*Perraudin, a man capable of cooking up the entire gamut of exquisite nouvelle cuisine creations, unapologetically unleashes upon his blasé Parisian customers a down-home barrage of sausages, pâté, bouillabaisse, frogs’ legs, steaks, and roast chicken, pushing his temerity to the point of serving the latter with mashed potatoes, if you can imagine anything as démodé as that. But the place is packed, and the président de la république has to elbow his way in to get to his favorite, the peasant specialty called tête de veau: calf’s head, containing every unspeakable element except the eyeballs.