John Talbott's Paris

The Berardo Collection at the Luxembourg: huh?

 

Ernst, Miro, Magritte, Mondrian, Tom Wesselman,Tanguely, Ad Reinhardt, Warhol, Joan Mitchell - my Gosh - what a draw.

Yah, but remember when the Hirschorn and Getty Museums showed their first exhibitions - their stuff was top-names too but of bottom-drawer quality.  Ditto here; sad but true.

Until you/one/OK I, got to the end where there's a top notch Frank Stella, it was painful.

Is one Frank Stella worth 11 Euros?  I guess if you're Portuguese (which seemed to be 50% of the crowd) and weren't able to get into in to see it at home.

Cooking for Kings: The Life of Antonin Careme the First Celebrity Chef.

Cooking for Kings: The Life of Antonin Careme the First Celebrity Chef. Ian Kelly. Walker. New York 2003.

I was reading a review of Ian Kelly’s latest book on Casanova and was jogged into recalling he’d done this one five years earlier on Antonin Careme who cooked for Talleyrand, Napoleon, the Tsar and the Rothschilds.

It is both fascinating and boring if you know what I mean; fascinating in the telling of some of the minutiae of 19th Century cooking for royalty but boring in its listing of the meals they ate; man, did they eat. One can only shudder reading that George, the Prince Regent of Britain was so overweight his unsupported stomach drooped down to his knees.

The number of dishes served at a meal for the Rothschilds, for instance, makes Gagnaire look like a piker. And the six pages spent on how Careme spun sugar does get a bit too much.

I liked the idea that Talleyrand asked him to compose 365 meals for every day of one year, using local ingredients but again, reading just the descriptions of the 18 dishes comprising each meal was dizzying.

At some point Colette asked posited that the portion size must have been small, but no, it too was Gargantuan; sides of beef, racks of lamb, numerous wild turkeys and so on.

This is not a book for everyone but of its kind, it is unique.

2008’s Top Ten Meals

What a year this has been, my, oh my. It started off slowly but solidly in January when Colette and I brought in the New Year at some of our old favorities such as Ze Kitchen Galerie, le Clocher Periere, l’Epigramme, Rech, Spring, Garance + Equitable but we quickly encountered l’Entêtée, which I concluded was this year’s Spring, le Clocher Pereire, l’Epigramme or Afaria.

In late January/early February, I was blown away by Lena & Mimile, l’Agassin, le Georgeon, Bigarrade, le Petit Marguery + les Racines, but underwhelmed by Fougeres, le Petit Casier, la Bulle, Bistrot Canaille, Bistrot de Breteuil, Quedubon, Champerret + Marguerite and frankly rather angry at Ghislane Arabian + OJ.

By late February/early March the new places had begun to settle in and for me the only ones that were impressive were l’Idee, Les Bouchons aka Le Restaurant de Philippe et Jean Pierre + Quai-Quai, until my food finder extraordinaire Atar suggested we trot out to the burbs to try the Auberge des Saints Peres in Aulnay sous Bois – wow!

April brought not only showers but Hide aka Koba’s Bistro, Veraison and Gordon Ramsay’s Veranda and late May/early June saw a burst of places that were all above average if not as top as the top: Itineraires, Six Odeon, Ducoté Cuisine, 153 Grenelle, Le Gaigne, La Folle Avoine, Le Telegraphe, Les Comperes + M comme Martine.

It was around here that I took a quick jaunt to Bilboa and was enthralled by the food, architecture and art; it really recharged my batteries.

June, July and August are my times to get out into the country (Nancy to Troyes) and hunker down, either with Colette, our friends or old acquaintances, often at old haunts, and not much hit the windshield until the rentreé. But hit it did, with a vengeance – with an incredible meal at the Table d’Adrien in the 2nd. Alas, M. Adrien is quirky and despite his assurance that I could write his “club” up for Anglophonic readers, calls by friends, female bloggers and I have resulted in not one confirmation of my enthusiasm.

Nonetheless, the other fall openings almost made up for this misstep, with: La Cantine du Troquet, Le Boudoir, Le Jeu de Quilles, le Cul de Poule, a la Chataigne, La Table d’Eugene + l’Ardoise Gourmande.

Again, Colette and I took a little time from eating in France to visit Romania and while the food was not super, the exotic country was.

October saw another burst of new places, many again above-average, such as Agapes, Miroir, Dos de la Baleine, Memere Paulette + Au Gout Dujour. And November-December brought in Jadis, l’Assiette and brought the Bistrot 121 back from the dead and pricey. Only Chamarré befuddled me, but I explained that last week.

Because of the quirky nature of the Table d’Adrien, I’ll give you 11 instead of 10 top places this year but all the places I’ve mentioned positively above are well worth a visit (with two caveats: both Itineraires and Lena & Mimile have been shockingly inconsistent):

Auberge des Saints Peres
212, av Nonneville in Aulnay sous Bois (RER: Aulnay sous Bois)
T: 01.48.66.62.11
Closed Saturday, Sundays and Wednesday
Menus at 38, 60 + 85 (with wine), a la carte 60-70 €.

Chez Lena et Mimile
32, rue Tournefort, 5th (Metro: Place Monge)
T: 01.47.07.72.47
Closed Saturday lunch, Sundays and Mondays
Menus 15, 39, 43 €

l’Agassin
8, rue Malar, 7th, (Metro: Alma Marceau)
T: 01.47.05.18.18
Closed Sundays and Mondays
Lunch menu at 25 and menu carte at dinner for 34 €.

La Cantine du Troquet
101, rue de l'Ouest, 14th (Metro: Pernety)
No telephone/no reservations
Closed Sunday nights and Mondays
A la carte from 30-40 €

Le Jeu de Quilles
45, rue Boulard, 14th (Metro: Mouton Duvernet)
T: 01.53.90.76.22
Open for lunch only Tuesday-Saturday and dinner Wednesday and Friday
A la carte 40-60 € (depending on meat chosen)

L’Entêtée
4, rue Danville, 14th (Metro:
T: 01.40.47.56.81
Closed Sundays and Mondays
Menu-carte 30 € at both lunch and dinner and a 20 € menu for 3-courses with no choices.

l’Idee
52, ave de la Porte de Villiers in Levallois-Perret (Metro : Porte de Champerret)
T : 01.41.05.05.35
Closed Sunday lunch and Mondays
A la carte about 30-40 €

Les Bouchons aka Le Restaurant de Philippe et Jean Pierre
7, rue du Boccador, 8th (Metro: Alma Marceau)
T: 01.47.23.57.80
Closed Saturday lunch and Sundays
3 course menu for 28 Euros and with 1 glass of wine, bottled water and coffee = 33 Euros, a la carte 40+ €.

Hide aka Koba’s Bistro
10, rue de General Lanrezac, 17th (Metro: Ch de Gaulle Etoile)
T: 01.45.74.15.81
Closed Saturday lunch and Sundays
Menu 26 € for 3 courses, 29 € for 3 courses and 25 cl of wine and about 35 € a la carte.

La Table d'Adrien
9, rue Volney, 2nd (Metro: Opera)
T: 01.42.61.00.44
Open for lunch, by reservation, “like a club.”
Lunch menu 50 €.

Jadis
208, rue de la Croix-Nivert, 15th, (Metro: Felix Faure)
T: 01.45.57.73.20
Closed Saturday lunch and Sundays
Menu-carte 32 €

Reviews of reviews: The Week of December 22nd, 2008

Tuesday, in Le Fooding’s "Good News", Claude Polonsky wrote of L'Essentiel in Deauville.

Wednesday, Richard Hesse reviewed Christophe, coordinates already given where he very much liked the deep-fried langoustines, Basque ham, blood sausage, steak, Challans duck, Camembert, millefeuille and chocolate cake.

Jean-Claude Ribault in this Wednesday-Thursday’s Le Monde had two articles, the first about caviar, scallops and black rice and the second about the confiseur, la maison Lilamand in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence.

Saturday/Sunday, in Bonjour Paris, Margaret Kemp wrote about Guy Martin’s new book, Le Chiberta & the Casa Luca and and John Talbott wrote an essay on “Don’t you love a Good Food Fight?”

Agapes in the 5th Redux: not so great the second time around.

What a difference!

October 17th, Atar and I came here and both ate well; today I dragged Colette and we both were very disappointed.  The first bad indicator was that we were alone for most of our meal.

Then my "raviolis" of lobster were not really raviolis but quenelles, which of itself is no sin, but they didn't dazzle.

I then had a "traditional" cote de veau with pleurottes, wherein the veal needed salt, pepper and Lord knows what else and the sauce was strange, like not-quite-truffles-tasting-but-trying.  At this point I had a flash-back to Jadis and the book I'm reading on Careme and thought, is this attempt to recreate the great old recipes the "new" thing?

Colette's bar with a brown sauce was a la vapeur, not my favorite preparation, but even she didn't rave even with its raw endives.

She finished with her classic thermometric gauge, the rice pudding; which she said was "OK" but not gold standard and I had a decent gourmandise.  Coffee and wine were also OK.

Bill = 89.90 Euros.

Oh yah - final note: the men's room door wouldn't latch but since the place was still 85% empty, it hardly mattered.

“Hi my name is Bruce and I’ll be your waiter tonite.” An archival* essay.

Gnashing of teeth; gritting jaw; holding back disdain. Why do American waitfolk do it? Because Dummy, studies have shown that if you’re personable and person-identifiable in the good ole US of A, you get bigger tips, as besides which, the boss sez to.

So, the other night in the village I pay my taxes in, I, my charming wife Colette and two of our dearest foodie friends are eating at one of Qayum Karzai’s places, he the brother of Hamid, the Prime Minister, who famously said that if he failed in Afghanistan, he’d go work in one of his bro’s places in Baltimore. And…, the waitperson comes over and asks the usual “Would we like a drink, bottled or tap water, etc?” And my sophisticated male friend asks “What is your name?” and she says, let’s say, “Mimi.” I’m embarrassed, mortified, puzzled – why he, rich, privileged, buff and well-traveled would ask such a gauche, direct question. So bashful though I am, I say, “What the f….. are you doing?” And he says, I think you get better service if you connect personally with the wait-person. And, maybe he’s correct.

But one of the reasons I love eating in France, especially in Paris, is that the wait-staff is professional not paraprofessional (read - out of work actresses/intermittants), they know who they are, they are tipped according to a scale and/or their helpfulness, and they regard waiting table as an honorable job. One of the best lessons Pierre Capretz taught me in “French in Action” was that "Il n'ya pas de sot métier," that is every job is important.

I’ve, faut de mieux, come to love this "cultural difference." How nice in Paris to be treated like another food-loving patron, to be addressed like a mature human being, to be seen as a customer not a buddy. (Does it bother anyone else to be summoned in a hospital clinic as “Next patient – John?” or asked by the internet help desk if I may call you “Spudsie” – or addressed by your first name in the Athletic Club?)

France, and Italy and Spain’s wait-folk treat you like an adult. I like that. Sorry egalitarians.

 

*Originally published in July 2006

Le Chalet des Iles Daumesnil: When even beauty can’t overcome bad food. An archival* review

0.5 The Chalet des Iles Daumesnil on the Reuilly island in the Daumesnil lake in the Bois de Vincennes, 12th, 01.43.07.00.10, open everyday, all year, seemed the ideal place to go on a perfect day in late August.

It’s a bit of a schlep over from the Porte Dorée metro stop, but it is really beautiful, spectacularly beautiful, and makes you think you’re truly in the country, with swans, geese, boaters, bikers, runners, picnickers, etc.

The place sits on one of two islands in the lake, reachable by a bridge and despite looking uninhabited from the other shore, from the entrance looks huge with a grand lawn and chaises lounges spread all over and about 40 covers outside under umbrellas and who knows how many on the porch and inside. What a find!

Beautiful, nice menu with lots of choices and moderately priced wine by the glass, pot and bottle (4+, 12+ and 19+ € respectively). Ah, there’s something wrong with this picture, John. Yes, the food.

I ordered two items I thought were failsafe; “crispy” chicken and salad and gambas with a spicy sauce. I decided after my first bite of the mushy (hardly crispy) chicken that the spices it was cooked in were just “not to my liking” but I should withhold judgment on the dish because maybe it was just me.

But when the gambas came tough and rubbery and their sauce was equally “not to my liking,” I decided it was not just me.

One more ding; two of the waitstaff let me sit for minutes, indeed many, many minutes, with my menu clearly closed, without taking my order or calling “my” waiter; they were simply too busy conversing to tend to the ample number of customers.

Someone, Francois Simon, I think, said that by eating anonymously, one got what the average diner gets, not the 5 best crustaceans one would get if recognized – I’d wished I’d been outed.

The bill = 47 €.

Should one go? The Scots verdict: Not proven.

*Originally published in  September 2007.

Kafka’s Soup: A complete history of world literature in 14 recipes. Mark Crick, Harcourt, New York, $14.95.

Kafka’s Soup: A complete history of world literature in 14 recipes. Mark Crick, Harcourt, New York, $14.95.

This is a cute book with a cute premise; summarize the writing style of authors as diverse as Chaucer, Marcel Proust and Virginia Woolf by presenting recipes and how they might have described them

The one in the style of Raymond Chandler was the best and Graham Greene the worst: but they were all fun to read. I want to pass it on top three of my food-nut friends I’ve thought of so far.

Don’t you love a good food fight? Well, I do.

The first review I read of Chamarré Montmartre was Emmanuel Rubin’s in Figaroscope where he gave it a busted/broken heart and called it sad Caribbean stuff (apparently conflating the Caribbean and Indian oceans, which occupied the blogospere’s schadenfreude quotion for some time.) In any case, a busted heart, like a NYTimes theater/movie pan, is pretty hard to get up from.

Then I read Sebastien Demorand’s Le Fooding’s Good News section on Chamarré Montmartre, though, where he compared Antoine Heerah’s cooking to that of Vongerichten and Roka, I stopped and said “Whoa! What have we got here?”

Finally, I was sent the video-blog of François-Régis Gaudry’s filming of Sophie Brissaud’s supposedly settling whom she would side with. My understanding after the fact that it would be somewhere in between. http://blogs.lexpress.fr/restaurant/2008/1...au-chamarre.php

Now, most weeks, when the big boys and girls go to a place they tend to rate/grade it as if they had eaten there together (which I realize they do, do) and like the reporters in Viet Nam after the Five O’Clock Follies, agree what would appear tomorrow.

Not this time – Rubin and Demorand – two seasoned chaps disagreeing 100% and the famed cook-book and food writer coming in between them.

Who’s right and does it matter?

Well, I hate fence-sitting and love being on the winning side, so I went and the envelope please:

Rubin in a TKO (to mix a few metaphors and references).

The place is a mess; too ambitious, too many cuisines on one menu: Indian, Franco-Mauritian and Far East almost competes with Chinese/Japanese/Vietnamese/Korean ones, too many, too busy plates, and on and on.

But this is not a review of the place, it’s a meta-review; a chance to learn some lessons from the big boys and girls. So here are mine:

1. Trust no one (who said that first, Peter Lorre?)

2. Trust yourself (who said that first, I trust Bob Dylan more than Ben Spock).

3. Trust your wife or S.O., mine is the proverbial canary in the mine, with a feces-detector and an early warning system.

4. If there’s a food fight, go yourself and see, it’ll change your life.

5. Watch out for chefs who are like someone who’s stretching too far, pushing the envelope til it breaks, going one bridge too far – choose your simile.

6. Don’t trust fusion cuisine in all its forms, Peruvian-Japanese can work, Indian and French may not work.

7. Don’t trust what you read.

8. Don’t trust lists.

9. Don’t trust me.

Lesson over.

These thoughts were prompted by you know where and I’ll certainly not give you its coordinates.

Reviews of reviews - The Week of December 15th, 2008

Monday-Tuesday, in A Nous Paris, Philippe Toinard, awarded 3/5 dots to a brasserie-bistro-bouchon Fabrique 4, 17, rue Brochant Paris in the 17th, 01 58 59 06 47, with fare such as a quenelle de broche, celeriac soup, andouillette, zucchini raviolis and fondant au chocolat or fresh fruits; lunch formula = 20 €, a la carte from 35-40 € ; and his colleague Jerome Berger reviewed and gave 3/5 dots to the one-year old l’Ordonnance, coordinates given before, serving eggs, andouilette, leeks vinegarette and baba on 17-30 € menus. On the sidebar, they noted that the MiniPalais is now serving drunch (between lunch and dinner) and didn’t think much of La Canaille in the 4th.

Tuesday, Sebastien Demorand {now in charge of “Good News”) in Le Fooding reviewed La Fidélité, 12, rue de la Fidélité in the 10th, 01 47 70 19 34, closed Sundays and Mondays, lunch formulas/menus : 16-21 €, dinner 26-32 € for food described as between earthy (pot au feu of pork cheeks) and silly (scallop tartare), between inspired (pumpkin soup with mussels) and safe (steak/fries). The wines sound interesting and affordable.

Wednesday, Joan Nathan’s article entitled “In Successful Paris Restaurant, Jewish Roots” on Daniel Rose’s Spring appeared in the NYT.

The Figaroscope Dossier written by Elodie Rouge, Wednesday was on “star” products and where to get them:
Burrata
Roberta
Amici Miei
La Pizzetta.
Veramente
La Gazzetta
Potimarron
Les Bouquinistes
Café Constant
Café des Musées
Beets
Senderens
Alcazar
Citrus Étoile
Brasserie du Lutetia
Zebra Square
Tapioca
La Bastide Odéon
Guy Savoy
Ladurée Le Bar

Somehow I missed an article last week on the 20 tables that made this year; they are:
Best Bobo Mama Shelter
Best bistro Jadis
Best Thai Oth Sombath
Best snob Bar Laduree
Best Ducasse Jules Verne
Best haiku Shu
Best palace Le Cinq
Best one room Jeu de Quilles
Best reconversation Les Terrines de Gerard Vie
Best Kyoto/Montmartre Guilo Guilo
Best move Itineraires
Best shock Pizza Chic
Best annex La Veranda
Best Korean Sobane
Best comeback 153 Grenelle
Best face B Etc.
Best reprise l’Assiette
Best BCBG l’Agapé
Best open kitchen Bigarrade
Best Chinatown Lao Lane Xang 2

Francois Simon’s Hache Menu was on Derriere, coordinates given before, where he comments on the chicken, salmon and beef cheeks for 119 € that included a “serious” St Joseph. Go? It doesn’t sound imperative but he’ll return.

Wednesday, Richard Hesse of Paris Update, reviewed Jadis, coordinates well-known and seemingly the hit of the month, where he found the food good and especially liked his goat cheese, recommended by the producer himself sitting nearby.

Jean-Claude Ribault in this Wednesday-Thursday’s Le Monde had two articles, the first about tasting champagnes and the second, wherein Didier Elena, of the Crayères in Reims, gave his recipe for abalone with a sabayon of champagne.

Friday, Francois-Regis Gaudry reviewed on his Express blog Les Editeurs, 4 carrefour de l'Odéon in the 6th, 01-43-26-67-76, running 40-50 €.

Saturday, Francois Simon in his “Croque Notes” in Figaro, went back to Spoon celebrating its tenth anniversary. In addition, he and Alexandra Michot, told readers where to get their Reveillon products:
Oysters – Ecailler du Bistrot
Salmon – Byzance and others
Foie gras – Fabienne Labeyrie
Capon – Hugo Desnoyer
Cheese, Vacherin Mont d’Or – Sebastien Dubois
Desserts – Pierre Herme

Saturday/Sunday, in Bonjour Paris, Margaret Kemp wrote about Alain Passard in an article entitled “The man who knows vegetables” and John Talbott wrote an essay on “How French Chefs Cover Their Sins.”