John Talbott's Paris

Slate is the new plate. An archival* essay.

I’ll admit I rarely notice some things; e.g., Colette’s haircut, flowers in the dining room, a new automobile or grandchild, etc., but I blame it all on Deborah Tannen* or my DNA; I’m a guy, and guys are oblivious to the environment. Now, if I were a real salaried food guy, I’d have to note the décor, napery, flower arrangements, etc., because that’s part of real reviewers’ reviews. But because, at best, I’m an intermittent reviewer, I can let all this wash over me, unless it hits me in the face like Christian Constant’s new lettering in his revamped Fables de la Fontaine and brand new Cocottes de Christian Constant – that even I can see.

Despite this male blindness, however, I do notice some other things in the food world, especially when they constitute a trend (definitions: something new happens, it’s interesting - it happens more than once, it’s a trend.) For instance, the years of the millefeuilles, purees and pumpkin soup are burned into my brain.

Well this week I spotted a new one. Thursday we were eating at Rech, the wonderful new Ducasse place in the 17th, and after main course, one of us ordered cheese. Quick as a wink, out came a slab of thin slate and the choices of cheese went onto it. One time, eh, interesting.

The next day we were at the recently moved Au Gourmand, which thankfully does not repeat its 7th Arrondissement conceit of different dishes each day of the week but has a full, normal menu. We worked our way through firsts and mains, then one of us again ordered a cheese assortment; et voila – a slab of thin slate appeared on which the very finely affinated cheese was installed. Twice: a trend.

So gentle reader, don’t be surprised to see more slate as the summer progresses. Because it appears that the word has gone out: slate is the new plate.


*Tannen, D: You Just Don't Understand, Harper Paper, NY, 1995.

Places mentioned are:

Rech
62, ave des Ternes,17th
T: 01.45.72.29.47
Closed Saturday lunch and Sundays
A la carte about 50-60 €.

Au Gourmand
17, rue Moliere, 1st
T: 01.42.96.22.19
Closed Sundays and Mondays
Menu-carte 2 dishes = 28, 3 dishes 32, all vegetable menu = 30 €

Fables de la Fontaine
131, rue Saint-Dominique, 7th (Metro : Ecole Militaire)
T : 01 44 18 37 55
Open 7/7
A la carte about 40 €.

Les Cocottes de Christian Constant
137, rue St-Dominique, 7th (Metro : Ecole Militaire)
No telephone yet but no reservations either
Open everyday
A la carte about 20-30 €.

*Originally published in July 2007

Les Bouquinistes: Food OK, Price/Quality ratio zilch. An archival* review.

4.0 Les Bouquinistes, coordinates well known, closed Saturday lunch and Sundays, had been beckoning to me ever since William Ledeuil decamped next door to set up Ze Kitchen Galerie. My food friend didn’t need much convincing to try the new chef at this relatively old place in the midst of tourist heaven.

We both entered with a tabula rasa, no preconceptions at all. However, immediately I sensed trouble. Both of us kept switching back and forth between the pages in the menu, having trouble finding stuff we really hankered for, or that sounded interesting.

We both ordered the raviolis with shrimp that two folks had recommended to us and the sauce was pretty nice. But when we finished our mains, which we split – a lamb listed in French as cochon de lait and in English as sibling [sic] lamb that was dried out and so-what and perfectly made scallops on the bed of inedible and tough, uncooked risotto with squid ink – he turned and said – “how are you rating it?” – and I answered “I’ll never come back, it was banal, I won’t encourage anyone to go.”

Want more? The wines, supposedly one of Savoy’s strengths in buying in bulk, were horribly overpriced.

Had enough? The coffee – weak; the mignardises? The what? Where’d they go? Our bill was 140 € and that’s including the cheapest wine on the list and no bottled water. 

Should One Go? As my friend, the real food critic says, it’s “Not Urgent.”

* Originally published in February 2007.

Muriel Barbery: Gourmet Rhapsody. Europa Editions 2009

Muriel Barbery: Gourmet Rhapsody.  Europa Editions 2009

I haven’t read a book like this is years.

I have not idea what it is/was about; I read words and phrases without comprending and I never “got it.”

Could it be a hoax, a parody or did I develop receptive aphasia overnight?

Ponds and fish: Big and little.

The departure of Catherine Guerraz of her eponymous Chez Catherine for points south, specifically the Hameau des Sources in Auron, turning over the piano to Franck Paget, made me think about what the critics call “the waltz of the chefs,” or fish going from or to big or little ponds. I recall being warned by numerous elders of the shock I was going to encounter moving from a secondary school with a class of 31 to college with a class of 1050 students and it was indeed a whole other ball game to mix a few metaphors.

Catherine Guerraz ran what was one of the niftiest bistrots in Paris at the time, located improbably for most but conveniently for me on the rue de Provence right near the Galeries Lafayette. It was small, intimate (meaning tables were jammed together) and full of warmth emanating from the chef herself, her husband, who was fiercely proud of his wines and always appeared just after the service had started and one really nice black waiter. I loved the place, I loved the food, I loved the service and I loved the clientele, many of whom were “regulars.”

When she moved to the fancy-schmancy Rue de Berryer in the 8th, right near the Rothschild mansion, I didn’t begrudge her the new haute gamme décor, the huge number of covers, the raised prices, the unknown waitstaff and new kitchen brigade or the suits that now comprised her clientele but I grieved about the loss of intimacy and the feeling of the old place.

Likewise, when Claude Colliot moved from the nifty little Bamboche in the 7th where there were always mystery wines and dishes to the hideous Hotel Meridien Etoile to run the barn-like l’Orenoc it was a sea change for me – I didn’t like it. And I wondered did he? With the pressure of dozens of diners rather than a few handfuls, with a huge brigade of chefs and with what must have been the weight of the whole bloated Meridien management pressing on his shoulders.

I had many wonderful meals as well at Eric Frechon’s way out of the way Restaurant aka Restaurant d’Eric Frechon aka Eric Frechon in the 19th before he moved to central Paris and the Bristol and the big time too. The meals were more complicated, expensive and had more dishes and at times I was too stuffed and couldn’t think of eating again for a long time. Again, I wondered and still wonder, did/does he enjoy the huge new responsibility, administration and supervision?

Now Catherine and Colliot have moved on to smaller places in less dazzling locales, but other big fish have downscaled as well. I think of Christian Constant moving from the massive Ambassadeurs to the band-box Violin d’Ingres although he soon made up for the fewer tables and covers by restaurantising the Rue St Dominique with the Fables de la Fontaine, Café Constant + Les Cocottes de….

Or Ghislaine Arabian and Jean-Paul Arabian both splitting up and going respectively to Les Sorcieres + le Cameleon, both much smaller than Ledoyen. And Dominique Bouchet and Cyril Lalanne; both of whom I chatted up shortly after they opened db + Cerisaie respectively, who freely admitted loving being responsible for fewer covers, tables, meals and staff than previously.

Daniel Rose is already committed to opening a bigger Spring in the 1st, as soon as he can, which will be augmented by a light food/wine bar downstairs and a huge cave even deeper down and it’s been rumored for years that another of my favorite chefs – Jean Chauvel – of Les Magnolias would move downtown fro Les Perreux-sur-Marne in the 94th and I wish them both well.

But I wonder, like my teachers and friends did decades ago, if a big fish moving to a big pond will find it just as comfy? Different certainly, but I sincerely hope the moves don’t alter the ambiance downwards.

This whole musing started while thinking about:

Chez Catherine
3, rue Berryer, 6th (Metro: St Philippe du Roule)
T: 01.40.76.01.40
Closed weekends
Lunch menu at 37 €, a la carte 49-78 €

Reviews of reviews - The Week of March 15th, 2010

In Le Fooding Tuesday, Julia Sammut reviewed Le Comptoir Dugommier, in Marseille.

Tuesday, A Nous Paris featured two 3/5 dot restos: Philippe Toinard wrote up Le Point Bar Batignolles, coordinates given before, where he liked the oeuf mimosa, daurade tartare, sardines and fricassee of mushrooms, while his compatriot Jerome Berger reviewed Bistro Volnay, coordinates given before, which has a new Ducassian chef, where he liked the remoulade of celery, haddock, lamb and crème brulee.

Wednesday in Figaroscope, Emmanuel Rubin’s « C’est nouveau » consisted of five 1-heart restaurants ; he awarded the photo and lead to the latest incarnation (post-Olympe, Detourbe & Burlot) of Le Quinze, now Le Quinze Lionel Flury, coordinates in the guidebooks and closed Sundays and Mondays, where for 60-70 a la carte or on 69 and 80 € menus one can have scallops, sweetbreads and a baba ; the steak house Velvet, Hotel Beauchamps, 20 rue du Colisee in the 8th, 01.53.89.59.10, closed weekends and open only for lunch, with a 26 € formula of cannelloni, a bavette (awful frites) and a baba and the Japanese Tokki in the 9th ; and the « finger-food » place Dip’s, 62, rue Monsieur de Prince in the 6th, 01.43.29.05.04, with a 13 lunch formula and menus at 19 and 23 (dinner) € for items such as shrimp tempura, beets and dip’s with caramel sauce.  A busted heart went to the Italian PB2, coordinates given before in Neuilly

The « Dossier » this week by Colette Monsat and Hugo Saint-Phalle was about the best business plans and included :
Reasonable gourmand places
Jamin
L’Agrume
Beurre Noisette
Bistrot Paul Bert
Kill app ones
KGB
Claude Colliot
Passage 53
Yam’Tcha
La Bigarrade
Culinary workshops
Alain Cirelli
Martial Enguehard
Ecole du Grand Chocolat Valrhona
Sparkling tables
La Maison de la Truffe II
Apicius
Les Enfants Terribles
Alain Senderens
Cristal Room Baccarat
La Societe
Mediatise your business
Zebra Square
Le Quinzieme cuisine attitude
La Villa
Flottes O.Trement
Celebrate a contract
Pierre Gagnaire
Le Bristol
Le Meurice
Le Pre Catalan
L’Astrance
And Francois Simon, in his Hache Menu, covered the Italianate Scala in the 2nd.

There was another article to which Colette Monsat contributed that centered on things Spanish giving:
The Best Spanish auberges
Fogon
Comptoir del Mar
Bellota Bellota
Jose da Rosa
Rosimar
Bars like in Barcelona
Bodega 64
Lolabar, Hotel Banke
Les Voisins
Caves St-Gilles

Also, in Figaro, they announced that March 25th they’re publishing a 320 page guide of Best Restos from Figaroscope’s Colette Monsat and Francois Simon - Les Meilleurs Restaurants Figaroscope 2010 , Paris, de Colette Monsat et François Simon (Éd. Le Figaro), 320 p., 9,90 €. En vente le 25 mars en kiosque, librairie et en ligne sur la boutique du figaro.fr. Interestingly enough, Saturday, Francois Simon, in his Croque-Notes also wrote about the Guide.

Thursday, in l’Express, Francois-Regis Gaudry wrote about Gerard Besson and his unjust loss of a Michelin Star, Gaudry thinks (and maybe Besson too) due to Besson’s unwillingess to lower his prices for the French/Michelin equivalent of an American city’s Restaurant Week. Anne-Laure Pham contributed a review of the « mythic » (presumably d/t clientele like the Beatles, Mick Jagger, Johnny Hallyday, Julien Clerc...) Bus Palladium, 6 rue Fontaine in the 9th, open 7/7, which reopened last week, serving up cheeseburgers, chicken (18 euros), an entrecôte of Argentinian beef, (30 euros), bio salmon (23 euros), Nutella waffles and cheese cake (8 euros) along with Rock n’Roll.

Over the weekend, in Bonjour Paris, Margaret Kemp wrote about L’Agrume + Table du Lancester and John Talbott wrote an essay entitled “The Real French-Parisian Bistro of the Moment.”

Saturday Cinema – Pirate Radio

Another perfect goofy airplane movie – Drugs, booze, rock 'n' roll (and women) – with all my generations’ faves – the Rolling Stones, Beach Boys, Jimi Hendrix and Procol Harum.

 

Ending a bit phony - but hey it’s only Rock 'n' Roll.

Back-packing relatives’ guide to fine dining – A Sunday Summary

A FAQ is “where can my son/daughter/etc who’s on a limited budget get good food in Paris.” The following are places I would recommend to them (the prices are usually for a 2 or 3-course meal or prix fixe ”menu”) and then what I paid for that at lunch plus wine and coffee at my last meal; numbers are theoretically from 0-10 but in practice from -1 to 8.5.:

7.0 Frenchie, 5, rue du Nil in the 2nd, 01 40 39 96 19, closed Sundays, Mondays and Tuesday lunch, “menus” at lunch at 16 for 2 dishes and 19 € for three - dinner menus for 27 or 33 €. (Bill = 31.20) Currently nigh impossible to get a rez.

6.8 Le P'tit Caillou, 2 rue Maleville in the 8th, 01.45.63.20.87, closed weekends and Monday nights, with lunch formulas at 22 (2 courses) and 25 (for 3), a la carte 41-51 E (Bill = 47.50 E)

6.5 Le Charbon Rouge, 25, rue Marbeuf in the 8th, 01.40.70.09.99, open 7/7 with a plat du jour at 15, forced, 3-course menu at 23,50 (salmon) and a la carte about 40-50 E (Bill = 43.30 E)

6.5 L'Agrume, 15, rue des Fosses Saint-Marcel in the 5th, 01.43.31.86.48, closed Sunday and Monday night, with a daily special costing 11, lunch formula at 16 and a la carte 35 (Bill = 30 E)

6.4 Chez Grenouille, 52, rue Blanche in the 9th, 01.42.81.34.07, closed Saturday lunch and Sundays, lunch menus at 15 and 25 and a 40 E carte. (Bill = 49.25 E)

6.2 Le Marcab, 225, rue de Vaugirard in the 15th, 01.43.06.51.66, open 7/7, has a confusing set of menus for 16, 25 and 35 € (Bill = 34.70 E)

6.0 Le Reminet, 3, rue des Grands-Degres in the 5th, 01.44.07.04.24, now open 7/7, lunch menu 14 € except weekends, a la carte 40-50 €, (Bill = 38.50 E)

5.8 Aux Provinces, 37, rue Cambronne in the 15th, 01.47.34.62.27, closed Saturday lunch and bottles of wine for a most reasonable price plus 8 E corkage, two dishes are 18 and three 24 E (Bill = 40 E)

5.8 Les Petits Plats, 39, rue des Plantes in the 14th, 01.45.42.50.52, closed Sundays, lunch formula 15 and evening 32, a la carte 25-35 € (Bill = 31.50 E)

5.8 Le Restaurant, 42-44 rue d'Assas in the 6th, 01.45.44.44.44, closed Saturday lunch and Sunday night, has a lunch menu at 18 and a la carte 30-35 €. (Bill = 43 E)

5.8 Le Bouchon et l'Assiette, 127, rue Cardinet in the 17th, closed Sunday and Mondays, has a 3-course "menu" at 33 E on weekdays but three courses anytime are only 36 E anyway. (Bill = 39 E)

5.5 Le Gaigne, 12, rue Pecquay in the 4th, 01.44.59.86.72, closed Tuesday, menus are 16 and 22 and wines begin at 14 €. (Bill = 42 €)

5.5 La Gazzetta, coordinates well-known, in the 12th, 5 courses for 38 and 7 for 50 € (16 and 19 € at lunch) (Bill = 35.75 E)

5.5 L'Alchimie, 34, rue Letellier in the 15th, 01.45.75.55.95, closed Sundays and Mondays, menus 23 and 28, a la carte 35 E (Bill = 40.50 E)

4.5 23 Clauzel at the same address in the 9th where 3 quite acceptable courses are 18.50 and a half-liter of acceptable Bordeaux was 14.50 E. (Bill = 28.15)

Strange, bizarre, weird. An archival* essay.

Ever enter a place and say to yourself – “this place is really weird?”  Happens to me all the time.

For instance, take Le Petit Pascal, in the 13^th.  You enter and instead of pictures on the wall and drapes on the windows, the place is seemingly decorated in chalkboards - chalkboards for charcuterie, chalkboards for cheese, chalkboards for wines, chalkboards for specials, chalkboards for starters, chalkboards for mains and chalkboards for desserts. Whew!

 

Or La Casserole in the 18^th.  Again it’s the sight that greets you as you enter that grabs you.  Instead of wall decorations, from every available inch in the ceiling are hung tschotskes; animals, tiny instruments, and what the housekeeping channel lists as figurines, bric-a-brac, curios, ornaments and other what-nots. 

 

Or howabout the late, lamented but famed Table de Lucullus aka Lucullus in the 17th?  Signs designed by the patron and chef and front man Nicolas Vagnon, last spotted on the Ile de Yeu, running a spectacular new resto called Chez Nicolas, 13 rue du Marche, on the back street off the port at Port-Joinville, indicated everything from a caution not to smoke, to a recommendation that you finish your food and not to park on the street because you’d get a ticket (I’m making some, but not all of these, up).

 

Or finally, another place known mainly to the locals – Sale e Pepe in the 18^th - where you’re greeted by the host signing Neapolitan songs at the top of his voice, where’s there’s a big “No Smoking” sign inside but only one tiny chalkboard that offers you “two menus”, one with pizza, the other with pasta, neither offering any other choices.  “The wine list?” I asked timidly on my first visit.  The host slammed a big bottle of red wine down in front of me; “there’s the wine list – drink what you want.”

 

So, is there a common thread to these weird, bizarre, strange places?  Yes.  The décor, but more than that, the host/chef/owner’s stamp on the décor and the way he or she wants the place to strike you: informal, relaxed, fun, loose, crazy. 

 

Would one want to eat in such surroundings all the time.  Definitely not.  But once in a while, why not?

 

The places mentioned I think are neat are:

Le Petit Pascal

33 rue Pascal, 13^th (Metro:)

T: 01.45.35.33.87

Closed weekends

A la carte 30 €. 

 

Chez Nicolas

13 rue du Marche, on the back street off the port at Port-Joinville, Ile de Yeu

T: 06.74.24.73.10

Closed Wednesdays.

A la carte 30-40 €

[Alas I do think now shuttered.]

 

*Originally published in July 2007.

L'Amuse Bouche: A blast from the past. An Archival* review.

3.5 l’Amuse Bouche, 186, rue du Chateau in the 14th, 01.43.35.31.61, closed Sundays and Mondays. “Where, how, what? John you’re losing it.” Now, now, there’s an explanation.

Everyone knows that old cliché from Casablanca; Captain Renault: What in heaven's name brought you to Casablanca? Rick: My health. I came to Casablanca for the waters. Captain Renault: The waters? What waters? We're in the desert. Rick: I was misinformed.

As all eG France Forum members now know, I eat at new places 9 months out of 12 and only go back to golden oldies when my wife Colette is in town. So how is it that I found myself in a place older than time, where the copper pots on the wall have a patina on their patina? Good question.

A friend told me it was new, or told me something about it was new, or I conflated it with another place nearby that was new, or, or, or. In any case, here I was entering a place we all normally wouldn’t be caught dead in unless it was next door to our hotel/apartment and we were ready to drop after a day’s walking through the entire Louvre. Nice enough, sure, and the walls were freshly painted orange with green trim (maybe that’s what my friend meant by new.) But the husband and wife team who run this Mom & Pop place weren’t born yesterday.

it’s tiny, seating only 24 covers and the food was rather traditional. The “menu” is 31.50 € for three courses and the wines run 4-5.50 € a glass. They do serve amuse bouches and they’re not Gagnaire-gamme but they’re OK. And, they serve Chateldon, always a sign of high tone aspirations.

I ordered the ecrevisse tails on a nice looking salad with haricots verts, nice but, gag, so much salt in addition to the balsamic vinegar, that one did indeed gag. Why put it so liberally on such good product? There are no sins to hide here.

Oh well, soldier on to the biche with morilles and groseilles, ordered “rosé towards blue” as always: nope, but not too overcooked and with a nice forcemeat of cabbage. It suddenly dawns on me: this is the meal of my dreams in 1953; this is heaven after “the” war, this is as it was; but I’ve moved on and they haven’t.

So, since I’d already ordered the dessert (a wonderful, perfect, 1950’s soufflé with chestnuts,) I sucked it up, relaxed and took it for what it was, a trip to past glories.

Was it horrible? No. Would I go back? No. Would I send my grandkids? Ahhhh, yes, just maybe, so they’d see how it was done in times past with huge portions, classic combinations and lots of butter and cream.

The bill, with two glasses of wine and a coffee (not bad) and mignardises out of the frigo runs one an easy 42.40 €. I’ve awarded them an extra point for making a whole lunch for the proprietaire of a boutique next door who took it out under a napkin – now that’s classy. 

Should One Go? See above

*Originally published in February 2007.

Tom Reeves: Paris Insights: An Anthology.

Tom Reeves: Paris Insights: An Anthology.  Discover Paris, 2008-2010 Paris $39.95 Premium full-color edition, $16.95 black-and-white Travelers’ edition.

There are three types of books about Paris for the visitor or new expat:

1). The books of walking tours showing you the areas of the city, architecture and monuments.

2). The classic guides with inclusive listings of everything one should see.

3). The narrative books that describe selected places, interesting customs and bits of fascinating trivia.

This volume falls in the latter category.

I of course headed for those on food first but they are really scattered throughout the book; chapters on beehives, tea salons, strawberries, macaroons, chocolate and coffee roasting.

For someone coming to Paris for the first time, it offers enough tidbits and tips to whet your appetite and ordering it from Abe books, one can avoid the sticker shock of its Premium list price.