John Talbott's Paris: Le Daron in the 9th: This is a place I wanted to love.

-1.0 La Daron, 8, rue Hippolyte-Lebas in the 9th, 01.53.20.88.70, closed it seems only Sunday nights (is that a clue?), is a place that's been hovering like the hardly seen dot on the opthalmologist's visual field testing screen, for months. Today, it reappeared in the side-bar on Figaroscope's side bar feature called "Passe-Plats." An omen, non? Non.

I entered, nice acceuil, nice ardoises, nice tables, nice staff, bio unfiltered wines, very upscale French clientele - hummm, pretty good, gotta winner.

19 E "menu" with multiple choices - ahhhhright. I chose the quiche of the week; OK, nice barely-dressed salad and quiche (which I haven't had in 30 years) with cheese and veggies, OK too if you got past the horrible crust (Colette, where are you now that I need you?)

Before I ordered the main I asked how the lamb was prepared and my charming waitress informed me that she would find out, it was her first day - no demerits there. Like a "navarin." Cool. Well, sort of. First-off, it was mutton, secondly, the amount of fat (which my cerebral and cardiac arterial plaques are already fully supplied with, and which brought to mind Andrew Marvell's "Had we but world enough, and time") was 1/2 the non-vegetable portion and I had to carve off the sides of the morsels of mutton which wound up equalling any Baltimore crab's detritus, and third, the sauce was extremely strange, really ruining the wonderful fresh limas, peas, carrots and green beans, which I'm sure came from Thiebault or his moral equivalent.

At this late point, I looked across the street at the Domino's Pizza and despite my high regard for Roe vs Wade, seriously thought of moving over. But no. I ordered the creme caramel with strawberry flavoring (see disgusting pink color) with what the chef must have thought were clever slices of disgusting marshmallowish concontions on top.

OK, John, enough. The coffee? The bread?

Yes the Lavazza coffee serre/ristretto was OK but the bread pathetic on this street.

The bill = a gentle 38 E, but................

Go? Still not reading the copybook, eh? This is a place I wanted to love because of its ambiance, local produce, prices, bio wines, acceuil, choices, but it's not your Mother's cooking, whoever you are.