0.0 Chamarré Montmartre, 52 rue Lamarck in the 18th, 01.42.55.05.42, open 7/7 {it says}, with lunch menus at 29 and 35 (2 and 3 courses respectively, including ½ lt of water and coffee) and 47 and 52 € at night, menu carte-blanche 65 €, is a place about which there’s been a bitofadispute lately.
Rubin gave it a busted heart (unfortunately, calling it sad Carribbean stuff, mistaking the Caribbean and Indian oceans), Demorand compared it to Vongerichten and Roka’s productions and Brissaud said she’d probably be in the middle. Well, let me state up front that Rubin is spot on. OK, why?
(Back story: the place (ex-Beauvilliers is cursed and has been ever since it got rid of its star, flowers and crusty old look and went under the baton for three years of Yohann Paran, ex-De Lagarde and now Antoine Heerah, who, while much beloved by eGullet members, including me, at the old Chamarré, didn’t impress me much at Le Moulin de la Galette which I gave a 2.3 to in September 2007}.
But never one to pass up a food fight, especially among Rubin, Demorand and Brissaud, I went.
It’s totally different from either of its recent incarnations, with a semi-open kitchen and etched glass partition, fancy-schmancy décor, tables etc., and silverware (almost imitating Ducasse NYC’s pocketbook cushion, knives and pens).
They offered four amuse-bouches - two spoons of chopped beef and fish with veggies and spices, a samosa and the best pumpkin soup of the Fall and five house-made breads, the one made with curry totally escaping me.
There are three columns on the carte: Indian, Franco-Mauritian and Far East and one can pick and choose. I thought I should stay close to home, i.e., France, so I started with the cuttlefish served three ways – the tempura was horrid, the raw stuff, so what, and the diced one with spices the best of the lot (but in fact the 5 little spicy dollops around the edges of the plate were best of all).
Then I had the fancy-schmancy wild Garenne rabbit rollatines (6 € supplement) with foie gras and dozens of other ingredients that I could neither keep track of nor cared to. I didn’t finish it, quickly ordering coffee, finishing my wine and deedeemowing out of there.
Anything else annoy you John? Yes, the wines on the short (read easy to find) carte were more expensive than those exposed when digging into the long one. One’s bill, taking two dishes, bottled water, coffee and wine (no dessert) with no supplement could be 50 € but the price-quality is the issue.
Go? To a place that’s confused as to what it is featuring, serves American cocktails and plays Sinatra?
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