La Salle a Manger

Lee, Mounir (the director of the SIT Program), and I had a good lunch today at a brand-new place right next to AMIDEAST called La Salle a Manger (3, rue Imam Sahmoum. Res: 71 793 283). It's got a nice menu with some French classics, including foie gras made in-house and boeuf bourguignon. The food is quite good, although it still needs a little bit of working on - the boeuf will be much better once they get their liquor license, for instance (their tiramisu could also benefit from a bit of rum). One of the chefs was an assistant chef at the venerable El Firma, which is one of my favorite places in Tunisia.

Overall, I was happy with the place. With one slight misstep on a weird hanging branches/blue light decorative element, it's very well put-together. I'd love to live in the house it's in. My understanding is that the owner is a young woman whose father is one of the most prominent radiologists in Tunis - we met both of them at the restaurant.

On Friday, I headed off to the embassy to see "Impressions of Tunisia," which was put on by the Embassy photo club. There were some genuinely good photos, and it was a good opportunity to knock back a Stella Artois and catch up with some people. After, Lee, Dorra (A Tunisian alumni of the old Plus Program), Clark (a lawyer at the African Development Bank) and I went to Chez Gerry in Salambo. It's located on the main drag connecting Carthage and La Goulette and offers some very good quality Italian food - the Osso Bucco was very tasty and a big portion of meat by Tunisian restaurant standards.

Saturday, I had lunch at La Mamma, which is down on Rue de Marseilles past Chez Nous and Al-Mazra. It's a fun little Italian place and has good quality food for reasonable prices - I had a good piece of veal alla piccata. After that, I went off to see "The Age of Revenge" - a student-produced play entirely in English at Le Centre Culturel de Tunis on Neuf Avril blvd. I was pleasantly surprised - the students, who are from the "Prepa" of the Ecole Normale Superieure put together a fun production about Hephaestus taking over Mt. Olympus from Zeus.

Also, some good news: I will be back in Minneapolis February 4th to the 14th. My organization (AIESEC) is paying for the ticket, so I'm taking them up on their offer. I just found out about the final dates yesterday, so I'm going to plan a few things and then pack up and get out of here for a bit. I'm thinking lots of movies, good food, and family.