La Fin du Monde sans Zaphod

“Good evening,” it lowed and sat back heavily on its haunches, “I am the main Dish of the Day. May I interest you in parts of my body?”
                            -Douglas Adams

We've already established that I am a complete dork, so it should come as no surprise to you that when I first heard the name "La Fin du Monde" (which means "the end of the world"), I couldn't help thinking about Douglas Adams' hilarious book The Restaurant at the End of the Universe.

The new restaurant on Magazine Street, however, did not offer a constant replay of the end of everything outside the windows, nor did it contain one Zaphod Beeblebrox, but it did offer a pretty tasty meal for my friend Lorin and I.

A few weeks ago, we decided to meet up for lunch at La Fin du Monde, located in the spot formerly housed by Cafe Rani, and were a bit surprised to be presented by a "lunch" menu that offered "brunch" items. We rolled with it, placed our order and discussed the rather sparse atmosphere. I sure hope they add just a bit more color since our visit, as it seemed rather drab.

Like most restaurants seem to be doing these days, La Fin du Monde offers its own house-made charcuterie, so we thought we'd give it a try. We ordered a large plate full of soppressata, prosciutto and salami with some cornichon, crostini and whole grain mustard. We enjoyed it all, but my favorite was the large, spicy wheels of salami.

For her entree, Lorin chose their "daily" quiche, which was cheddar, bacon and spinach. I got to try a bite and found it to have a delightful, buttery crust with a creamy, eggy interior full of thick-sliced bacon and fresh leaves of spinach.

I chose the BLT with their thick-cut, house-smoked bacon, Boston lettuce, fresh slices of tomato, aioli and agrodulce (a.k.a. a traditional Italian sweet & sour sauce often made with vinegar and sugar). I also chose to add some extra cholesterol with a freshly poached egg that oozed magnificently over the other ingredients when I cut the sandwich in half. I gobbled it up with alacrity before the egg could get too cold, but I did manage share a bite with Lorin.

They didn't offer any dessert, so we opted for some coffee, which luckily was sourced from French Truck. Lorin downed a quick shot of espresso while I opted for a cappuccino. While everything was well-prepared, I found that the portions were kind of small for the price. It might be worth it if I spot Marvin the Paranoid Android the next time I visit...