European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - September 5, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Chow line a Little dab will do you with this Issue. Stripes Magazine is introducing a r stauriant critic. Tie goal of this Magazine has been to for the one where they put Ether on flies and take apart Small animals looking for Organ. Anyway right there in the textbook it said something about How most of the Little critters of the sea Are scavengers. Jumbo looked up the word it sort of Means vacuum cleaner and Ever since then he d rather do police Call than hit a Clam bake. Anything that has cleaned the Bottom of the sea has no Chance of passing these lips hell say if you suggest picking up a couple brews and maybe a sack of fish and chips. Hey i know Lumbo is not flying Solo Here. There arc a surprising number of folks around who put up a fuss when staring at a Fried plateful of the Small and daddy Lon legs looking creatures that Scurry in the sea Sluice. But the French and me Are not among them. Alter 27 years of working in army kitchens i Learned to eat anything. And that was our problem. I d been developing a real Nasty hankering for seafood. Fresh seafood. Some of those oysters and mussels and maybe a couple of those Long looking shrimp jobs that Are sort of like a crawfish that s spent time in a Garden Hose. Lango somethings. Lumbo of course is looking for a meal that was grown on ribs. He wants beef or something damned close to it. So we re stuck there in sight of the big Arch trying to come to terms. One of jumbo s Little books finally saved us. You see jumbo is one of those Guys who won t hit the latrine without a guide Book and in one of the 40 Lumbo took this photo with a Long Lens while standing in the Street. Or so he d dragged along to Paris was a place called the Auberge dab. Now for those of you not familiar with the City where notre Dame does t have a team dab is a brew a French Beer. A Little dab will do a. Get it and according my let s Parley Vous records Auberge Means inn. Auberge dab dab inn. The place specializes in fresh seafood ant beef. And the place was just around the Corner across from the convention Center on the far Side of big Arch. We were in. The place is about the size of a 30-Man Bay and kind of ritzy with big fake leather Booths lots of Crystal lamps and some brass railings. Kind of a Fern bar look. But it s a Down Home Fern bar. You feel like you can Slouch Down a Little in your seat if you want to and if you happen to spill your potatoes on the Linen Well no one s coming Over to evil Eye you. Jumbo went right for the beef a filet and even though the French like their meat still moving a Little the waiter agreed to order it Well done. A promising sign. I started off with my seafood a cassoulet it s like a Stew and then so jumbo and me could drink the same wine ordered some Duck. At first jumbo thought he recognized one of the wines on the list but just in time he remembered the word was a Brand of charcoal starter they sell in Detroit so we just pointed out one from the Middle of the list and hoped. What else can you do right the wine came first a 1979 chateau Fortin bottled on the family spread dry and tasty. Our Luck was holding. Next came the cassoulet and i got to say that it was Worth arguing with jumbo Over. Thicker than Campbell s extra Chunky and full of scallops and mussels and clams All doing the backstroke in a kind of Newburg sauce. Awesome. Jumbo s Steak arrived and he was on it like rabbits in a Rutabaga Patch. Between bites he managed to give it an Xvi on the 10 scale not As Well done As he would be liked but Good enough so he was t complaining. We both got potatoes in a cheese sauce that did t do much for us. About a 4 on the pot does. And my Duck ? i was about to Lay about a 3 on the Duck because Well it was so close to raw there was t any room for distinction. And there was t very much of it about five pieces a Little smaller than slices of spam. It was what they Call Nouvelle cuisine they give you less food and then charge More for it. Leave it to the French. Anyway i was about to rate this Duck very Low when i chewed a piece that was especially flavorful and then it hit me this stuff was Good. Damn Good. Even half raw. I give it a 9. Those spuds in the cheese though i just Don t know what they were trying to do there. Jumbo dragged out his menu master the idea being to get a dessert course. He ended up with a big slab of chocolate cake. I had a Strawberry tart. You usually can t go wrong in France if you get a tart. It s sort of like an open faced pie and the French really lop the fruit in there. And tart is tart in just about any language. In Paris you just slur it a Little. We topped it All off with Coffee. Now i got to put a word in Here about Coffee in France. You can order Coffee with Cream at night cafe a Lait or cafe Creme Are the words but you will not get it. The French believe everyone should drink Little espresso coffees Al night and they la bring you one whether you order edit that Way or not. It s the same thinking that made the French drop out of nato. Anyway we got the Little coffees i like espresso so it was no problem to me but jumbo had a real Crummy look on his face of course and then we got the Bill l addition. Forty Bucks even including service which the French automatically add in like they Don t Trust you to tip. Auberge dab is at 161 Avenue de Malakoff. In Paris phone 500-32-22. Their specialities include seafood which is trucked in fresh from Normandy every Day and is cracked and dressed at a stall right outside the front door and beef which jumbo says is Worth heading there for. You can eat there for about 100 francs a head without wine. Dress is informal and they Don t seem to mind kids because there were some eating there. Not alone of course they were with their parents. Jumbo and me give Auberge dab three chevrons. Ratings a a a a a awesome eals. We re Talkin Paradise on a plate Here. A a a a very Fine dining. Crack service and memorable food and drink. A a a solid Chow. Good food of atmosphere and pleasant service. A a decent. About equal to a Ponderosa Steakhouse. Thu Ute. Crummy Chow so so service Semi ratty Interior. I 20 stripes Magazine september 5,1935