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I have immense respect for Jean Nouvel except for his Monde Arab and Branly Museums and know he must have faced a difficult task in celebrating France's "most famous sculptor" Cesar Baldaccini.
I mean how many thumbs, cow pies and flattened breasts can you show?
But he redeemed it all with a full display downstairs of the crushed cars and metal Cesar devoted 10 years of his life to in homage to John Chamberlain.
It's open til October 26th.
Yes, they do and lovely parks and such.
8.0 (for country food)- 5.5 (for city food.) This is where my numbering system breaks down.
La Cantine du Troquet, 101, rue de l'Ouest in the 14th, no telephone/no reservations, closed Sunday nights and Mondays, a la carte from 30-40, is Christian Etchebest 3rd venture after Le Troquet and Grand Pan and is simply great.
I went on a Sunday and arrived about 12:15 and there were already 8 persons (there are 29 places set and 2 bar stools). As mentioned elsewhere, and obviously intentional, there is a big screen TV turned to l'Equipe (with the sound off) and the walls are lined with photos of his compatriots - Camdeborde, Jego, Faucher, Bluy and Duboué with their restaurants.
There is one giant chalkboard (duplicated outside) with 12 starters, 8 mains and 10 desserts; wines are on another and start at 14 E a liter. So you know for the start he's not there to soak you.
As I was ordering, himself came on a motorcycle and joined his family and friends at a big table, clearly working on this or next week's menu, not cooking. He greeted everyone as if he knew them; maybe he does and he recalled my half-dozen visits but it was a nice touch anyway.
I had the pigs' ears that were wonderfully crisp and toasty with nicely-dressed greens and some bread that was quite good. Then the poitrine de porc that was even more crispy and crunchy, topped with a fluffy sauce and accompanied by huge portions of thick-cut fries and a green salad. I cannot tell you how good that pork was, incredible!
For dessert, on a country-roll, I had the tart of the day, with apricots and between the (you've got it) crispy crust, custardy filling and fresh apricots, it was the perfect end to an honest meal.
With coffee, made correctly serre, a half-bottle of wine and tap water, the bill was 37 Euros.
As for my score, if you take the product, care in preparation, cooking and classic presentation, it's an 8.0, but if you think that because it ain't got flowers and frou-frou table settings, has a sports-TV and provides just simple, plain-old, traditional and not particularly-inventive cooking, you might only give it a 5.5.
Go back? In three weeks to be exact.
Oh boy; 80 degrees, sunny, no humidity and not a cloud in the sky.
Cannot be better.
2.0 Pasco, 74, blvd de la Tour Maubourg in the 7th, 01.44.18.33.26, open 7/7, formula for 17, two dishes 21 and three for 26 Euros, was in a list of places given by Jean Claude Ribaut in Le Monde that had sidewalk seating (cleverly called the terrace) and were open in summer (and on weekends.) Somehow I got the idea it had a new chef and indeed the guy cooking didn't look like the guys named on the menu and business card, but.....
The menu looks like that of a million other places but I soldiered on, starting with a half-warm/half-chilly block of eggplant and goat cheese with tangy pistou sauce - OK. The bread, while looking good and crusty was infra-dig.
Then I had some daurade that had a 5* crusty skin but the fish itself and fresh vapored veggies were 1-2* at best.
My dessert was the highlight of the meal; a canelé with prune and armagnac ice cream - both superb. I finished with a so-so coffee.
The bill with the menu, 1/2 wine, no water and coffee was 41.50 Euros.
Go? For some crisp fish skin, a canelé and ice cream?
Oh no, you say (or at least I did in July), not another Avedon Show. Haven't we seen them all, the elegant women in the Met's Costume Dept, the portraits upstairs, in DC as....., well, haven't we?
In French, as everyone knows, one of the meanings of cliché is photo and 1/2 of this show consists of such; they are as familiar as Cartier-Bresson's boy with wine, or Willie Ronis's boy with a baguette or Alfred Eisenstaedt's kiss in Times Square. Yes but - minute, papillion!
There are also the miners and dreadfully poor rural women and other less cliched images. It's suitable for children of all ages (except for maybe the Warhol factory nudes which are bad icons for middle-agers trying to stay fit): but for young folks, these pix represent the cast of characters of the late 20th century and for old folks like me, it's wonderful to see folks one has actually pressed the flesh with/of or seen or been in the same space with.
It's worth a visit, or revisit. Open til September 28th.
PS The Virginie Yassef show downstairs is necessary only for those en route to the toilettes.
5.0 La Table d'Eugene, 18, rue Eugene Sue (time out for a literature lesson: Eugene Sue (1804-1857) wrote "The Mysteries of Paris" described in chestofbooks as "the greatest work ever written") in the 18th, 01.42.55.61.64, menu at 30 Euros. It has been open only a month and my sherpa pointed out that the big boys hadn't published reviews yet but would surely do so shortly.
I had gone by on my limpies a few days ago and been struck by the quirkiness of the menu: like the late, un-great and un-lamented l'Angl'Opera, which described dishes backwards, this one has one word descriptors followed by the main ingredients in most cases; thus tomate = gaspacho, risotto = cheese and mushrooms, absinthe = ice cream, etc.
As an amuse gueule there were sausagy things and olives that were all very tasty; the bread was incredibly good and from the same bakery I'd given up on 7 years ago when a nearer bio one opened (a big mistake).
For firsts we split the risotto with cheese and mushrooms that was heavenly and shrimp with Morocan spices and summer veggies that were divine; whoops, with heavenly and divine, I've run out of over-the-earth adjectives.
Then we had a magret de canard that was superlunary and a veal chop that was toasty on the outside, not raw enough of the inside but hey, still ethereal, with young spinach shoots and charlotte potatoes with a spicy Sabrosada sauce on top.
Then we had the baba (made with exotic spice(s)) with rum that was supernal and an ice made with genuine absinthe that was celestial.
With two menus, two coffees, one bottle of fantastic wine but no bottled water, the bill should have been 88 Euros, but the devil led us astray with some tots of extra rum and absinthe a l'ancien.
Go back? Already planned: October 3rd to be exact. You may wonder why I gave it only a 5? That's to discourage nosy snoops from other areas of town from ruining it; this is my place, stay downtown where you belong! And no, that's not Daniel Rose in the photo.
I was walking by the Musee d'art et d'histoire du Judaisme in the Marais by chance today. Oh, I had it on my "to do" art list, but had forgotten. Then I ducked inside and had three immediate and negative reactions.
First, they steer you up the stairs to the (American) second floor and the whole floor is devoted to Old "Masters" which are not "masters" by my lights. Second, while advertised as works in search of their owners who died in death camps, a surprising number were restored to some relative or other. And finally, there were photos of the Nazis and I recalled that quote from a review in the New York Review of Books which said "This Hitler, will we never be done with him?"
Once back on the first (main) floor though, I was suddenly confronted with artists I knew, albeit not these works, which have travelled sad journeys in many cases. At first you see Utrillo, Courbet and Manet, but there are also nice pieces by Monet, Seurat, Delacroix, Cezanne, Degas, Matisse, Vlaminck and Max Ernst.
It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see many of these works, so even if they're not first drawer, go. It's only open til October 26th. But we may never be done with this Hitler, and maybe that's for the good, we need to be reminded periodically of what sheer evil is.
5.0 l'Ardoise Gourmande, 12, rue de Belzunce in the 10th, 01.48.78.40.03, closed Saturday lunch and Sunday night and Sunday noon is brunch, menus with two dishes and wine or water are 22 E, a la carte runs 25-50 E.
First let me explain the end of Rico reference. You'll recall the famous last words of Edward G. Robinson - which are almost as well-known as Bogart's "Play it again Sam" (I know, I know), "Here's looking at you kid" and "We'll always have Paris" - "Mother of mercy, is this the end of Rico?" in "Little Caesar."
Well, I realized the opening of l'Ardoise Gourmande means the end of my visits and recommendation of the Terminus Nord to others alighting from the Eurostar; this place is going to replace it and maybe Chez Michel (except in game season) and Chez Casimir as well. So it's not the end of Rico but TN.
It's a really slick looking place just opposite Thierry Breton's joint and has an abundance of food on the printed and chalkboard menus. There is a "menu" (prix fixe) on the left of the carte, another on the right and a lot of a la carte daily specials on the chalkboard, but rather than try to explain it all, like Ze Kitchen Galerie, everything will fall into place when addition time comes.
I liked what I saw on the 22 E "menu" but was enraptured by the sauteed scallops and pleurottes on the a la carte chalkboard and had them (25 E). And they were simply the best of both, perfectly prepared and served.
The wine of the month was a 16 E Morgan which can be had a la ficelle (pay per sip), which I did and loved; but they also had glasses, 1/4th's, carafes and bottles of wine too.
My dessert was the moelleux of chocolate with vanilla ice cream that was not as runny as my daughter makes it but was pretty good; however a (strange) diseased mint leaf was on top. The bread was OK but the coffee was horrible.
To be fair, it's only been open for 17 days and they're still working some of the kinks out (as an example, my bread was not cleared after the main course - no big deal, but....)
My bill was 42.50 with 1/2 wine, no bottled water but just two items from the chalkboard.
Go? As Pudlo used to say "To be followed."
6.5. Le Boudoir, 25, rue du Colisee in the 8th, 01.43.59.25.29, closed Sundays, with a daily special at 16, 3 dailies at 27 but a la carte = 50-60 E, is the second winner of the of the rentrée. It's labeled on the awning (above) as a brasserie but it's as much like those creaky old Alsatian dumps as her Point Bar resembled a dingy old bar.
I entered with prejudice, as I had always eaten well at her Point Bar in the Marche St Honoré and I expected the same here and was not disappointed (except by the prices.) The terribly welcoming waitfolk offered me a choice of two floors, many rooms and at least 5 styles of furniture/furnishings - choices, choices, choices. I choose the innermost as perhaps being the quietest.
The menu looks relatively simple and there are also three chalkboard specials (that this day didn't appeal). I skipped the fresh girolle starter since I realized I hankered for the (grosse) cut of veal with sauteed girolles.
I was never asked how I wanted it cooked, but lucky guy that I was, it was perfectly under-cooked and smothered, I mean smothered, with girolles, which needed just a tiny bit of salt crystal to achieve the region of the heavenly. And the thick crusted bread was perfect for both munching on and sopping up the thin but tasty brown sauce.
Then I had a "classic Baba" with endless St Etienne rum and a nice whipped cream sauce that was equally good. My wine was a Chateaumeillant that tasted of the Gamay of Cher but not over-poweringly so (wines were 20 and up a bottle, with glasses from 5 E).
After coffee (ristretto, how about that?), no bottled water nor as I said, a starter, one could exit for less than 50, but with wine and any of the above, one could get into serious numbers.
If I were a Michelin Man, I would rank their bathroom right up there with Goumard's - 5*'s.
Go back? For sure, but for the next week, maybe I should quit while I'm ahead.