Tour d'Argent

La Tour d'Argent (The Silver Tower) is a historic restaurant in Paris, France. It is located at 15 quai de la Tournelle. It has a rating of one star from the Guide Michelin.

The restaurant claims that it was founded in 1582 and frequented by Henri IV; it does not however offer any documentation for these or other claims about its history. The Quai de Tournelle, where the restaurant stands, was not paved until 1650; before that it was "a slope, often flooded and almost always made inaccessible by mud".

The restaurant itself does not appear in a list from 1824 of "The principal restaurants, who are distinguished by the elegance of the decoration of their salons and by the number and the care taken with the dishes found there..." In 1852, a metals dealer was at number 15, quai de Tournelle, a hairdresser and a wood dealer at 17.

Baedeker's 1860 guide to Paris describes its current location as "out of the way" in mentioning a restaurant associated with a low-cost "Hotel of the Tour d'Argent": "Between Notre Dame and the jardin des Plantes, on the quai de la Tournelle, facing the bridge of this name, there is a little hotel and the restaurant Lecoq; Hôtel de la Tour d'argent, a bit out of the way, it is true, but well kept and cheap (room, 2 francs, beefsteak, 1 franc). Facing a swimming school, which has the advantage of not yet being encumbered and imprisoned by all the filth of Paris."

The restaurant was owned in the 1890s and 1900s by Frédéric Delair, who began the tradition of presenting a numbered certificate to each person who ate the restaurant's signature dish, pressed duck. In 1912 the Terail family bought the restaurant. It was operated first by André Terail, then by his son Claude, who died in 2006 at the age of 88. Claude's son André now owns the restaurant.

Since 1986, La Tour d'Argent has been a recipient of the Wine Spectator Grand Award.

Until 1996 the Guide Michelin granted the restaurant three stars. The rating was reduced to two stars in 1996, and to one star in 2006.

Duck, especially the pressed duck, is the specialty (Canard à la presse, Caneton à la presse, Caneton Tour d'Argent). The restaurant raises its ducks on its own farm. Diners who order the duck receive a postcard with the bird's serial number, now well over 1 million. (Serial number #112,151 went to U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, #203,728 went to Marlene Dietrich, and #253,652 went to Charlie Chaplin).

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Wikipedia