John Talbott's Paris

L'Aller Retour in the 3rd: a true meat bar, no less, no more.

5.0* L'Aller Retour, 5, rue Dupuis in the 3rd, 01.42.78.01.21, closed Saturday lunch, Sundays and Mondays, was Le Fooding's pick of the week last week; in which review/article, Yves Nespoulous called it a "bar à viande" and he was quite correct.  Its menu (that is, carte, there is no "menu") is simple. direct and clear - abandon hope all vegans who enter here.

My date today was missing in combat and therefore, my decisions, easy.  For a starter I picked the classic escargots over the burrata/tomatoes, boudin, etc and they were just what the doctor ordered, no less no more.

Of all the meat possibilities, the entrecote spoke to me, but other folks, having other cuts, seemed equally pleased.  I ordered the salad not the frites with it, but after watching plate after plate of fries pass me, pleaded for "1 frite, just 1."  "Impossible," my jolly waiter said, and plunked down twenty.  Nice touch.  It came with a watery roquefort sauce, which despite salt and pepper, didn't lift it from ordinary to extraordinary.  In sum, it was average, no less no more.

For dessert, I had the strawberry tartelette, which was OK and as you've guessed already "no less no more." 

The bill, if there'd been two of us to share a bottle of wine, would have come to 95 E.

Go? While this is/was a place where, like in a show of Claes Oldenberg, everybody is smiling, everybody is happy, and all the seats are full, it doesn't attain glory.  A plus, however, is watching French women eat hamburgers with a knife and fork and without condiments  50 years after Paris welcomed Wimpy's and 30 years after the McDo invasion.

* A word about my rating system for those unfamiliar - 5.0 is a Garrison Keillor average, not bad, not great, no less, no more.

Les Coulisses Vintage in the 9th: sometimes you have a snap-back, whoa, what is this? - reaction.

 
6.5 Les Coulisses Vintage, 19, N.D. de Lorette in the 9th, 01.45.26.46.46, closed Saturdays and Sunday nights, (Metro: N.D. de Lorette) is a place that crept in on little cat feet (ack Carl Sandburg, sorry, it's the English major in me) back in Setember 9 months ago.  It was only when I read that Claude Lebey had named it a "palmeres 2011" and Alexander Lobrano rather liked it, that I took notice.

I reserved in my real name, not my dead brother's, a mistake?  Maybe.  But I was outed from the start and the fact that I was eating with a far more famous person didn't count; we got comp'd to wine, prosciutto and visited every 5 minutes by the wonderful owner and chef - "it's nice to be the king."

The menu is a combination of ambitious and predictable; 4-5 salads with stuff like pigeon, foie gras and Caesar; beef but sturgeon, eel and ceviche.  They clearly advertise that they do not only serve regular meals but ones before and after theater performances.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My friend started out with the eel and foie gras terrine-like-thing with white asparagus a la milanese, aka sprinkled parmesan-dust with a sherry chutney (mostada xeres), sound complicated enough for you?: and I had the tuna ceviche with green kiwi-looking but raddish tasting slices and white asparagus - both were classic dishes, but updated and with modern products.  At this point my companion, who knows his way around a kitchen said "This is really interesting food."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then he had the special of the day, which the chef had carefully explained to me was not the usual vitello tonnato, and indeed, it was not, it was decontructed to 5-6 slices of nicely cooked warm/hot veal with slices of variably-colored-tomato and capers and a tuna-assisted white sauce and I had that chunk of duck - simple yes?  Well yes, but great product, beautifully cooked, accompanied by butchers' potatoes cooked with black bacon (BTW the menu/carte is in French and English).  My friend said "This is really, really interesting food."

We both wanted the chocolate mousse, me in part because I'd read the review in the door that said it was the best mousse the reviewer had ever had, he because he has good sense, but he also wanted the strawberries "Anais" (turns out they come from a grower well-liked by the house).  Again both were terrific.  At this point he says "I'm coming back."  I'm not sure I've ever heard that from him.  Wow.

The bill with all the comp'ing, no bottled water, two dinners of three courses and a bottle of their wine (39.50 each for that) and two coffees was 84 E.

Go?  I chatted them up and Colette and I will be back soon.

Reviews of reviews: The Week of May 23rd, 2011

Monday-Tuesday, in A Nous Paris, Philippe Toinard went back to Le Troquet, 2/5 dots, open now more than 10 years, commenting on the myriad of supplements on everything from soup (9 E) to soufflés (6 E); and Jerome Berger gave 3/5 to Bourgogne Sud, 14, rue de Clichy, 01.48.74.51.27, closed Saturday lunch, Sundays and Monday night, with menus at 13.50 and 15.50 (at lunch) and 23 E, serving items such as jambon persille, paleron of beef and a chocolate dessert.

Tuesday, Yves Nespoulos of Le Fooding reviewed L’Aller-Retour, 5, rue Charles-François-Dupuis in the 3rd, 01.42.78.01.21, costing between 16 and 35 E, closed Sundays and Mondays which he describes as a « viande and vin » place or « bar a viande » serving (obviously a lot of beef). 

This week there were no “….nouveautes a la carte” instead there were two articles: the first by Sophie de Santis, Claire Bommelier, Thierry Hilleriteau, Colette Monsa, Francois Simon and Emmanuel Rubin on places in which to picnic and where to buy food for the picnic:
The gardens of the Francs-Bourgeois-Rosiers
L’As du Falafel
The garden Catherine-La-Boure
L’Edicerie generale
Le square Villemin
Nanashi
Le Parc Floral
Stephane Vandermeersch
L’Ile aux Cygnes
Lenotre Passy Kennedy
Le Parc Andre-Citroen
La Cave de l’Os a Moelle
Le Parc Monceau
Be
Le Parc des Buttes-Chaumont
Mon Oncle le Vigneron
Le Parc Departemental des Cormailles
Charcuterie Le Flohic
Le Parc Rotschild
Le Boulanger Lohezic
Le Parc de Bois-Preau
Au Pain du Cardinal + la Fromagerie du Marche
L’Ile Nancy
Au Plaisir de la Tradition, and if working:
La Terrasse du Printemps, Jardin du Palais Royal, Jardin de l’Observatoire + Le Pont des Arts.

Francois Simon’s Hache Menu concerned the newly-refurbished Le Bonaparte and eating on its terrace, which he prefers to others and say to go.

Thursday, in l’Express, Francois-Regis Gaudry reviewed Septime and Pierrick Jegu Bourgogne Sud, coordinates for both given before.

Saturday, in Le Figaro, Francois Simon, in his Croque Notes, reviewed La Tour in Sancerre.

Sunday, in the JDD, Aurelie Chaigneau reviewed Le Chardenoux des Pres (6.5), Chloe S. (7.5) and a return to Ze (7.0). In its version femina Astrid T’Serclaes also reviewed Vivant.

L’Auberge Café: a welcome blast from the past.

 
6.0 L’Auberge Café, 4, rue Bertin Poiree in the 1st, 01.43.29.10.22, (Metro: Chatelet), is a place the Figaro-gang keeps mentioning, and I note kept creeping  up on my “list” and Saturday was “the” day.   I kept thinking, why did Rubin et al keep mentioning it?

 
The place is incredibly sited, between Chatelet and the Pont Neuf, beautifully preserved, since it opened at the beginning of the 17th century, and has look and menu of old times.  I enter, dipping my head to avoid the beams and sit on the second floor among the chickens. 

 
My guest, my charming, great co-host with me on eGullet in its heydays and Paris by Mouth today and I had some difficulty ordering; all the offerings looked pretty good.

 
 
After wrestling with her a bit (not a la dsk, believe me, she wouldn’t have tolerated that as French women do) over what to order we settled on the Toulouse sausage with cheese (really a croquette) that was super and my chicken livers and salad were equal if not better.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then she had an entrecote with frites and I had a galette of pigs’ feet with potatoes like I’ve never had in France before; baked I guess and then sliced/minced; both sound ordinary; they were anything but.

 
We finished up sharing the rhubarb/strawberry tart – again, up from ordinary.

Our bill, with a liter of house red, two coffees and a calva,  was 79.10 E.

Go?  On a winters’ night, wind and snow whistling, who cares from locavore?

Le Carré de Marguerite in the 6th: I swear I have a good excuse Professor, boss, Inspector.

 
3.8 Le Carré de Marguerite, 87, rue d'Assas in the 6th, 01.43.26.33.61, closed Saturday lunch, Sundays and Mondays, is a place that took over the space that Gilles Choukroun ran as the late, great Cafe des Delices, with sous-chefs such as the (now) famous Inaki Aizpitarte - "so John, why are you giving us drivel when we want to know about the meal?"  Ok Ok Ok

I have an excuse for going there Professor, boss, Inspector.  Like Humphrey Bogart/Rick Blaine who came to Casablanca for the non-existant "waters", I came because a chef-friend said to me "Have you tried this place with an American chef - Darin Bieck - I haven't, but....."  Well that's a red cape in front of my horns.  Now I did due diligence, checked the web, yup, it opened in Nov 2007, changed owners in Nov 2010 and Darin is listed as having worked at Spring in Chicago, humm, sounds promising, even though there's no connection with Paris' Spring that I know of.

They have a 31 and 38 E menu for 2 and three courses, so who am I to argue?  I started with the most interesting-sounding entree, a carpaccio of swordfish with EVOO and slices of ripe sweet mango - nice.

Then I had the veal liver a la francaise, whatever that means (my A-Z says it's "served with a garnish of asparagus tips, braised lettuce and cauliflower coated in hollandaise sauce, accompanied by pastry cases [whatever they are] filled with mixed vegetables."  Uh, unh, something got lost in translation - red wine sauce and plain old minimum-buttered potatoes.

They were out of two desserts I could have been interested in, on account of the Chinese physicians who muscled in before me, but I ordered the "Quatrehomme" cheeses as a saving gesture and they were ok, but as someone who lives on a street with a "Quatrehomme" shop, they were no big deal.

The bill, if I'd been a couple, which I wasn't, with a bottle of wine, coffee and no bottled water would have come to 113 E, which is not great prix-qualite.  And the bread was pathetic for a place this pricy.

So as I'm preparing to go, disappointed by a chef who doesn't measure up to Daniel Rose, Mark Singer, etc., I say to the lady in charge "The chef is American, non?"  "Non, French."  So, like the "waters" I was misled, but hey....

Oh, in case you thought the name of the resto - the Carre de Marguerite referred to a garden/square of flowers/daisies, it's not, Marguerite Carré was a soprano who lived 1880-1947 according to a small shrine next to me and whose husband Albert Carré an actor, was better known - who knew?

Go?  I love Americans in Paris, but this is not to love.

Le Cornichon in the 14th: Good comfort food in a nice area.

 
5.5 Le Cornichon, 34, rue Gassendi in the 14th, 01.43.20.40.19, closed Saturdays and Sundays, Metro: Mouton-Duvernet, opened quietly last summer but I noted that it was chef'd by a second to Stephane Jego at L'Ami Jean and it's been creeping up my list despite Rubin's cutting comment that the service was "Poli mais perdu."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I had some business to conduct with a friend/colleague who works not 12-17 minutes away so I thought it was ideal.  He started off with a gaspacho he deemed just average, no big deal, but my quickly warmed sardines in olive oil with shaved raw fennel were more than nice.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

He then had a very nice piece of cod (cod seems to be really good this spring/summer) with lima beans and I had the braised melt-in-your-mouth veal with peas and cherry tomatoes; a nice combo.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally my friend had the pears and I the creme brulee, both OK and your basic comfort food, perfect for the first cloudy day in a while.

Our bill, with a bottle of wine, no bottled water and two coffees (and quite decent bread) was 95 E.

Anything wrong?  Yes, when an entire office staff entered and took the long table and started talking the noise was deafening but luckily their food arrived promptly and I and my friend were able to conclude our business quite successfully.

Go?  As I was finishing my coffee, an American Professor on sabbatical introduced himself (as I encourage everyone to do) and indicated that he lived not far away and this was one of "his places."  I think if I lived here, it might be too but to cross town for it is a bit of stretch.

Le Boudoir: very nice, very pleasant, but no sparks flew.

4.2 Le Boudoir, 25, rue du Colisee in the 8th, 0143.59.25.29, closed Saturday lunch and Sundays merited a 6.5 from me when Alice Bardet opened it here in August 2008 after debarking from the Point Bar.  Now it's got a new chef (Meilleur Ouvrier etc), a new awning that says bar a vins not brasserie and "concept" of tapas, small plates, etc.

There were a lot of things both on the carte and chalkboard and my friend an I had some trouble choosing.

In the end I ordered the "greque" of vegetables (carrots, fennel, radishes, zucchini, etc.,) and shrimp cooked two ways (battered and not) and thought it not the best of the month, but pretty nice.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then he had a nice piece of cod on a bed of tasty lentils and I had was was called boeuf bougignon which had the beef and wine sauce below, the veggies above and a puree to the side; quite pleasant butnot gutsy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As finales we had the creme brulee with Madagascar vanilla and a baba au rhum with the least assertive rum I've had in my life.

The bill, with two Malongo coffees, no bottled water but a bottle of red Bordeaux, was 83.40 E.

Go?  My dining partner, a long-time European, thought it was much better than I did, from bread to dishes to coffee; me after the three meals I've had recently at Tintilou, Septime & l'Auberge du 15, can only repeat that it was "very fine, very pleasant, but no sparks flew."

Septime in the 11th: Wow, this guy changes the menu (carte) hourly it seems.

7.2 Septime, 80, rue de Charonne in the 11th, 0143.67.38.29, closed Sundays and Mondays (Metro: Charonne) is another place

-with no sign outside identifying it
-in the same 11th happening area as yesterday's Tintilou and the classics of the quartier such as le Paul Bert, etc.,
-with another presentation of interesting fresh and good ingredients, featuring contrasting colors.

 
I got there a bit earlier than my dining partner (the French person I've known the longest with whom I've stayed in contact) so I was able to scope the joint - great butcher block tables, spiral iron staircase, seemingly unfinished old walls, "California" kitchen with 5 staff (of whom two were women) and two terribly nice guys in the salle & bar.

Looking at the carte I was a bit taken back that compared to the reviews published May 3rd in Le Fooding/Louis Daboussy, May 10th in A Nous Paris/Jerome Berger, May 19th in Hungry for Paris/Alexander Lobrano and May 21st in Figaro/Francois Simon, almost everything was new.  The effort that takes; except for Spring doing it for a long time, it's a rare place/chef that/who can innovate every day.  There were two starters, two mains and two desserts; so why not share; which our genial waitguy complemented us doing since that's the point apparently.

 

The firsts were asparagus stalks with orange slices, microtomed carrots and tiny leaves of mountain spinach (arrach) and a terrine of layered foie gras, canard was it?, some scallion-like vegetable and a beet puree.  Terrific!

We then had succulent pork cheeks with white asparagus and beans and a beautiful and nicely cooked piece of cod with green asparagus and a puree of, was it lentils?  Yes we agreed.

 

We ate our lasts in proper fashion; cheeses first (just fine) and then the tart of Petit Suisse (yes, really).

With a liter of house red (25 E), bottled water and two coffees, (both of which we swear were supposed to come on the 26 E "menu") our bill was 87.50 E; so with only a bottle of wine and the other liquids "included" the bill would have been 69 E; pretty darn good.

Go?  I tried to reserve for Colette's arrival, but they are so overwhelmed (the resto was completely full) but they're not booking far in advance - so I'd say do it, soon!

One last plus for it; there's a beautiful garden out back with flowers, birds and heavenly trees/shrubs.  Oh Colette will die for it.

 

Chefs in the front, at the piano, all over: who cares?

I was eating at a place recently where on entering I was greeted not only by the front-room guy but the chef. That’s cool. But he seemed to spend more time in the front of the house than the back, leading me to wonder how this all worked.

Now I accept the old Ducasse or was it Bocuse or Robuchon story when one on these globe-trotters was asked “Who cooks when you’re not here?” the reply “The same guy as when I am.”

Then, I remember after Passard got his last star at Arpege he was out with the customers all the time. Colette and I assumed it was because there were a couple of ministers and celebrities there that days, but by George, three weeks later we went back and he was there most of the time as well.

Now I’ve never worked at a restaurant, even briefly, so I don’t really know how they work. But I am aware that some people, take Daniel Rose of Spring now or Bernard Loiseau of Saulieu, work all the time in their skulls to come up with new and different and interesting stuff, teach it to the executors (i.e, the sous-chefs) and to some extent at that point, it’s “Mission Accomplished.”

Oh sure, guys like Dominique Bouchet finish off each dish before it goes into the salle and William Ledeuil often tastes the sauces and presses the protein before sending it off to the customer(s) but often once conceived, perfected and cooked, it’s on automatic pilot.

Now coming back to Rose and I do so because I’ve probably spent more time within 20 feet of his kitchen than any other chef’s, in part because it’s open and in part because I drop in between services, largely to make contact/reservations/etc. It’s clear who’s the boss, who had the concepts, who spells out what and how things need to be chopped, peeled, prepped, precooked, etc., and who is overlooking everything and able and willing and prone to jump in to do things at a moments’ notice.

But, meanwhile he can be greeting or chatting up customers, taking orders, explaining dishes, saying goodbyes. In short he’s a multi-tasker who makes it all seem effortless. But you don’t lose that amount of sweat, sleep or weight on Easy Street. It’s tough work.

So as opposed to 20 or 30 years ago when I thought Passard might not come up with my food if he was out front chatting all the time, today, when Mr Rugbyman spend more time with us than at the piano, I never worried for a minute.

This was conceived at:

Desvouges
6, rue des Fosses St-Marcel (Metros: St Marcel, Gobelins or Censier-Daubenton)
T: 01.47.07.91.25
Closed weekends and Monday and Tuesday lunch
Menu-carte at 26 E, but a la carte is the same.

 

Reviews of reviews: The Week of May 16th, 2011

Monday-Tuesday, in A Nous Paris, Philippe Toinard reviewed and gave only 2/5 dots to Tintilou, 37 bis, rue de Montreuil in the 11th, 01.43.72.42.32, chef’d by Jean-Francois Renard of Carte Blanche, closed Saturday lunch and Sundays, costing 25 E for a lunch bento and 35 E a la carte for colorful food combos such as cod with red pepper and asparagus, scallops with cocoa and chorizo and four-spices macarons; Jerome Berger gave 3/5 to Septime, coordinates given before, where hementions the beef with shallots, merlu with sorrel and real-false cheesecake.

Tuesday, Caroline Lededente of Le Fooding reviewed La Grenouillère in Montreuil.

Wednesday, Emmanuel Rubin reviewed his usual five new restaurants in Figaroscope’s “Les nouveautes a la carte” and one merited two hearts: Le Boudoir, coordinates given before, where he comments on the pate, chicken filet and lemon tart. Three places merited one heart: the Mediterranean La Table des Anges, 66, rue des Martyrs in the 9th, 01.53.32.24.89, open 7/7 with a lunch formula at 14.90 and a la carte 20-25 E for kalitsounia, piquillo, black paella and crème caramel; the Café de la Jatte, 60, blvd Vital Bouhot in Neuilly’s Ile de la Jatte, 01.47.45.04.20, open 7/7, where it costs about 50 E for vitello tomato, salmon risotto and cotton candy ice cream; and the 4th of its name – the Italian Romantica Café Ponthieu, 70 rue de Ponthieu in the 8th, 01.53.75,48.65, open 7/7. A busted heart went to another school-like cantines La Classe, 6, rue de Mauberge in the 9th, open 7/7, 01.45.26.89.41, costing one 35-40 E for celery remoulade, cheese/potato croquettes and an entrecote.

Figaroscope’s “Dossier” this week dealt with baguettes ranking the places that make them 1-20 as follows:
Jacques Bazin
Regis Colin
Julien & Secco
Laurent Duchene, Daniel Dupuy & Yves Desgranges
Laurent Connan
Arnaud Delmontel
Philippe Martin
Le Bon Panneton & Aux Delices de Sevres
Au Duc de la Chapelle & Bechu
Raoul Maeder & Gerard Mulot
L’Artisan du Pain & Le Manac’h
Stephane Vendermeersch
Au Panetier

Francois Simon’s Hache Menu was all about Le Tintilou, coordinates given above where one can have a reasonably-priced meal and to which you should go if in the area, despite the miserable décor.

In addition there was an article on Neuilly that mentioned several restaurants: Chez Papinou, Café du Parc, Polly Maggoo, Vivin, La Boutarde, Zinc Zinc, Guinguette de Neuilly, Jarasse, Sebillon and the pizzeria Il Giardino.

Thursday, in l’Express, Francois-Regis Gaudry reviewed Braisenville, coordinates given before.

Saturday, in Le Figaro, Francois Simon, in his Croque Notes, called Septime, coordinates given before, a little pearl.

And Sunday, in the JDD, Aurelie Chaigneau reviews Al Taglio and Braisenville and went back to La Gazzetta. In its version femina Astrid T’Serclaes also reviewed Cornichon. All coordinates given before.