Cream of Mussel Soup

Billi bi, along with vichyssoise and lobster bisque, epitomized elegance in French restaurants in the United States during the fifties and sixties. You don’t see it around much anymore, but it’s a soup worth remembering.

Legend has it that billi bi was invented by a chef for an American who loved the flavor of mussel broth but was squeamish about the mussels themselves. I’ve never seen billi bi on a menu in France, but then the French like their mussel so