Le Fantôme (Guest Post by Matthew, Parisian Pac Man Bar)

Hi everybody!  Its me!  Matthew!  I haven't done a guest post in quite some time, but Lisa thought this one was right up my alley.

"We are about to encounter robots!  Try to blend in!"

So one thing we did a LOT of in Paris was walk.  We walked here, we walked there, we walked pretty much every dang place, which was great because there was so much to see!  So we were walking down the street from our hotel one morning to go have breakfast and I see this cute sign with what I though looked like a little Pac-Man ghost.  So I says to Lisa, I says "Hey look!  Its a Pac-Man ghost!" and as she's about to tell me to quit being silly, she looks at the sign and realizes it IS a Pac-Man ghost.  The name of the establishment was Le Fantôme , and as we stopped and looked inside I saw what is basically my vision of heaven.

Inspired by Pac-Man, my hunger for pizza was endless.

Hearkening back to the pizza joints of the 80's where you would commonly have a number of classic arcade games, Fantôme offers a delightfully festive atmosphere where you can sit down at a cocktail style Pac-Man table and enjoy some cocktails and a fancy french take on Pizza!  I basically lost my mind.

Le menu (pour les foodies)

Lisa and I sat at one of these cocktail tables and took turns exploring Pac-Man's Sisyphysean struggle to sate his endless hunger while being at all times pursued by the ghosts that represent his regrets and tortured inner longings.  I looked up from our table to see further evidence that they built this place exclusively for me in the form of a decorative wall display of various robots from 60s and 70s sci-fi. My people!

Pictured: my people.

I also got 2nd place.  Just for good measure.

Pictured:  Juggernaut going HAM.

In addition to the cocktail tables, which are what I wish I ate EVERY dinner on, there was Street Fighter as well as X-men vs. Street Fighter which could be played on my dream anniversary present, an actual Sega Astro City cabinets.  These are high quality Japanese cabinets where you sit down to play, and I am obsessed with them.  I am trying not to go too deep into my own personal video game nerdery, but let's just say I freaked out.  Also let's just say that at this moment, in Paris, there is an X-men vs. Street Fighter arcade cabinet where my initials are in 1st place.  Boom shakalaka.  They must have known Lisa was coming too, however, because how else could you explain the Monsters of Rock pinball table.  Note: These were not the Yngwie Malmsteen variety, but the Dracula, Wolfman, Creature from the Black Lagoon variety.  It was adorable.  Why isn't it in my house.  It looked like what Lisa's soul would look like as a pinball table.

Lisa and I walked out to "Mummy Mayhem" at our wedding.

There was a lot of great stuff about Fantôme , but hands down the best part of it was going with my best friend, my beautiful wife who makes me laugh until I can't breathe, and accepts my constant hugging.  Because of this, no one can possibly enjoy Fantôme as much as I did.  Sorry folks.

Game Over, but the party is just getting started!

Ms. Matt-Man, before and after Chardonnay consumption.

"I don't always eat ghosts, but when I do, they're blue ones."

It was nice talking to all of you!  I have a big day of being lazy ahead of me (it's my day off!), so I'll see you next time!

Best regards,
Matthew