The sweet young American woman who runs the place brought us a glass of white (a rather uninteresting Petit Chablis and a nice Sancerre) and explained the menu. We arrived early (7:30pm), because no reservations are taken for the wine bar, and we wanted to be sure of getting a seat. The Verjus wine bar seems luxurious in comparison: bigger than L’Avant Comptoir, it has stools to sit on and a calm atmosphere, with music playing unobtrusively in the background. The ambiance is jolly, and you inevitably end up chatting with (and jostling) your neighbors. I will never forget the huge cep, preserved in goose fat and fried up on the spot, or the crispy waffle with avocado cream and a slice of top-of-the-line Spanish ham. It’s very much like a tapas bar in Spain, except that the gourmet tapas are stunningly good, far better than your run-of-the-mill Spanish tapas. One of my favorite places to eat in Paris is L’Avant Comptoir, the tiny sliver of an annex to star chef Yves Camdeborde’s restaurant Le Comptoir, where you can pop in at any time and eat standing up after squeezing your way through the crowd and staking out a small space at the bar (if you can find one). Sometimes you’re just not in the mood for a long, drawn-out sit-down meal in a restaurant.
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