John Talbott's Paris

Jeanne B.: Sunny, summery, satisfying.

To celebrate the arrival of Colette and my favorite cousin-visitor to France with his lovely lady (R) on this "maybe-it's-going-to-be-summer-soon-after-all-afternoon," we Montmartrebussed up the hill to Jeanne B.  As you'll recall, they have an astonishingly priced 23 E three-course lunch and astonishlngly-priced magnums of wine starting at 41 E. (after breathing a bit, the wine was very good)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So off we went; R ordered a wonderful house terrine (chicken if you beklieve it); cousin and Colette having the glassful of avocado and shrimp which needed some Tobasco or salt or both; and I some bulots with an herb-flavored mayo.  A good albeit not overpowered start.

 

 

For mains, R had a huge pork short rib, Colette a veggie salad with a few bites of chicken, and the boys milk-fed Spring lamb, all of which were good product, well prepared, albeit sending up no shooting stars.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Unimaginatively, the three of them chose to close ith an apple-rhubarb crumble and I had what sounds unimaginative, but was anything but - a delicious fruit salad.  Our bill with 4 coffees and no bottled water, was 71.50 E a couple.

 

Jeanne B. (Rue Lepic) in the 18th: Astonishing food at these prices; the Astier brand lives.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

6.2 Jeanne B., 61, rue Lepic in the 18th (Metro: ah... maybe Absesses, better the # 80 or 95 bus), open 7/7, 01.42.51.17.53 has been open about a month and is in the middle of tourist heaven, but for those of us who live nearby, it's a wonderful thing.  In many ways, it adheres to the Astier winning formula/brand; good eats, good product, reasonably priced and great wines.  Unlike Astier and Jeanne A. it is not elbow-to-elbow, indeed, it is a huge place with rooms facing the street, the back and I think on the second floor (I forgot to go up) - at least 30 seats and perhaps more; like Jeanne A. it has a large display of lots of stuff to take out.  And the welcome, service and decor were first rate although we did have a wait between 1st and mains.

At lunch (even on weekends), and as opposed to Jeanne A. it has (hallelujah) no brunch and two dishes are 19 E and three are 23 E (at night 23 and 27 E respectively).  And the wine list is printed on a magnum that is totally cool.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Amazingly none of the three of us wanted the same things; thus we ordered acoss the board and were very happy indeed.  For firsts, I had what I thought was one of the best, no, I take that back, the best lobster bisque I've ever had - creamy, flavorful+ and full of taste sensations; J. had what was called hummus of chick peas and frogs' parts - oh boy!; and R. had a standard, a very good standard I admit, but still a standard - artichoke a la vapeur with sauce.  At this point I figured we were ahead of the game, it would have to go downhill.  But no!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mains consisted of generous slices of a gigot (milk-fed Spring, "Easter's on its way") lamb, undercooked as it should be, with a weird sauce and forgetable potatoes; an indescribable "all vegetable" tart sort of thing (which J. had to ask for something spicy to wake it up, in this case, Tabasco); and slices of lobster called a croque homard de Jeanne (OK, if that's how you want to call it.)  All three of us were purring.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At this point my two pals from distant Arr's bowed out, but I thought it good to try a cafe gourmand, but as opposed to the usual assortment of mini-desserts Jeanne A. is famous for, Jeanne B's consisted simply of 3 chocolates, good ones mind you, but pretty standard.

Our bill, ah let's see, with a decanted 75 cl of Bourgeuil (all wines are from magnums) and glass of Chablis, both very decent, one Coke and 1/2 of sparkling water (R. was suffering from an over-indulgence of cassoulet and sangria hier [a combo guaranteed to put one out]) and a 4 E supplement for the lobster, our bill was 112 E for three, thus 74.66 E a couple.  Noise level went from 65-75 dB.

Go?  Indeed.  But don't expect just locals; already fellow Yankees and our friends from the East have been tipped.  And you MUST reserve, the list of reservations was already tipped when I entered at 12h28.  There's a table d'hote, but as you know I'm antisocial.

Chez Frezet in the 18th: This is the best that the Petit Marguery/Bastide Odeon Group can do?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5.1 Chez Frezet,  181, rue Ordener in the 18^th , 01.46.06.64.20, open 7/7 (Metro: Jules Joffrin); the Mousset Group (which runs the three Marguery’s, Bastide Odeon, Chez Francoise and La Maree) made a stealth invasion into the quartier in April of 2011 taking over the then-named Paris Boheme where I had an awful meal under the misguided impression that the chef, who had been through my hometown Baltimore’s finest restos, might have picked up a few tricks and have retro-named it Le Frezet, which it was when Colette and I first came to the area and where I learned what salmon unilaterale, was.  Whew, how's that for running-on?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are two very reasonably-priced "menus" and I chose to go with the less expensive one, mainly because I craved eperlans.  But they came smelling of fish, too fishy, not as if they were plucked out of the Loire yesterday, over-salted but redeemed by a nice tasting tartare.  Then I had a faux filet which was OK, but the sauce seeking to replicate the "secret one" at the Entrecote joints, wasn't close to them.  Midway through I got a call from France Telecom - the guy was running early - who ever heard of that?  So I ordered some pre-made chocolate mousse which was OK but the biscuit wafer was superior.

With a 1/2 bottle of fine claret, no bottled water, more than passable bread and a coffee, my bill was 30.90 E (which may explain why the place was packed with locals despite the lack of reviews.)

Go?  Lesson Learned: If the only mention of a place is in a Figaroscope Dossier, unh unh.

Il Brigante in the 18th: A pizzeria with an attitude.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5.0 Il Brigante, 17, rue du Ruisseau in the 18th, 01 44 92 72 15, closed Sundays, is another place around the block and I've been waiting to test it and its whirling Dervish Italian pizzamaker for an appropriate evening.  And it arrived.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had four: a vegetarian, a Cardinale, a Brigante (Margherita with lots of stuff and spices) and their most peppery - the Vivante.   For Paris it was pretty good stuff, but as you will see, tommorrow, Americans still produce better pizzas overall than even Italians in France.

The bill, with two bottles of wine and nothing else except a decibel levdel of 80.2, was 95 E.

Go?  I suspect I will go back.

Sonia's Indian Restaurant in the 18th: It seemed like a good idea at the time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4.0 Restaurant Sonia aka Chez Sonia, 8, rue Letort in the 18th, 01.42.57.23.17 is a place I've been passing on my early-morning "limpies" since it opened about 3 years ago and never had occasion to go, not eating out nights. It was rated 5/5 by everyone on TripAdvisor and one poster claimed it was “Le meilleur indien de Paris !”   Whoa!  So after a tough day of unpacking, the moving crew and I went around the corner to what looks like a typical Indian place.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When I looked at the bill it showed a staggering list of 12 items, but among them were wine, raita, dal, nan and paratha; so what we really concentrated on were the vegetarian samosas, chicken vindaloo, eggplant pakora, baignan burtha, prawn tandoori and vegetable curry.

For four of us it was 98.40 E, thus 49.20 E a couple.

Go?  Well, if this is the best Indian food now in Paris, I despair.  It was serviceable, OK for "Cook's Night Out," but not the "knock your socks off" food you get in Delhi, New York or even sad sad food-deprived Baltimore.

 

Sens Uniques: One way to good eating.

Sens Uniques represents another in a series of fine places that have opened in the 18th/Montmartre in the last two years that is walking distance from our new and old flats and thus ideal for lunch while moving between the two.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of our moving crew went with the scallops and mushrooms with a mound of greens, two chose the bass with zucchini flower and shredded carrots and the fourth of us chose the maigre with a chorizo crust.  I think I can say without contradiction that each of us thought we'd gotten the best dish.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The desserts were equally spectacular: a moelleux of chocolate, a croquant of chocolate and roasted bananas.

With two bottles of wine, no bottled water and 5 coffees, our bill was 198.50 or 99.25 E per couple.  dB level = 69.2.

Hokkaido in the 18th: yet another mediocre sushi joint.

2.5 Hokkaido, about 88 Rue Ordener in the 18th, has been open for a few months and was spotted by one of my sharp-eyed daughters who said "Ever eaten there, Dad?"  I had to admit I had not even seen it.  So after a day of moving into their/our new apartment, and suffering from what was called in the rest of Europe the "London crud," I figured, why trudge up the Montmartre hill to the terric and well-known Enishi and just eat around the corner?  Dumb me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The unpictured miso soup was pathetic, the shrimp panko'd OK, the rolls acceptable and the sashimi alright except it was 50 % salmon - boring.

At this point, my bout of the "London crud" had caught up with me and after finishing off the wine (not bad), we hobbled home for some more unpacking.

Go again?  No way; I'll eat sushi from my new downstair's Franprix before I'd return.

La Table d'Eugene; The neighborhood doesn't get much better food.

La Table d'Eugene is a place walkable from both our old and new apartments, thus easily reached between emptying good old 29 and unpacking at 63.  Our hard-working daughters and the hard=working guys from Torrens got the move done from 7h30-12h30 just in time fopr lunch.  Yeah!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We started off with a crab remoulade, snackee scallops and raviolis of perdreaux; all of which were extraordinary.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then onto the anglebar, scallops, cerf and duck in blood; equally outofthe box delights.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally, my two great daughters had the two chocolate desserts; one with orange and the other - a bomb - again - superb.

With two bottles of Languedoc, no bottled water but 4 coffees, our bill was 223 E, thus 111.50 E a couple.

La Rallonge in the 18th; A Table d'Eugene Sue spin-off serving tapas and wine and good vibrations.

6.0 La Rallonge, 16, rue Eugene Sue in the 18th, 01.42.59.43.24, open Tuesday-Saturday from 7 PM for small plates/Basque-Spain-esesque tapas has been open four weeks and already on a lazy/hazy Tuesday night is packed with a variety of locals and folks attracted by the food at the Mothership.  Mostly Bobo's, it registered a 75.8 dB.

The offerings, could you read this - I encourage you to blow it up 200x and use a magnifying glass - are awesome.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So -
- gambas ravioles
- sardines on aurbergines
- big blue gambas
- Daurade cru
- Tomato on bread with lottsa garlic
- Manchego
- Joue de boeuf
- Chipirons, eggplant, squash and carrots
- charcuterie
- Chocolate mousse
- Rice pudding.

With 2 bottles of wine, fine bread but no bottled water or coffee our bill was 118 E.

Go?  If you're Mangeur, seeking treats out of the central city, surwe.  But if you live 500 meters away, it'll serve as a "cook's night out" possibility.

Antoine de Montmartre: A bridge too far?

4.8 Antoine de Montmartre, 102 ter Rue Lepic in the 18th, 01.53.09.23.93, closed Sundays (Bus: Montmartrobus) is Antoine Herrah's fourth venture up the Mont and perhaps stretches his talents a bit too far.  While beginning at l'Arpege, he set up Chamarre on the Left Bank and then took over the Moulin de la Galette in the 18th which had had a very checkered history and I went and was way disappointed.  Next I recall the internet buzzing when he moved Chamarre from the Left Bank to the top of Montmartre to take over the moribund Beauvilliers and I was confused by the mixed French/Maurician menu.  But earlier this year I was in love with his revival of the old Clocher de Montmartre and have been several times since.

I thought he'd finally found his groove and was eager to go to #4 - Antoine de Montmartre - which I did today with Colette and my downstairs' French neighbor.  The place is ultra-cool; seats at the counter, high tables and one low settee.  (we are not fans of high tables!) 

The carte is comprehensive and includes everything from seafood to duck; from croquettes to confits; from French to Maurician to Indian twists.

 

 

 

 

 

For starters we more or less shared platters of fried calamari, moules with parsley and sardine "beignets."   None blew my socks off.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For mains we all had "mini" portions of scallops, gambas and a Basque sausage/calamari mixture, which somehow, while our friendly waiter held it for its photo, did come out.  Again, none of the dishes exceeded the gold standard although the gambas and sausage were tasty.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Colette couldn't hold herself back from trying the creme catalan which was unlike most, consisting of a ball of ice cream with a fluffed creme on top.  With one and a half bottles of wine, strange oily wafers and OK bread, plus three "thin" (according to Colette) coffees, our bill was 116.50 or 77.66 E a couple.  Oh, the decibel level never exceeded 65.5 dB, in part because, despite rather loud American music, there were no other customers.

Go?  Sadly, because I want despirately for there to be more great places to eat on the Mont and do my best to support our neighborhood enterprises, I cannot in good conscience ask you to.