Xavier

Served from 11:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Saturdays & Sundays