5.5 Chez La Vieille (Adrienne), 1, rue Bailleul in the 1st, 01.42.60.15.78, closed Saturday lunch and Sundays, has undergone several chef changes since Adrienne Biasin retired; first the peripatetic Michel del Burgo spent a few weeks before taking his usual bunk, during which time he got good reviews and bumped up the prices; then a Senegalese, Agazi Kpohou took over holding the same carte and prices and presumably pleasing the patrons but recently a young (of course to me everyone looks like a teenager) Japanese guy took over without fanfare and I got an early warning bat-signal from Spring country that I should visit.
The amuse bouche that came with our 38 E 3-course formula was a fluffed soupie thing of melon with a light marshmallow type square. Ethereal but not really showing where this guy was going.
My dining partner had the pressed beef tongue which brought back memories of his grandmother and I had the sweetbreads with mushrooms which corrected the recollections of all the crummy ones I've had in my life; perfect product, perfectly prepared.
Then he had a nice piece of St Pierre with a spiky batter (such as I had yesterday - a trend?) on a white creamy sauce and I was delighted with my sliced duck with artichokes, it was succulent and proper. Both came with lots of summer veggies.
Finally he had a pressed peach dessert and I the red fruits with rhubarb - both with a very tasty scoop of ice cream.
The bread was just fine as were the coffees.
The bill with three coffees (my partner's partner showed up for coffee), no bottled water but a bottle of light rose, our bill was 115 E.
Go? If I lived in the Spring country, I think this would be a close third to Spring and Regalade.
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