Hum, 'xcuse me Monsieur Laurent, why my potatoes are... empty?

I have been in a few good restaurants in this world.
And every time I experienced a little je-ne-sais-quoi that reminds me of the place more than the food itself.

Take Laurent, in Paris.

I was young. Maybe 10 or 11. 20 years ago. My parents brought me there, and we sat at a table somewhere in the garden.
They were talking about this and that (must have been about money and the amount my mother was getting from her divorce), nothing really exciting.
I remember I was really tired, I think that was the end of the week-end, and my dad was bringing me back to my mother and decided to take us to dinner. Anyway. I was really bored.

What my parents ordered for me didn't really help to inspire me anything positive for the rest of the night. While I must have been dreaming of hamburgers and French fries, they ordered me a pigeon: "no no no my little one, they don't make mash potatoes or frites here. And they don't have Ketchup neither".

I never tasted pigeon in my life. The "thing" was stuffed with a nice jardinière. Very French (now that I know more about cuisine and French culture).

There was a side dish with it. The famous pommes soufflées “Laurent” (soufflé potatoes as translated on www.FoodNetwork.com).
I remember their size, smaller than a ping pong ball.
What was more amazing about it is that they were completely empty (also like a ping pong ball). I know, you're going to tell me that's the concept of "soufflé", empty. Fine, thanks. Tell that to a 10-years old kid though and you'll see an inevitable mix of curiosity and dumbness on his face. "Soufflé what ? How can this be ?! Do you mean that someone has blown in a potatoe like you would into a bottle of liquid soap to make a bubble ?". Yes I know, really dumb. Today I still don't know how soufflé potatoes are made. And I actually do not want to know how they're made, because that has been the magic about this restaurant for me, and I just don't want to know the trick of the magician.

The potatoes will make me remember the place until my old days. I really hated the pigeon and I actually only ate the jardinière and the potaoes. I enjoyed them I think... because apart from being small and empty, I remember there were only 5 or 6 of them in my plate.

tags: Paris, Paris+restaurants, French+food, French, food, gourmet