John Talbott's Paris

Le Gagnage: a gainful go-back.

I returned today with Colette and two recent friends to Le Gagnage, the restaurant of Aurelie and Jerome and we were pleased.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The firsts were intriguing and beautiful - a terrine de Campagne with nuts and trumpets of death; a feuillete of snails with garlic and tomato coulis; and the aumoniere of mushrooms with Chaource sauce.

 

 

For mains we had the lieu jaune with risotto; a filet of bar with sweet-potatoes and seafood fluff; and yellow Vendee chicken with pilaf rice.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For desserts we chose the pear tart with vanilla ice cream and the bananas with flamed rum and coconut sorbet.

With two bottles of Bourgeuil, no bottled water, three coffees and a calva our bill was 85.70 E a couple.

Axuria: A bit off today but hey, who's complaining?

Axuria has been our "go-to" Sunday lunch place for quite some months but it didn't deliver today as strongly as before.  The amuse of a curried fish soup was terrific as a start.

Our friend "Boston B." was in town and he and I both started off with a super risotto with morilles with a mop-every-drop-up sauce and I thought we were onto another good 3 hours.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Colette had the bar, our pal the tuna with a caramelized glaze and I the St. Pierre.  None of us uttered words of praise, indeed, Colette said "Let's give it a rest," B. "Let me be frank and specific" and I thought to myself  "How can a fish place fall off the high cliff so badly?" (Colette wondered if there were both a new front room staff and a kitchen equipe.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I had decided when our orders were taken to not have dessert but the two of them proceeded with a Grand Marnier souffle ("It was not as good as the last two times") and a "douceur" of agrumes from whose orderer no "ooh's or aah's" were uttered.

With a bottle of fine Languedoc, a big Badoit and 3 coffees, our bill was about 91.06 E a couple.

The Café Figué: Seems more worldy than before and no wonder.

Colette and I and two very old dear friends from New York returned today to the Café Figué and the menu was quite different from last time, much more food with influences of Italy, the Cribbean and Asia; a quick look at her resume hows why,  after graduating from l’École Supérieure de Cuisine Française in  Paris she worked in Providence, Cotonou, Miami and Hong-Kong.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 For firsts, our friends had the sauteed (yes sauteed) melon with lettuces, Colette had had the chicken samosas and I had the salmon rillettes; all quite interesting and different.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then all three had the dorade cooked in its skin while I went for the intruigingly named tiger tears which turned out to be a sort of carpaccio of beef marinated in spices on top of wheat noodles with cilantro and basil.  Fetching.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally, in sum we had the mango tart with mango ice cream, watermelon sorbet with strawberries and a sable, and microtomed pineapple with white chocolate and crumble bits (and for me a crumble-hater, it was wonderful).

With two bottles of Valencay, no bottled water, 4 coffees and fine bread, our bill came to 76.60 E a couple.

Cafe Figue in the 15th: Kismet, karma, feng shui, whatever, it's delicious in an old haunt.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5.9 Le Cafe Figue, 117, rue de Vaugirard in the 15th, 01.53.69.08.12, closed Saturday lunch, Sunday and Monday nights (Metro: Falguiere). Sound familiar?  That's because 15-20 years ago it was that great favorite of ours, the restaurant La Grande Rue [named after the Rue Vaugirard, Paris' longest street] and I'm happy to say the kismet, karma, feng shui has held.  They have a different menu every day at both lunch and dinner (shades of Spring and Chez Panisse) that is printed and squeezed between two tiny slabs of plastic - very cool.

 

For a first my longest French pal in Paris chose the rilettes of mackerel which she ordered because she wanted to test it against her own and this, with espilette, but not so much it overwhelmed it, rose to the occasion; meanwhile I had a wonderful dish of escargots and mushrooms in a luscious sauce with sliced raw mushrooms on top where once again there was an ingredient - wasabi - in it that accented but didn't overwhelm it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then she had a bavette (cooked as she asked - rose) with teeny-tiny beets and I had what was called raviolis of chicken which turned out to consist of a ravioli bottom, then "crayons" of green and white leeks, then another layer of ravioli and on top, the deboned breast of chcken (it needed some salt but that's OK).

Finally we shared and - whoops - ate all of a lime creme brulee that once more yet again had some lime but not so much as to overwhelm it.

With a quite nice bottle of Cotes de Bourg (they were out of the Languedoc-Rousillion that was Waldo), darn good bread, no bottled water and two coffees our bill was 78.50 E a couple.

Go?  Absolutely!

Afaria in the 15th: Under a new team, not as exciting as the first time around.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5.2 Afaria, 15, rue Desnouettes in the 15th, 01.48.42.95.90 (Metro: Convention) was turned over by Julien Duboue of Comme Dans Les Landes, mais a Paris to chef Ludivine Merlin and front-room director Frederique Alonzo a while ago and sincde it's been eons since I've been this seemed as good an excuse as any to revisit.  The outside, inside and menu is pretty unchanged and the tapas only served at the common table rule still rigidly adhered to.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My friend, the second-hand high-end cooking store lady and I ordered three of the tapas and they were quite filling.  First we had the cromesquis which had a strange almost shredded wheat type exterior and were not juicy inside like those at Crom'Exquis but came with a nice salad with a tart dressing; then the chipirons served as before in a sabot but not at all crisp; and finally samoussas of shrimp which were way over-salted with a taragon cream sauce.

We had all we could do to share a dessert, in this case a tarte tatin with creme fraiche and a nice caramel beurre sale drizzle which was the highlight of the meal.

With a very nice red Loire (I thought the wines in this level place were way overpriced), no bottled water and one coffee our bill came to 68.50 E - that's after a lot of waving and calling to get the attention of the staff busily folding napkins.  In fairness our Asian waitress was supernice and superattentive at the start speaking English to us as soon as she heard us us it with each other.

Go?  Sadly I must say no; there were too many not-quite-right elements and I really think it's lost its mojo from what it was when it first opened.

Bonus: on the way home, as I exited the subway, two troops of bagpipers and drummers were coming from the Mairie, up the street and played all the way to my doorstep.  A St Patrick's Day treat.

Les Prolongations in the 15th: Dernier Metro's little sister does OK.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5.3 Les Prolongations, 76, blvd de Grenelle in the 15th , 01.45.75.62.05, (Metro: Dupleix) is the second resto of Nathalie et Jean of the Dernier Metro 45 meters away and resembles it in many ways although to me it seemed even more basque but with slighly fewer menu items.  Funnily enough, I ordered practically the same things I did at the Dernier which either shows a limited horizon or steadfast consistency.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My friend J had the vegetable soup which sure looked watery and he said it was; our friend R. had the pigs' ears which I thought were the tops but he wished they had a spritz of lime juice as he's used to; and I had the duck hearts, which when "adjusted" with some of the house herbed espilette, salt and pepper mix, were just fine.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then they both had the tripes Basque-style which they loved and I equally appreciated my axoa with mashies, which they thought had a bit too thick a sauce but I did not.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To finish, R. ordered the Basque cheese platter which he shared and was very good; R. had a gateau Basque which was very dry and ? old; and I had a fine creme caramel that escaped my camera but was quite good.

With a bottle of Irouleguy and a half of Chinon Rose and two glasses of each with dessert, no bottled water but one coffee our bill was 130.30 E or 86.86 E a couple.

Go back?  I think I'd choose the Mother House if I do.  A tad better.  If you go, ask for the round table in an almost private room in the back by the toilet.

Le Gagnage in the 15th: another relatively undiscovered gem.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

6.5 Le Gagnage, 46, rue Falguiere in the 15th (Metro: Pasteur or Falguiere), 01.43.22.54.48, closed Sundays and Mondays, was a place really not trumpeted much since it opened 6 months ago, but on entering, my polyglot friend said of the hostess "I know her, she was at Grand Pan," and sure enough - he having no shame, asked her, and her being Aurelie Michel of the Aurelie & Jerome Michel pair (he from Garnier) that run this place said the French equivalent of - "Yup, that be me."  It's a really cool, modern place, with a nice feel to it and an astonishing cheese platter sitting on the comptoir - which we'll get to later.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The third member of our intrepid party had the cauliflower and foie gras soup which was very, very good and his polyglot partner and I had the "bio" Mozambique gambas with cognac and a fine salad.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then said partner had the only clunker of the meal, a too dry/cooked piece of swordfish; M. Poly - the andouillette from the House of Maury, which after the requisite jokes about male anatomy, he declared one of the best ever; and I had a sliced magret, which came out, blue, as ordered, with potato croquettes which were the best I've ever had.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At this point, we were very satisfied, but that cheese board loomed over there behind us and with it another bottle of Coiffy Pinot Noir and by golly we then dug into a fondant of chocolate as well.

The bill; with the wine, no bottled water, very good bread and just one coffee, it was 149.80 or a shade under 100 E a couple.

Go?  If Le Gagnage means "un champ où le gibier va prendre sa nourriture," as Wikipedia claims, that sounds like heaven to me.

Axuria again.

Some acquaintances who were arriving at their flat wanted to eat with us before we got tied up and tried down with our move this week and Sunday and Colette suggested we eat at Axuria again.  After the requisite amuse bouche soup with toasts, olives and cheese sticks it was on to the serious stuff.

 

 

 

 

Escargots, raviolis, one with langoustines, the other truffles, and a croustade of foie gras and gibiers; no complaints.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Turbot, scallops and milk-fed Pyrenees lamb with potato grantined with Brebis - delicous.

With a bottle of Chat. Darzac, 2 eclairs made with Carambar, good bread, no bottled water and 5 coffees, our bill worked out to 96.92 E a couple.

Axuria is luxuria; "Boy, it's good," sayeth Colette.

Axuria is now our "go-to" place on Sundays; superb food, wide variety, seasonal, great service, perfect clientele.  We did what we often do nowadays and while I order a starter and main, Ciolette goes with a main and dessert.

So, I had the raviolis of langoustine tails which were gold standard in their broth of tarragon and chive snips.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For mains, Colette had the raie bouclée which because it was not done in the classic meuniere style(browned butter and capers), she was less than enthusiastic (but I found it quite fine); and I, at the strong-armed urging of our friendly waitguy, went with the double-chops of perfectly undercooked milk-fed Pyrenees' lamb with salsifis, squash and seasonal veggies in a thyme-infused confited-garlic sauce - heavenly!

Colette finiashed with a most attractive and tasty Grand Marnier souffle that she scraped every bit of crust off the ceramic dish (I concurred).

With a bottle and glass of Chateau Darzac, no bottled water or cheese, and two coffees our bill was 107.70 E.

Axuria in the 15th: "Great food," notes Colette.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Axuria is a Basque-influenced place with a driftwood theme that has become a Sunday favorite in a few short months.  They have a wonderfully varied carte which even on weekends runs 26 E for 2 dishes and they have specials, such as those today featuring game, that are not exorbitant.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To start us off, Olivier Amestoy sent out some rillettes of duck with toasts and then cups of superb crustacean/fish soup.  Colette then had his crunchy langoustines and I some quail, both with super sauces and salads.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then she had a lovely bar with risotto and slices of parmesan and I the young partridge with green cabbage and a microtomed half of a potato; finishing by sharing a Grand Marnier souffle.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With what amounted to a bottle of wine (it's complicated as we switched horses in mid-stream) - the white in a Jeff Koons' Cracked Egg cooler, which I read somewhere is the most reproduced design item in the world, good bread and two coffees, our bill amounted to 90.80 E.