Take it away

August 6, 2018 -- Walking along the Seine was a good idea, for about an hour and a half.  We paused in the beautiful garden at the Branly museum on our way to the river.  I showed Tom a far corner of the garden that I recently discovered.  We sat there in the shade for ten minutes, then moved on to the Seine.

Figures on the Pont Alexandre III.  The Rosa Bonheur is near here.

We meandered on the riverbank, strolling through the heavily vegetated archipelago-barges, and stopping for refreshments on the boat named the Rosa Bonheur.  The Rosa has expanded to include the outdoor bar/restaurant on the land opposite the boat, and its offerings have expanded but no longer include ice cream.  So Tom had a soft, dark chocolate cake instead.

By the time we reached the environs of the Musée D'Orsay, the sun was too hot.  We ascended to the street level, intending to take a taxi home, but we didn't find an available taxi until we walked back to the Tour Maubourg metro exit.

We practiced the art of the afternoon siesta at home, until it was time to prepare for dinner.  I made a reservation at Pietro Commerce.

Pietro is an actual person who has a small chain of six Italian restaurants in Paris.  His places are well-capitalized, and so at least some of them (if not all) have air conditioning.

Not only does Pietro Commerce have air conditioning, but Pietro even uses the air conditioning during heat waves like this!  We sat in comfort as food arrived -- dorade (sea bream) in a light tomato sauce with olives, on penne pasta, for me, and veal citron with penne pasta for Tom.  Knowing that Pietro does have take-out containers, we asked for boxes to take our leftover pasta home, and the server boxed the pastas without objection, and returned them to us in a nice paper shopping bag.

The restaurant is so smart to allow leftovers to be taken home, because that way we ate less pasta and had room for dessert.  Both of our desserts, the tiramisu and chocolate mousse, were homemade, small, and absolutely delicious.

Dorade (sea bream) with light tomato sauce and olives, at Pietro Commerce.

After dinner, we walked over to see Washi Thai, an Asian restaurant that has low prices and great reviews.  When we saw that it also is truly air conditioned, we decided to make a reservation to dine there soon.  My guess is that taking leftovers home will be no big deal at Washi, either.

Only the French restaurants seem to be resisting the "doggy bag" idea.  Late in May, lawmakers were scheduled to vote on a law that would make it mandatory for restaurants to offer small bags or boxes for taking leftovers home.  This is part of a campaign to reduce food waste.  But I can find no news articles about the outcome of that vote, so perhaps it did not make it on the agenda before the session closed.

According to Le Monde on June 4, 2018, an amendment to require restaurants to provide bags or boxes for taking leftovers home (they will always resist the inelegant term, "doggy bag") was adopted on March 21 by the National Assembly's commission on sustainable development.  To be enacted, the amendment must yet be voted on by the economic commission, and then by the National Assembly (homologous to the U.S. House of Representatives). 

Does anybody out there know when these two things happened or will happen?