John Talbott's Paris

Manger in the 11th: "This was the best meal of our ......" "An 8.8/10".

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

8.3 Manger, 24, rue Keller in the 11th (Metro: Ledru-Rollin), 01.43.38.69.15, closed Sundays and Mondays has some of the most interesting cooking since Ze Kitchen Galerie came down the pike; not surprising since chef William Pradeleix has worked in San Francisco, London (apparently Brooklyn and Bruxelles) and visited Bora Bora and Mexico as well as been influenced by Gagnaire, Alleno and Trama - whew!  And all that by 22 (well that's how old he looks!)

The carte looks not unusual, stuff like gaspacho, veggies, beef and chicken but wait.....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The carpaccio of dorade had a startling sauce of soy and ginger and the tartare of maigre an equally head-snapping sauce of guacamole and wasabi - say what?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then Madame had the yellow chicken with endives that was tenderness itself; Monsieur the shoulder of spring lamb with a dense red sauce with bulgar, dates and almonds; and I (of course) got the winner - no, just kidding) the cod in curry with lemon grass, cilantro and basil - a taste spread I've never experienced before.  At some point they both said "This was the best meal of our ......" and I said "it's good but how good?" - Answer "An 8.8/10".  Wow!  Better than yesterday.  High praise indeed from a couple who have lived here about 25 years and eaten at and with the best from RW Apple Jr to Pierre Gagnaire.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We could not leave well enough alone so finished up with a chocolate/coffee/cappuccino delight and a millefeuille of the day that was smooth as silk.

With a fine bottle of wine, good bread, no Chateldon (altho it beckoned Madame) and 3 coffees, the tab came to 155.50 E, thus 103.33 E a couple.

Go?  We're on a tear and you will be too.

Le 6 Paul Bert: Oh I hope the New York Times doesn't find this find; it'll ruin it for the locals.

Le 6 Paul Bert in the 11th is yet another place I reconnoitered in Colette's absence and put on her "must go" list.  Today, 6 of went and despite our varying food tastes, all felt more than satisfied by what they/we ordered; indeed each of felt we had "scored" and while sharing everything, stuck to our beliefs that "we were the Champions."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

M. Paga had the razor clams, de-shelled and declared at the end of the meal that they were the one sour note of the lunch, but ironically, I liked them, although I normally don't ever order them, even in Venice; M. the Photo-Pro had the rollmops of very strong (that's good folks) herring with yogurt (like sour cream to you New Yorkers), scallions and beets, which we'll come back to later; and I felt I was the true winner, of course, with my assertive chicken livers with a soft-boiled egg (everyone is doing them these days) and al dente grilled leeks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For mains we went various ways - towards the mignons of pork (undercooked) with lentils; the squid in black ink that were seductively spicy; and veal liver that the waiter inststed would come rose-squared and was.

For desserts, we sort-of shared the lemon ice cream, yogurt sorbet and a ginger sable; bitter chocolate with olive oil and cocoa crumble - AND another order of herring - Yummmm.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With three bottles of red wine (one a Cheverny, the others Pitchounet Mouressipe), no bottled water, 2 Calvas and two coffees, our bill amounted to 70 E a couple.

Le 6 Paul Bert in the 11th: They really pulled this one off in great fashion.

7.0 Le 6 Paul Bert, 6 Rue Paul Bert in the 11th, 01.43.79.14.32, closed Saturday night, Sundays and Monday lunch is a winner and a half.

It says it's a bistro-epicerie-etc-etc and indeed, the show case of luscious stuff is pretty impressive.

The lunch menu at 20 E for 3 courses is a must, although several items on the rest of the carte (scallops and pigeon) which are said to be half-way between an entree and plat, looked pretty tempting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As we entered, I was spotted by the chief wait-person even though the reservation was in the name of my more famous dining partner, so of course this review is subject to that conflict-of-interest (although nothing was comp'd).  We had a tough decision what to have but she being adventuresome, was willing to split all courses and we ordered the 2-2-2.  First off, a divine langoustine broth with delicious blettes and what was called dried pork salad but was a spicy shredded delight.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then we shared the veal which was perfectly cooked with sprigs of herbs and the echine of pork with braised endives - equally seductive.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The finales were more semi-freddo than ices (and I say that with the utmost of respect to the dessert chef's skills) of white chocolate and a squash and thyme and citron.

With a bottle and glass of Octobre 2012, good bread, four fine coffees and no bottled water our bill was 77 E.

Go?  Please don't ruin it for us; stay away farther downtown.  It's much too far out and besides the wait-folk are far too nice.  Plus it's too calm (dB level 65).

La Buvette in the 11th: Good, albeit cold products on an icy afternoon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5.0 (6 for the products; 4 for the lack of warm ones), La Buvette, 67, Rue St Maur in the 11th, (no reservations; only 9 covers) was perhaps not the best choice for a Sunday outing when no car was seen on sidestreets, buses were scarce and the Metro had suspect packages and gravely injured passengers fouling up the system.  But there I was.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The menu, as I implied, has just cold items, many from named suppliers/producers and there's a nice selection of wines (corkage fee 8 E).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I started with a plate of Galicean sardinellas that were super dooper but then felt the giant white beans with orange zest were lacking ooomph.  The bread was superior as was the coffee.

My bill, without bottled water or dessert but a 1/2 bottle of California Cab, was 31 E.

Go?   Well, I can't figure out why the critics are falling all over themselves on this one; sure the products are nice, but the only other customers seemed to be friends and the lack of anything hot/warm on a sub-zero day was a bummer. 

Repaire de Cartouche: Some repaire, some repast, some repeat.

Someone, I think it was Patricia Wells years ago, said that one had to go back to certain places every year because they were so consistently good; and Repaire and Rodolphe are among these in my book.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My dining partner and I were barely seated (Colette has what is running around Europe this January apparently) when appeared Paquin's signature warm crustry bread and rillettes as well as his seasonal take on pumpkin soup - quite different from the other 5 I've had this week.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Madame had the huge half of herring with shaved green apple and red onion (all room temperature) and I had the leeks with teeny tiny mussels all "cooked for a minute."  Delicious.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then she, after receiving reassurance from the waitguy that the blanquette de veau would not be a repeat of that dreaded version served in her school cantine, had that, and I thought it was quite good and wished my school had even strived to serve such a dish; while I ordered with equal dread the lievre royale (which I always fear leaves my head's vessels swimming in bad fat) but while no one would judge it light, it was not overwhelming.

With a pot of Clos Marie Simon wine from Languedoc, two coffees and their own water, (decibel level 81.8 dB), our bill was 132 E.  "132 E?" you say, "Talbott, you're a cheapskate, how can you spend so much?"  It was a consultation fee for my friend's advice on my new French mobile in anticipation of my loss of fixed service by those thieves at Free.

La Cave de L'Insolite in the 11th: A nice place albeit not a destination resto.

5.0 La Cave de l'Insolite, 30, Rue Folie Mericourt (Metro: Richard Lenoir) in the 11th, 01.53.46.08.33, open for meals Tuesdays-Saturday all day and Sunday noon, keeps getting mentioned so when best food finder pal said it was convenient to his wife's Pilate's place and he found it "pas mal," I was game.

It's one of these "all-natural" wine places where you pick tghe wine from the bins and for 7E they open it.  My friend and I took one look and could not resist the BBQ showing a hotdog chased by a knife and fork (reminding us of Hey diddle diddle, The Cat and the fiddle,........And the Dish ran away with the Spoon).  A quick Google search (there was no etiquette info on grape or origin) showed it was a Syrah from north of Lyon - and pretty good.

In addition to the carte they had a "menu" of pork and coffee gourmand for 14 E, a world class bargain which my male friend had.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Madame started with the burrata and smoked white ham with confited tomatoes, M. the sauteed cepes with pine nuts and myself the so-called terrine (really two potato galette thins) of pig's feet, very slippery and tasty.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then M. had the featured pork breast with potatoes and cauliflower, Madame the bar with coco beans, a fennel puree and coriander and I went with the cepes starter as my main.

M. was the only one to have dessert; a fruit salad, rice pudding and mini-financiere and all three had coffee.

With said coffee, 1.5 bottles of BBQ, no bottled water and most excellent bread, our bill was 123.00 E  for three or 82 E a couple.

Go?  If your friend has Pilates nearby or you're on a tight budget, why not?

Le Villaret in the 11th; it's been a long time, baby, but we're back.

So there are several backstories here which, if, you're bored by them, you can skip to the next paragraph.  1. We stopped coming here (I figure in 2004) because of inconsistency and Colette's "canary in the mine" sense, and 2. We had booked at Galopin and they were firmly closed on a Tuesday mind you and 3. They had funky graffiti outside announcing that Grumpy was a Fink or somesuch.

In any case, here we were at Le Villaret after a long absence and they greeted our friends (whose name we had booked in 25 minutes before) like long-lost relatives.

We took one look at the menu and swooned.  Game, game and game = set and match.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We started off with a superb amuse gueule of mushroom soup (the description hardly does justice to its lusciousness), great bread and some Domaine Roche Cairanne.

 

 

Then it was off to the races with some cepes and foie gras soup and artichokes and (yes, once again, foie gras) - both superb.  Colette asked, "What did I not like about this place, my pet?"

 

 Then came in the heavy artillery: noix de veau with cepes (that's why she ordered it) and salsifis; Colette had the scallops with leeks; the sculptor had an enormous wild duck with green cabbage, looking so great sitting there with his/her legs up; and i had the partridge with butter beans - lemme tell you, we were 4 happy campers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then we terminated with a large display of cheese (no longer kept in their old bird-cage thingy) and a poached Comice pear with rice pudding and caramel sauce (Colette was out of the mine headed towards heaven).

Our bill with two bottles of wine, all that stuff ordered a la carte, no bottled water, two glasses of Pouilly Fuisse for Colette and two coffees was 238 E.

Pierre Sang (Boyer) in Oberkampf: Lordy, the man keeps moving forward and up.

Pierre Sang (Boyer) in Oberkampf (11th) is on a roll.  Like ........., and ........., and ........ (fill in Spring, Ze, Frenchie, Vivant, etc. according to your preference(s)), he keeps innovating and moving and like ........., and ........., and ........ produces simple but complex and tasty food - no molecular tricks, no slight-of-hand, and no piling on stuff that doesn't fit together.

Three of us ordered the supposedly 4-course (really 5) "Freestyle menu" at 35 E and one the supposedly 2-course "Initial" one but in fact he gave everyone the same five dishes but (Disclosure) only charged us for what was ordered and didn't charge for the coffees.

 

 

 

In any case, the dishes, in order, were:
(1) A potimarron soup with toasted hammy bits and yuzu,
(2) A scallop attached to its shell, thus very fresh, par-cooked, with tomato, spinach leaves, beet and shitakes,
(3) What I call a rollatine of tender, wonderful beef with crunchy salsifis, foie and celeriac sauce,
(4) Emmenthal with a coco bean sauce,
(5) Figs, lemon curd sauce, blueberries, a biscuit and I think verbeine sorbetto.

With two bottles of a Loire Malbec, good bread and the aforementioned 4 coffees, but no bottled water, our bill was 216 E for 4 or 108 E a couple.

Go?  Yes, now that at least at lunch there's no line out on the street like last month.

Repaire de Cartouche in the 11th: What a big meal by a big guy with a big heart.

Le Repaire de Cartouche in the 11th has been a favorite of mine, even before my colleague at Paris By Mouth, Patricia Wells, said one must visit it at least once a year - and it being the beginning of game season and a Saturday, what better excuse?  Rodolphe Pacquin has a new toy, a veritable pink stuffed pig that oinks and talks in American English that someone gave him, that's an ideal companion for a hearty meal.

We began as always with his impeccable pork rillettes with his impeccable slightly moist warmish bread and an impeccable 2007 Cahors.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For starters our companions had the mozzarella buffala with a chopped tomato concoction and haricots verts with mushrooms (a long time favorite of Colette's) and I had the foie gras with a terrific spicy salad; the serving sizes are equal to mains in most restaurants.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For mains Colette had a very nice piece of bar with very crispy skin and scales  and accompanied by very tasty/interesting beets; Madame had a fricassee of poularde with white beans; M. the cote de veau with cepes that he (and I) was entranced by; and I had the grouse breast with a forcemeat of foie gras wrapped in cabbage with sliced cabbage all around and underneath - wow!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally Colette had the peach melba (not pictured), Madame loved the sable with Reine Claudes and nougat ice cream and M. enjoyed the platter of wonderfully ripe cheeses.

Our bill with 2 bottles of wine, no bottled water and four coffees was 232 E for four or 116 E a couple.

Bonus Photo seen in the Spring Boutique/Wine Shop in Paris:

Pierre-Sang Boyer in the 11th: If the food folks are flocking, fly don't flee.

7.5 Pierre-Sang Boyer aka Pierre Sang in Oberkampf, 55 rue Oberkampf (often thought of incorrectly as named after one more Napoleonic Victory) in the 11th, no telephone, no reservations (thus one needs to show up at the start of service - 12 noon sharp or 7 PM), no choices (Metro: Oberkampf) opened to one hand clapping, that of the famous Ptit Pois back in June.  But once the rentree re-entered the big boys couldn't sign on fast enough, and they are still there (today 3-5).  Once again, I walked past the place, the signage so understated one could easily miss it.

The chef, Pierre Sang Boyer, is Korean-born, adopted at age 7, Auvergne-raised and a recent winner of the Top Chef TV show whose history is now legend.  My heart sank when I learned he was off today promoting sustainable fish at the Marche St-Germain with actress Melanie Laurent (Shosanna Dreyfus in Inglorious Basterds) but not too far into service he appeared, none the worse for his star turn.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

He has a bit of a sense of humor, evidenced in his names for 2 courses = Simple, 3 = Initial and 4 = Freestyle; of course led by my famous guide, we chose to go whole hog.  The amuse-gueule was a veal tartare with figs that was out of this world.  Wow!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Technically then, our first course consisted of gambas with a caviar of eggplant and slices of frozen bananas - Whoa! - and our second a joue de boeuf with ginger, sliced carrots, corn polenta, pickled vegetables, lettuce and a sauce that looked all the world like catsup but couldn't have tasted more different.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The cheese course consisted of one of the nicest pieces of laguiole I've ever had with a most-forgetable coconut cream and date sauce that would have gone better on a sorbet or ice cream and then a granite of Martini Bianco (white vermouth) and mint as well as summer-fall fruits.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The bill, with 4 (really 5) dishes, 2 coffees with really cool glass coverings, great bread, a very nice bottle of wine regotiated between my star-guest and the "som", was 105 E.

Go?  That's not the question, it's when (at 12 and 1:30 PM there were seats) and where to sit, on the dreaded stools where one sees the 5-6 chefs going at it or at the 4 2-person tables which are more comfortable but don't have the "view."