John Talbott's Paris

Pierre Bayard's How to Talk About Books You Haven’t Read.

Pierre Bayard, How to Talk About Books You Haven’t Read, Bloomsbury, 2007, NY

Great title eh? “How to Talk About Books You Haven’t Read.” Unfortunately it’s a one line gag and one line book.

Albeit written by a French psychoanalyst who teaches literature at Paris 7th and covering examples as diverse as Hamlet to “Groundhog Day,” it remains a one line book.

I did learn that Graham Greene's Rollo Martins became Orson Wells' Holly Martins in the "Third Man," however, which demonstrated that Bayard actually read that book.

If I were clever enough, I’d find a way to end with a comment about how I too have talked about a book I hardly read, but I cannot figure out how.

The New Hot Quarters: the 1st and 13th - An archival essay* and update**

The first arrondissement is probably the one that is most familiar to Americans visiting Paris for one reason; it’s where the Louvre, number one visitors’ destination, lies. Oh sure, the Louvre des Antiquaires, Musee des Arts Decoratifs, Musee de la Publicite, Musee de la Mode et du Textile, Jeu de Pomme, Orangerie and Pavillion des Arts are also nearby within the first, but it’s the Louvre most of us head to straight off.

Aside from the great museum(s), the Tuileries with their relatively new sculpture installations and the Garden of the Palais Royal, which frequently hosts temporary sculpture exhibitions, offer us a chance to mix art, architecture and greenery. And, I would guess, that for pure walking and gawking, the Place Vendome, Place de la Concorde (technically in the 8th) and Rue de Rivoli are the most popular destinations.

The first is also home to the shops that cater to a cook’s every need; from copper pans (E. Dehillerin) to wild and tame serving plates (A. Simon, actually across the street in the 2nd) to ordinary cooking utensils (Bovida and Mora).

Ah ha, but what about food? Well, as I’ve noted before (In “Eating in or near Museums”) the Louvre has both the Café Marly and a food court; the former best known for its wicked brownie and the latter for the convenience, ability to get in an out quickly, and variety of fast, but fast French, food. But the first is also where some grand restaurants are sited; notably le Meurice, l’Espadon in the Ritz, le Carre des Feuillants and the Grand Vefour. But these are destination restaurants, and I’ve found that my friends want to spend the day in the Louvre, making quick business of lunch and want to have grand, languid dinners. So I’ve developed a list of places that are good for lunch, where I’ll eat happily, but which don’t consume the afternoon or your wallet.

If you need quick, head up towards the Marche St Honore, where wonderful oysters accompanied by brisk white wine and the sound of sea-gulls can be had at the l’Ecume St-Honore on the Rue de Marche St Honore – and right across the street is pig heaven, the pork-dispensing Au Petit Theatre – and finally, in the Marche St Honore square itself – there’s Le Point Bar, a first rate place run by Alice Bardet of the famous Tours family and a place my wife Colette loves for a light lunch of what she calls “Girls’ Food” - Rouge. Even closer to the Louvre and Palais Royal is a new place, A Casa Luna (aka Casaluna) serving wonderful Pyrenees-focused food. A top-notch place not far away is Pinxo, but I have trouble getting folks to go there because its atmosphere is hardly old France (it’s in the recently renovated Plaza Vendome Hotel) and the food is more like that of Alice Waters than Geirge Auguste Escoffier. Finally, a place I love for its food and days open (Tuesday-Sunday), is l’Ardoise.

What about the most famous foodie place in the first – La Tour de Montlhery aka Chez Denise? Well, sadly I’ve never been blown away by it, despite the buzz on the internet from aficionados.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ok, now we make a 180º turn to the 13th (I’m doing this gymnastic manoeuvre in order to squeeze 20 arrondissements into 12 monthly summaries.)

Art: not much here unless you count the Bibliothèque Nationale Mitterand which has special exhibits and the six galleries in back of the B. N. that Jeff Rian on ArtNet (http://www.artnet.com/magazine_pre2000/reviews/paris-rian/newart.asp) said had relocated in 1997 from the Marais: the Air de Paris, Jennifer Flay, ARPS, Emmanuel Perrotin, Art Concept and Bruno Delavallade. For tourist sights, there’s really only the Gobelin Factory (Les Manufactures Nationales des Gobelins) where group visits can be scheduled (usually in French.)

Food is pretty much as spare as the culture too. Oh, there’s Chinatown, one of the biggest bargain restos in the city – l’Avant Gout, an old classic bistrot Le Temps des Cerises and two upscale/up-priced bistro-restos – Le Petit Marguery and Le Terroir but the closest one comes to blow-out food is L’Ourcine, run by an ex-chef of Yves Camdeborde’s while he was still at Le Regalade. But things may be changing, on the Butte aux Cailles a new wine bar serving excellent bio-natural-etc wines – Le Tandem – recently opened and I thought it was quite acceptable.

So, as usual, here are my favorites in the 1st and 13th:

Le Meurice
228 rue de Rivoli, 1st (Metro: Tuileries)
T : 01.44.58.10.50
Closed Saturday lunch and Sundays
Menus: 68 € lunch, 170 € dinner. A la carte 250 €.

L'Ecume Saint-Honore
6 rue du Marche Saint Honore, 1st (Metro: Tuileries)
T : 01.42.61..93.87
Open Tuesday through Friday 8:30 A.M. to 2 P.M. and 4 to 7:30 P.M.; Saturday from 8:30 A.M. to 7:30 P.M.; Sunday from 9 A.M. to 1 P.M.
Cost depends on the number and size of oysters.

Au Petit Theatre
15 place du Marche Saint-Honore, 1st (Metro: Tuileries)
T : 01.42.61.00.93
Closed Sunday and Monday
Lunch menu 18 & 22.50 €, at dinner 28 €, a la carte 50 €.

Le Point Bar
40 place du Marche Saint-Honore, 1st (Metro: Tuileries, Pyramides)
T : 01.42.61.76.28
Closed Sunday and Monday
Lunch menus 15 & 25 €, a la carte 35-55 €.

A Casa Luna aka Casaluna
6 rue de Beaujolais, 1st (Metro : Palais Royale, Pyramides)
T : 01.42.60.05.11
Closed Sundays
Menus 25 & 60 €, a la carte 35 €.

Rouge
34 place du marché Saint Honoré, 1st (Metro: Tuileries, Pyramides)
T : 01.42.61.16.09
Open every day.
A la carte 25-35 €.

Pinxo
9 rue d'Alger, 1st (Metro: Tuileries)
T : 01.40.20.72.00
Open every day
A la carte - 55 €.

L’Ardoise
28 rue du Mont-Thabor, 1st (Metro: Concorde)
T : 01.42.96.28.18
Closed Monday and Tuesday.
Menu: 30 €.

Le Terroir
11 boulevard Arago, 13th (Metro: Gobelins)
T : 01.47.07.36.99
Closed Saturdays and Sundays
A la carte: 50 €.

L’Ourcine
92 rue Broca, 13th (Metro: Gobelins)
T : 01.47.07.13.65
Closed Sundays
Menus: 19.50 € (lunch), 29 € (dinner).

Le Tandem
10 rue Butte aux Cailles, 13th (Metro: Place d’Italie)
T : 01.45.80.38.69
Closed Sundays
A la carte 35 €.

*Originally published in January 2006.
**Update: Both areas have seen an influx of new places, the 1st got Les Fines Gueules, Pierre au Palais Royale, the reborn Pharamond, Le Café Very and Quai-Quai and the 13th, for me new the Petit Pascal, l’Opportune, Lao Lane Xang 2 and the revamped Petit Marguery, but of them I’d really only tout:

Les Fines Gueules
43, rue Croix des Petits Champs in the 1st, (Metro: Les Halles)
T:01.42.61.35.41,
Open everyday
Cost 40-60 E depending on the wine.

Quai Quai
74 quai des Orfèvres, 1st (Metro : Pont Neuf)
T :01 46 33 69 75
Closed Sunday and Mondays
Lunch formula 17, menu 35 €

Lao Lane Xang 2
102, Ave d’Ivry, 13th
T: 01 58 89 00 00
Closed Wednesdays
Lunch menu 10,80 €, 20–25 € à la carte

Rich - an archival* review and update**

The October surprise (and it’s only May) 

6.0 Rich, 14, rue Cadet in the 9th, 01.48.01.87.87, menus at 25 and 30 € (the big boys say, but I only saw the menu-carte for three courses at 35 €), but running one up to 70 € a la carte without wine, is located in the old bourse where precious stones are or were polished/prepared/sold/who knows? It is elegance itself.

Wow! Upstairs is a baccarat-gaming/etc tabled bar/boite and downstairs a hip bar but on the ground floor is one of the nicest looking places I’ve been in, in years. When I first read about it in Figaroscope, I thought – ho hum, 2 hearts, and 3 blocks by Toinard was equally unrevealing, but when it placed second in the running (to Spring natch) in Figaroscope’s ratings of new places this spring, that caught my attention.

So off to the center of precious stone-kosher resto-land. It’s just across the street from Le 7eme Sens which has a great chalkboard sign saying: “We speak English or at least we try.” Anyway, Rich is rich, in a great setting, warm welcome, fab home-made bread. Good signs.

I chose the fried gambas (4) with two sauces (spicy tomato and spicy vinegar) that exceeded the Bistrot Cote Mer 1990’s standard. Then I had the breast of chicken with a satay sauce and terrific rice (flavored with tea or jasmin or both.) (P. Gagnaire was correct, Asian influences are all over and Choukroun, Ledeuil and the Fooding bunch are to be commended for this.)

NB: there were lots of other choices: soups, salads, fish and meat courses as well as cheeses and desserts. Since I had some wine left (no ½’s but glasses are 6 and bottles start at 24 €,) I had two huuuuge slices of Corsican tomme with a wonderful fig confiture and a generous salad – just great.

Open 7/7 (therefore, a great Sunday lunch place). Bill with 2 glasses of wine and coffee = 49.60 €. Have I nothing bad to say? Sure: they have those stupid hand dry blowers in the loos.

Q. Go? A. The New York Stone mart should have such a place.

*My first meal there was April 30, 07, fully paid.

**My second, October 25th 07 with three others was terribly off.

Why I could never be a real food critic.

Firstly, I enjoy writing more than eating. Thus, if reviewing were a job rather than reporting is just my hobby, I think I’d regard it as work not fun.

Second, I enjoy trashing places much more than praising them; like the supposed number of words in Inuit for snow, there are so many more negative adjectives to describe food and its preparation than positive ones that it makes writing critical critiques much easier.

Third, I don’t like the handcuffs worn by some of my critic friends who, whether consciously or not, address the audience their publication(s) serves, be they tourists, young trend-setters, old geezers or conservative eaters.

Fourth, I want to pick the places I go to myself, not be told what places must be covered, for whatever reason.

Fifth, I want to be free to write what I want - not be edited to death at 4 PM meetings at HQ.

Sixth, I simply could not go to all the broken heart, one heart, ethnic, world-food, sandwich and snacking places Emmanuel Rubin, say, does.

Seventh, I cannot stomach bullshit about smoky oaky Chardonnays, limpid liquid sauces and vigorous virtuous meat.

Eighth, I can in no way embellish the review of a place serving mediocre food with gushing prose about the oak timbers, lush velvet banquettes and glowing lighting to cover the faults of the food.

Ninth, I cannot be objective, I’m totally subjective; what I’m served is what I ate and what I ate is what I report about. What it coulda been, shoulda been, mighta been, is irrelevant.

Tenth, as I have said before, I regard wine as an alcohol delivery vehicle and spending energy enthusiastically making it sound like some ambrosia of the gods sickens me.

Eleventh, I can’t stand pretension, so the reverse of #8 is that no matter how good the dishes might be, if I’m welcomed or more so, unwelcomed by a snotty head of the room, had my order taken by an imperious know-it-all jerk of a headwaiter and served by a bumbling stumbling wine and water spilling server – the food suffers.

Twelfth, I like innovation, the sort that guys such as Ledeuil and Rose do, not over the top "kiwis with catsup" stuff like Choukroun and Aizpitarte do.

Lucky thirteenth, I’m so competitive, I can’t stand other reviewers – just kidding, actually they, their company and good, hard-working, solid chefs are what make eating fun.

I’m sure there are other, deeper, darker reasons, but that’s a start.

Two places I much prefer to go rather than be forced to eat elsewhere on assignment are:

^{Spring
28, rue de la Tour d’Auvergne, 9th, (Metro: St Georges or Pigalle)
T: 01.45.96.05.72
Open Tuesday-Friday for dinner with one seating at 8:30-9 PM
Lunch Thursday and Friday at around 1 PM, seating is very limited (16)
Cooking classes and private parties on Saturday afternoons and evenings.
Menu du jour 36 €}

^{Ze Kitchen Galerie
4, rue des Grands Augustins, 6th (Metro: Saint Michel)
T: 01 44 32 00 32
Closed Sundays.
A la carte 30 €.}

Reviews of reviews - The Week of July 7th, 2008

In Monday's Le Fooding Chloé Aeberhardt wrote up Les Banquettes, 3, rue de Prague in the 12th, 01 43 47 39 47, closed Saturday lunch, Sundays nights and Mondays, lunch menu 14 € with ¼ of wine, evening 24 two courses, 30 for three, serving avocado soup, confit de canard and aligot (Tuesday evenings) in a kitchy setting.

Tuesday-Wednesday, in ANP, Philippe Toinard wrote of the Italian Di Vino in the 16th while Jerome Berger had a review of la Cantine du Troquet, 101, rue de l'Ouest in the 14th, no phone, no rez’s, closed Sunday nights and Mondays, for 25 € getting one neo-bistro food such as cold pea soup with mint, pork belly, big fries and rice pudding or fruits.

Wednesday, in Paris Update, Richard Hesse reviewed Itineraires, saying that it was “a real privilege to enter Sylvain Sendra's very personal garden of delights.”

Wednesday-Thursday, Jean Claude Ribault in Le Monde dwelt with more terraces which I posted on that topic on the eGullet France Forum.

In Saturday/Sunday’s Figaro Francois Simon wrote a “Croque Notes” (currently available only in pdf) about the monument Le Procope and its existence since 1686 where the tourists expect to see Voltaire or Wilde and where he ate some tasteless langoustines, tete de veau and a mille-feuille with ½ a bottle of wine and 4 coffees among commercially humorful waitfolk for 123 Euros.

Saturday/Sunday, in Bonjour Paris, John Talbott had a piece on “What’s New in Paris.”

In the July-August Paris Notes, “Paris Bites,” Rosa Jackson listed her favorite outdoor restaurants as:
Mini-Palais
Le Moulin de la Galette
Le Café de l’Homme
Da Rosa
Rose Bakery
Le Fumoir
Blé Sucré
La Table du Lancaster

In the June-July bmibaby Adrian Moore lists his current favorites under 40 € as: Afaria, La Bulle, L’Arôme, Beurre Noisette, La Cave Gourmande & Spring.

The New Hot Quarters: Introduction, History and Overview – an archival* essay and update

The Wall Street Journal said December 10-11^th, 2005, that the “Trendy….New ‘Hood” was to be found in the 10^th, 11^th, 19^th and 20^th.  As with their editorial pages, they’re a bit out of date.  In a series beginning this month, I will cover the nouveauties in every arrondissement….and attempt to demonstrate with a few exceptions, that the explosion in new cuisine is happening all over Paris.

 

Oh, for those of us who pretend to be historians of restaurants, we’ve certainly seen hot areas come and not go, but be supplanted by other areas.  In the 1950’s, for those of us lucky enough to have considered ourselves students, the area on the Left Bank around the Sorbonne and the Pantheon (the 5^th and 6^th) was our cuisine-epicenter, since at that point any Vietnamese restaurant or places like Balzar were the pinnacle of our knowledge of French cooking, or if splurging we went for the pressed duck at the Tour d’Argent, for the philosophers and intellectuals to Lipp, in order to sit at Hemingway’s table to  the Closerie des Lilas and only very reluctantly went to the right bank for the ambiance, champagne and history at Maxim’s; in the 1960’s, things shifted steadily towards the Right Bank, and Americans, at least, discovered treasures such as Chez Pauline, Prunier, Aux Lyonnais, L’Ami Louis and Benoit in the 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd  and 4^th; in the 1970’s there was some reshuffling, with a move to the shell outside the center of the snail (Paris’s 20 arrondissements resemble an escargot to some), in the 7^th and 8^th, with the fantastic cooking to be found at Chez les Anges, Alain Senderens’ Archestrate, Chiberta, Lasserre, Laurent, Lucas-Carton, La Marée  and (who can forget it) Taillevent; in the 1980’s, the map began to fill out even more, with trips to the 16^th and 17^th, to feast at Pre Catalan, La Grande Cascade, Joel Robuchon’s Jamin, Michel Rostang’s Bistrot d’a Coté and Le Petit Colombier; and then in the 1990’s, the flowering of the chefs setting up shop (and/or our finding them) in the undiscovered quartiers – 16 Haussman in the 9^th, Thierry Breton at Chez Michel in the 10^th, Le Repaire de Cartouche in the 11^th, A la Biche Au Bois in the 12th, Beauvilliers in the 18^th, Eric Frechon at Le Restaurant in the 19^th and Les Allobroges in the 20^th.

 

Not so long ago, in February 2004, in a book entitled “Food Business: La face cachée de la gastronomie française,” (translation: The Hidden side of French cuisine) by the pseudonymous Olivier Morteau, the author(s) state(s) that the new, successful, neo-bistrots follow a predictable, new set of rules: find a reasonably priced building in a gastronomically underserved area, be nice and friendly, and get a chef who is talented and can prepare dishes that are reasonably priced – summary: find a talented chef and plunk him in a culinary desert in Paris and let him thrive.  And while the WSJ may think that only the 10^th, 11^th, 19th and 20th qualify, I think that in the ensuing months we’ll see that all of Paris is subject to the phenomenon of new restos setting up and succeeding in strange out-of-the-tourist-lane areas. So on with it….

 

My favorites from the above that are still alive and well are:

 

Chez Michel 

10 rue de Belzunce, 10th (Metro : Gare du Nord)

T : 01 44 53 06 20

Closed Sunday, Monday and all of August.

About 30 € a la carte

 

Le Repaire de Cartouche

99, rue Amelot / 8 b des Filles de Calvaire, 11th (Metro : Filles de Calvaire)

T : 01 47 00 25 86.

Closed Sundays and Mondays

23 € menu at lunch, a la carte, 30 to 45 €

 

*Originally published January 2006.

John's Top Ten - July 2008

Golden Oldies:
Les Magnolias
Ze Kitchen Galerie
Spring
Le Repaire de Cartouche

Christian Constant x3 

Relative Newbies:
Afaria
l'Agassin
Le Clocher Pereire

l'Ecallier du Bistrot

 

For Sunday lunch:
Lao Lane Xang 2

Le Café qui Parle - an archival* review

5.00 A real product-driven, friendly, English-speaking, local haven

Le Café qui Parle, 24, rue Caulaincourt in the 18th, 01.46.06.06.88, closed Wednesdays, lunch formula = 12,50 €, menu 17, a la carte 25-30, a no limit on the food Sunday brunch for 15 €, was taken over a year ago by a wonderful young couple (Catherine & Damien) who have known each other for 14 years (and have an adorable and very well-behaved 8-mo-old boy), worked separately in the US and France – Boulud, Georges V, Goumard + Flora Danica.

It’s lucky to find a place in this veritable Bermuda triangle between Abbesses, the Place de Clichy and Toulouse-Lautrec’s house and it’s a real safe harbor; good, honest food, all locals, and quite interesting chow and wine plus.

Three of us started with a great Corbieres and ended with a Cahors; between which we had a “crème brulé” of avocado and shrimp, a “velouté” of red beans, tomatoes and tiny squid and a ceviche of tuna (all of which were first class); then a barely cooked (as ordered) rack of lamb with a pile of incredibly excellent veggies and an entrecote with salad and potatoes.

This inventive chef clearly knows his craft. No dessert but one coffee; thus 3 persons with four entrées, two mains, one coffee and no comps = 103 €, generously split by our guest from Londres.

Should one go? If in Montmartre, by living or touring, about as good as you’ll find.

*First and last visited Oct 26, 2007, fully paid.

 

Le Tour de France 2008

I've been following the Tour de France ever since the summer of 1953 when my French "father" insisted that we sit by the old Motorola in the late summer afternoons and listen to the account.  Those were the days when Louison Bobet reigned, soon to be followed by the great Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx and Bernard Hinault, all French except for the French-speaking Merckx.

Most recently, of course, it's been the Americans, Greg Lemond, Lance Armstrong and the disgraced Floyd Landis, who've dominated, for reasons that are totally unclear - training, equipment, mental fortitude, who knows?

In any case, I no longer listen as much as read the scrolling news flashes and in case you want to know how most non-mountainous stages evolve, here's my summary after 55 years:

Start: a slow meandering disorganized mess from the start line until about km 17.

Km 17, the first or only breakaway with 1-10 no-named riders from the major teams taking off from the peloton and getting out anywhere from 5-20 minutes in front. Until.....

16h40 - or 30 minutes til 5 PM, when the peloton wakes up and starts working with one team in front doing the windbreaking. In the good old days you could count on the Posties, T Mobile or CreditAgricole to take the lead.

Predictably, within the last 5 km, the peloton catches the escaped riders, setting up a sprint by the sprinters, to the finish.

This year, since everyone is a no-name, all the names having been tossed aside in a rare wave of antidrug righteousness, there's no protecting the yellow jersey, no guarding the big guys and no idea who'll be on the podium in the Place de la Concorde July 27th.

Plus, right now it's impossible to guess who'll dominate the Pyrenees or the Alps or the Alpe d'Huez.  That's where the fun starts and maybe ends.

Happy reading.

FAQ. What’s new in Paris?

Ninety-nine per cent of people who call or email me about restaurants have one of three questions.
1. I need a nice place for two evenings, simple but good food, near my hotel that’s in/near ……
2. Can you send me your current top-ten list – which only later they tell you ½ of were “too far away” – translation 20 minutes on the Metro.
3. Price is no object, what’s the best place now in Paris?

While I always can come up with #2, usually can do a reasonable job on #1 but am lost as to #3, because it’s simply not my beat.  But few folk pitch to my strength: what’s new.

 

So I’ve concluded there are only a few nuts like me who would rather take a chance on a place that usually is mediocre, sometimes awful and rarely spectacular as opposed to a sure thing that one knows inside and out: vide a brasserie, fish bistro or favorite with tourists.   Those are the places people refer to as “we’ve been going for 20 years and have never been disappointed;”  P.S., when I go on their recommendation I never have a great meal.

 

So this is written for a select and probably deranged group that does want to stretch a bit, try something new and even take the RER or Metro out a bit to say, Issy-les-Moulineaux, Levallois-Perret or Boulogne-Billancourt.

 

John’s Rules for finding out “What’s New:”

1. Read “C’est nouveau” (trans What’s new?) in Figaroscope each week on line at http://www.figaroscope.fr/restaurants/c_est_nouveau.html

2. Read l’Actualité (News) in les Restos.Com on line at http://www.lesrestos.com/news.htm

3. Read “Quoi de neuf” (trans “Whassssup”) in Eat in Paris at http://www.eatinparis.com/EatinParis.woa/restaurant/fr/quoi_de_neuf

4. Read the “Digest: 200x Paris Restaurant Reviews” and “Restaurant, Food and Chef News” in the eGullet Society of Culinary Arts and Letter France Forum http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showforum=10.

5. Read the blogs written by everyone from the big newspaper boys ([Francois] Simon Says and Les Gourmandises de Philippe [Toinard]) to the book stars (Sophie Brissaud and Clotilde Dusoulier who respectively write Chez Ptipois and Chocolate and Zucchini).

6. Keep your ears and eyes open – I just saw a new place spring up on my running-walking-limping route without advanced notice. 

These thoughts were prompted way out in Boulogne-Billancourt at:
Ducoté Cuisine
112, ave Victor Hugo in Boulogne-Billancourt (Metro: Sembat)
T: 01.48.25.49.20
Closed Sundays and Mondays 
80 € a la carte, 2-course lunch formula 35, 3-course lunch menu 43 €