John Talbott's Paris

L'Escient in the 17th: Quite good but lacking that "je ne sais quoi."

6.5 L'Escient, 28, rue Poncelet in the 17th (Metro: Ternes), 0109.66.92.49.13, closed Sundays at lunch and Mondays at dinner sounds like all the other Asiatically-influenced places opening in Pais these days - with a mother, father and daughter who have passed through the House of Ducasse and use ginger, lime, coriander, tarama, honey-soy sauce and daîkon.

They have 2 courses for 26 and three for 35 E and my cooking tour-leading friend and I both had the cold shrimp and pureed cauliflower wrapped in white raddish with bei (whatever that is.)  It was good but no sparks flew.

Then we both had fish from the daily special chalkboard; she the bar with bak choi and mushrooms and I the crispy-skinned mullet with artichokes and bergante (whatever that is).  Both were excellent product, perfectly prepared but - ah, lacking in fireworks as well.

Finally I ordered the sauteed chunks of mango, pineapple and passion fruit with a scoop of ice cream and vanilla beans and a tuile, and again, you've got it, quite good, but............

Our bill, with a bottle of wine, no bottled water and only one coffee, was 92 E.

Go?  As my old friend the RFC would say 'It's not urgent."

La Classe in the 9th: Surprisingly good, packed and fun.

5.9 La Classe, 6, rue de Maubeuge in the 9th (Metro: Notre Dame de Lorette) is one of those "theme" restaurants where the theme really works.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Everything from the maps on the wall, copy books of menus and wine lists, inkwells for water glasses and swings in the basement remind you of school, places like the Cafe Cache in the old city mortuary and the 2006 book "Cantines : Recettes cultes corrigées par les chefs" by Sebastien Demorand, Emmanuel Rubin and Sophie Brissaud.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My guest, who actually is quite familiar with the citation above ordered the very nice eggplant caviar with poached egg and I had "All about langoustines" which turned out to be an incredible langoustine bisque with one sauteed/placha'd langoustine on a thin slice of toasted bread.

Then we did what I always counsel myself, friends and co-diners never, ever, to do - order the same thing - but bingo - luck was on our side and the daube of beef was terrific, with a rich red wine sauce and smoky bacon which totally wrapped the eating experience in pure pleasure. I neglected to photo the three scoops of ice cream (vanilla, fresh milk and basil) but they were a fitting finale to a fine find.

Our bill with good bread, no bottled water, a bottle of Corsican wine and two coffees and, and, and, just to remind you of school - a Carambar - was 72 E.

Go?  Oh yes.

 

Les Saisons in the 9th: My goodness, my gosh, my golly.

6.9 Les Saisons (cool logo eh?), 52 (not 2 as A Nous Paris has it) rue Lamartine in the 9th, (the old great Villa Victoria space, before that the awful Velly location), 01.48.78.15.18, closed Sundays and Mondays, is a place under the direction of Jonathan Lutz who had chef'd at Glou, which I liked not at all, versus everyone else in the world of food criticism, and

has lunch formulas at 15 and 20 E as well as running one about 35 E a la carte for many more selections.  My newest dining partner and I sort of mixed and matched and didn't do badly at all.  I should note that nothing Philippe Toinard mentioned in his ANP article, only January 10th, was apparent today, which is a very good sign indeed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Madame my new friend, had the ardoise leek salad with vinaigrette and I a small but perfectly cooked chunk of duck foie gras on a bed of Jerusalem artichoke puree - both damn good.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

She then had the cod with a crackling crispy crust in broth and I the pigeon with both forcemeat and foie gras again - both came with many vegetables and (for me) too many potatoes.  Both dishes were way above standard quality and miles above the stuff we'd had at Glou just 3 years ago January.

With extremely fine bread, 2 quite good coffees, a nice Loire red and no bottled water or dessert, our bill came to 89.90 E - which (full disclosure) she picked up under the impression that she had invited me, even though I picked the day and restaurant.

Go?  You bet.

Le 122 Bistrot d'Hier & Aujourd'hui: A new chef who makes things even better.

7.0 Le 122 Bistrot d'Hier & Aujourd'hui, 122 rue de Grenelle in the 7th, 01.45.56.07.42, has recently changed chefs, bringing in Guillaume Ginther, who did stints at Laurent with gracious hosts Farid Saïdi and Sylvie Portela and more recently at Daniel in NYC.  Colette and I had always done well here and after I heard there was a new presence in the kitchen was curious if things had changed.  The news is that it has: it's gotten better.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We ordered off the carte, which with supplements, makes a meal much pricier but I owed my guest a meal for her services to me negotiating with my insurance company and Canal +, both of whom were being difficult with me.  In any case she started with an innovative dish, sliced cold scallops in a smoky haddock sauce and I had a beautiful concoction of snails and mushrooms, salad and parmesan wafers - here pushed apart so you can see the ingredients.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then she had a rollatine of croustillant of pork and I had two slices of pigeon breast which melted in my mouth; both with purees and both state of the art.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The desserts were right up there as well; hers was called an apple tart and mine a parfait but both were decided improvements on the standard presentations of them.

With a bottle of wine and water, supplement for the pigeon and two coffees (bread consisted of the usual very good varieties they serve here), our bill was 124.10 E.

Go?  It's on Colette's "must do" list.

Rudeness in restaurants (and the Metro).

Rudeness. See that got your attention, didn’t it? The famous French rudeness, brusqueness, treated you like dirt, eh?

It seems that it’s impossible for websites or conversations about Americans visiting France to go on for more than a few hours before the old rudeness issue rears its nasty head.

I was thinking about this last week as Colette and I were eating at Neva Cuisine (which has become Colette’s new best favorite choice - to be a bit redundant).

- When I had called to reserve they were so nice,
- When we entered the pastry and first course chef warmly greeted us,
- When the waiters came over with water, wine or menus or to take the orders, they were nice
- In fact, the whole meal was such a pleasant experience, it made the food sing even more brightly than if it had been equally superbly sourced, cooked and presented but through the windows of the old Automat.

And then we got on the Metro.
- People crowded the door as if they were goalies guarding the net,
- No one made room for new passengers to seek out the unoccupied space a few inches away from the doors,
- The adolescents and young adults acting like adolescents couldn’t take their eyes off their smartphones or ears off their iPods or feet off the seats ahead,
- And one might as well have been traveling on an alien spacecraft, the isolation of each seated passenger was so rigidly held.

That’s rudeness, and worse, like automobile drivers making a left turn while talking on a cell phone in one hand while smoking with the other, I suspect they were oblivious to the world around them, so wrapped up in the LED screen in front of them were they. Scary, weird and enough to make you fear for the future of verbal and visual communication.

The restaurant referred to is:
Neva Cuisine

2 Rue de Berne in the 8th (Metro: Europe)
T: 01.45.22.18.91
Closed Saturday lunch and Sundays
Lunch menu, 29.50 for 2, 36 E for three courses, a la carte considerably more.

Reviews of reviews: The week of January 16th, 2012

Tuesday, in Le Fooding, Yves Nespoulous reviewed the restaurant Au Vide-Gousset, 1, rue Vide-Gousset in the 2nd, 01.42.60.02.78, closed Sundays running one only 15 E for sandwiches with Ospital charcuterie, veggies, chorizo and ham and « New York cheesecake. »

Tuesday as well, Philippe Toinard in A Nous Paris, reviewed and gave 3/5 dots to Antoine Heerah’s third place (after Le Chamarre & Moulin de la Galette) on the Mont – Au Clocher de Montmartre, 10 rue Lamarck in the 18th, 01.42.64.90.23, open 7/7 serving eclectic stuff (eggs, noodles, langoustines, Paris-Brest) in an old haunt with an eclectic decor for about 35 E ; meanwhile his compatriot, Jerome Berger reviewed the burgermania at Blend Hamburger Gourmet in the 2nd. (2 dots)

On Wednesday, in Figaroscope, Emmanuel Rubin reviewed only 4 places this week (instead of 5), giving two hearts to two – L’Escargot 1903, 18, rue Charles-Lorilleux in Puteau (walking distance from the esplanade at La Defense), 01.45.75.03.66, closed Saturday lunch, Sundays and Mondays, offering a 37 E menu and a la carte 45-50 E for items such as scallops, beef with mashed potatoes and a St-Honore; and the Asiatically-inclined l’Escient, 28, rue Poncelet in the 17th, 09.66.92.49.13, closed Sunday lunch and Monday dinner, with menus at 25 (lunch), 35 and 45 E for a beef maki, lacquered pork and tiramisu. One heart each went to the “burgerisation” center Blend and the neither bad nor good Louvre Bouteille, 148-150 rue St Honore in the 1st, 01.73.54.44.44, closed Sundays, with menus at 26 and 33 E for chestnut soup, tournedos and apple tart.

In Figaro this week as well, Francois Simon took over part of page 1 of the “Figaro et Vous” section and the food section in Figaroscope to discuss whether Paris was still the center of the food universe, using seven foreign writers as foils  While largely laudatory, there were occasional surprises – as when Ken Hom stated that Japanese food was better in New York, Chinese food in London approached that found in Hong Kong and Thai better in Sydney & LA. He also wrote of the 10 restaurants the world likes Paris for:
Pierre Gagnaire
L’Astrance
Alain Passard l’Arpege
La Tour d’Argent
Le Chateaubriand
Le Jules Verne
Le Baratin
L’Ami Louis
Le Flore
Le Petit Vendome

His Hache Menu dealt with Le Cherche Midi and I suspect readers will remember the subtitle “We’re closed” told him at 7:57 PM, rather than his statements that its reputation, products, clientele, etc., were impeccable, serious and well priced.

In place of Saturday’s Croque Notes in Le Figaro, Francois Simon teamed up with Emmanuel Rubin on an article on the 2012 France Michelin Red Guide, noting that the web edition will allow comments from diners of their experiences and replies from restaurateurs. They also give several pluses and minuses: Good; The Bib Gourmands, the global view and the test of time; Bad: its lateness, opaque methods, hieroglyphic writing and sacred cow chefs.

Saturday, in the JDD, Aurelie Chaigneau rated Albion a 7/10, Caius a 7.5 and Juji Ya a 4.5 while in its version femina, Astrid T’Serclaes wrote that the food at the Taverne de Zhao was astonishing.

During the week, in l’Express, Francois-Regis Gaudry wrote up La Coloniale, 25, rue Mazarine in the 6th, costing 25-50 € and Julie Gerbet in anticipation of Chinese New Year’s republished her assessment of the best Chinese places in the 13th:
Les Delices du Shandong
Lao Lane Xang 2
Imperial Choisy
La Nouvelle Mer de Chine
Tricotin 2
Pho Bida

 

Mirama in the 5th: All you could want in a Sino-French restaurant in a gastronomic wasteland.

5.1 Le Restaurant Mirama, 17, rue Saint Jacques in the 5th, 01.43.29.66.58 (but don't bother, they don't take reservations,) open 7/7, 12-23h00 without interruption, is situated in a culinary dessert amidt all the cheapo kebab/etc., shops east of St Michel.

How did I find myself there with 3 others who are food-driven folks?  Easy.  We'd all "won" a lottery for tickets to ParisdesChefs: Food+Design (no spaces thank you) held by Paris by Mouth's Magnificent Meg Zimbeck and after a short spin through the world of Kitchen Aid, knives, about to be food demos by the likes of Bertrand Grebaut (Septime) and Yannick Alleno (Le Meurice) as well as music by Wynton Marsalis, needed a place to lunch at.

The window of this place that looks all the world like a narrow boxcar, tells you that you've arrived at a place that takes its lacquered duck seriously, and after a wonderful wonton soup with thin noodles

we moved on to it as well as (clockwise) beef with thick noodles and vegetables shown with some tofu stuffed with shrimp and broccolini; all adequately spicy for most patrons but even better for two of us, with the bit more from one of two hot pepper sauces.

With 50 cl of red wine, two Cokes, tea, one rice and no coffees, our bill for 4 was 75.70 E, thus 37.85 E a couple.

Go?  If caught in this Bermuda triangle, you bet, but go early because our expert said that by 1-2 PM there'd be a line out front (even by close to 13h00, the 30 more seats downstairs that were fully occupied).

Geneva: Maison de Coree & Cafe de la Gare: Safe if not exciting bets.

La Maison de Coree in Geneva - The night I arrived in Geneva to visit a dear friend, he suggested: a Portuguese and a Korean place.  With memories of a fantastic meal at a nouvelle Korean cuisine place in Toronto, the Korean Village, I swiftly chose that.

Looking at the portions as they arrived at neighboring tables, chockfull of Asian and melanged families, we wisely chose one dish each to share.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What was called pork kimchi arrived with plenty of accompaniments (kimchi, seaweed, rice and pickled stuff); while the shrimp with vegetables was pretty straightforward.   For me, they didn’t have the heft of traditional restaurats nor the finesse of Toronto's Korean Village.

Our bill, with a bottle of wine and no bottled water or coffees, was 104 SF.

Go back?  I'm not so sure.

La Cafe de la Gare in Geneva.  The following day I wanted to "do" lunch at a place near the station, as I had a train back to Paris quite early and I'm always anxious not to miss such.  My host said "let’s go to the Café Central or Relais d’Entrecote" and I pleaded that they were too far from the station (however, the truth was that he likes them and I'm just lukewarm).  "OK," he said, "there’s a café just near your train track; not good, not bad."  "OK."

Slight diversion for a recounting of a piece of street theater: as we walked through the tunnel from the south side of the Cornavin Geneva SCNF/CFF Station where we'd parked the car to the north side, my buddy said "would you like to get a paper for the train?," we diverted into the Presse and on exiting, I noted two guys hanging around the entrance/exit to/from French trains who raised the hairs on my neck; they were up to no good, and indeed they were in back of us, ahead of us,then in back again and one tapped me on the shoulder as we mounted the steps to the Cafe and I shook him off and sped up.  A few minutes later two waiters said "You just missed getting your pockets picked, we chased them away, they're here every day, and make their money this way."  So much for the vaunted Swiss Army, police and Security forces.

 

OK, back to my topic; I said my friend had said that this place was "not good, not bad." Well, it was much more than that, it was quite good for rush-rush food.  He ordered a green salad and fish soup (with croutons, rouille & cheese, of course) and I had a dozen fried local Lake Geneva perch with a huge green salad.   I thought his soup was one of the best ever but my perch were overcooked but not crisp on the exterior, they were stuck in the "no man’s land" between lightly/undercooked/fleshy and crisply fried.  Too bad, because they were good product.

Our bill with a ½ bottle of local rosé, one Coke and one coffee was unknown to me, since he insisted on picking it up while I dashed off to the train.

Go back?  Yup.

Le Petit Marcel; Pretty good Metro food for Metro food.

5.0 Le Petit Marcel, 65, rue Rambuteau, barely in the 4th, 01.48.87.10.20, open 7/7, is a place you and I have passed thousands of times and never "seen."  It looks like a thousand other fungible decked-out-in-red places that call themselves brasseries/bistros/bistros a vin/cafe's etc.  It was on my "list" because of something new - a new chef, a new owner, a new awning, cash register, bannister, I don't recall.

I had to go to Geneva from the Gare de Lyon on a Saturday and I’d wanted to eat with two of my best new friends; one of whom was imprisoned in a French language program that tied him up weekdays at lunch but who responded to my first suggestion with an email saying “is this a John Talbott quality place?”  “Come up with something better”, I said, ‘that is accessible to the GdL, open on Saturday and I have never been to.  Silence.

So it was that we found ourselves at the Petit Marcel.  The menu/carte at 15.90 E for two dishes on the blackboard was fine for me and they.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Two of us started with the eggs and chevre while I struggled with the classic escargots (a safe bet huh?).  Both were better than average, indeed pretty good for a place totally full of tourists, albeit all Francophones.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For mains, J. was the "odd man out” choosing a pathetic lasagna, dangerous to order in any country except Italy, exception made for Colette’s version of Ed Giobbi's; and the other two of us had the (again safe to order) confit de canard with fine fried chunky potatoes. 

They both recused themselves from dessert, pleading a slow recovery from a heavy dinner the night before but I went ahead with the tart tatin flambee, once again, a safe bet – and indeed it was and good.

Our bill, with 46 cl of red, soft drinks, coffees and pathetic bread was 82.40 E; thus 55 E a couple.

Go?  Wad’d’ya’expect for 15.90 E?  Pierre Gagnaire?  Best prix/qualité of the year.

Le Clocher de Montmartre: What's in the water way up here?

6.0 Le Clocher de Montmartre, 10 rue Lamarck in the 18th (No Metro but either the funicular and Montmartre bus will get you there), 01.42.64.90.23, open 7/7, is Antoine Heerah’s third place (after Le Chamarre & Moulin de la Galette, [neither of which I liked much]) and will become, I predict, the only restaurant over 100 meters on the Mont worth visiting in short order.  Everyone knows the water tower next to Sacre Coeur but nobody knows what they're putting in it these days to trickle down to the new superb places like Le Clocher, Sens Uniques and Lui... L'insolent.

I went with my favorite downstairs' French neighbor, who knew the place from its prior owner who was, with her, a member of either the Polish-French underground or the conductor of a group of elderly women singing songs either celebrating Montmartre's independance from Paris and France in 1871 or Montmartre's silly wine harvests.  In any case, she said its interior had been totally redone but they had preserved the La Boheme view of the city below.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On reading the first review of it I'd seen I was wary of mixing hamburgers and langoustines, salads and eggs, tarts and soups, but in fact, while eclectic, the carte is pretty comprehensive.  My friend started with a salad with what was called fish from the ends of the world.  We had quite a discussion of where exactly drilling straight down from Montmartre would land you, Heerah hails from the l'île Maurice, but her dish had salmon, smoky halibut, eel, tuna and two kinds of fish eggs, so maybe it was just descriptive.  Oh yah, it was also terrific.  And I had wonderfully sauteed langoustines with a salad of great greens, both with a sweetish dressing but a very tart kumquat much beloved by my photo-frenzied friends David and Julot, to squeeze on top.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then she had a thin slice of veal's liver with pickled onions, apples (harvested a few months ago) and mashies, pretty damn good - and I had Roscoff onions from Brittany (harvested in late summer - hummm) stuffed with minced ox tail, accompanied by a dish of absolutely first class rice with an intriguing sauce - jasmine maybe?

I tempted fate by having the Paris-Brest again, afraid that after yesterday's this would be a let-down, but no, it held up the standard high.

With a bottle of Bordeaux, two coffees, decent but not great bread and nice little cookies, our bill without bottled water was 92 E.

Go?  A must for those climbing the hill.