John Talbott's Paris

The New Hot Quarters: the 9th, an archival* essay.

The ninth arrondissement is a real mixed bag: from the elegance of the Garnier Opera House to the seediness of Pigalle lingerie/sex shops; from the Grands Boulevards to the small passages up the hill towards Montmartre.

Americans probably spend more time in the small area around the Place de l’Opera, the Opera itself and the department stores of Galeries Lafayette and Printemps than the whole rest of the quartier and know the rest very little.

But there is more out there. One of my favorite museums is the Musee de la Vie Romantique and while its special exhibitions go from the familiar to the strange, it’s a great setting. Less interesting for me are the Musee Gustave Moreau and Musee Grevin, a misnomer for the wax exhibition but a great show can be seen at the Drouot auction house with its almost unceasing rotation of exhibitions and sales of everything from Picassos to grandma’s silver. I strongly recommend just walking in and around and sometimes even bidding if you know your stuff.

It’s not a great quarter for famous walks, you’re mainly going from point A to point B. But I do know friends who enjoy walking from the base of the hill right up to Sacre Coeur.

As for restaurants, oddly enough, there’s not a lot. Chez Catherine’s on the Rue de Provence was superb before she moved to bigger, pricier space in the 8th and about the toniest place is actually le Chene Vert in the Galeries themselves. I think the best undiscovered Paris place may well be Carte Blanche, that Georgette is a nifty place for dinner, that Le Petrelle is a quirky place with good food, that J’Go has great lamb, but of course that’s what they do (J’Go, Gigot, got it?), that the Domaine de Lintillac is a great place for dark and dirty meat of all sorts, that La Grange Bateliere will fill the bistro need, and that Le Jardinier is new and politically correct for your diet and, while I find it pricey, Chez Jean serves up some very good chow.

So, as usual, here are my favorites in the 9th

Carte Blanche
6, rue Lamartine, 9th (Metro : Notre Dame de Lorette)
T : 01.48.78.12.20
Closed Saturday noon and Sundays
Menus at 25 and 31 €, a la carte 35 €.

Georgette
29, rue Saint Georges, 9th (Metro : Notre Dame de Lorette)
T : 01.42.80.39.13
Closed Saturday, Sunday and Mondays
A la carte about 35 €.

Le Petrelle
34, rue Petrelle, 9th (Metro: Anvers)
T: 01.42.82.11.02
Closed Sundays and Mondays and open only for dinner
A la carte about 50 €.

La Grange Bateliere
16, rue de la Grange Bateliere, 9th (Metro : Richelieu Drouot)
T : 01.47.70.85.15
Closed for dinner weekends
Menus 25 and 30 €, a la carte about 55 €.

*Originally published in September 2006

Update May 2009.

There is no question that the culinary event of the last 3 years was the opening of Daniel Rose’s Spring. Word was so positive that he soon had one of the longest waiting lists in Paris.

While he closed up shop, last week he started taking reservations for dinner on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday evenings and next Saturday, May 30th he’s “starting a new formula at SPRING. Service all day... no reservations. Champagne, cold beer and LOBSTER SANDWICHES. Just what you always wanted during an economic crisis- a pricey luxury sandwich and enough cheap booze to help you forget about it. Call ahead and order live lobsters to go at cost + 5 eurobucks.”

As great as it is, one also should note the other additions to the quartier: La Canaille, Sobane, Carte Blanche, Cul de Poule and l’Office.

The standout here is:

Spring
28, rue de la Tour d’Auvergne, 9th, (Metro: St Georges or Pigalle)
T: 01.45.96.05.72
Open Wednesday-Friday for dinner with one seating at 8:30-9 PM 48€
Saturdays a new formula with service all day... no reservations. Champagne, cold beer and lobster sandwiches.
Also - live lobsters to go at cost + 5 eurobucks.

Au Gourmand in the 1st: Successful wherever they are. An archival* review.

7.0 Au Gourmand, 17, rue Moliere in the 1st, 01.42.96.22.19, closed Sundays and Mondays, menu-carte 2 dishes = 28, 3 dishes 32, all veggies = 30 € is the successfully transplanted resto of the same name from across town and across from the Luxembourg Gardens.

The maitre d’ (Herve de Libouton) welcomed us warmly, later saying he recalled us from the old place, which is a safe bet since there are probably not a lot of foursomes of gangly, demi-ghastly dressed, tall American geezers stumbling around town; in any case Christophe Courgeau’s cooking has improved with the move and we had a great meal.

The products are all good, fresh and traceable – vegetables by Thiebault, butter by Bordier, bread by Poujauran, etc.

We started with two firsts; a “thick” pair of lamb kidneys on 10 strips of chard with a great sauce and a strange “tartare” of langoustines with seaweed and potatoes - strange because searching for the bits of langoustines was futile.

Then two of us had the bar while the other two had a pigeon and confited lamb; all four served atop a mélange of al dente seasonal vegetables.

At that point we broke for cheese (perfectly affinated Reblochon and Camembert); terminating with a carrot and nut cake with ginger ice cream, effusively praised by Colette.

With coffee and wine the bill for four was 203.50 € but we had three supplemental charges totaling 21 €.

Should you go? Wow!, three hearts hardly does it justice. 

*Originally published in July 2007.

News From France features Kosher Food in Paris

News From France, a monthly review compiled by the French Embassy staff in DC ([email protected]) this month has an article on kosher food in Paris, specifically mentioning;

O You

Kavod

Lotus de Nissane for Japanese, Chinese and Thai

Izaaki for "not...traditional kosher....Japanese."

Little known fact: The newsletter says the USDA says France is "the European center for kosher food."

Reviews of reviews: The Week of May 18th, 2009

Tuesday in Le Fooding, Miss Sardine reviewed Le Gibolin, in Arles.

Tuesday as well, ANP ‘s Philippe Toinard gave 1/5 dots to Chez Yolaine, 9, rue d’Argenteuil (the Pre Sale space) in the 1st, 01.42.96.40.02, closed Sundays, with lower prices (13,50 menu at lunch, a la carte 25 €) but spotty food – instead of seasonal products - pumpkin soup, boeuf bourguignon, duck breast and chocolate dessert in an ocean of cream; while Jerome Berger gave 2/5 dots to Le Tourbillon, 45, rue Claude Bernard in the 5th, 01.47.07.86.32, with a lunch formula at 16, menu-carte at 24 or 27 €, closed Saturday lunch and Sundays, coordinates given before, where he commented the ex-Rostang chef’s simple terrine of Challans duck, pork cheeks and white chocolate mousse.

Wednesday, Emmanuel Rubin in Figaroscope gave 3/4 hearts to the hotel restaurant - the Jardin d’Ampere, Hotel Ampere, 102, ave de Villiers in the 17th, 01.44.29.16.54, closed Sundays at dinner, costing 40-50 a la carte but with lunch menus at 24 and 28 €, serving asparagus and morue, veal with corn raviolis and kalamansi. Then he gave the photo and 2/4 hearts to 122, 122, rue de Grenelle in the 7th, 01.45.56.07.42, closed weekends, with a lunch formula at 16,50, menu-carte at 35 and 20 € aperoserving egg in seafood jelly, puree of cironated avocado and perfect lemon tart as well at to Makassar, Hotel Renaissance Empire Arc de Triomphe, 39 Ave de Wagram in the 17th, 01.55.37.55.37, open 7/7, with lunch menus at 28 and 34, a la carte 40-50 € for marinated shrimp, lamb with green papaya and moelleux of chocolate. One heart only went to Le 51 at the Cinematheque francaise, see last week, as well as Depur, 58, rue Montorgueil in the 2nd, 01.42.63.36.43, open 7/7 with Bobo-yoyo 20-40 € stuff such as club sandwiches, beef tartare and crème brulee.

Wednesday, in Figaroscope, Colette Monsat et al proposed 10 garden eating spots:
Le Tir aux Pigeons + Les Jardins de Bagatelle in the Bois de Boulogne
Rosa Bonheur and Da Vincenzo Cozzoli in the Buttes Chaumont
The Cafe Branly at the Quai Branly
Le Chalet des Iles Daumesnil in the Bois de Vincennes
La Baleine in the Jardin des Plantes
The Cafe Lenotre on the Champs-Elysees
Le Saut de Loup in the Tuileries
Un the au Jardin in the Musee de la Vie Romantique
Other spots : Apicius, Raimo + OKay Cafe
Le Grand Fooding next May 24th in the Parc de St Cloud
Another hidden resto - le Clandestino San Pellegrino
And Francois Simon’s pick in his “Hache Menu,” was the Restaurant de la Palais Royal, where he spent 129 € for a very agreeable soirée and says « Yep » about going.

Wednesday as well, Richard Hesse in Paris Update reviewed the Breton Nominoe where he liked the food despite the limited menu, but not the seating.

Wednesday, in Le Monde, Jean-Claude Ribaut reviewed the Georgian restaurant De Da in the 1st.

Saturday/Sunday, in Bonjour Paris, Margaret Kemp wrote about “Cyril, L'Orenoc Brunch, Hotel Raphael & Relais du Parc and John Talbott wrote an essay entitled “When the Incredible Lightness of Being is Pure Vapor.”

FAQ: “John, What exactly do you do over there (here)?”

This is a great question, whose answer depends on who you are – my Dean, my wife, my children and grandchildren, my publishers, my co-conspirators, my new best friends and so forth.

I tell my Dean only the things that rack up points in academia: research collaborations that might (ha ha) wind up in a grant, papers, books, Congresses, high-falutin' dinners at snooty starred restaurants, hard-traveling between venues and struggling with writing demons (a total lie since I have inherited some wonderful DNA and am unburdened by writers’ block).

My wife, I give a watered down version of what I’ve done, omitting the real fun that she’s missing, the dreadful weather that she’d get schadenfreude from hearing about and the babes I ogle.

My children and grandchildren get a glorified Disneyworld version of life here: all twittering birds from Cinderella outside the window, absolutely impeccable cheap meals in exotic settings and comfortable living in my cramped apartment (hey, I want them to take it over.)

My publishers – ah, there it depends.  If they’re just sending on work, I try to answer as if I’m in the same time zone; if it’s questions about future work, I ignore them; and if it’s news that they’re suddenly coming to Paris for 24 hours and want to get together, I reply instantly that of course, but there’s no way we can get into anyplace decent that doesn’t have three stars.

For my co-conspirators who are into the faux-reviewer dodge, I try to hide my cards a bit, reveal bits and pieces of unreliable gossip and probe them for openings no one else has mentioned.

And for my new best friends over here, I say how hard I’m working and how little free time I have (I’m really sorry), how much I admired their last restaurant review and what place is about to open that’s “the next best thing.?”

But what do you really do?  Actually it’s pretty boring.  Yes, I am working on three books (one of which is alive, one on life support and the third definitely resting, kipping, pining like the Monty Python Norwegian parrot).  And indeed, I do write a lot of the day and try to eschew Facebook and Twitter which are the cyber-equivalents of Ross Perot’s “great sucking sound” as our jobs moved to Mexico and Canada.

I try to exercise for an hour, eat a healthy breakfast and supper and a most unhealthy, non-politically-correct lunch with one or another reputable or despicable peer, read several print newspapers in solidarity with my brothers and sisters in journalism, get 6 hours of sleep and a teeny power-nap and listen to fine music on Mezzo or France Classique.  I said it was boring.

In addition, I try to tell my wife I’m constantly on the alert for dust bunnies and love her, my children that I’m always thinking and loving them and my friends that I will miss them when they’re gone and which resto to spread my ashes in front of, if I go first.

These thoughts were started over a nice meal at an overpriced but OK place with a real bargain of a friend:

L'Invitation
82, rue Boileau, 16th, (Metro: Porte de St Cloud)
T: 01-46-47-87-19
Menus at lunch 35 & 42, a la carte: 50-60 €.
Closed Weekends.

Catered eating in Mt Kisco, etc: Taylored Menus and the Holiday Inn

I figure that when eating at catered events, one just suspends ones critical powers and goes with the flow.  But some of the food we sampled last weekend deserves some mention.

 

We started off with an out-of-towners dinner at the Mt Kisco Holiday Inn, which I had just slandered for a French-American critic friend by comparing it to the Costes Brothers' fare.   Astonishingly, the beef was tender and not overcooked and the chicken piccata surprisingly good. 

 

The next three food events were all catered at the happy couple's house by the Taylored Menus folks from Pleasantville.  Again I found the barbequed beef to be superlative; luncheon sandwiches and breakfast bagels, etc. fine; and only the sour pickles were disappointing.

Dining in New York City: Bouley takeout and BCD Tofu House

We were en route to a wedding in Westchester and stopped off coming and going for some food.

Our lunch consisted of takeout from the Bouley Bakery.  The space, which I haven't seen since it was reconfigured, appears to house mainly baked and salad items but on closer examination had ample tasty choices; pork belly, spicy vegetables, olives, etc. I thought it was very fine for takeout and 1/10th the cost of Bouley's resto items.  The eating of course, occurred at home.

 

On return we had lunch at the 12th offshoot of the BCD Tofu House on 32nd Street.  We started with the roasted clams the likes of which I'd never tasted before.  Then we had the signature seafood tofu soup which Colette thought was really spicy and i somewhat agreed.  Finally the plain rather that short-ribs) Bul Go Gi.  I've eaten a fair amount of Korean food in my life,including in Seoul, and never seen so many accompaniments/condiments, 12 I believe, along with a kim chi soup and friend whole fish as amuse-bouches - great stuff.

We ate so well that we took 2 dishes back with us on the train to eat the next day - spicy octopus and a rice and ingredients melange.  Our bill for two meals with a total of 5 courses plus 3 beers, tax and tip was $96.73.

Day 4 – And yet again ethnic food on the Bay at Yank Sing and Perbacco encore.

 

Yank Sing, 49 Stevenson, 415-541-4949, is a place Colette and I have liked before around the Moscone Convention Center, and so, before I had to do a second symposium there, we ate at this branch with another local friend.  It’s a bizarre combo of hi-tech decor, hi-flying clientele with down-home deem sum aka dim sum. 

Three of us had a fine meal going from beans to duck and shrimp to pork dumplings.

With some beer and no hot drinks our bill, with tax and tip was $135.00

 

Perbacco, 230 California, 415-955-0663, again at Colette’s insistence, this time for dinner, when the menu is somewhat changed and the crowd incredibly louder.

Colette started with the best dish of the day – the herb agnolotti stuffed with roast rabbit and “dressed” with truffled sugo d’arrosto – just great!  I had to suffer through a thoroughly delicious house-cured local anchovy dish dressed with green sauce, appropriately tart celery heart wisps and two tiny firm egg yolks – an clever idea that was 80% successful.

She then had local strawberries with onion, arugula, ricotta and balsamic – the straws being truly not-mass-produced cardboard-tasting but really good and I had tagliatelle with a 5-hour pork and porcini sugo, a dish not unlike a good Bolognese; very different tasting.

With a bottle of our favorite Marciaferro, one grappa and no dessert or coffee our total after tax and tip was $104.70.

An afternoon of art and architecture in San Fran.

Colette and I played hooky yesterday and “did art.” 

ur first stop was the only Frank Lloyd Wright building in San Francisco, at 140 Maiden Lane, just off Union Square.  You and I have passed it a thousand times, ignoring it, since it seemed to be just one more trendy Asian gallery.  But a friend who is known as a finder of interesting sights, said, take another look.

 

The exterior is a fascinating red brick wall like an ancient Greek tomb with an off-center arched door.

 

On entering you see a large atrium, a huge hanging flower container and a sloping ramp that strikes me (and apparently others) as very Guggenheim(NY)-like.  It’s a nifty place well worth the (free) visit.

Our second stop was the SFMoma which has reopened its sculpture garden that has a spider-like Louise Bourgeois that I don’t recall seeing before and a nice Calder Mobile/Stabile combo outside.

 

Downstairs was a temporary exhibit of the South African artists William Kentridge whose works on canvas are too Baconesque to be of interest to me and whose video productions are simply not engaging.

The final novelty is a show of Robert Frank’s photography whose work I recently admired at the Jeu de Paume in Paris and liked very much.

Day 3: Eating in San Francisco - More impressive ethnic eating.

 

Perbacco, 230 California, 415-955-0663, bears the name of my departed best Italian resto in Paris and is a dazzling setting.  Colette and I went with my cousin, a successful wine-maker and businessman, on a brilliant and warm-in-the-sunlight day in SF.

The menu is inventive and the wine list intimidating but we soldiered on, fortified with a fine Marciaferro, some ice-less water and foccacia.

Two of us had the local squid starter with a dense bean puree on arugula – terrific! while Colette sampled the artichoke soup with bits of crisp prosciutto chips that was the best soup of the year.  I did not get a taste of the roasted beets but they disappeared quickly.

For our “mains” we had the tripes with huge beans and spicy sauce on bread – that I thought had no master, even in Florence, a frito misto of shrimp, calamari and veggies that was most tasty, a sole and asparagus salad and a risotto with morels and peas and cheese.

Our bill per couple (after one dessert, 2 coffees and another glass of the Marciaferro) was (after tax and tip) $95.49 and Colette’s reaction on exiting was to ask “When can we come back?”

 

Brandy Ho, 217 Columbus, 415-788-7527 was a Hunan place recommended by a friend with whom we recently had a super meal at the Fatty Crab in New York, so I trusted his recs on spicy places. 

Plus the nabe for old folks who were here around the Summer of Love, as I was awaiting shipment to Viet Nam, is soooo evocative:

 

 

Colette and I arrived early and the owner-host immediately suggested we start with an appetizer of fried pork dumpling whose insides were delicious but batter was too generous for us.

At this point our local friend appeared and we ordered a sweet and sour shrimp, three delicacies and their own smoked duck.  All were good but not dazzling.

With a bottle of wine, before tax and tip, our bill (for 3) was $107.15.