Salade Niçoise with the Works at La Parisienne Restaurant in Aiken, South Carolina by Ruth Paget

Salade Niçoise with the Works at La Parisienne Restaurant in Aiken, South Carolina by Ruth Paget 

After a morning of touring the Savannah River Site Museum where my husband Laurent and I learned about the physics and chemistry used in running a nuclear power plant, we set out for the La Parisienne Restaurant and Bakery located just off Chesterfield Street in downtown Aiken, South Carolina. 

The day was warm already in the 70s in January in Aiken. I ordered one of my favorite French lunches – a salade Niçoise, which comes with the works at La Parisienne. 

When Laurent and I lived in Stuttgart (Germany0, I made salade Niçoise every week to help fight colds. My easy version of the salad has tuna on top of a mound of baby greens. I place rinsed, canned green beans around the sides of the lettuce along with a few anchovies. 

On the bottom of the salad mound, I alternate boiled egg halves, tomato quarters, and large Greek Kalamata olives. We used Paul Newman vinaigrette most of the time in Germany. 

My salade Niçoise is good for everday, but La Parisienne’s version is really tops with all the garden fresh ingredients they use. La Parisienne places a generous helping of dandelion greens in the bottom of a large salad bowl as the foundation of their salade Niçoise. 

On top of the dandelions greens, they place the following ingredients:  

-flaked tuna -boiled potato halves 

-sliced small peppers of various colors 

-sliced red onions 

-sliced boiled eggs 

-small Niçoise black olives 

-sliced tomatoes 

-sliced radishes 

-thin green beans 

The small and thin vegetables are supposed to offer concentrated and distinct flavors, which is true of the layered flavors in the salade Niçoise at La Parisienne. It tasted great on a warm and humid day. 

The vinaigrette especially made the salad taste good. It was made with white wine vinegar, Dijon mustard, and sunflower oil. That flavor combination always reminds me of eating in the countryside in France. 

The salade Niçoise at La Parisienne Restaurant and Bakery in Aiken, South Carolina filled me up, but dessert lovers might like a piece of the lattice crusted pies that remind me of linzertortes from Linz, Austria. 

Travelers will be well rewarded with a stop for lunch or dinner at La Parisienne in Aiken, South Carolina. 

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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Mushroom - Cheese Pizza and Greek Salad from Marco's Pizza in Augusta, Georgia by Ruth Paget

Mushroom – Cheese Pizza and Greek Salad from Marco’s Pizza in Augusta, Georgia by Ruth Paget 

One of my travel rituals when I go to the East Coast of the US from California is to order a large mushroom – cheese pizza and a large Greek salad from a local pizzeria to perk up after several airline flights.

In Augusta (Georgia), the pizzeria my husband Laurent and I order from is Marco’s Pizza, a local Georgia chain. They use high quality ingredients and deliver late at night, which pleases a hungry traveler like me. 

While waiting on the pizza delivery, I open the room window for fresh air, put away clothes, wash my hands and face, and brush my teeth. 

When pizza delivery arrives, I start dinner with the Greek salad. I am a Californian from Salinas, who can tuck into a family-size salad and easily eat the whole thing. 

At Marco’s, they make their Greek salad with a combination of crunchy, chopped Romaine lettuce and baby greens. On top of the lettuce, they place about 1/3 cup chopped yellow banana peppers, 1/3 cup chopped tomatoes, 1/3 cup chopped red onion, 1/3 cup sliced black olives, and 2/3 cup of diced, salty feta cheese. 

I add tangy, Greek lemon-oregano vinaigrette on top of the vegetables and feta cheese and toss everything together. This tart and tonic salad chases away any germs I may have encountered on the plane it seems and gives me the strength to finish organizing the room and take a shower. 

Once I am all squeaky clean, I leisurely eat two or three slices of mushroom-cheese pizza. At Marco’s, they use a mozzarella cheese that melts yet is firm and salty, which I like. The tomato sauce is savory and tastes great with the meaty mushrooms that probably come from the forest around Augusta. 

Marco’s uses protein-rich semolina flour in their pizza crust, which I also like for the rough finish on the crust edges. 

With tip, delivery of our large artisanal pizza and large Greek salad was $36. We ordered Marco’s several times during our stay in August, especially on NBA game nights when we watched the New York Knicks play teams from around the country. (I love games decided by 2 or 3 points.) 

Marco’s Pizza was a delicious, enjoyable, and convenient part of our stay in Augusta, Georgia. If you like pizza, it is definitely worth a try. 

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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Goat Cheese and Dandelion Greens at the La Parisienne Restaurant in Aiken, South Carolina by Ruth Paget

Goat Cheese and Dandelion Greens at La Parisienne Restaurant in Aiken, South Carolina by Ruth Paget 

The La Parisienne Restaurant and Bakery in Aiken, South Carolina is about 30 minutes away from Augusta, Georgia and offers visitors a relaxed atmosphere for lunch in small town America among its many touring options. 

Aiken is home to a campus of the University of South Carolina, the Savannah River Site nuclear facility, and an active polo club. Its English heritage is visible in its orange brick architecture and tree-lined boulevards downtown that promote businesses that elite Englishmen prefer like French restaurants and Belgian chocolate shops. 

One of Aiken’s busy restaurants is La Parisienne Restaurant and Bakery located just off Chesterfield Street downtown. The restaurant has its own parking lot. You order at the counter, take an arrondisement (Parisian district) marker to your table, and wait for your waiter to bring freshly made food to you. 

On our first visit to La Parisienne, I ordered the goat cheese salad served on a bed of dandelion greens. A thick slice of oven-baked toast sat in the center of the salad with a large ball of goat cheese to spread out over the dandelion greens and cherry tomato halves in the salad. The vinaigrette was made with a perky raspberry vinegar and olive oil. I could have eaten two of those delicious salads. 

My husband Laurent ordered me a lemon crêpe instead that was filled with powdered sugar and freshly pressed lemon juice. That dessert was perky as well and filled me up. Both of these items were perfect for the hot and sultry weather in our restaurant located by the Savannah River. 

La Parisienne has a wooden guillotine in the parking lot to remind diners that not all of French history is rosy. 

Laurent and I walked through the convenient gate behind the restaurant to the Belgian chocolate shop next door – La Bonboniere. The handmade chocolate comes in a variety of flavors. I like the lemon cream filled chocolates with the head of an Egyptian women imprinted on them. 

I also like the chocolate ganache filled white chocolates that have “Aiken” printed on them in chocolate. The cutest chocolates are the ones shaped like horse hooves for the polo lovers in town. 

Tourists interested in a nice lunch in a nice place will love the La Parisienne Restaurant and Bakery in Aiken, South Carolina. 

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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Italian Sausage and Linguine at the Italian Oven in Stockbridge, Georgia by Ruth Paget

Italians Sausage and Linguine at the Italian Oven in Stockbridge, Georgia by Ruth Paget 

One of my favorite places to eat lunch in Georgia is the Italian Oven in Stockbridge about thirty minutes south of downtown Atlanta. 

On my most recent visit to the Italian Oven, I tried several dishes that I could make at home with a little planning even if I do not have the restaurant’s secret seasoning mix. Every southern restaurant seems to have a secret seasoning mix, which makes it only possible for reviewer’s to give an approximation of a dish’s flavor. However, it is worth describing dishes for their nutritional and economical value. 

The first dish I tried at the Italian Oven is a perfect example of these values: sautéed slices of yellow Italian squash with lemony yellow horseradish mayonnaise. The squash slices were very thin from being cut with a mandolin. Squash is a little bland without a coating of horseradish mayonnaise that clears your sinuses and makes you feel healthy from all the Vitamin C in the horseradish 

My main dish was sautéed Italian sausage with strips of sweet red peppers sautéed in olive oil with garlic with linguine added. This dish requires two sauté pans in addition to a pot of boiling water for the linguine.

In the first pan, you sauté slices of Italian sausage until they render fat. The sausage they use at the Italian oven is pork from an acorn-fed pig. The sausage is dark colored with a nutty flavor. When the sausage is sautéed, it has a beautiful aroma of anise (black licorice flavor) from the fennel that is used to season it. This pan’s contents cook while the second pan also has items cooking. 

In the second pan, you sauté strips of sweet red pepper with garlic and olive oil until they are soft. Then, once the linguine is cooked, you add the drained linguine to the sweet peppers and toss them together. After that, you add the sliced cooked sausage to the linguine as toss them together. 

This aromatic combination arrives at the table sizzling hot at the Italian Oven where they grate Parmesan cheese over it. This dish is delicious for someone like me who likes pork. 

For dessert, I at a classic layered tiramisu dessert made with Savoiardi lady finger cookies, mascarpone cheese, stiff whipped cream, espresso coffee, coffee liqueur, and cocoa powder dusted on top. This dessert is a luscious treat for coffee lovers. 

Without reservation, I would say that this was another superlative meal at the Italian Oven in Stockbridge, Georgia that I would recommend to other diners. 

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chosticks and Marrying France

Thank You Biblio.co.uk by Ruth Paget

Thank you Biblio.co.uk for carrying my book Eating Soup with Chopsticks!

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Mager’s & Quinn is Carrying my Book by Ruth Paget

Thank you Mager’s and Quinn Booksellers in Minneapolis, Minnesota for carrying my book Eating Soup with Chopsticks about living in Japan as an exchange student!

Best wishes,

Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France