John Talbott's Paris

Partage in the 5th: Unfortunately, just not in the running: an archival* review.

Ø- Le PartaӘe, 17, rue Frédéric-Sauton in the 5th, 01 43 29 46 25, closed Mondays and Saturday noon has been open about a year and got two hearts in Figaroscope in October, a couple of other mentions and then dropped off the radar screen. I now know why.

Despite it’s being chef’d by an exPershing Hall guy and having one of the most engaging, charming hostesses in creation, it just doesn’t have any moxie. OK, why did it take me a year to eat there? Because there were places higher up on the list that had to be attended to.

Why did I finally eat there? Because it finally crept up on the list as a Sunday lunch place. OK.

One, or at least I, approached it from St Michel, weaving through the schwarma/Greek/dreck shops. From the outside it is stunning: small, upholstered couches and chairs, lovely. The menu – ie the carte – says its name is Le PartaӘe, like Le Tяuc + Le Transvзrsal, the reversed letter shows it’s a happening place, right?, after all, the water glasses are tilted and if you needed convincing, the place’s subtitle is “imaginaire et poetique.”

The menu – ah, first problem – not much I want/need (things like fish with curry, turnip soup, etc) and no “menu,” ie prix fixe. Only things that look good are the most expensive items, OK, suck it up, these days happen.

Second problem, loud Spanish torch songs, but I find myself tapping my fingers and forget to request dampening (I’m the only customer, so no competition in determining the level of noise).

Suddenly arrives an amuse bouche, good sign, firm mousse of salmon, runny mousse of watercress with leaves of watercress, looks great, tastes OK, but it’s a bit weak, limpid, pallid.

Then I order. 1st – a wonderful looking small mound of avocado with fried heads of ecrevisses stuck in, surrounded by their spectacular bodies and pink grapefruit slices. Maitresse says eat the heads, I do, they are perhaps the best element of any dish I’ve had in 2007. The rest – beautiful but tasteless product – damn I forgot my Tabasco sauce! And now I wanna leave but how?

A telltale sign of disaster – when you eat the bread to make up for what you’re not getting elsewhere. Main course arrives – scallops, minced cukes and fennel leaves in a transparent green sauce – you’ve got it, beautiful product that’s absolutely tasteless. How can this be happening to me? What did I do wrong Bacchus, Dionysus, Penates? I’ve led a clean life, enjoyed pleasures, suffered pain, but this, it’s not fair – especially on a beautiful sunny 90° afternoon in Paris.

I had no dessert or coffee but the mignardises weren’t totally inedible, the marshmallow was but not the hot banana slice.

Final hitch, the credit card machine wouldn’t work and I’d left my checks at home and had only 30 € in cash (PS she got it to work).

The bill 54 €.

My prediction, this poor guy and his (I assume) great Spanish wife will go back to cooking in someone’s empire (Ducasse, Robuchon, Costes, Flo, etc) in 18 months after this place tanks and after some seasoning (7 years is my guess) come back up to the majors.

Should one go? Sure, if you don’t care about money and plan on talking with your dear friends so much that you’ll not notice the food.

*Originally published in April 2007.

Chez Rene in the 5th: You can go home again. So long as you’re patient, which I’m not: An archival* review..

4.0 Chez René, 14, bvd St Germain in the 5th, 01.43.54.30.23, closed Sundays and Mondays is one of those old haunts that somehow fell off the screen, partly because we went only for the coq au vin. Thus, when it was announced that it was reopening under new management, I thought it might warrant a revisit.

On my way there, I had to fight my way through a fair number of cross-dressed or transvestite individuals who were apparently getting a headstart on tomorrow’s Mother’s Day fete, and my tour up St Germain revealed a huge change in the restaurant scene (reported in our Faits Divers thread).

In any case, they have a huge terrace spilling out on the street (which the Americans present preferred), that I don’t recall, and the interior seems bigger too (where the French, including disgraced former Mayor Jean Tiberi, who with Alain Juppé, took the political bullets aimed at Jacques Chirac, and his no-show, over-paid wife Xavière, smiling like they were running for office, chose to eat.)

It’s all no smoking said the patron, once he finally had time to seat me (I’d just read François-Régis Gaudry’s review of the Grand Pan where he’d waited 10 minutes to be recognized/seated, so I figured it was not an anti-American statement).

The cool, creamy-chivy amuse bouche was just right and the accompanying toast and roll quite a bit more than decent. I ordered the sautéed girolles, really looking forward to them, despite their price (19 € for 250 gm,) because they smelled terrific as they went by me; nope, he lied and said “we don’t have any,” not, we don’t have any more, “it being Saturday.”

So I settled on rillettes which were standard and then the emblematic coq au vin, which was moist but needed a boost of salt (but since I was the youngest person in the place, I made no mental plaint, figuring they were keeping folks’ blood pressure down).

I finished with 250 gm of strawberries from the “woods,” which were bigger than fraises du bois, with crème fraiche – very nice, albeit a bit chilly.

The wait again between 1st and main was too long and between asking for the check and getting it long enough to prompt an offer of a second coffee (disclosure: accepted).

The bill = 50.50 €; the judgment = it is what it is, no less, no more.

Should one go? If you’re patient of personality, live nearby and want comfort food.

*Originally published in July 2007.

A second at Le Reminet in the 5th: Strangely expensive/not expensive.

 

Le Reminet, as I pointed out a few weeks ago, has a most reasonably priced 3-course "menu" (13.50 post-TVA cut, down from 14 E) but no single a la carte dish is less than that.  So it's strange that I had three courses and Colette just the gambas, and her portion of the bill (if we figured it that way) was double mine.

Once again I was struck by the fact that the staff knew almost every single diner, that they were all of a certain age, and that this time (as opposed to last), Americans dominated.

My three courses consisted of a "German" salad that was essentially a warm German potato salad base with chopped herring, cornichons, fennel and celery; sea trout, that a friend last week said usually appears on US menus as artic char, with nice early summer veggies; and a fruit salad that was most tasty.  A real bargain.

However, truth be told, Colette's four monster gambas also with veggies, were perfect product, perfectly cooked and perfectly consumed.

With a fine bottle of Saumur-Champigny and two coffees our bill was 65.50 E.

Chez Panis in the 5th: Oie, how did I get here? It’s not a new or renovated place? Ah yes, the King of Bistrots told me. An archival* review.

2.5 Chez Panis, 21, Quai Montebello in the 5th, 01. 43.54.19.71, open everyday, looks like any dump on your street corner, with a banal décor, a banal menu and a banal clientele (lots of tourists: French inside: UN outside) and you’ve passed it a million times without ever thinking of entering.

There is strangely no desk/table/bar book at which someone greets you nor any reservations taken/needed. However, the welcome was warm and the waitpeople are the super hustle/bustle type.

The tables are bare, the smoke continually swept into “no smoking” by fervent puffers and a carte replete with sandwiches, salads, omelets and pastas. But it was cheap, so how bad could it get? For instance, wine (offered by the ¼ + ½ liter and full bottle) was at max about 19 € for 75 cl.

The article I read in The Paris Times said they had “reliable classics like French onion soup,” so I ordered that, and is was surprisingly not bad; crisp toast ovals with tasty cheese, although the bouillon lack the depth I associate with the dish.

Then I had a salmon with sorrel sauce, safe bet eh?, which it was. Good product, slightly undercooked, but accompanied by a timbale of zucchini slices that was nul, tasteless, not worth two bites.

I chose to not test their dessert list and got my bill = 30 € after a coffee, I said it was cheap. 

Should one go? If my daughters and kids were coming again to France this summer, I’d say yes, although, truth be told, one can eat at pretty much the same level on any block in the city.

*Originally published in June 2007.

Le Reminet in the 5th: Well, well, well: what a surprise!

 

6.0 Le Reminet, 3, rue des Grands-Degres in the 5th, 01.44.07.04.24, now open 7/7, lunch menu 14 € except weekends, a la carte 40-50 €, is a place “our gang” used to love, then fell on hard times, changed owners/etc., was revived and given a back-of-the-hand review by E. Rubin in March ’07 saying it had gone from bistronomic to touristy.

But an article in ANP April 13th about good value local places (tables solides) put it in the same category as Le Gaigne, Passage 53 + Firmin and that was good enough to get my juices running. Plus Berger/Toinard noted that the chef had been through Polynesia, Madagascar, the Antilles and St Martin so I expected an exotic twist.

The exterior and business card are unchanged but inside it’s totally different and has a different “feel” to it.

First, the host knows almost all the diners; second, the menus and cartes are very limited but look good; third, it has a real neighborhood feel to it (anti-tourist M. Rubin, at least at lunch); and they have a big kitchen staff for this size resto.

The pricing is weird. The 3-course lunch menu is 14 € but the two entrees are also 14 €, so there’s no use going farther. It’s a 2/2/2 deal; and I chose the tuna salad, perch and choc mousse.

The tuna “salad” was unlike any I’d had before: a mélange of tuna and potatoes and dressing on top fennel and carrots rapeed; quite good.

I ordered the perch because my buddy Paga says he can never find it and alone it would have been blah, but with the veggies and fluffy sauce, it was terrific.

The chocolate mousse was also quite fine with drizzled chocolate sauce and the bread warm and inviting.

The wines run from 4.50 € a glass to a Ch. Latour for 2,690 €. Thus, depending on what you choose in food and wine, one person can spend 23 € for the menu and two glasses of wine (my route) or 77 €+ for a la carte and say, one of their “coup de coeur” wines.

Go? I’d say so, though on weekends it could get pricey.

 

L'Estrapade: And now for something completely different…. An archival* review.

5.0 l’Estrapade, 15, rue de l’Estrapade in the 5th, 01.43.25.72.58, closed weekends (I think) has had a new chef since July 10th, from the Bearn, Marc Baucor, who looks about 10-12 (but everyone does to me now,) but who cooks quite maturely what he calls “traditional cooking in our day and age.” I’d agree.

At least from what I had. Because of my last visit, (although it seems like I’ve been here three times in as many years, a search shows I haven’t been since December of 2004), I avoided the jam-packed 18 seats inside and sat on what is so amusingly called the terrace but in that part of town is more like an inch of sidewalk.

In any case, the chef offers a menu of two dishes for 24 and three for 30 € and there are a ton of choices. I chose to start with the Basquaise eggs with pleurottes in a vol au vent that with few slices of jambon gave the dish its boost.

Then I had a rabbit stew with carrots and prunes and a cup of cumin-flavored carrot mousse. Not knowing the chef had started as a pastry-chef, I ordered the chocolate “suicide,” really a fine moelleux with an envelope of dried fruit and pastry filling that is apparently a béarnaise specialty – it was delicious.

With a pot of Bergerac and coffee and two supplemental charges, the bill was 50.50 €.

Should one go? Definitely if one lives nearby, maybe if one is touring near the Pantheon.

*Originally published in September 2007

Agapes in the 5th Redux: not so great the second time around.

What a difference!

October 17th, Atar and I came here and both ate well; today I dragged Colette and we both were very disappointed.  The first bad indicator was that we were alone for most of our meal.

Then my "raviolis" of lobster were not really raviolis but quenelles, which of itself is no sin, but they didn't dazzle.

I then had a "traditional" cote de veau with pleurottes, wherein the veal needed salt, pepper and Lord knows what else and the sauce was strange, like not-quite-truffles-tasting-but-trying.  At this point I had a flash-back to Jadis and the book I'm reading on Careme and thought, is this attempt to recreate the great old recipes the "new" thing?

Colette's bar with a brown sauce was a la vapeur, not my favorite preparation, but even she didn't rave even with its raw endives.

She finished with her classic thermometric gauge, the rice pudding; which she said was "OK" but not gold standard and I had a decent gourmandise.  Coffee and wine were also OK.

Bill = 89.90 Euros.

Oh yah - final note: the men's room door wouldn't latch but since the place was still 85% empty, it hardly mattered.

Christophe in the 5th. An archival* review

4.5. Christophe, 8, rue Descartes in the 5th, 01.43.26.72.49, open lunch and dinner 7/7 with formulas at 12, 16 and 19 (but for limited items), a la carte about 33 € with wines from 14 € and up.

Three of us ate there on a Sunday for lunch and several things were remarkable: the tuna tartare and phyllo-wrapped fried langoustines were terrific firsts; as were the mains of brains on mashed potatoes, confited lamb shoulder on top of great white beans and Basque pork three ways (a boudin noir, pig’s feet with prunes and a huge slice of perfectly cooked pork).

The only disappointments were the crummy décor, a moelleux of chocolate (here described as mi-cuit, which just didn’t beat the “can one do it better than at home” test) and service that ground to a halt after the dessert was served (an old, familiar problem.)

Two huge pluses, (1) It’s entirely No Smoking and (2) the three men all wore chef’s aprons and the guy taking orders and serving also picked up to help the kitchen when pressed.

Our bill for three was 127.50 €; but without ordering the lunch formulas (d/t all the interesting stuff being off them) it’s not a bargain basement; but for a Sunday for this quality, it goes on the list.

*Originally visited in April 2006.

New Hot Quarters: the 5th and 17th - an archival* essay and update*

The 5th is one of those strange mixtures of old and new, water and earth, park and packed old housing. Best known to Americans are probably the Pantheon, Sorbonne and Cluny Museum.

Walking through the Latin Quarter one senses the educational, scientific and medical history of Paris as one encounters streets named Montaigne, Descartes, Curie, Gay Lussac, Broca and Claude Bernard. Far to the East is a walk in and of itself, through the Jardin des Plantes with its mini-zoo, History Museum and gardens themselves. The center of Parisian Muslimism, the great Mosquee, as well as the Val de Grace Military Hospital and Museum are in the 5th as well.

But it’s restaurants were looking for after all. The grand classic of them all, recently downgraded much to many people’s disappointment, is the numbered-duck place – Le Tour d’Argent with its spectacular view of the Seine from the upstairs dining area. Two old favorites of mine - L’Equitable and Le Reminet serve up both great food and are open on weekends. Threre’s also the classic brasserie – Marty – a cut above the others in town. I also like Atlas for pigeon pastilla and tagines as well as Chez Rene’s fabulous coq au vin.

But here’s where the hot new quarters part comes in, there are plenty of new or relatively new places. Louis Vins offers good food and a terrific assortment of wines, Le Pre Verre is a place with perhaps the best price-quality ration in town, Les Papilles makes you feel like you’re eating in a wine shop (which of course you are) and Christophe, the newest kid in town, offers solid eating amidst a sea of exotic ethnic places and tourist traps.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The 17th is a whole other ball of wax. Largely residential, it houses the Palais des Congres and was to be home to the Olympic Village if Paris’s bid had won for the 2012 Olympics.

There are not a lot of fascinating walks, save through the Poncelet market, where one does more anticipatory eating than burning off of calories. And the architecture cannot be described as fascinating either. So it’s to eat you come.

When I think of old, classical places, it’s not to the 17th thoughts turn. Indeed, while Joel Robuchon opened here a few decades ago and l’Huitrier has been around a few decades, it’s really the young upstarts who have found the 17th welcoming. Just think of the burst of energy in the area, with within a few years the following opening: the Table de Lucullus (now gone), Goupil le Bistrot, le Bistral, Ripaille, Meating and Abadache. Talk about realizing Olivier Morteau’s dream in Food Business, find a culinary desert, pop in a hard-working inventive chef and voila! Except for Meating which has a glossy sheen to it, the others are down-home and dirty bistrots serving up good grub at decent prices. And more power to them.

My very favorities among the new places are:

Le Pre Verre
8 rue Thenard, 5th (Metro: Cluny La Sorbonne)
T: 01.43.54.59.47
Closed Sunday and Monday lunch
Lunch menu 13 €, dinner 26 €.

Les Papilles
30 rue Gay Lussac, 5th (RER: Luxembourg)
T: 01.43.25.20.79
Closed Sunday and Tuesday and Thursday nights
Menu 28.50 €.

Christophe
8 rue Descartes, 5th, (Metro: Mauberg Mutualite)
T:01.43.26.72.49
Open lunch and dinner 7/7
Formulas at 12, 16 and 19 €, a la carte about 33 €.

Le Bistral
80, rue Lemercier, 17th (Metro : La Fourche)
T : 01.42.63.59.61
Closed Sundays and Mondays
Formula at lunch 27 €, menu 30 € (but many 3 € supplements)

Meating
122 avenue de Villiers, 17th (Metro: Pereire)
T : 01 43 80 10 10
Closed Sundays and Mondays
Menus 50-60 € for lunch, 60-89 € for dinner

Goupil
4 rue Clause Debussy, 17th (Metro : Porte de Champarret)
T : 01.45.74.83.25
Closed Saturdays and Sundays
A la carte 40 €.

*Originally published in May 2006; Update October 2008

Wow, so much has happened in both arrondissements.

In the 5th, we’ve seen Reminet which I loved, ruined by new owners, Chez Rene lose its luster even for coq au vin (by new owners), but l’Equitable taken over with great success by a new gang and renamed Agapes and Sylvain Sendra move from Temps au Temps in the 11th to found Itineraires with mixed success. Two other places, more or less new but not mentioned above, also providing mixed results, are the offal place Ribouldingue + Chez Lena & Mimile which is strongly influenced by Herve This’s sous vide cooking.

In the 17th, much, much more has occurred: Rech came under the hands of Alain Ducasse, to great success and Jean Yves Bath successfully moved his eponymous resto from the 8th here. To my palate, however, the most successful opening the last few years was that of Clocher Pereire, run by two brothers-in-law that serves up spectacular food week after week, for most affordable prices. L’Accolade, Bigarrade + M. comme Martine are farther behind, F. Landeau & Huitrier are fine for bivalves, but several others are lacking in some manner or other and off my list – Escapade, Chez Fred, Hide & Mets & Vins.

What are still on the list:

Agapes
47 bis, rue Poliveau, 5th (Metro : St Marcel)
T : 01.43.31.69.20
Closed Mondays
Formulas at 16, 18 & 22, menus at 28, 30 & 33, tasting menu = 56 €

l’Accolade
23, rue Guillaume-Tell, 17th (Metro: Pereire)
T: 01.42.67.12.67
Closed Saturday night and Sundays
Lunch menu = 24, a la carte 25-30 €

Le Clocher Pereire
42, bvd Pereire 17th, (Metro: Pereire )
T: 01.44.40.04.15
Closed Saturdays and Sundays
Lunch menu 17, dinner 29 and 38, a la carte 35-50 €.

Rech
62, ave des Ternes,17th (Metro: Ternes)
T: 01.45.72.29.47
Closed Saturday lunch and Sundays
A la carte about 50-60 €.

Agapes in the 5th - Pretty good under new management.

 

6.0 Agapes, (not mind you Agapé in the 17th), 1, rue des Fosses St Marcel in the 5th, 01.43.31.69.20, closed Sunday dinner and Mondays (ergo, open Sunday lunch as it was when it was Equitable,) formulas and menus from 16-33 €, wines from 16.50 € up, is as good if not better than it was when Yves Mutin was “discovered” here by the New York Times a decade ago.

My food god Atar and I went with no expectations; I mean, altho’ Alain Fusion had noted that the chef had passed through the kitchens of Senderens and Vigato, we’d heard that before; I mean, he coulda been peeling potatoes. The amuse gueules were tasty dips of fromage blanc with chopped chervil or chives, I should remember shouldn’t I?, and a curried puree thing.

He had the tete de veau with gribiche, carrots and cabbage that was about the best I’ve ever had and I had a lentil soup with whole lentils and a nice morsel of sautéed foie gras, equally impressive. He tried the daurade on spinach with mushrooms and smashed potatoes, sacrificing his body, I suspect, to ascertain if he could bring the Missus next time and I had a huge joue de boeuf with a wonderful foie gras sauce and for a potato-insensitive person, a most fine potato loaf.

I had a chocolate crème brulee with a shot glass of Magnolias/Carte Blanche-type stuff.

With a bottle of fine Rousillon and two coffees but no bottled water = 86.90 €.

Go? You betcha, the schlep is well worth it.