Reviews of reviews: The Week of November 15th, 2010

Monday-Tuesday, A Nous Paris had three reviews: Philippe Toinard reviewed and gave 3/5 dots to the Gourbi Palace, 48, rue Albert Thomas in the 10th, 01.42.08.45.20, closed Saturday lunch, Sundays and Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday nights, with lunch menus at 13 and 16 and a la carte at dinner running one 25-45 E, where he mentioned the beef tongue, pot au feu and chocolate mousse; next door Jerome Berger reviewed and gave 3/5 dots to two “cantines de quartier” in the 6th: Le Bien Decide, 117, rue du Cherche Midi, 01.45.48.39.28, closed weekends running one about 40 E for Depardieu’s wines and rotissed lamb, duck and canette and Les Bistronautes. 54 rue d’Assas, 01.45.49.24.88, closed Sunday and Monday, with lunch formulas at 14-23 E serving spicy pumpkin soup, steak/frites and an apple crumble.

Tuesday in Le Fooding, the big news was the announcement of their favorites for 2010:
Aux Deux Amis best petit luxe
Rino best personal bistro
Le Dauphin best décor
Tete dans les Olives best table d’hote
Spring best agite popote
Breizh Café fooding d’honneur

Wednesday, Emmanuel Rubin ranked his five new restaurants in Figaroscope’s C’est nouveau as follows: he led off with 3/3 hearts to the new chef, Christophe Saintagne, at Alain Ducasse au Plaza, coordinates well known, mentioning the ecrevisses bisque, chicken in pastry and just perfect Baba; then he awarded 1/3 hearts to three places: Au Vietnam, the Corsican Terra Corsa, 42, rue des Martyrs in the 9th, 01.48.78.20.70 open 7/7, serving plates of charcuterie & cheese, cannelloni and lemon pastry for 15-20 E, and Le Bistrot des Jumeaux, coordinates given before, where hecommented on the eggs, bourgignon and chocolate cake. Finally he gave a busted heart to Carte sur Table, 72, quai des Orfevres in the 1st, 01.43.54.88.74, closed Tuesdays, serving mushroom soup, boudin noir and beef bourgignon for 16 & 21 E at lunch and 35 E a la carte.

Figaroscope’s “Dossier” this week by Colette Monsat, France Oberkampf and Alexandra Michot dealt with Viet Namese restaurants:
Paris-Hanoi
Le Rouleau de Printemps
Le Hong Suong
Le Santal
Le Nem
Le Foyer Vietnam
Entre2Rives
Kim-Ly
Le Dan Bau
Le Bambou
With Francois Simon weighing in on Xinh Xinh saying no need to go.

Wednesday as well, Richard Hesse of Paris Update reviewed the Dernier Metro & l’Atelier du France, coordinates of the former well-known, where he was served much too much food – specifically eggs mayonnaise, petit pâté Basque, a civet de biche venison stew and a veal chop - but the latter is new and located in a space on the Seine near the Eiffel Tower in the Paris Yacht Marina, Port de Grenelle, in the 15th, 01.40.58.00.33, open Wednesday-Saturday, 6pm to 11 pm, where he noted such fare as Bordier sardines, Schrenki caviar, pata negra ham and desserts from Ladurée but most importantly the décor featuring the owner’s proposed construction of a new ship called the “France.”

This week’s l’Express had an article by Elvira Masson that stated that Inaki Aizpitarte would soon open his second place, called Le Dauphin, designed by Rem Koolaas; Francois-Regis Gaudry named as his restaurant of the week Le Senderens; Pierrick Jegu went to Le Bon Acceuil about a year after its management changed and rated it his Resto for under 30 E, saying it was one of the best price-quality places in the neighborhood (27 E at lunch, 31 E at dinner); and Marie-Amal Bizalion endorsed La Taverne in Bastia.

Sunday, in the JDD Aurelie Chaigneau mentioned four places in which to eat and sample Beaujolais Nouveau:
l’Opportun
Le Reveil du 10
Jacques Melac
Le Rubis.

In Bonjour Paris, Margaret Kemp published an article entitled”Alain Ducasse Goes Back to Basics and John Talbott published an essay called “What Are You Talking About, John? This is Just Ordinary food.”