5.4 Chateau Poivre, 145, rue du Chateau in the 14th, 01.43.22.03.68, closed Sunday, has really crept under the radar screen, except for Philippe Toinarde’s blog and a friend of mine who lives across the square, whose wife told my wife about it in the gym where they are “partners.”
Backstory: I knew I’d probably eat (true) and drink (untrue) some at the Salon d’Agriculture, this morning because one of my writer friends was dishing up some mighty fine cheese delights at the Auvergne booth, so I made a rez at a place that if it failed to measure up, would not be a total loss for the day. Much has been made about the hot food areas in town these days (Rue Paul Bert, the Marche des Batignolles, the 15th, etc.) but in this forgotten part of town things keep moving (first, M. Lapin, then Guelfeli, then (I think) the Gallo Nero, now this place.)
Just as 7Up was advertised as the UnCola, the Chateau Poivre should claim it’s the un-Passard. I’ll tell you why in a minute.
I entered after a brief walk from the Metro and realized I was staring at a familial face; we established we knew each other from Le Troquet, where ironically, another friend, Colette and I had an over-salted meal at our last visit (but more on that in a second). I was seated (I was alone in the place, with only another party of five – hummm.)
The choices are ample: on a 19 € lunch menu 3 firsts, 4 mains and 3 desserts; on the all day 26 € menu, 9 firsts, 14 mains and 7 desserts; and the firsts were mostly hot not just the usual cold terrines, etc. They provided all with a light broth of winter veggies which you could taste every bit of because it wasn’t drowned in salt.
I then had a fricassee of calamari advertised as made with basil but if I hadn’t known that I would have guessed jalapeno, parsley and light vinegar – very spicy and good. At that point I should have recalled that the chef “Papa” Alioune Gako, was Senegalese/VietNamese because this was greatly influenced stuff.
My main was rabbit bits wrapped first in green cabbage, then in pastry with a huge half cabbage in the middle of the pot. Again one could taste everything because it was neither salted nor oversalted.
I ended with a fine tarteline of apples with a caramel and cream. With coffee, wine but no bottled water = 41.40 €.
Go? For sure, despite the schlep and 2 € error in addition (in the house’s favor of course), the genuine vegetable-tasting veggies alone are worth the price of admission.
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