Somewhat to my surprise, one of my colleagues asked me tonight if I was serious about going to Rue de Rosiers and eating falafel — I thought about it for a few seconds and decided that shwarma last night didn’t mean I couldn’t have falafel tonight, and said “yes”.

So we bought zone 3 tickets (1.90 Euros instead of 1.30 for zone 1) and took the Metro to St. Paul. Then we wandered around the area for a bit, checking out some shops (but not buying anything), before heading to the proper street for dinner.

There were lots of restaurants to choose from; finally, I succumbed to the lure of the “Artisanal Pita” sign on Mi-Va-Mi (which also got a good review from Megnut), and we sat down for a repast. Doug had the deluxe shwarma plate; I had a simple falafel sandwich (very good, though I didn’t see anything fantastic about the pita); and we split a half-bottle of Kosher L’Pesach Bordeaux. Nice and cheap.

I was still a little hungry and in a mood to do some comparison eating, so then I went to L’As du Fallafel and had another falafel. Yummy, but I’d have to say Mi-Va-Mi was a little bit better (though slightly more expensive).

I decided to eat lunch in the IBM cafeteria today instead of wasting my 8 Euros again (it was raining, which did help me choose to stay inside). Even though I don’t keep Kosher, I don’t eat pork or shellfish, and I wasn’t sure that any of the entrees available today were suitable (they had salmon, but it appeared to be garnished with asparagus and ham, and there was a quiche, but who knows what was inside). So I avoided the entrees.

Instead, I filled my plate with salad (that was the “California” part of my lunch) — then I met the “French” requirement by adding two kinds of cheese, four kinds of bread, and a nice dessert. I think I’ll do the same thing tomorrow — I could get used to this kind of lunch.