Thoumieux in the 7th: How far the mighty (Piege) have fallen (to a Costes level).

4.8* Thoumieux, 79, rue St Dominique in the 7th, 01.47.05.49.75, open 7/7, is supposed to have a 20 € lunch (weekdays only I guess) with a la carte costing 40-50 € and wines running from 18-80 €.  It got 3/5 from Rubin, was called the new "hot spot" by Gaudry (they were turning folks without reservations away) and Francois Simon’s said it’s one of the best things happening this season, and reasonable.  On the other hand, just as we installed ourselves, my newest friend in the food writing/blogging/reviewing biz (BNFFWBR) said our critic-pals A & B had been recently and were not as enthusiastic.  Would that have changed my mind if I'd known this inside info two days ago?; hummmm.

Anyway, I haven't been in years and to tell the truth cannot recall if the Costes machine ruined the decor or it was always this garish with the tables bumping up against one another.  In addition, my BNFFWBR indicated that the women's stalls were so compressed one bumped one's knees on the door.

OK, the menu (I had called to be sure they had the regular lunch "menu," eg prix fixe, on Sunday and not brunch and was told not brunch, yes 20 € menu - well, 50% ain't bad.)

Starters are all 10, desserts 8 and in-betweens go from 19 €-way up.

The only starter of any interest (now that's an indictment of someone of Piege's pedigree and standing, in't it?) was/were the wild (?wild?) calamari made a la carbonara; and indeed they were in a creamy sauce which, with the egg yolk, Italian parsley, parmesan and pancetta, was perfect.

Then I had a lackluster poitrine of pork with a crackling crust of something nicely strange with lentils; OK, but no shooting stars; and she had an enormous chunk of  incredibly dry (I know, that's the way the fancy/schmancy, rich Kobe resto diners like it) "slow cooked" rump of veal that sure looked like beef to me.  It was only edible by combining it 50/50 with the tart purple potatoes and another condiment and even then she didn't finish it.

Desserts: her vanilla ice was nice but my baba from my ex-favorite tarte tatin place (Millet) up the street was only minimally OK.

With a well-made cafe serre and OK bottle of Syrah our bill just came in under the magic number, thus 99 €.

Go?  Well, it was nowhere as good as the print-boys said.  As my BNFFWBR said (and I'll shamelessly steal what she'll no doubt say in her review): if it's Sunday, you're wealthy, lazy, need a voiturier and work-study coat check person as well as "beautiful," tall, rail-thin, tanned, slit-skirted waitresses, it's better than Bofinger.

*Recall, I use the full 0-10 scale, so 5.0 is average and 4.8 not horrible.

Comments

[Parigi]

You just broke my heart. I used to love the place.

[John Talbott]

Mind you, I didn't say it was horrible. Just a tad off average. Check out Alexander Lobrano's reaction on Hungry for Paris.

[An American in London]

I was there two weekends ago on the strength of Francois Simon's rec, and I, too, loved the starters and found the mains a pricey snooze. I'd hoped that - on the strength of the starters - that we'd just had bad luck ordering our mains.

[John Talbott]

Thanks, clearly he's got some work to do - as Lobrano says - mieux but still could do better.