THE FOAM AND I

I continue my research into what restaurants do to their oysters.  T’other night I went to a more or less old school French bistro named Papilles in a mini-mall just a baguette’s throw from the Hollywood Freeway.  The oysters came looking like this:

That’s a glob of champagne foam on the top, and the green stuff is spinach.  There’s lemon juice in there too.  Did I need the champagne foam?  No not really but it wasn't a cause for complaint.

          The oysters were on the menu as a snack rather than a starter.  Starters included frogs’ legs – and when you’re in a more or less old school French bistro what else are you going to order?  These came with ”White Bean, Roasted Garlic, Parsley Pistou.”

Photo by Scott Peake - that's my shirt providing background detail.

Papilles is French for papillae – singular papilla - those tiny, nubbly things on your tongue that give it its roughness.  There are 4 kinds, 3 of which are associated with the taste buds.  They look like this:

Wise not to have illustrated them on the menu.  And this is what it looks like to be situated a baguette’s throw from the Hollywood Freeway: