John Talbott's Paris

L'Office in the 9th: Challenging Ze and Spring for constantly changing and creative cuisine.

L'Office in the 9th is a hot, new, bistro-restaurant that could easily now rest on its laurels, slack off service, raise prices and downgrade products, but no, Kevin O'Donnell keeps kicking it up a notch.  I went today with two women who seem to use L'Office as their office or at least office cantine, since they've been here tons more times then I.  The greeting we got was on a par for what The Queen of England is now receiving and I was honored to be with them but puzzled why the reservation was in my name.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The firsts were impossible to choose from but my partners had the thin slice of watermelon that almost covered the plate, with feta and cucumber on top and I had the almost-raclette-like scamorze cheese with raw zucchini (remember, Kevin toiled at Del Posto), a gamba and two sauces, one tomatoish.  These two dishes have to have been two of the best ones I have and shall have this summer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then for mains, the ladies both had the tuna , almost (but not enough for me) raw on the inside, cooked on the outside with vegetables, while I had a starter as a main - a crisp-skinned piggy delight with girolles and an egg of all things on top.  If I described the latter as divine I would be doing it a disservice. 

For dessert, two of us had the superb strawberry tarte with creme anglaise and (I think) basil ice cream.

With a bottle and a glass of wine, no bottled water but three coffees, our bill was 106.40 E or 72.27 E a couple.

Go?  ALERT - Now open Monday-Saturday, so please do.

Le Dome du Marais: Still a beautiful setting with less stunning food.

5.2 Le Dome du Marais, 53bis, rue des Francs-Bourgeois in the 4th, 01.42.74.54.17, open 7/7, is a place I remember eating at under its prior chef and management many years ago; I was stunned by the setting and fresh, locavore product theme. 

Well, it's still stunning, but the food while good, is not.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The amuse-gueule was a nice enough bit of avocado/guacamole, Madame's "frozen" pea soup (she being French got the English carte and I got the French one) was nice and my tartare of daurade with ginger and lime was, ahhh, nice.  So far no fireworks.

At about this point, a former writer colleague sitting at the next table sent me her card and in due time we chit-chatted with her and the publicity-marketing person, all very nice, no really, but the main courses took forever to arrive.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Madame had ordered the beef tartare lok lak (which I'd never heard of but our nice wait-person explained had an Asiatic twist; indeed, lok lac is a (cooked) Cambodian beef with soy, garlic and oyster sauce, but my well-traveled friend said she also tasted cardamon) and I had a St Pierre with veggies and potatoes with lardon bits and a side of celery puree.  All quite, well, nice.

I skipped dessert but she had the cafe gourmand where the brownie was the best part and I a plain coffee.

With a bottle of Chinon, another glass of house red, good bread and no bottled water, our bill should have been 109.50 E but they made an "error" and charged us for yet another glass of wine - I don't know whether to be angrier at myself for not really inspecting the bill or them for sloppiness, greed or immaturity.

Go?  I'm afraid that despite the stunning decor and setting (although the chairs in the anteroom were unsittable-in), the price-quality, lack of pizzaz, long wait and over-charging over-ride whatever scenery there is.

Stella Maris: 15 years later - "What's your rating?" "6. But I'm much harder on established "starred" places than striving locavore ones"; A backwards review.

Warning: This review is written backwards from my usual style since I was possessed by the Walcott Gibbs, circa 1936, devil; he's the guy who parodied Time Magazine's style saying "Backward ran sentences until reeled the mind...Where it all will end, knows God!"  [Walcott Gibbs 1936]

Go? I dunno, it's very pricy and the prix-qualite is not very good.

The bill: with a bottle of the absolute cheapo supremo (42 E, a Minevois), two lunch "menus", two coffees (8 E each for mediocre stuff) and no bottled water, our bill was 162 E.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Madame's desset was (I thought) a rather mundane but serviceable strawberry compote on a scoop of vanilla ice cream with kirsh jelly and I had an interesting and inventive dish that was called a pistachio flan with toasted pistachios and ice creaam and (when we inquired) a wonderful paper-thin leaf of sugar.  This was the highlight of the meal.

 

 

 

 

 

 

For mains, she had a terrific piece of skinless half-cooked salmon that I must say was one of the highlights in salmon eating and I had a ball of beef cheeks with a black sauce I thought would blow me out of the water - unnnnh unh.  The veggies were all OK, but so?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For starters she had the white asparagus with a mousseline sauce that was OK and I ordered the interesting sounding jellied shellfish with winter squash, urchin "tongues" and algae but there was none (the waiter had no clue of such on taking the order) so I settled for the banal, you could get-it-anywhere, microtomed scallops with a lime and mango sauce and some strange twisted Sister, no, maybe this was the famous urchin "tongues", tough and tasteless but intriguing-looking.

The meal started off auspiciously enough with an amuse-gueule of jellied beet with (could I have heard correctly?) Rocquefort sauce, no, but maybe yes.

The 52 E "menu" is impressive, lots of choices, interesting choices, but the wine prices were outasight.  Hey it's got a star, even though from my quick look at the chefs' name tags and visages none of them was Tateru Yoshino, which I learned later from web comments is not unusual at lunch or dinner.

This place is cool, really cool and I'm sure it's had a coat of paint, but it looks the same as when we four came in 1997 when it opened to great acclaim

Stella Maris in the 8th, at 4 rue Arsene Houssaye, 01.42.89.16.22, closed Saturday noon and Sunday, is a place "our gang" frequented after it opened, marvelling at the cooking, especially of fish, at reasonable prices, by its founding chef Tateru Yoshino. 

So when my wonderful ex-co-host from the website whose name will not be mentioned, read in A Nous Paris and Pudlo that Shimpei Oie had moved from it to the Bistro Volnay and the original four had a super meal at the B.V. a few weeks ago, said ex-co-host from the website whose name will not be mentioned, said to me "Let's go to Stella," and I thought "Yah, whoever is now cooking should be tested."  Unfortunately, she was refrring to the Brasserie Stella in the 16th, down the street but made the reservation at Stella Maris, so there/here we were.

Now does that answer all your questions and isn't it fun to read a review backwards.

"No," I hear you saying, "OK, it was just an experiment."

Axuria in the 15th: "John, this is the best run of places ever."

Today, our oldest Paris friends who are still speaking to us accompanied me out to the outer banks of the 15th where we had a meal every bit as good as Colette and I had a few Sundays ago.

The house started us off with some sliced Iberico ham, puffy bread sticks and a fine veloute of green asparagus which was perfect for the chilly rainy afternoon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

M. had the BBQ of gambas with quinoa, Mme. the pressed leeks and microtomed scallops and I the escargots with the requisite amout of garlic and butter and a new twist - chopped nuts - all quite tasty.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Madame then had a nice piece of daurade, Monsieur the tete de veau fashioned as a bric and I a perfectly cooked 1/2 cote de boeuf - all with an incredible amount of both spring veggies and potatoes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For desserts they had a 3 sorbets (mango, orange citron and whatever) and a moelleux of caramel while I was content with the rest of the Chateau Darzac.

With OK bread, no coffee nor bottled water and two of the Bordeaux our bill was 160.70 E, thus 107 E a couple.  And it's open for Sunday lunch folks.

Repaire de Cartouche in the 11th: "Splendid....best lamb ever" he said.

My friend Paga, whom I've eaten more meals with than anyone else excepting Colette, in France or New York, suggested we go back to the Repaire de Cartouche, even though he'd just been a week ago and me, 6 months ago.  He took one look at the carte and said "This is pretty much new stuff."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We started off with Paquin's signature rillettes, his superb bread and some (20 E) Cahors, just right for a typical gutsy Paquin meal.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Paga started off with a wonderful cabbage salad of fat and fat (it was called a salad of bacon and lard, but he deemed it just like college rowing table scapple) [I too loved it]; the arty/histy/archy types had salmon cru with what was called a cauliflower tabouli but was truly oversalted cauliflower florette bombs; and I had what may have been my best ever tender/tasty/trumptious octopus salad with baby artichoke heart quarters and oversalty capers.  Whoa!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then our friend from Cantbrigia had a really tough pave de boeuf, even in France where the beef ipso facto is lean and mean; Madame Elan had the veal which was dry and kinda tough for her to take and the Master and I had the best milk-fed lamb's leg of the century, take that back, the 20th and 21st centuries; 5 WOW's.  It came with beans and roasted garlic; oh boy, "gone to heaven" time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At this point P. and I passed on dessert, happily digesting our gigot and beans, and the two deprived artsy mecs journeyed on to a spicy kiwi fruit and macaroon with raspberries, which they much liked.

Our bill with two bottles of wine, no bottled water and four coffees was 115 E a couple for the greatest lamb ever; no contest there or here.

Go?  Patricia Wells says that one must go once a year and I'll enthusiastically endorse that.

La Cerisaie in the 14th: "Better than ever," my old friend said.

The other day, my main food guy whom I've known long enough to have been in our wedding, said 'Let's go to Cerisaie."  "Good idea," said I.  "Let's do it."

To some extent, nothing's changed since 2003 when it opened under Cyril and Maryse Lalanne's control; it still has an astonishingly comprehensive carte plus 4 specials; something for everyone.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We argued among ourselves as to who got the best starter; all were superb; the fresh morilles with egg, white asparagus and a cassoulet of beans, escargots and chorizo.

 

 For mains we had sauteed foie gras (which could have been a bit warmer but I think chef wanted to retain the moist inside) with polenta, a civet of tripes, that Paga had dropped by the resto earlier this week to ensure was on the carte, and a lovely salmon; again all the dishes were, like Lake Woebegon, above average.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And I hesitate to say it again, but all our desserts were terrific as well; from the fluffy/runny caramel mousse through the dried fruit jam with roquefort ice cream (you read that right) to the strawberries and ice cream.

With super bread, 2 bottles of Pays de l'Herault wine and 4 coffees our bill came to 100.50 E a couple; right there on the price line.

Sens Unique in the 18th: Great food is for us a very convenient place.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sens Unique in the 18th is a place I more or less stumbled on last month and found quite respectable for our region of the universe.  Today I returned with Colette and our downstairs' male neighbor, the weaker sex of the couple being off to do museums and salad.  The Marilyn Monroe movie opens here this week but the decor and clientele were here long before.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My friend Paga had a molded mound of chopped mango and gambas that was quite as good as my 12 oysters, 4 each of three kinds.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Colette then had lovely-produced and perfectly-cooked and citrus-covered scallops with an almost-millefeuille of sliced potato and bacon while my neighbor and I each had the 400-500 grams of luscious sole with a creamy butter sauce and (for me) rather decent mashed potatoes.

For dessert Colette had the dream of her life - a moelleux of caramel - with a small wedge of baked apple, quite nice if I do say so myself.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our bill, with forgetable haddock rillettes and OK bread, no bottled water and two bottles and a glass of wine as well as two Calvas (offered) was 190 E, thus 126.66 E a couple.

It turns out that Colette has a culinary double - Shop non stop http://www.colette.fr/#/a/3/eshop/246/food/ nifty eh?

Le Bouclier des Bacchus in the 9th: A wonderful feast for 11.

Le Bouclier des Bacchus in the 9th is a place my energizer bunny friend N. and I ate at a few weeks ago and when another friend suggested a group lunch, I charged N. with setting it up in their upstairs' room, thinking (1) it would be a "forced" menu and (2) the wines would be much more than last time when I blindly looked over my right shoulder and picked out a 12.50 E Ajaccio from the wine shelves, that was surprisingly good (they charge the same whether one has the bottle their or apports it.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For firsts they had a pissaladiere that no one availed themselves of (no pix), green salads (made on request), a jambon persille (that was [sorry folks] the best I've ever had), a melted container of Maroilles cheese (that was [sorry again folks] the best all of us but the poor guy who ordered it and thought it was "doughy", the best we'd ever had), and a salad Chasseur aka with 1/2 deboned quail leggies (that was [sorriest folks] the best I've ever had).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then the table split between Bony's favorite - the veal Marengo - and pintade with a creamy sauce with the kick - my favorite.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For desserts we again split between the cold Grand Marnier souffle (not bad) and pain d'epice with caramel (pas mal).

We started with the same wine N. and I had had before and after depleting their supply moved on to another Corsican just up the road which some in the crowd found better and others worse.

Our bill, oooh la la, the bill; for 11 persons, who all had their astounding 26 E 3-course "menu", 5 bottles of wine, no bottled water, pathetic bread, 6 coffees and 1 tea = 250.70 E, thus about 64 E a couple.  Top that budgeteers!

Les Saisons in the 9th: "The best I've ever had" they say again.

Les Saisons in the 9th is a place that I was astonished by a month ago and I took Colette and our downstairs' pals today and our reception approximated the Second Coming.  My goodness.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Colette skipped a first but Paga had the Scots salmon with horseradish sauce he declared (once again) nearly perfect and I certainly agreed; Madame and my decontructed artichoke barigoule was pretty damn good as well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then he had one of the two daily specials, the boudin noir which he declared equally approached perfection and Colette and I had the other special, a fine piece of turbot with asparagus and mashed potatoes (not pictured), while Elan had an onglet of veal with asparagus and pleurotes which inched towards the perfect piece of beef country.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For desserts, Paga and Colette had the crumble of strawberries and rhubarb which broke his "best I've ever had run", Madame had a sabayon with strawberries which everyone but she loved and I had a Baba which Colette said was "the best she's ever had."  My goodness, you'd think these three lived on a desert isle.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had started off with a Bordeaux which Colette deemed "bitter" and revenging herself ordered a 1 E pricier bio Languedoc.  With these, plus fine bread and butter, no bottled water but four coffees our bill per couple was 96 E.

Le Gaigne in the 4th: the old Alain Passard (salt) problem.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Le Gaigne, in the 4th, is a place we go back to time after time and have never found any fault (until today, but more about that later).  We were warmly welcomed, as always, by Aurélie Gaignon and had a splendid veloute of radish-top greens, a clever terrine of all sorts of veal (liver, kidneys, etc.) and some Pic Saint Loup.  Also let me apologize for the sh**ty pix, a result of low lighting, shaky hands and others "helping" me out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For mains M. Paga had the pintade which was just fine but the ladies scallops and my St Pierre were over-salted and that really took the bloom off the rose unfortunately.  I explained same to Madame and she graciously offered me a new main but I really didn't want/need one and so she supplied our later coffees without charge.


Desserts for the ladies comprised a moelleux and a lemon tart both of which were quite good.

The bill, with two bottles of wine, no bottled water and the 4 coffees offered, was 194 E, or 97 E a couple.

Go?  I'd say yes.  After I got home I refreshed myself with the provenance of chef Mickaël Gaignon and saw that while he had passed through the Houses of Gagnaire and Anton he was never trained by Passard to lay on the salt so maybe this was a "one of" [sic].