“Why haven’t you been back? Please come.”

Funny thing.  I was at Gilles Choukroun’s MBC a while back with a dear friend and as I was putting on my coat I saw her chatting with a most attractive couple still in the midst of eating their main courses.  She waved me over and said ; « Let me introduce you to blah blah blah. He’s the chef at Tellus.  You know it, right ?»

Hummmm.  Yes I did, and I knew I’d eaten there and recalled that I’d had a good meal.  We all chatted for a while and then split up.

As I was subwaying home I thought «If I liked it, why haven’t I been back ? »

So I looked it up in my archives and saw that I’d been there just about a year ago and rated it a 5.5/10, summarizing that one should go because ”it's honest well-done food….[and]…. if I worked near there I'd take advantage of [it].”   So why have I not returned?

Well, Judge, I plead “Nolo contendere.”  I eat out in Paris approximately 200 meals a year, there should be room for a revisit to a place like Tellus.

However, my plea is complicated.  When I’m in Paris by myself, which is most of the time, I try to eat at places I’ve never been to before so that when Colette and our downstairs friends/neighbors Paga and Elan are here I can accomodate to their wishes or leads.

Now, I’m not saying I’m a wimp, just that there are only so many places I can go back to.

I’ve not done a scientific sweep of places I think highly of, that I haven’t gone back to, but off the top of my head,  after he made this comment, I realized they included such meritorius feeding troughs as Le Repaire de Cartouche, Cerisaie, Paul Bert, Clocher Pereire, l’Atelier de Joel R., and many many others (some of which, ironically, I did revisit more recently.)

So Christophe Sense, you are a good chef and I promise I will try to come back, but there’s so much to do and so little time.

The restos mentioned are :

MBC
4, rue du Debarcadere, 17th (Metro: Porte Maillot)
T: 01.45.72.22.55
Closed Saturday noon and Sundays
Lunch menu 20, dinner 45, 65 and 80 €

Tellus
4, rue du Mail in the 2nd, (Metro: faggedaboudid)
T: 01 40 20 40 04
Closed weekends
Lunch forced-choice menu for 15, about 30E a la carte.