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| - This place is fascinating, see more about the dynamic below. But first, the food!
We started with the grilled octopus and lentil salad, which was absolutely delicious! We also enjoyed the baguette and jar of perfectly brined pickles (we noshed on these all night). For mains, my friend really enjoyed her shrimp risotto. I did not care for my steak frites, the meat was kind of gristly and hard to cut. The frites are actually fries, but still tasty, although the aioli was basically just plain mayonnaise. The wine list is extensive, but our server helped us pick out a bottle of pinot noir that I liked more than I expected. Dessert was the caramelized meringue. It sounded like I might not like it, but it's tasty. A cake of stiff meringue with a glaze of caramelized sugar around it and some custard on the bottom, it was tasty.
Service was touch and go. The host did not appreciate that we did not have a reservation at 9pm on a Sunday. He tried to seat us at the bar, but we requested one of the several open tables. Our server seemed amused by the fact that we didn't know what we wanted after 3 minutes. He warmed up, though, and explained some of the popular dishes. The busser was actually the most friendly staff we encountered, he was super sweet and made us feel very welcome.
After our appetizer, they apologetically asked if we could move to make room for some late arrivals to the strangest dinner party ever. Our server gave us a complimentary glass of wine with dessert, which was really nice. During our leisurely dinner, we watched table after table of the strangest clientele arrive. A group of college students came in in sweats and hats, which they did not remove, nor were they asked to. Next came a very glamorous couple. They were seated for 20 minutes when another group came in who they seemed to know, but just bumped into, so they moved. A young couple in pajamas were seated when a couple they knew came by, so they moved to a bigger table as well. At midnight, yet another couple walked in and were seated for dinner. This is a Sunday! Needless to say, if you need some good people watching, come to L'Express.
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