This quaint place in downtown Culver City has a pretty good sized menu with tons of French dishes. However, this made it onto my list simply because it has 16 different types of mussel dishes along with the fact that it was AYCE (all you can eat) mussels on Tuesdays/Wednesdays.
This is #12 on my 2014 LA food expedition.
I was hoping to order all 16 at one time and have it served in individual portions, but the waitress informed me that they come in big bowls. For the night, I ordered 3, and my buddy ordered 3. We have 6 covered out of 16 and will definitely go back for the rest in the next few weeks. However, I am very sure that the ones we’ve tried are the best, so I won’t talk about the other ones in a future post.
Note for 2022 migration: this is an old post from my other defunct blog. When I had the Mariniere here, that is what made me fall in love with Chablis. It’s crazy how back then they used this chablis for the base here.
Food
Au Gratin. Oven baked mussels gratin with gruyere cheese, Lobster sauce, white wine, shallot, and garlic. This was pretty good. It was pretty cheesy, but much of it was masked by the Lobster sauce.
Mariniere. Garlic, shallots, Chablis, and herb croutons. This classic mussel dish was very good. The Chablis was very noticeable, and you could taste it heavily in the broth. If you are not into the taste of wine in broths, then this would not be for you. The wine taste is actually very potent.
Bisque. Lobster broth, garlic, white wine, brandy, tomato confit, and cream. This was just ok for me. I don’t know why I ordered another lobster broth based bowl. It tasted similar to the Au Gratin except it was more soupy.
A La Creme. Chablis, garlic, shallots, white wine, and cream. This was very light and somewhat plain. It was decent, but it came out along with the Bisque. Since I was trying both, it’s possible that the lobster broth completely covered overwhelmed my palette such that I couldn’t taste anything from this.
Ocean. Clams, whitefish, PEI mussels, calamari, tomato confit, garlic, Chablis and thyme in a saffron broth served with garlic aioli croutons. This was like a white broth based version of a cioppino. The broth, liked the mariniere, was very good. You don’t taste the wine as much, but there was definitely a lot of saffron and thyme in it. The bread had some garlic aioli ooze spread on it. It was actually quite strong as initially I thought it was horseradish. I am starting to see what I prefer in terms of seafood broths for mussels.
4 Fromages. Epoisses, goat cheese, camembert, aged parmesan, white wine, garlic, cracked pepper, and tarragon. This was cheese heaven for cheese lovers. It was very cheesy, but it was actually very refreshing and light as well. I thought at first it would be like eating a thick block of multiple stacked cheeses, but surprisingly the cheeses blended well together.
Cafe Liegeois. Three scoops of vanilla ice cream, espresso shot, and whipped cream. This mountain dessert tasted like coffee ice cream after you mixed the vanilla ice cream with the espresso shot. Pretty filling to finish the night.
Final Verdict
Although, it was mainly a mussels feast, I would definitely come back again to Meet In Paris again for some of their non mussel dishes. The waitress and service were both very friend and good. If you do get a chance to eat there in the evening, definitely ask to be seated outside as the weather and ambiance was very serene and relaxing.
Revisions
- Nov 13, 2022 - Migrated post from other blog.
- Mar 26, 2014 - Initial revision.