John Talbott's Paris

Atao in the 17th: "The best Sunday lunch I've ever had in Paris" sez my mentor.

I returned to Atao in the 17th today with Colette and our two stairmates and it was just as good if not better than it was a month ago, but more crowded (word is getting around this new most Bobo quarter). 

 

 

The ladies started off with the ceviche of bar with tomatoes and greens, Paga (my culinary mentor who has found and led me to great places since 1965) had the girolles in an emulsion of oysters (that he declared best use of both this season) and I had palourdes in a black-pepper-spiced up boullion; all fine products, finely prepared.

 

 

Then, Elan had the delicious entree-sized portion of a carpaccio of daurade with a large portion of seasonal veggies; Colette had the Atao salad which consisted of shrimp (tender, neither rubbery nor overcooked) with salad greens and a liberal sprinkling of cilantro; and the gents had the lacquered mackerel that was much like the way good Japanese places prepare warm smoked eel to place atop sushi.

 

For dessert, all of us had the crepes; and while I only photo'd the chocolate one, the butter and sugar as well as lemon versions were worth tasting too.

Our bill, with 2 bottles of wine, no bottled water and three coffees, was 161 E, thus 80.50 E a couple.

Atao: La Dame des Huitres in the 17th: Well, well, well, finally a replacement for Le Bistro Cote Mer, l'Huitrier & Le Bistro du Dome.

 
 
6.9 Atao: La Dame des Huitres, 86, rue Lemercier in the 17th, 01.46.27.81.12, closed Sunday dinner and Mondays, has occupied the F Landrieu oyster shop space where I had a very nice meal in September 2007 since early spring and I've been meaning to go and simply haven't found time.  What an error.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They have a carte (38-60 E for three courses, many of them small or large plates) and an 18.50 E two course "menu".  There is long story behind this place but in brief it was/is the creation of Laurence Mahéo, a former dress-designer, now oyster-grower, who took over the family business (est 1929) and who hired a Japanese chefesse for the kitchen.  Laurence is the only person I know of, whom l'Express has written up in both the Style Mode and Style Food sections.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anyway I ordered the enormous Assiette Francoise (Landrieu) with oysters which reminded me of those salty assertive ones from 1950, palourdes which were spot-on, langoustines which never have a lot of taste here without aoili (provided), crevettes which were most tasty and bulots which were not as good as my home-made, but were OK with the mayo provided.  My guest had the lieu, which was fabulous (with yuzu sauce) and undercooked veggies, equally so.

Madame and I agreed that the crepe with butter and sugar was about the best ever.

The bill, with my-oh-my bread, good coffee, a bottle of fine and reasonably priced wine was 68.50E.  This may be the prix/qualite winner of 2011.

Go?  Well, Colette's scheduled in two weeks if that's any indication.

Le Galvacher in the 17th: Much meat; cool frites; open always.

 
5.5 Le Galvacher, 64, ave des Ternes in the 17th, 01.45.74.16.66, open 7/7, is a place my dining companion had on her list to review for a guide book she's working on.  I chose it from a list of 10 places I hadn't eaten at she'd given me, because it's been in the back of my mind to go for a while and translates into ox or cow drover, which sounded pretty meaty to me.

Midway through the meal she said - "I've got to work, what do you think of the decor?"  "Pretty dismal" said I.  "Yup, I agree."  And the welcome (acceuil), wait for food, and service (for example, our wait guy didn't know the specials on the lunch "menu" which was plastered all over the exterior, but I couldn't recall all of).  But she said, "all that doesn't matter if a meat place produces great meat, let's withold judgement."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So after regarding the carte, this sophistocated TV star/guidebook/cookbook writer who knows more about food than Herve This and Ferran Adrian and Thomas Keller put head to toe says "I'll have the escargots."  I felt less stupid ordering the classic French onion soup - "what the hell," I said "it's a gamble."  "But," she said, "if this place has it on the menu, it's got to be good."  Well it was, very good, bringing back memories of Les Halles in 1953.  And her snails were OK, although light or indeed absent the garlic, but with added sorrel - a nice touch.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As soon as we put our utensils down - the beef arrived - in her case the faux filet with Bearnaise sauce, in mine, the heart of rumsteak with pepper sauce; both blue and coming with tons of pretty-crisp frites.  The meat was cold, the frites equally so, but who cares; the beef was of extraordinary quality. 

We both had a hard time finishing our meat and had no room for any dessert from the list that looked like fungible brasserie type stuff and lots of cheeses listed but none visable.

Our bill, with no bottled water but a nice bottle of Fitou (she, the wine maven, noted that their markups were minimal), average bread and decent coffee (Papousian) was 86.20 E.  (BTW the lunch "menu", forced 2/2/2 choices, with a glass of wine and coffee, was 20 E).  Pretty good, eh?

Go back?  When in the meat mode, for sure.

Comme Chez Maman: Not like my Mom's cooking, much better.

 
6.0 Comme Chez Maman aka Chez Maman, 5, rue des Moines in the 17th, 01.42.28.89.53, closed Sundays has a weekday formula for 15 E but a la carte is a bit more.  Friends of mine live around the corner and strongly advised me to go and go in multiples, since all plats were for two.

 
It's in what is a bustling neighborhood, very Bobo and arty and active, but in the Bermuda triangle between Metro stops.  From the outside it's a bit quirky and inside it's got real character.

 
On Saturdays there's no formula, but between the menu and the chalkboard one has plently of choices, so long as you order the plats for two. However, suffice it to say, that today the entrees included green asparagus from Provence four (4) ways and the plats: veal kidneys, lamb souris', a whole bar and a pot au feu of seafood.

I chose no starter but my former and soon-to-be-again France Forum co-host chose the eggs mayo which were just plain halved hard boiled eggs with their mayo, quite tasty but not what I expected.  The bread was overly good.

 
Then we shared an amazing pot au feu of seafood with mussels, razor clams, two kinds of fish, potatoes, carrots, fennel, zucchini, mushrooms, parsley, star anise, dill, coriander and tarragon.  The broth alone was worth the trip, but the combination of ingredients was magical.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For dessert, she had the riz au lait (which I am unqualified to judge and) I had the banana flambee that may not have been quite at the high level of Mr. & Mrs Fosters in NYC an eon ago, but was pretty darn good.

Any thing off, John?  Well, yes, now that you mention it.  Before my dining companion arrived the front-room lady got a fork off a nearby unoccupied table (OK), used it to reach up and turn off the heater over the door (OK), but then returned it unwashed to the place-setting (yuck!)

The bill with a nice bottle and glass of Touraine, no bottled water but two coffees, was 85 E.

Go again?  If this were my neighborhood joint I'd be there once a month with 5 others so we could run though its offerings.

Le Bouchon & L'Assiette in the 17th: a bit different at weekday lunch.

This is the third time I've been to Le Bouchon & L'Assiette in the 17th and from outside it looked the same (it had been closed for renovations that last time we attempted to come). 

We looked at both the "menu" and "carte" outside but inside saw just the very reasonably-priced 22 E 3-course "menu" with 2/2/2 choices (sliced salmon and lentil soup with sausage; veal blanquette and brandade of haddock; tomme de Savoie and tiramisu).  There was also at 55 E cotes de boeuf for two.

I asked about the carte; only at Saturday lunch - blinding flash - of course, we'd only been here Saturdays before.  OK.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Madame, our guest, went for the blanquette de veau a l'ancienne, the sauce of which she couldn't stop raving about (but I found the veal a bit dry) and Colette and I had the cotes de boeuf, scuffling verbally for a while over its cookedness.  It was really good but much too much so we have several stir-fries or cold beef with horseradish dinners ahead.

Madame finished with some beautiful tomme de Savoie which she generously shared with us.

The bill with a bottle of wine, no bottled water and three coffees was 104 E.

Go?  I'd advise only on saturdays for lunch or any day for dinner.

Le Bistral in the 17th: Nice but not a destination anymore.

 

5.0 Le Bistral, old coordinates in the 17th has a new Japanese chef (Yasuhiro Kanayama, who passed through L'Astrance, where I've had inconsistent meals and Le Bristol where Frechon is my god), but retains the rather porky but very nice owner, rather thin but very nice guy greeter, freckled prep lady and Louis Armstrong's "What a wonderful world" music. 

The prices have also changed: if my memory serves me at least minimally, the wines seem a bit pricier and while they got rid of the four "menus" ranging from 19-60 E, they replaced them with a forced choice 29 E one at lunch at least (a la carte still running one 50-70 E.) 

I went with the forced choice "menu" figuring I'd wind up the economic winner over a la carte stuff (plus the pigeon, the main I would have ordered, was a whole one and there's no way I alone could work my way through it, far less the starter of choice - smoked eel, from a Japanese chef, gotta be good, non?) The bread was fine as always.

The chalkboard indicated the starter was a piquillo with brandade of (many) fish and indeed it was but served with a fluffed-up custacean-flavored sauce/soup as well - pas mal.

Nice tables eh?  My main was a less successful duo of brochettes of duck and veal ordered blue, indeed "black and blue," which the genial host-guy fully understood and communicated accurately to the kitchen (I heard him) but while the duck was pretty darn good, the veal lack the proper outer noiring. The burnt halves of cauliflower were from the House of Thibault. but if the truth be told, they tasted no better than Colette's or Elan's Monoprix ones.  I left much uneaten, prompting raised eyebrows.

Dessert was the hit of the day - three terrific tiny puff pastries with pineapple ice cream (lovely).

The bill, if one orders the "menu" and has 2 glasses of wine and coffee = 46 E.

And the other thing that's the same is/are the menus/cartes of restos the owner loves/loved meals at in the bathroom.  It's cool everytime I see them.

Go?  If you live nearby, as my old/new friends do, I guess I'd try it again, but I no longer love it like I did before. 

Aux Saveurs du Marche in the 17th: They must-ve opened the doors of the old folks' homes.

 
2.0* Aux Saveurs du Marche, 73 ave Niel in the 17th, 01.44.40.28.15, open 7/7, with a 29 E 2-course lunch weekdays, 40-60 E a la carte, is a place I've had on the Sunday lunch radar screen for months, despite or because of mixed reviews (the big media boys hated it and the blogospherologues thought it much better).  In any case, today was the day.  This is a place so mixed-up that I must break down my 2.0* rating.

*Welcome - 8.0

*Service - 9.0

 
*Hot, fresh bread - 6.0

Sauteed encornets with espelette and capers - OK, standard, fungible - *5.0Risotto with crusty langoutines - *2.0  Ok, Ok, Ok, an explanation.  I know one should not order five things in Paris: risotto, pizza, hamburgers, frites or espresso (or I might add anywhere, except for the risotto 10 clicks outside Modena, inside Naples for pizza, in the USofA for hamburgers, in Belgium for frites or the Illy compound in Trieste for coffee.) 

But I needed a crusty langoustine fix and was willing to take the risotto to get at the little buggers.  Silly me.  The 3 puny langoustines were nothing like Caroline Rostang's Bistro Cote Mer's and the risotto was simply awful.

Quit then, fold my tent, crabwalk away - not on your life.  I wanted this place to redeem itself.  So I ordered the brioche in the fashion of French toast, can't miss there, eh?  Thank the Lord, no.  8.0*

Coffee and pathetic madeleine - -2.0

Clientele - Older than yours truly - 5.0

Copper sink in bathroom - 9.0

The bill for three courses of about the cheapest dishes on the carte and cheapest wine and no bottled water, was 60 E (coffee was offered after I refused the gracious host's offer to give me chicken or practically anything else I wanted on telling him I hated risotto on principle.) 

Go?  Let the dogs out.**  This is a Sunday place for the retired, the 3 generation families, the first daters, the about-to-be-divorced and the lost.

** Colette, my wonderful long-suffering wife of 50 years, says that I use too many inscrutable references, but I know my audience is a special demographic over 35, well, 55, ummm 75, who remember the Great Depression, Mort Sahl, Frank Sinatra and Monty Python, so I'm not concerned.

Special note to Blog/Blogger-haters: Please don't write me more hate-mail telling me how this is your favorite neighborhood place and I ordered the wrong things, I don't understand French food, I'm "too French" (that's a great one), I must have had a bad hair day or the last two times you ate here it was superb, (as I could hear one expat say to his daughter today [how do I know he was of my stripe? Well, he had a beer and his wife a glass of rosé]). I'm sure it was, but the last time I looked at the United States Constitution of my natal country, the First Amendment gave us each the right to express our opinions.

 

L'Agapé in the 17th: Mostly good news.

Richard Hesse of Paris Update, my friendly competitor/colleague, always lists the Pros and Cons of his eating experiences and our meal today at L'Agapé gives me an ideal opportunity to imitate his summaries. 

Pros: No longer as pretentious and no longer strong-arming you to have the expensive wines.

Cons: A long wait for dessert and an incredible noise level at lunch.

The four of us from across the tracks (at Pont Cardinet) entered on a wildly chilly day and received a most warm welcome.

They still have the 35 E pretty-much forced-choice menu at lunch and we all went for it over those at double and treble the price or a la carte which staggered me to add up.

The amuse bouches consisted of two p.p. dry but delicious parmesan "cookies" and a dollop of mustardy creme atop a bed of pureed watercress - pretty darn good.

The first course was described simply as vegetables that had been acidulated but boy were they great - microtomed beets, carrots, beets, shallots, beets, turnips, cauliflower, beets and maybe parsnips.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For mains we were offered a fish or meat - the ladies chose the lieu (despite Colette's recent experiences with said "boring" white fish, as my pal calls it) and we had the entrecote from Desnoyer which was perfect product, well-prepared and both served with winter vegetables in quite different preparations.

The dessert of the day was rice pudding, which I, because of a rare genetic deficiency, am incapable of judging, with poached peach slices, about which I can plead no such problem - the peaches were terrific.  Colette, an expert on the subject of rice pudding, felt it was not up to her standards.

Our bill was 226 for 4 (ergo 114 E per couple) with two bottles of wine we were allowed to choose ourselves, but still decanted into the beautiful designer decanters and the lesser priced of which they said they ran out of after we had ordered it, bottled water (8 E) and coffees at 7 E apiece.

Go?  I'd still say this is good chow at reasonable prices as long so you stick to the "menu."  Once off the reservation, however, beware! 

MBC in the 17th: "The best dish of the trip - Redux."

 

 

 
My downstair's buddy P. liked the creme brulee of foie gras I had for my first course so much he declared it ""The best dish" of his trip: the second time he's said that in the last 10 days (the first time was for the lotte at Le Gaigne.)  It was indeed pretty good as was his first - chicken raviolis.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For mains Madame E. had the vapeured cod with ginger, coriander and celery, M. P. had the sauteed merlan with a mustard sauce atop mashed potatoes and Colette and I both had the milk lamb (albeit hers was rosé and mine blu(e)), with many pleurottes and dandelion shoots.  It was hard to say if there were any winners or losers here, everything was Choukroun at his best.

For dessert, aside from M. P's creme brulee, the ladies and I had bites of the chocolate mi-cuit with a fig ice cream.

Our bill, with a bottle of gassy water and two bottles of excellent Luberon plus 4 coffees (and 28 E in supplements) was 210.50 E.

Go?  How can you not?

MBC by Gilles Choukroun: Visit #X; he just keeps on getting better and better.

 
Gilles Choukroun's MBC in the 17th is a true phenomenon, a place that just keeps on getting better and better.  So many places in Paris appear with a flash and crash; others have Coney Island Cylone highs and lows; yet more have one dish that excels but the rest are "ho hum", and then there are places we once went to but either assaulted your intelligence by upping their prices for the same food or insulted you by dumbing down their products.

Backstory: I've had a checkered history with M. Choukroun; I thought that the Cafe des Delices was one of the most inventive and best restos of the 20th century; started off thinking the same of his Angl'Opera, but was brought down when I realized he (like Aizpitarte and Barbot) had a tendency to go "One Bridge Too Far;" was amused by his supervision of the Café Very and the Mini Palais (pre-Frechon); but entranced and consistently pleased at MBC since its opening.

Disclosure (with her permission): Today, I was searching around with my pal Ptipois aka Sophie Brissaud, cookbook author and restaurant book author and co-author extraordinaire (40 mentions on amazon.fr) for a place to go near where she lives, so she could eat and go back to writing.  We volleyed email after email about my suggestions near her place, until she said "OK, I'll travel.....Let's go to Choukroun's, Gilles really wants me to go."  So the disclosure is that she and I are known to the joint and its chef and the waitstaff.  But as she said, "does that influence our reaction": I hope not.

Aw darn; I took this pix so you could see the menu on the mirror (2 courses for 19 E and 3 for 29 E) but no matter. BTW, since I was here last, he's had the whole place graffiti-ed and its cool, really cool.  One hitch, they were out of the cheapo wine but I've become accustomed to that face/fate, like Rex Harrison.

 

 

One warning for all who enter (like the pirates used to say), just as at Ze Kitchen Galerie or l'Angl'Opera, the description of a dish hardly/barely/inaccurately describes it.  So she had what was termed a crab salad with mango and a squid ink vinaigrette but was more complex than that and my chicken raviolis with a radish salad had a composition of Asian spices and herbs that rendered both of us speach-ful.

 

 

Then she had the merlan aka whiting with a potato puree but again that hardly describes it and I had what  should be a boring piece of rumsteak but cooked blue with a caper sauce and chickpea puree came alive.

We looked at the 4 dessert offerings and I said: "Whadya want?"  "The lemon tarte upside down, two ways."  Hummm, "me too, let's share." "No, there are a few things I never share; one of which is a lemon tarte."  "OK."  Postscriptum: not a morsel was left - it was a sort of lemon tarte, all jumbled up with lemon cookie bits and one big zinger of a piece of lemon itself - Zow! 

With spectacular bread rolls, tap water, a bottle of wine and 2 coffees (offered) our bill was 90E.

Go?  If I cannot convince Colette, Paga and Elan to go next week when they're all here, I'll have lost my mojo and might as well check into a maison de retraite.