John Talbott's Paris

L'Idee - Nice, very nice, and good too.

7.5 l’Idee, 52, ave de la Porte de Villiers in Levallois-Perret, 01.41.05.05.35, closed Sunday lunch and Mondays, has a three course lunch menu at 30 and two for 24 € (including a glass of wine or water and an Illy coffee), altho’ a la carte at night can climb to 145 € if you want caviar. The idea of the chalkboard is to only offer things that are straight from the market and I went with a guy who’s an expert in this; plus we realized a few more meters up the street (Villiers) is a market that’s open incredibly long hours and has bio and kosher produce.

In any case, we were happy to be outside the city limits with food like this. I started with a wonderfully full and tasty and spicy terrine de campagne with confited onions and he had a very fresh-produce tasting caviar d’aubergines.

Then, he had the cocotte of fish with sliced carrots and celery (I think) whose broth was heavenly and I had a great piece of toasty crusted rascasse atop equally nice spinach (the third choice today was Thai beef, which looked good on a neighbor’s plate.) We ended up eating two little Philly cheesecakes that were really good.

With two pots of acceptable Bordeaux, the bill was 76 €. Oh and among the bathrooms downstairs were two doors marked Spa and Sauna – so the old Mauvais Garcons boys have a sense of humor.

Go? A friend of mine (the RFC) acted like I was going to the moon when I said I was going 90 meters outside Paris to it, but you’re not afraid or that snobby are you?

Reviews of reviews - The Week of February 18th, 2008

The Week of February 18th, 2008

Monday in Le Fooding, Chloé Aeberhardt discussed Lao Lane Xang 2, 102 avenue d'Ivry in the 13th, 01 58 89 00 00, closed Wednesdays, with a lunch menu at 10,80 €, count on 20–25 € à la carte for items such as a croustillant rice salad, lacquered duck with tamarind red curry sauce and bar with lime.

Monday-Tuesday, in ANP, Philippe Toinard gave 3/5 blocks to L’Idee, coordinates given before, where instead of a long menu, the chef chooses what to cook depending on the market, and Jerome Berger also gave 3/5 blocks to Gustave et Jules, 12, rue Edouard Lockroy in the 11th, 01.43.55.54.29, open everyday from 6 PM to 2 AM, a la carte about 25 €, which he describes as a zinc where one drinks a lot and eats a little.

Wednesday, in Figaroscope, Emmanuel Rubin’s C’est nouveau awarded three hearts to the Laotian-Thai-Vietnamese-Chinese Lao Lane Xang 2, coordinates above whose food he calls suave and deliciously abrasive and two hearts to l’Entetee, coordinates given before, whose dishes he thought were amusing but a bit showy. One heart each went to Mets & Vins, 14, rue Saussier Leroy in the 17th, 01.42.27.64.58, closed Sundays, which is pretty much what it says it is – charcuterie and cheese starting at 15 € depending on the wine; and the Japanese sushi/curry/ravioli place Nagoya in the 6th. A broken heart was awarded to the Caffe Minotti in the 7th, whose new team has made an old place worse, pricey and pathetic.

Figaroscope’s Dossier this week had as its premise the three hot food streets:
Paul Bert:
Bistrot Paul Bert, Ecailler du Bistrot, Unico, Le Temps au temps, La Cocotte, Crus & Decouvertes + Chardenoux
Rebeval:
Valentin, Zoe Bouillon, Mon Oncle Vigneron, O. Bon. Home, Mukura + Chapeau Melon
St Dominique:
Le Violin d’Ingres, Café Constant, Les Fables de la Fontaine, Les Cocottes + La Fontaine de Mars,
that Francois Simon went to and declared worth going to for what it costs to eat in a bistro today – 121 € for two.
A side box discussed places in Saint Germain:
La bocca della Verita, Boo, Le Lup, Maison Georgienne, Coco & Co + Les Valseuses.

Wednesday as well, Richard Hesse in Paris Update reviewed Le Repaire de Cartouche favorably for the food but guardedly for the waitstaff.

Wednesday-Thursday, Jean Claude Ribaut wrote an enquete on eggs in all their forms from powdered to omelettes in Le Monde.

Thursday, Francois Regis Gaudry in L’Express wrote about two places who coordinates are well-known: the Table de Joel Robuchon, whose club menu at lunch with an entrée, plat, cheese, dessert, café, mignardises, mineral water and ½ wine bottle come to 55 €; and Versance which he calls the antithesis of Bigarrade this month’s hot place, for the same price. His colleague, Pierrick Jegu, tried two other places whose coordinates have been given: Gustav + Jules which he indicates has nice wine but also good bistro food; and Chapeau Melon which has natural wines and “Top Top” food that’s more than convincing.

Thursday, Philippe Couderc in Paris Obs revisited the old haunt La Grille in the 10th where he gave it 14/20 and the more ancient Pied de Cochon, mythic Les Halles place open 24/24 {where I went really late or early for the classical onion soup and was most disappointed – I know, I know}.

Friday, Jean Louis Galesne in Les Echos wrote up five new restaurants in Paris: the first, Les Parisiens, ex-Amogenes, will open in a bit, the others have just opened and include: a jazz-club-café-restaurant, the Duc des Lombards, 42, rue des Lombards in the 1st, 01.42.33.22.88, open every day, running one about 35 € with a Michelin-star chef Alain Alexanian, from Lyon’s L'Alexandrin serving light plates at lunch, such as daurade on Jerusalem artichoke with nut milk and artichoke sauce and rutabaga raviolis with red beans and girolles and at night little plates as well (but I take it different); a Japanese place Kaiseki Bento in the 8th; L'Entêtée coordinates and descriptions above, where he thinks she’s still finding her way; and Au Relais des Buttes, 86, rue Compans in the 19th, 01.42.08.24.70, closed Saturday lunch and Sundays, menu = 34 €, a la carte 60 with a new chef from Villaret + Le Soleil, serving crab stuffed with morilles, veal kidneys with tarragon and profiteroles {I’ll be posting my review shortly.}

Saturday’s Figaro contained a full page orchestrated by Francois Simon. The biggest space was allocated to an article, summarized here that started on its first page about “who merits three Michelin stars.” Then oddly enough, in his “Croque Notes,” he discussed one of these places which eventually will be promoted - Le Petit Nice in Marseille, maybe in the next Michelin, to appear in ten days. It’s not entirely complementary; he comments on the appearance of too many amuse bouches, a piling on of plates that three stars feel are necessary, thus taking an hour to reach the entrée. Simon thought that while the rougets were fresh, they were too fussily prepared and there was no flash of lightning. He says that the chef, Passedat, does better with simple dishes rather than try fancy stuff that dulls the effect. He doesn’t give prices except for the main course’s bass costing 77 €. Also, of note, in the accompanying article he implies that Le Petit Nice was chosen so that the Michelin could have a place between Eugenie Les Bains and Monte Carlo, now that the Pourcel’s have flopped.

Saturday/Sunday, in Bonjour Paris, Margaret Kemp reviewed l’Endroit and John Talbott had an essay on “What do Americans want?”

Sunday, in JDD, Pierre Orsi of the eponymous resto in Lyon picked La Coupole + Le Pere Claude as his favorite places in Paris for under 35 € {even though they clearly show that Le Pere Claude costs 60 € before liquids). And in their Femina magazine, Astrid de T’Serclaes went to Les Petites Sorcieres.

In February’s Paris Notes “Paris Bites,” Rosa Jackson writes positively about several places serving winter stuff, especially veggies, such as: La Bastide Odéon, La Marlotte, Les Saveurs de Flora, Le Soleil, La Crèmerie + Racines.

Floors - A burger joint near Montmartre, can it be (good?)

1.8 Floors, 100 rue Myrha in the 18th, 01.42.6208.08, never closed, is a place that I’ve been passing on the #85 bus for weeks that suddenly went from a dumpy company building for Myrhamax to a startling 3-story modern cocktail-lounge-looking place. Figaroscope, two weeks ago, ranked it 4th of 17 places in town for a hamburger and since my first choice for a Sunday lunch was closed I went, figuring how bad could it be ?

It really is a beautiful place with extremely loudly played American music and has tried to imitate American dishes like Jewish chicken soup, Annie Hall pastrami, bagels and lox and Boston clam chowder. But it’s hamburgers one comes for, made out of beef, chicken, fish and duck, with all sorts of sauces from aioli to satay or BBQ.

I first, however, ordered guacamole with genuine chips but which needed a lot of Tobasco to reach the Café Atlantico’s level. The beef burger was good product, cooked to my specifications with the requisite tomato, lettuces and red onion atop and the coleslaw had a piquantly fermented taste, but the aioli sauce was not much of a much and the fried potatoes horrid as they are 99/100 in France.

A bonus was watching the entirely French clientele wrestle with eating a hamburger and fries with a knife and fork, never once picking them up. My bill was 34.55 €.

Go ? No, but it wasn’t as bad as it could have been.

Boubat, Ballot, Knapp and Oedi photographs at the MEP

Now until March 30th the MEP (Maison Europeenne de la Photographie) in the 4th is showing six different shows, as is often the case. Samples of the works shown are at their website http://www.mep-fr.org/expo_1.htm

From my standpoint, the most Parisian and nostalgic is that of Edouard Boubat who died in 1998 and whose most recognizable photo is that of the two kids who hardly reach the level of the zinc counter in a bar chatting (presumably) with the café owner, taken in 1948.

Jean-Christophe Ballot’s show is largely of buildings all over the world (its subtitle is from Berlin to Shanghai) but the ones of Chicago are wonderful.

I was less impressed with the posed pictures of individuals standing in various places taken by Shoji Oeda and those of Swiss photographer Peter Knapp which went from incredibly beautiful (Cabane de Cesar 2006) to incredibly weird (Rouleaux Decomposees 1975) ; and the other two shows are worth walking by/through only.

Lao Lane Xang 2 - A lot of fun.

5.0 Lao Lane Xang 2, 102 Ave d’Ivry in the 13th, 01 58 89 00 00, closed Wednesdays, is a new place across the street from its mothership where the three folks I ate with have eaten at and loved for quite some time. It hit the radar screens of both Le Fooding + Figaroscope this week big time, and despite my prejudice against doing ethnic food in France, it sounded too good to be true. But the reports were not exaggerated.

We had 8 dishes, each more delicious than the next: spicy dried beef, pork nems, Laotian rice salad, Laotian chopped beef, Laotian pork sausage, Laotian steak, Thai coco duck, Gai lam with salted fish and then a coco flan and coco gelatin before their café au lait (terrific too).

It was a wonderful meal and if you’re looking for a break from French cooking, especially on a weekend, think of this place. Certainly the price was right, with wine, other drinks, sticky rice and all that = 60.30 € a couple.

Go? Reserve now!

Au Relais des Buttes – “A boring week?”

2.7 Le Relais des Buttes, 86, rue Compans in the 19th, 01.42.08.24.70, closed Saturday lunch and Sundays. Another backstory here: I awoke this morning with a craving for beef and thought seriously about going to UNICO which I had scoped out several times, but then looked at my bank account and Pudlo’s estimate and Les Echos – et voila, a new chef and owner installed at a place I (and you) have passed many times negotiating around the Buttes Chaumont and Eric Frechon’s eponymous resto.

It’s sort of near the top of the real butte and looks big. But when you enter, it’s as if you’re going into a country auberge – fancy drapery, Villeroy & Boch plates, lotsa room, playing (too loudly) best hits from the Magic Flute, with tasteless art on the wall – cats, pelicans and flowers. According to Jean Louis Galesne, the new owneresse, Eléonore Descordes, brought in an unnamed chef with experience at Villaret + le Soleil {both of which I’ve had mixed experience at/in.}

OK. Madame is all alone in the salle and for all I know he is all alone in the cuisine, which for a place that serves 30 covers, is not enough. As you may surmise, I waited (as did others, including a French woman my age, who counted out the minutes to her more decrepit and deaf husband, between courses)
- to be ushered in
- to get a menu
- to order
- to get my food
- to get the check
- to leave.

OK. I took a look at the menu and was not impressed, lots of terrines and stuff and no wines by the glass or carafe. I ordered for a first an artichoke heart with spinach on top, then an egg, covered with hollandaise sauce touched with cheese – which, while not hot, was OK.

OK. Second, I had a confit of huge, Jimmy Carter sized, rabbit with huge long potatoes and rosemary; the rabbit was dry, the potatoes – so what.

OK. What to do now? Have cheese, sounds good. But, I saw the bizarrely dressed Mme Descordes go to what looked like a frigo and pull out cheese wrapped in foil and take it into the kitchen – oh oh. But it turned out not to be Craig Claiborne’s nightmare, but very fine camembert, Pont l’Eveque and Cantal with not totally bad bread.

However, after the long waits, I passed on the coffee and paid the check – a menu for 34 and half bottle of wine = 49 €.

Go? Sorry, but they are way over their heads. They need more help, better clothes and art and some more imaginative cooking. Oh, and as my friend said "It's been boring in Paris"

l'Escapade Mere Grand - Did I want to love this place.

0.8 l’Escapade Mere Grand, 68 bis, Ave Jean Moulin in the 14th, 01.45.42.02.02, closed Saturday lunch and Sundays, got better than OK reviews from Rubin, Toinard and Lobrano last summer and it was a place described as homey and fun with good food. And indeed it is.

I entered and was warmly greeted by a man my age, an age when one rarely works in a resto these days. The clients were all locals: 2 women friends, 2 lovers, 6 management folk and 7 of their cadre at separate tables, the chef’s wife and son and maybe his mistress who exited early on - and me.

The chalkboard indicated the specials that day, and while I rather liked the prices (22 for 2 courses, 29 € for 3) and the mains (raie and beef tongue), the firsts (scrambled eggs with shrimp and hot goat cheese salad) and desserts (raspberry clafoutis and apple crumble) did not appeal. So off the carte it was with a small slice of super foie gras, barely cooked (good) and warm pear (excellent) atop a slice of grainy bread with a caramel sauce that couldn’t be scraped from where it lay on the plate.

The fried rougets were OK but they and the ratatouille badly needed oomph, which a lot of salt sort of supplied (don’t tell my internist.) Digression: What were the big boys thinking?; this is ordinary food, hardly meriting 3 blocks; when I was 18 and didn’t know better I probably would have thought it OK, but now a bit later, unh unh.

I had no dessert but did have a pousse-café with an extremely generous pour of calva from the genial chef alongside a new coffee for me - Giovanni le Barista. In addition the bathroom gets top marks for having towels in addition to the stupid blower. The bill = 43,60 €.

Go? Not even if I lived across the street where sits La Regalade.

August Sandler Photo Exhibition - Scary Stuff

Currently until March 29th there is an exhibition of some 46 photographs taken by the self-taught August Sandler at the Goethe-Institut/Galerie Conde, 31, rue de Conde in the 6th. It is an arresting and shocking show.

The picture above, which features in all their invitations, publicity and posters, says it all. Unlike other shows, that deceive you by showing the best thing they've got on the poster, this is simply a statement of the show/oeuvre itself.

Recall, this is 1931, between the wars, when Germany was hurting from a failed war and bouncing between decadence and morosité and Hitler was just on the horizon. The Nazis had yet to achieve the imperiousness characterized so well in Casablanca when Carl says he gave the German major the best table because he knew he was "German and would take it anyway."

These photos reflect the ordinariness, indeed banality of everyday life, but also the anger, desperation and morosité that must have been omnipresent then. Go but don't expect to be uplifted.

Quai-Quai - A wonderful, fresh, new place in a dazzling setting.

6.5 Quai-Quai, 74, quai des Orfevres in the 1st, 01.46.33.69.75, closed Sundays and Mondays, managed by the Cinq Mars, Lei, Cailloux, l’Altro gang, has gotten rather good press. I say I’m not influenced by the décor, only the food, but the raw wood (butcher-block-type) tables and walls lined with old largely stripped doors is quite cool. Two of us went on a rather drizzly day but it was warm inside and the food was great.

She started with oeufs mayo that I would never have ordered – they were superb; while I had a salad (on the 17 € menu) with microtomed strips of seasonal veggies that I thought was splendid too. Then she had two perfectly cooked rare lamb (not mutton) chops with curried beans and I the cod with a light lemony taste a top and fresh spinach with which the lemony sauce also was perfect.

Neither of us wanted to try the apple bum-style, but she had broche perdu with a honey sauce she thought was too heavy but I liked very much. Our true bill should have been 83 € but they overcharged us and I didn’t pick it up til I got home.

Go? Yes, but double check your bill – I intend to get a free glass of wine next time.

Alfred - wait there's a backstory here.

1.0 Alfred, 38, ave de Versailles in the 16th, 01.45.25.51.15, closed Sundays and Mondays. Backstory – two Alfreds have opened in the recent past and this is the one that got one-heart from Rubin and listings in Pudlo not a “Best Bistrot” from Lebey.

In any case, if that weren’t confusing enough, as one approaches the place, which is by the way, to hell and gone, from the Metro, the sign to the west and above it makes it appear that it’s a tapas place, but then one sees a voiturier (whoa, wait a minute) and yet the ardoise says “Restaurant tickets accepted.” Is this place confused or am I?

Enter. It’s like a thousand other 1950’s bistro looking places. Nice but Ahhhh, the décor, based on a tilted Eiffel Tower is a bit much. There are two waiters, the eponymous Alfred whose hair is in the style or non-style of Jean Sarkozy and who is super nice and his sidekick who looks like he performing painful community service for some bizarre offense.

They had two kinds of very fine bread and ¼ liter (6 €) and ½ liter (12 €) carafes of wine. I started with a carpaccio of scallops with greens, both of very good quality products which were ruined by too heavy a hand on the citrus and red baie.

Then I had calves liver, which came not only overcooked but undersized – now maybe it’s unfair to always compare this to the gold standard at the 1960’s Chez Les Anges, but there you have it. The pear puree that came with it, however, was nickel. But Waiter #2 had a pepper grinder under his arm and offered that for every course and mustard for the liver – which did not inspire confidence.

Finally I had the dessert special a caramel/chocolate thing that was clever – a chocolate moelleux filled with caramel, topped with ice cream – and the caramel nice. The horrible Segafredo coffee didn’t help matters. And then the bill arrived = 55.50 €. After the way I’ve been eating and the prices, it’s easy to say:

Go? Unh, unh, worst price-quality place so far this year.