Marijuana “light” rolls onto a Paris restaurant menu

Marijuana “light” rolls onto a Paris restaurant menu

By Patricia Tennison
www.ParisCafeWriting.com

“And how would you like your cheeseburger, madame? Medium, rare—with or without the … supplement?”

C’est vrai. Just when you think you’ve conquered the oddities of a French restaurant menu, a new one grows.

Cannabis—in a light form—is now possibly legal in France. At least that’s the interpretation that entrepreneurs are taking to a newly modified law that allows cannabis that has less than 0.2 % of the psychedelic ingredients. The regulation has lots of gray areas. However, all over town you can buy a sachet d’un gram—enough for three or four cigarettes or teas—for about 15 euros. My husband, Joe, was just walking in the neighborhood being uber-friendly as usual and scored a free sample bag of loose buds and a little jar of infused honey.

First serious restaurant to jump in

But even more fascinating is the first serious restaurant in Paris that offers cannabis as an ingredient on its regular menu. Come In restaurant, 13 rue Commines, 75003, in the Marais, is three or four doors down from our apartment—so we had to check this out.

First, however, let me go back some decades. I was never “into” marijuana. Instead, I ventured slowly into wines, with increasing complexities and costs, and that’s where I stand. Some puffs from a smelly cigarette? I’d rather have a coupe de champagne. I had my doubts about trying Dan’s new venture.

Dan Elmaleh, 28, owns the Come In and we have been habitués (regulars) since he opened in early 2017. We admire his path: born in Paris of a Moroccan family, he finished formal schooling at 14, then at 16 left for London where he worked his way up in restaurants. For six years he was the director of a restaurant outside Paris and learned cooking “petit à petit.”

Oh no, not the tuna

We like the funky decor of this fusion bistro. The service is friendly and “correct,” that is it follows the norms of good French manners. The small menu always has something we love, such as the mi-cuit (just slightly cooked, rare in the middle) fresh tuna with a side of fresh vegetables. Was he going to ruin the lovely slices of tuna with that smelly marijuana?

We scored a window seat on a warm evening in June and plotted the test. We would order the same main course, maybe the tuna, one with and one without cannabis and compare the tastes. We glanced at the menu but our favorite tuna was not offered with cannabis. (Dan later explained that it’s best to first mix the cannabis with butter or oil, then add it to the food and that cooking procedure wouldn’t work with the slab of almost-raw tuna. Cool. Love to learn new things. Glad they didn’t mess with the tuna.)

Thumbs up on the cheeseburgers

We settled on two cheeseburgers—one with a half of a gram of cannabis for 25 euros, and one without for 18 euros. Each thick cheeseburger arrived on a slate platter with some excellent, crisp fries and a side of mayonnaise. We cut them both in half and shared. I first bit into the regular burger and was hit by the wonderful juices of beef, cheddar cheese, a bit of fresh tomato, grilled sweet red pepper, and an unctuous dressing reminiscent of Thousand Islands. Delicious.

Then I tried the other burger. It tasted the same. I looked over to Joe. “Do they taste the same to you?” “Yes, the same.”

We then split a brownie for dessert, 10 euros, served only one way, with cannabis. It might be the best brownie I’ve ever eaten: almost crisp on the outside, slightly runny with warm, deeply flavored chocolate on the inside, served with a dollop of vanilla ice cream. Again, neither of us was aware of a marijuana taste except for some dried marijuana bits sprinkled atop the ice cream.

(Dan later explained that in the hamburger the sauce basically camouflages the cannabis, and the strong chocolate in the brownies. If you want to taste the cannabis more, try the steak with its stronger cannabis sauce, or the risotto.)

In the spirit of scientific research, we returned to Come In the next night and tried the enhanced steak and risotto dishes. We have always enjoyed whatever came out of the kitchen at the Come In and again, we were not disappointed.

And more thumbs up to the steak and risotto

The steak (29 euros, with cannabis) was more tender than most steaks served in Paris. The accompanying brown sauce with the consistency of a demi-glace tasted like rich beef juice—with something added. (The something was hashish, Dan said later, as he let us smell a lump. I was surprised that I liked the faintly floral aroma of the hashish. Part of the skill in cooking with cannabis is selecting the appropriate varieties.)

My favorite, however, was the risotto (30 euros, with cannabis). “No rice,” the waiter said in English, a phrase he has no doubt repeated many times this summer. Risotto, of course, is a Northern Italian rice dish. But here, the risotto is made with grains of low-dosage cannabis, plus chunks of mushrooms, lots of Parmesan cheese and a dose of truffle oil, which elevates the grassy tones of cannabis into a creamy, nutty dish. Dan knows how to cook.

(Has he had any failures so far in his cannabis dishes? Yes, the crème brûlée. “Pas bien. Trop de gout.” Not good. Too much taste of cannabis.)

I respect the medicinal qualities of cannabis. I personally know several people who find immediate and necessary physical relief.

As for getting high, the low-dosage cannabis is designed to avoid that. The allowed light version should have little or no psychotropic effects, but might be relaxing or work as a painkiller. After our dinners, I sensed no affect, but Joe said he felt more relaxed.

I’ll drink to that.

Where to go

Should you drop in to Come In? Absolutely. Try the risotto—with a nice glass of Chateau de Costis.

Come In restaurant
13 rue Commines
75003 Paris
01.82.09.03.74
The restaurant is open every day for lunch and dinner, except Mondays and Tuesdays.

In addition to the sit-down restaurant, customers can also walk up to the kitchen window and buy a sachet d’un gram (a 1 gram bag) for about 15 euros from Dan’s Farm Coffee Shop which is open every day—with short lines.

Definitions

I do not profess to be an expert on marijuana. After Dan’s interview, I had to look up many terms:

Cannabis vs marijuana: Cannabis is the plant. Marijuana is the dried flowers, leaves, stems and seeds of the cannabis plant. If you smoke marijuana, you might call it pot, weed, ganja, or Mary Jane. In this article I stayed mostly with cannabis.

Space cake: Cannabis infused muffins, associated with Amsterdam. This part of my interview with Dan didn’t fit neatly into the article, but I thought you, too, might like to be enlightened.

Moroccan butter: Made by melting butter, then adding cannabis and maybe nutmeg, ginger, or anise. Cannabis is not water soluble. It is fat soluble, so to make many foods including pastries, cannabis needs to be first dissolved in an oil.

Chanvre: The French term for a type of industrially raised cannabis, which, to be legally raised in France, must have a low dosage of 0.2% or less THC. The use of chanvre is at the blurry heart of the French law.

THC: Tetrahydrocannabinol is the main psychoactive constituent of cannabis.

CBD: Cannabidiol is the non-intoxicating part of cannabis that is appreciated as medication. Users of CBD claim that it contains many healthful elements, including omega-3 fatty acids, omega-6 fatty acids, protein, and anti-inflammatory and anti-anxiety effects.

The new law in France is vague about the legal status of CBD products made from cannabis and those who sell it may be challenged to make sure they are selling the low-dosage varieties. Probably to keep himself within the law, Dan says that he imports his cannabis from Switzerland.

Marijuana vs hashish: Marijuana is the dried flowers of the female cannabis plant. The stronger, concentrated hashish is created by taking the fresh flowers and, in the simplest method, hand-rubbing the flowers to extract the resin and form a dense, sticky lump.

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