This is still my favorite spot for a Parisian lunch of the best seafood and shellfish money can buy. This report encompasses two meals, but at both meals I couldn’t resist a dozen and a half of a selection of their oysters, which included their most expensive ones, the Pousse Clair, the Bélons (which my wife prefers), and their Sauvages (wild oysters), which were superb as well. That was followed by their absolutely sensational soupe du poisson, a dish that is commonly encountered but rarely executed perfectly, as it is labor-intensive and requires the freshest of ingredients to pull off. Le Dome does it as well as anybody. From the extraordinarily intense flavors of the Mediterranean to the super-hot mayonnaise, rouille, this is a tour de force soupe du poisson. I can never get enough of it, as it is largely impossible to find this quality elsewhere despite how often one sees this soup on the menu. As I have said many times in the past, Le Dome’s lobster salad is the finest I have ever had in my life. With the choice of very colorful flowers and lettuces to the wonderful salad to the perfectly cooked lobster itself, it possesses an aesthetic and savory brilliance that always makes this place an attractive destination. In addition to the quantity and quality of the black truffles, they were offering something that comes from southern France, the Brandade Morue, which is basically a cake of ground up cod, in this case layered generously with sliced black truffles and easily a quarter pound of crunchy deep-fried parsley. My wife had this at two different lunches, and of course, I couldn’t help but taste a portion of it. It was spectacular, a brilliant dish with a creative touch to it.

As for the wines, it is always Loire Valley whites when I am at Le Dôme, with an occasional side trip to Champagne. They have a wonderful selection of the best from the Loire, and the most profound bottle we had was the 2007 Vatan Sancerre Clos de Neore. This is as good as the 2005, which I thought was about as good as a Sancerre can be. It is like drinking liquid rocks with pure flowers and citrus notes. It is a sensational wine that speaks volumes of the elderly Mr. Vatan and what he is able to coax from his vineyard. We also paid homage to the recently deceased Dageneau, and had a brilliant bottle of his fuller-bodied, very steely, mineral-laced 2004 Pouilly-Fumé Pur Sang. This is a brilliant wine, bigger, bolder, with an almost Burgundian texture compared to the Vatan, still sensational, but in a very different style. The other wine, which was very reasonably priced and just delicious was Huet’s dry Chenin Blanc, the 2006 Vouvray Sec Le Mont. With much more tropical fruit, honeyed oranges and apples, this  dry white made a beautiful match with the Brandade.

I can’t recommend this restaurant highly enough. It’s expensive, but this is the best one can find in oysters, shellfish, and just fish. (As I have said in the past, their Sole Meunière is to die for. It is as brilliant and as simple a preparation as can be found.)