John Talbott's Paris

A walk on the wild side - the Rue Sainte Marthe - a hidden treasure in the 11th.

Today, after another quite nice lunch at Garance, we went for a walk to our friend Felice's neighborhood, a totally unexpected treat.

 

First there was the gigantic Hospital of St Louis -

 

then the most unexpected street/alley, the Rue Sainte Marthe, recently taken over by restos, galleries, even an evangelical church, with repainted fascades - fabulous!

 

  

 

               

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dancer vers la gloire (Dancing into Glory) at Sothby's til the 23rd

 

"Dancer vers la gloire l'age d'or des Ballets Russes & Arts Russes, selection de la vente de Londres" is the official, ponderous title of this lighter-than-air preview at Sothby's in Paris this week only.

What can I say?  It is wonderful, unexpected, startling, comprehensive, memory-provoking and diverse.

There are costumes, like in my photo, sketches, drawings, sculptures and such; it's actually quite small in size, taking up only the ground floor space but enormous in scope.

But did you ever dream of soaring, of preening, of twirling with the likes of Pavlova and Nijinsky, in costumes by Bakst, under the eyes of Diaghilev, in front of Picasso sets, with choreography by Petipa, Fokine and Massine? - Go!

Blue Skies and Clear Sailing: La Table d'Eugene, Le Jeu de Quilles and Cantine de Troquet redux

Boy oh boy, was I ready for Colette to try some of my August and September finds. 

We started at our new local "old haunt," the Table of Eugene which is simply marvellous for a place within a few blocks of home; the 17 euro ardoise special as well as the 25 E "menu" dishes were all terrific and once again our tariff with wine and coffee was very reasonable (71 E).

We had dinner with nine of Paris's finest food writers of blogs, books and bouquets - at the Jeu de Quilles, sampling their charcuterie, merlan rillettes and cuttlefish with a tad of oil; starting with a soup of foie gras and truffle oil; then mackerel and zucchini and fennel and tomato chunks; moving on to Desnoyer's incredible veal with incredible potatoes; three quite fine cheese(s); terminating with a trio of desserts (a berry "soup," creme brullee and "sandwich").  With white as an apero, a Chiroubles as the red, coffee and very friendly but professional service, the bill was 70 E each.

The next day, we were still "coming down" and walked in (per necessity) to the Cantine de Troquet and while watching a Basque travelogue and the chef's preview of this week's TV show (with him commenting), ate his best toasty/burned crevettes a la plancha, merlu with a Basque sauce, (again for me) the wonderful poitrine de porc with frites and the apricot tarte with a great crust; with coffee and a liter of vin de Pays (14 E) = 61.50 E - take that Bush-Paulson-Cox-Bernanke et al.

All this mind you - with a brilliant blue sky on a wonderful day - clear sailing behind and ahead -

 

The New Hot Quarters: the 3rd and 15th - An archival* essay and update.

The third arrondissement is an intriguing one for both the tourist and resident. It has been the historical center for both Jewish culture and gay life over the years has some of the most important and interesting buildings in the city. These include the Conservatoire and Museum of Arts & Metiers and the National Archives and it is home to several popular museums including the Carnavalet and Picasso.

Obviously, then, the third houses superb collections of art, in the case of the Picasso Museum, the donation to the state (to settle for estate taxes) of a huge number of his works which are displayed both in a permanent collection and in special themed-exhibitions; the Jewish Museum, which has a similar mixture of both permanent and special exhibitions; for the Carnavalet, the art relating to the history of Paris; and in the Cognac-Jay, one of Paris’s small gems of a museum.

As for walking, if all you do is make a circle tour of all the above, you’ll see some of the most well preserved architecture and streets there are in the city.

Americans know the restaurants of the third primarily from their long love affair with L’Ami Louis and L’Ambassade d’Auvergne which have been popular for decades. But for reasons unclear to me, despite its proximity to hotels, rental apartments and the lure of the Marais, except for Le Pamphlet, the third never saw the influx of new hot restaurants that occurred elsewhere in the city. Indeed, a food critic friend, after eating at Les Don Juan, commented that the area had finally gotten a restaurant worthy of its density. There is, however, one other newly-renovated place, aptly called Le Café des Musees, that merits one’s patronage.

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If the third represents one of the quarters the most replete with historic buildings, the 15th is its evil twin, with really only one interesting site - the relatively new European Hospital named for ex-President Georges Pompidou, which sits on the southwestern edge of the modern Andre Citroen Park (where the factory of the Citroen auto empire originally was located.) Readers may ask “what about the Montparnasse Tower, isn’t it in the 15th?” Well, while it is in the 15th, I consider it a blemish on the whole city, a shared horror and since you can see it from practically everywhere, let’s ignore it when discussing monuments.

There is precious little art here as well, except for the Montparnasse Musuem which tends to have second-rate art of artists who lived in the area in the 20th century, the Postal Museum, which can have interesting postal-related exhibitions, the Jean Moulin Museum, that celebrates the Resistance and Liberation of Paris (on an elevated platform above the Montparnasse Station itself) and the (Antoine) Bourdelle Museum, that has a mixture of his sculptures and temporary exhibitions.

The 15th is not a place I think of for strolls; although, the Andre Citroen Park is the best of the modern-type gardens and parks in the city and the George Brassens Park (named for the famed singer) has interesting sculptures and a nice belvedere.

The 15th has an old bistro tradition, however, indeed, some of my fondest memories from the 1960’s are coming in from the airport and going straight to lunch at the Bistro 121 or the Bistrot d’Hubert. That was food we just didn’t have back then in New York and the settings were like those one saw in French films. A touristy place that still serves up good food, probably well known by BP readers, is the Ciel de Paris in the Tour Montparnasse, which, as I’ve noted above, is much-hated by inhabitants and visitors alike, but from which you cannot see the Tour M. itself, but do have a spectacular view of the Tour Eiffel, all aglow, etc. Another place with a spectacular inside court, crusty wait-staff and decent food, if you stick to beef, is the Café de Commerce.

But we’re concentrating in this series on hot, new places. So let’s deal with them. Within the past few years, so many small, great little eateries have opened here, that the 15th seems the prime example of Olivier Morteau’s (Food Business: La face cachée de la gastronomie francaise, 2004) formula for a successful small neo-bistros – e.g.: find a reasonably priced building in a gastronomically underserved area, be nice and friendly, and get a chef who is talented and can prepare dishes that are reasonably priced. Such gems include: Autour de Mont, Beurre Noisette, Dix Vins, Grand Rue and Le Troquet. Thierry Burlot, who originally opened a wonderful place in the 15th several years ago as part of this new wave, slowly hiked his prices and reduced his “menu” choices so that the price-quality ratio was unfriendly, but within the past year has changed course and is once more offering great food at reasonable prices in his eponymous restaurant - Thierry Burlot. And finally, just in the past year or so, two other new places have opened, both following the successful formula given by Morteau: to whit l’Ami Marcel and La Cave de l’Os a Moelle.

So, as usual, here are my favorites in the 3nd and 15th:

Les Don Juan
19 Rue de Picardie, 3rd (Metro: Filles du Calvaire, Temple)
T: 01.42.71.31.71
Closed Saturday lunch and Sundays
Lunch Formulas and Menus: 11.50-14 €, a la carte 30 €.

Le Café des Musées
49 rue de Turenne, 3rd (Metro: Saint Paul, Arts et Metiers, Chemin Vert)
T: 01.42.72.96.17
Open everyday
Menus 19-20 €, a la carte 40 €.

Beurre Noisette
68 rue Vasco de Gama, 15th (Metro: Lourmel)
T: 01.48.56.82.49
Closed Sunday and Monday.
Menus: 15 & 20 € lunch, 29 € dinner.

Dix Vins
57 Rue Falguiere, 15th (Metro: Pasteur)
T: 01.43.20.91.77
Closed Saturday and Sunday
Menus: 20 € lunch, 24 € dinner, a la carte 30 €

Grand Rue
117 Rue de Vaugirard, 15th (Metro: Falguiere)
T: 01.47.34.96.12
Closed Sunday, Monday and August
Menus: 18 € lunch (with wine included), 25 € dinner. A la carte 35 €.

Le Troquet
21 Rue Francois Bonvin, 15th (Metro: Volontaires)
T; 01.45.66.89.00
Closed Sunday and Monday
Menus: 23 € lunch, 30 € dinner, 37 €. A la carte 45-55 €.

Thierry Burlot
8 Rue Nicolas Charlet, 15th (Metro: Pasteur)
T: 01.42.19.08.59
Closed Saturday lunch and Sunday.
Formula 26 €, menu-carte 32 €, degustation menu 52 €.
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*Since this was written, in March 2006, much has happened. In the 3rd we’ve seen the opening of the fine Pramil, Carré des Vosges + Les Chineurs and the reopening under new auspices of Au Bascou.

In the 15th, it’s been even more dazzling, with the opening of Afaria, Comperes, Grand Pan, Opus Vins, Passage Gourmet, Petit Casier + Veraison – all interesting, but the disappointing Cristal de Sel + Vingt 2, the sad closure of Grand Rue and the turning to his old tricks of Thierry Burlot.

The Marais: Is it the Jewish or American quarter? An archival* review of Le Carré des Vosges.

4.0 NNN* Le Carré des Vosges, 15, rue St-Gilles in the 3rd, 01.42.71.22.21, closed Sundays and Mondays, where the 3-course menu is 27 and 2-course one is 21 Euros (3 firsts, mains and desserts).

The day I visited was the day after it was reviewed in Figaroscope but although I passed many folk carrying their sukkot plants, the quarter seemed more American than Jewish and the restaurant even more so. I started with a nice tapenade with not so nice bread.

Then I had an equally nice langoustine bisque with croutons and cheese that seemed pretty industrial: OK but not surprising. The daurade with piperade was also OK but not mind-exploding.

Finally I terminated with a tarte tatin with a firm cookie underneath and splashes of caramel in the corner of the plate and supposedly something made with calvados but I couldn’t taste it.

Lunch plus 2 glasses of a fine Gard wine (which came with too long a lecture on it from Madame) but no bottled water or coffee ran 37 €. I do believe English is spoken since there were plenty of them there.

Should one go? If you live nearby but there’ll be no fireworks.

*Originally published in October 2007.

Aloha, Aloha Sushi in Baltimore

Baltimore Sun food critic Elizabeth Large published an article called "Psyching out diners:…." in which she said that: “…. I read about research published by Cornell University suggesting that customers spend more when the dollar sign is dropped from prices on the menu.”

But that’s not all that is off-putting at this new place: the food is, to put it gently, not up to par. The sashimi, whether colored like tuna, salmon or mackerel, all tasted the same; the edaname had no character or salt; the tonkatsu was thin, over-cooked and tasteless; even the rice was bad. The miso soup was fine, the female server terrific, the shaved ginger had punch and Colette finished her sushi. Oh and actually, the inexpensive Corsican pinot noir, bottled in California (Echelon) was great.

Our bill $76.11 without tip.

Go back? Aloha.

FAQ. Reservation necessary?

Tourists fall into two categories when it comes to this FAQ; those who want to know how many days, weeks or months one must call in advance to book at a starred restaurant and those who trust in a deity and walk up unannounced thinking they can always get in.

In the first case, for instance, at the height of his popularity, one had to call Fredy Giradet’s exactly 6 months before to book a table. In the second case, for instance, folks walked up to a place in Paris, Le Clocher Pereire, shortly after it had opened to unanimously good reviews and blithely expected to get in as easily as they did before it was reviewed.

Even at places we know will have space and where a reservation is not absolutely necessary, Colette has convinced me over the years that one should always reserve because:

1. One is greeted and welcomed by name.

2. It’s a mark of respect for those ordering and planning the food to be prepared.

3. It often gets you a primo table, that is by the window or on the terrace rather than by the toilet or kitchen doors.

4. Sometimes, places do fill up unexpectedly (just a while ago in Troyes, I was shocked by how full of tourists the town was and how many of the top restos were fully booked.)

So the bottom line: reserve no matter where, it far outweighs being turned away.

These thoughts were prompted at:
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 €.

Reviews of reviews - The Week of September 8th, 2008

Last week, in l'Express Katell Pouliquen wrote up the Cantine de Troquet in its Restaurants under 30 € feature.

Monday-Tuesday, in A Nous Paris, Jerome Berger reviewed and gave 3/5 dots to Les Banquettes, coordinates given elsewhere, where he liked the rabbit terrine, mesclun, beef with potatoes and crème brulee; while his compatriot, Philippe Toinard had a less successful trip giving only 2/5 dots to l’Ardoise Gourmande, coordinates also given elsewhere, where he commented on the beef with shallots and a puree, boudin noir with pear, scallops (in August!), sausage, echine and veal chop and panacotta that was too liquidy.

Tuesday Roland Zemour in Le Fooding wrote of Rosa Bonheur {19th century woman painter), Avenue de la Cascade (eg in the Buttes Chaumont) in the 19th, 01 42 00 00 45, closed for Monday lunch only, (but closing in November until Spring for renovations) serving snacks like Serrano, Jabugo, chorizo, sausages, cheeses, sardines, pâtés, salads, etc for 20 E as well as bio wines (3 a glass, 18 E a bottle).

Tuesday, Francois Simon on his blog termed as authentic Memere Paulette, 3, Rue Paul Lelong, in the 2nd, 01 40 26 12 36, running one about 30 E for meat or andouillette, boar rillette or stuffed tomatoes.

Wednesday, Emmanuel Rubin in Figaroscope gave three places two hearts; La Table d'Eugène, 18, rue Eugène Sue in the 18th, 01 42 55 61 64, lunch menu 10.5-12.5, dinner menu 21-27, a la carte 25-30 €, closed Sundays and Mondays, where the exBristol chef serves crusty-runny risotto, foie gras raviolis, rice pudding and home-made jam; La Banquette, 3, rue de Prague in the 12th, 01 43 47 39 47, closed Saturday lunch, Sunday night and Mondays, lunch menu 16, evening menu 24-30, a la carte 8-18 € serving in the old Petit Porcheron space, piment d'Espelette, beef from Salers, pommes rattes and crème brûlée au thym; Cul de poule, 53, rue des Martyrs in the 9th, 01 53 16 13 07, menus 20-25, a la carte 35 €, closed Sundays and Mondays, serving Basque charcuterie, a cote de cochon, citron tart and too dry chocolate éclair. There were also two one hearts: Le Boudoir, 25, rue du Colisée in the 8th, 01 43 59 25 29, closed Saturday lunch and Sundays, menus at 21 and 27, a la carte about 40-60 €, serving grilled sole, a côte of veal with girolles and chocolate cake and the Family Affair, 33, rue Beaurepaire in the 10th, 01 40 18 49 79, lunch menu 31.50, a la carte 25-30 €, open 7/7, the third in this chain of “world food” places serving pasta from all over as well as a Spanish salad (beans, Serrano ham….), pistoleros mexicanos (with chorizo) and a cold pistachio soufflé.

Wednesday, Richard Hesse on Paris Update wrote about Hotaru.

Wednesday-Thursday, Jean Claude Ribaut wrote two articles in Le Monde – one concerning chili con carne at Le Baratin; the other an elegy, I kid thee not, about potatoes, their UN sanctification {my word} and the 5th Congrès Potato Europe 2008, September 10-11 in Villers-Saint-Christophe (Aisne) that deals with their origins, usages and beneficial aspects.

Thursday, Patrick Jegu in the l’Express of September 4th, reviewed le Cantine de Troquet, coordinates already given and François-Régis Gaudry, reviewed Gen. C’s Richard Toix’s restaurant in Saint Benoit.

Saturday in Le Figaro Francois Simon dined with Werner Küchler of the Relais Plaza at McDo’s and with Gauthier Pajona wrote up 14 restaurants in Burgundy although it’s entitled 13 places.

In the weekend FT, Nicholas Lander wrote up two seafood places in Alsace Restaurant JY’s + Aux Armes de France.

Saturday/Sunday, in Bonjour Paris, Margaret Kemp surveyed Quoi de Neuf in Paris and John Talbott published “To tell or not to tell; that is the question?”

How Can A Critic Get It So Wrong? An archival* essay on Racines** in the 6th.

 

A recent meal at Les Racines (-2.0) in the 6th left me so puzzled, indeed angry, that I thought it should be food for further discussion. I’m aware that lots of times, reviewers either omit reporting on bad meals or bury their judgment of the food in a blizzard of words about the welcome, the space, the décor, the service and so on, so as to make the reader have to infer that the food was bad.

Each year when I buy the food guides (and they appear one by one from December to May), I scan them for information on new places and winners of various categories to see what I’ve missed. This year’s Pudlo Paris’s Bistrot of the Year was Les Racines and since I happened to be in the neighborhood several weeks ago, I looked at the menu in the window (required by law) and the blackboard specials. That should have been my first warning.

The menu was like that in 200 average restaurants in every quarter of the city; salads, terrines, simple mains like entrecote, sausage and steak tartare, and desserts such as crème caramel, ice cream and sorbets (but from Berthillon.) What was appealing though was what was on the blackboard: onion soup (5 €), oysters (7.50 € for 6), a wild duck terrine (5.50 €), beef with big grains of salt (15 €), Toulousain cassoulet (14 €), lamb souris (13 €) and scallops (16 €) – they all sounded delicious and were nicely priced.

So I induced two friends into coming along, figuring we’d test the kitchen. Well we did, and it was found wanting. It failed two important tests; (1) can I/we cook the dishes as well or better than they and (2) can I/we get the same level food at a place closer to my apartment than the nearest Metro stop? Each time we’d taste an item, we’d shrug as if to say “Why did we bother to come here?”

Sure, it was cheap, but getting out for less than 28 Euros per person was not our goal. So, let me return to my theme. How did Pudlo get it so wrong or did we get it wrong? Was the chef away today, did they forget to buy good product today, did someone add water to the sauce, oversalt the potatoes and dumb-down every dessert?

Who knows, but if Gilles Pudlowski had the best meal of the year here, I want to be with him the next time he discovers a Bistrot of the Year.

For those folks who want to eat in this neighborhood but avoid my experience, I’d recommend instead:

La Maison du Jardin
22 Rue de Vaugirard, 6th (Metro : Rennes, St Placide)
T: 01.45.48.22.31
Closed Saturday lunch and Sundays
Menus 22 and 27 €.

La Ferrandaise
8, rue de Vaugirard, 6th (RER: Luxembourg, Metro : St Michel)
T: 01.43.26.36.36
Closed Saturday lunch, Sunday and Monday
Menu at dinner or 3 courses at lunch = 30 €, plus wine running 14-63 €.

La Bastide Odeon
7, rue Corneille, 6th (RER: Luxembourg, Metro : St Michel)
T: 01.43.26.03.65
Closed Sundays and Mondays
Menus at 29.50 and 35.50 €.

*Originally published in March 2006.
** Not to be confused with Les Racines, 8, passage des Panoramas in the 2nd.

 

 

La Marlotte IS dead - An archival* review

-1.0 La Marlotte, 55, rue du Cherche-Midi in the 6th, 01.45.08.86.79, 27 € for two courses at lunch, closed Sundays was given two hearts (which every place in Paris is unless it’s dead, but I’m coming to that) by Emmanuel Rubin with whom I agree 79.01% and his lead-in blurb was entitled “La Marlotte is not dead.” His argument was that this place has been on life support for years and now has been resuscitated by a chef ex-Bastide Odeon, one of my faves over the years.

Digression, I have a soft spot in my heart for that old, dead Marlotte, because I came here/there in 1998 with my 3 yo grand-daughter (just the two of us) and they treated her royally, sending over salami (I didn’t tell her it was charcuterie), frites and ice cream. I loved them.

Of course, this is a different deal – new millennium, decade, equipe, etc., but, the memories linger on. So OK, I read this review by my guide ER, and I say “Why not?” I’ve got two food-exploratory friends from the Northwest, where food is food, man the Vancouver-Seattle-Portland corridor is culinary heaven. OK, so they blow into town Friday night and I figure this place is 1. serving classic stuff, with a 2. Basque twist and 3. in a place for which my transference (yes, transference can involves places as well as people) is very positive.

Friday evening 9 PM until Saturday morning 11 AM, I telephone; “this number does not want your call,” check the number via internet and print, same. So I make a back up rez at l’Agassin, a quick hop on the 92 bus if it’s closed and head out early; it’s wide-open, I reserve, go cancel rez #2, wait for my pals.

Place unchanged except lotsa Anglos and tourists from Versailles and Marne-la-Valee, welcome and service, warm and prompt and a promising prelude of coming attractions, non? (Get to the point Dad!) Well, from there it was downhill all the way. We ordered:

Madame: andouillette (yes, she knows what it is and it’s her favorite dish) so-so and frites actually not bad, and as a first - a green salad;
Monsieur: a cassolette of wild mushrooms (ahright) with an egg more hard than soft boiled followed by the most tasteless rascasse on the planet in a tasteless fluffy sauce;
Me: the same mushies and then tripes a la Marlotte – OK, I’m biased having gone to heaven in Florence with the tripes I had there a few weeks ago, but…… what a difference a thousand plus kilometers makes.

But while the food wavered from just OK to unspeakably tasteless, the service went from pleasant and welcoming to non-existent. Madame desperately wanted dessert, indeed, had saved up for it, but the 6 wait-people were nowhere to be found and she and he departed for the Louvre posthaste, I mean 2 ½ hours after entering. In fairness, she and he hesitated ordering and the staff made the traditional response, if you’re not ready, neither are we. But, but, but, one couldn’t catch an eye for dessert, water, wine or check either.

Should one go? Got a car, want a voiturier in tourist/shopping central?

*Originally published in October 2007.