John Talbott's Paris

C'est Mon Plaisir; Non, c'etait mon: another ignored gem, this hidden in the Berthillon Nation.

 
6.8 C'est Mon Plaisir, 42, rue St-Louis en l'ile in the 4th, 01.43.26.79.27, open 7/7 (there were at least three of their talented chefs visible today) got a mixed review from Philippe Toinard earlier this week, but I'm here to tell you that these guys have responded quickly; the meat was cooked properly and the service impeccable (two faults he noted.)

The place's decor is great and they've shaken off the bad karma or feng shui that cursed prior restos here; the two-course menu is 28 E, with a dessert it's = 33 E.

I had what Toinard raved about - the tarte with warm veggies and a most unmustardy-tasting mustard sauce.  My goodness, what a treat!  The cooked beans, peas, tomatoes, carrots, broccoli and potato were so luscious and the half-uncooked radish perfect.

Then I was faced with a dilemma:  did I respect Toinard's conclusion that they did fish well but meat poorly/overly or did I go with a two-legged flying thing?  The latter: the quail with carrots.  They must have read my mind, because it came out exactly like I like it - blue - even though we settled on rose - now y'all know the French eat everything from chips to cheeseburgers with a knife and fork but I figured half the clients here were my compatriots (who just walked in, astonishingly) and I picked up the whole birdie fellow and devoured everything but the skin and bones - yes, I ate the little thing's fatty parts too.  But the best part of this dish were the diced bits of marinated but barely cooked beets which were tasty, twangy and tangy.

Did I stop there?  Of course not.  I had an internal battle between choosing the fresh strawberries and a coque fondante of banana and praline, but after consulting my wonderful waitfolks, ordered the latter, which turned out to be a large pralined-macaroon with banana slices and I guess caramel, I was too busy to ask.

The bill with no bottled water, 50 cl of wine and coffee would come to 51.50 E.

Go?  If it's good enough for Colette's visit in 10 days, it's good enough for you.

La Table des Oliviers in Neuilly: awful price/quality ratio.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4.5 La Table des Oliviers, 4, rue de l'Eglise in Neuilly sur Seine, 01.47.45.72.11, closed weekends is a place Claude Lebey (I know, I know, it's a brand more than a person) listed as a newbie recommendation this year.  I like Neuilly; clean, rich, elegant and the clients here wore suits and ties, etc.  Bob Dylan was playing on the sound system but the joy stopped there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Two of us had the 36 E 3-course "menu" but there were lots of supplements.  My dining partner chose the sardine tart with tapenade first while I had the tempura of langoustines.  The sardine tart came out way ahead and the langoustines were but a sad shadow of those at the late lamented Bistro Cote Mer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The slow-cooked lamb was OK for him but my sweetbreads were over-cooked, bordering on dessicated.  At this point we should have bailed out but I was enjoying our discussions and thus we ordered desserts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

He had the baba with plenty of extra rum and I the house and daily specialty - the strawberry millefeuille; neither were disgaraceful, neither exciting.

Our bill with two coffees with pathetic excuses for caneles, a bottle of red and extra glass of white apero wine but no bottled water was 130 E (taking away the extras would have brought it down to 113 E).

Go?  No way either of us will return.

L'Antre Amis in the 15th; Wow, Zowie, Pow, Zap: where have all the critics gone? Far far away.

 
8.0 L'Antre Amis, 9, rue Bouchut in the 15th, 01.45.67.15.65, closed weekends, opened (gasp!) 18 months ago and made nary a splash in the critics' pond.  A couple I know here, who introduced me to Stephane Pion, Baptiste Anguerin and Thierry Lebail's cooking at Guifeli almost a decade ago and Sophie Brissaud are about the only folks singing its praises: A sad commentary because their cooking is some of the best, solid and inventive stuff I've had in a long time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's in that cool area over near the Avenue de Breteuil, which has incredible buildings I wish I could afford an apt in.  The carte is equally incredible, confronting me with one of the first times that I truly could not decide what to have.

 

 

 

However, I pulled myself together and after an incredible amuse gueule of an avocado puree, salmon and sorbet - Wow! - had an incredible dish of wok'd chipirons, quinoa (best use of which this year), Bellota, tomato "petals" and purslane leaves.  Zowie!  And kudoes for their providing a spoon for the emulsion and quinoa.

When I read the carte I thought there must be a mistake in listing both the heart of rumsteak and joue de boeuf but no, an incredible hunk of beef came out with a phyllo-type wrap of the other beef; along with two huge morrels and other wild mushrooms in an intense wine sauce covered with an amborsia of beaten to a pulp potatoes. Pow!

 

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As I had entered the resto, I was struck by the three cheese items in bell jars sitting opposite the door - must be a message I thought - "we think these are great."  So for the final incredble Zap I had them: a goat, sheep and cow's cheese, but that hardly does justice to their fine affination by Marie Quatrehomme and presentation with doctored (algae was it?) butter and berry confiture.  Even the coffee and sugar and cookie presentation was lovely.

My bill (without bottled water) but with the 32 E "menu," very decent bread and passable coffee and of course, some wine, was 46.50 E. 

Go?  Joke you?  If there were a "France has (culinary) talent show" this team would win hands-down.  Plus you gotta love a place that has black stones in the washbasin and two types of hair gel (for those who have hair) - firm and fever (hummmm).

Bloggers are ruining Paris restaurant reviewing.

Not too long ago, someone previously unknown to me, maintained on a well-regarded website that (we) bloggers were ruining the dining experience for (Americans visiting) Paris and that things were better pre-internet when the print guys reigned supreme.  Without (I think) intentionally refuting this charge, the brilliant Meg Zimbeck, on her new Discussion Forum on her 1-year old Paris by Mouth, talked about reviewing Paris restaurants for more traditional (and usually print) media. 

 She said, and of course I quote fewer than 100 words or less than 10%: “Editors…, don't pay for negative or middling reviews.……[and] there's a major disincentive for writers to remove existing restaurant listings….whatever I removed….I had to replace with a brand new listing for which I had paid the meal expenses myself.… I can easily see how restaurant listings persist for years and years in such guides without anyone ever revisiting or deleting them.  And I would add that whatever the print forum, a weekly, monthly or yearly one, writers/critics usually just talk about their good experiences.

 There are notable exceptions:

-          Emmanuel Rubin gives broken hearts on Figaroscope for disastrous meals,

-          Francois Simon (less often) gives the back of his hand or delivers clever words to destroy a place, and if you read between the lines, the tag team at A Nous Paris,

-          Jerome Berger and Philippe Toinard, take swipes in their adjectives.

 But most follow several rules:

1. Speak positively to your print readership to encourage them to dine out – of whatever demographic your publication is targeted to – whether 20 year-old Parisians or 60 year-old visitors,
2. Respect my mother’s dictim: “if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything else at all,” and as
3. One influential reviewer told me: ‘If I don’t like the place, I don’t write it up,” or as another said
4. “Write up the street, welcome, ambiance, décor, anything but the food.”

 Now let me defensively come to the defense of the defensive bloggers.  What’s in it for us to call the balls and strikes as we see ‘em?  Our reputations, integrity and readership loyalty.  (And if we are enthusiastic about a place that’s struggling along or breaking even – a really wet smootch next time we come.)

 If I (or anyone else) write up a place positively, I can guarantee a wonderfully warm welcome when I return a few weeks later, not that it wasn’t that way Time #1; an extra complement to your S.O., who wasn’t with you that time (recall that we’re the canaries in the mine); and an expression of thanks for steering folks their way (the numbers are often staggering).

 If I write up a place as horrible, disappointing or standard, it’s not the end of the world for them, as Randy Diaz said on the same Paris By Mouth thread “…I get a sense that food critics or bloggers the world around "follow the pack", and any one who has a different opinion are fearful of being different, for fear of being ostracized as well as being questioned about their credibility.” 

 I’d differentiate between the “food critics [and] bloggers” [who don’t write for established media outlets.]   We bloggers go to places that others have been to (established print guys, other bloggers, sharp readers, friends on motorcycles, flanneurs, etc.), sophisticated readers know how to “triangulate” better than Bill Clinton, and there are lots of web and blog opinions out there (BTW, if you’re really into this, check out the blogs of the established folks – you’ll be surprised what appears there and not in their print versions).

 So coming back to my title and “the point, Dad” I’d say that not only haven’t we bloggers ruined Paris restaurants, we’ve saved them from “herd opinions,” “excessive positivity”, and ordinariness that the print guys (unless they have more revealing blogs) are oblivious to and forced them to keep on their toes, months and even years after the initial month’s print reviews are Scotched to their windows.

 These thoughts came to me after a more than ordinary meal at the Bourgogne Sud.

Bourgogne Sud
14, rue de Clichy in the 9th (Metro: ND Lorette, Liege)
T: 01.48.74.51.27
Closed Sat. lunch, Sunday and Monday nights
Lunch menus 13.50, 15.50 and 23 E, a la carte 30-40 E.

Reviews of reviews: The Week of June 13th, 2011

Tuesday, in A Nous Paris, Jerome Berger reviewed and gave 2/5 dots to Le Petit Trianon, coordinates given last week, supervised by the chef Olympe of the eponymous resto of which much is made on the menu; he had sautéed veal and chocolate mousse (they serve Opital charcuterie as well); and Philippe Toinard went to and gave 3/5 dots to La Classe, 6, rue de Maubeuge in the 9th, 01.45.26.89.41, closed Saturday lunch and Sundays, running one 35 E for mets, croquettes, supions a la plancha, and cooked fruit.

Tuesday, Philippe Lafon in Le Fooding reviewed Le Bibent, Constant’s new place in Toulouse.

Figaroscope’s Emmanuel Rubin reviewed his usual five places this week: top billing and three hearts went to L’Auberge du XV, coordinates given before, where he commented on the crab, roast pigeon and charlotte. One heart each went to: Le Huit, in the Hôtel Maison des Champs-Élysées, Maison des Centraliens. 8, rue Jean-Goujon in the 8th, 01 40 74 64 64 open 7/7 where 35 and 42 E formulas will get you fare such as petit pois soup, roast cod and a moelleux ; another hotel-resto, Le Talma, in l'Hôtel La Belle Juliette. 92, rue du Cherche-Midi in the 6th, 01 42 22 97 40, closed Sundays and Mondays, with lunch formulas at 23 and 30 E, a la carte 40 E plus, for burattina, omelette and chateaubriand ; l’Aller-Retour, coordinates given before, where he noted the terrine du jour, boudin, burger and entrecote ; and the second pizza place of its name Al Taglio 2 in the 3rd.

This week’s Dossier by Colette Monsat & Alexandra Michot in Figaroscope was all about desserts with fresh fruit:
Fraises du bois at the MiniPalais
Fruit salad at Bioboa
Strawberries at Pantruche
Triffle at the Square Trousseau
Tarte of fraises du bois at Bread & Roses
Tarte of raspberries at the Patisserie des Reves
Mixed salad at the Paradis du Fruit
Strawberry salad at the Pavillion Elysees Lenotre
Cherries at l’Ebauchoir
And an exhibition of photos at the Grande Epicerie (Bon Marche).

And Francois Simon, in his Hache Menu in Figaro went to the bar/resto/lounge Pamela Popo, 15, rue François-Miron in the 4th, 01 42 74 14 65, open 7/7 where the formula is 17 €. He says to go; they have everything from gaspacho to cod and a carpaccio of scallops to beef.

There was also an article on the 18th Arr. by Alice Bocio that gave/recommended the following restaurants:
La Table d’Eugene
Chamarre Montmartre
Miroir
Guilo Guilo
Le Sourire de Saigon
Floors
Locanda di Pulcinella
Cheri Bibi
Marcel
Mon Oncle

Thursday, in l’Express, Francois-Regis Gaudry reviewed Le Floreal, coordinates given before, mentioning the céleri remoulade, calamari and cheesecake and La Grande Verriere in the Bois de Boulougne at the Jardin d'Acclimatation in the 16th, 01.45.02.09.32, open 7/7 from 10 AM -7 PM, with a « menu » at 35 E, mentioning the great terrace, ham, brandade and rice pudding; they also covered two Italian places, Testa d’Oca in Lyon and l’Altra in the 11th.

Francois Simon in his Croque Notes, covered the Plaza Athenee – and since this is the end of this post and the “remains of the day” I’ll reveal that I decided to have Babel Fish translate Simon into English and it’s funnier than he is in person.

Le Petit Trianon in the 18th: American food for Americans.

 
4.0 Le Petit Trianon, 80, bvd de Rochechouart in the 18th, (in the Trianon Theater), 01.44.92.78.00, is open 7/7 from 8 AM til 2 AM serving breakfast, lunch and dinner as well as sandwiches and such between standard meal hours for 15 to 30 €.  The reviews have been mixed but I had to be a few blocks away (on an exciting possible apt. search) and it fit into my schedule perfectly.

The decor is simply scrumptious; wood-topped tables, red and green velvet-covered chairs, mirrors, posters and the whole deal.  The music went from Piaf to near-Rap and Sinatra to swing.

The "menu" at lunch is 13.50 E (dinner 16.50) for the entree and plat du jour or plat and dessert du jour - today, leeks vinaigrette, pork ribs and cherry clafoutis.  Looking at the other offerings, I seized at the "menu"; only rejecting M. Ospital's wonderful Basque charcuterie because I couldn't imagine it topping the Salumeria Rosi Parmacotto's 96 hours ago.

In any case, the leeks were wonderful; classic, proper and tart.

 

I truly regret that I cannot say the same about the pork ribs and/or tagliatelles; the pork tasted like yesterday's dessicated try at BBQ and the pasta was totally without character.  I returned both barely touched to the kitchen; no comment was made, no questions asked; strange!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My dessert was a creme brulee made with tart citron, which was OK but not stellar.

A positive was the street scene with a steady stream of visitors as well as scruffy locals blowing their cigarette smoke into the joint and an occasional totally stoned out stoner.  By the time I'd ordered coffee the restaurant was full of my friends from the lower 48 and as charming as the wait-folks' English was, I was outa there.

My bill with the "menu", dessert and a carafe of wine was 32 E.

Go?  My guess is that even Gene Kelly would go a few subways stops South given this fare; genuine setting, kinda poor chow.

DC: Zaytinya: consistently surprising; Citronelle: surprisingly bad.

Colette and I went to Zaytinya for another lunch and again were waited on by one of Jose Andres's trusted lieutenants who's opening their new shawarma place this summer. After a wonderful chat about Lebanese food in Paris we both had the $22 4-course prix fixe which is spectacularly innovative but classic; one dish was better than the other and we shared all.

We started with the Lebanese favorite, the fattouche mixed salad with very zippy dressing and crisp pita bits and crispy eggplant with a roasted garlic-yogurt sauce.

Then we had the skewered ground lamb, with house made harissa, grilled tomatoes, sumac and onions on pita as well as lightly sauteed shrimp in a honey-type vinaigrette.

Next came beef and lamb meatballs with feta cheese, rustic tomato sauce, cinnamon and allspice and grilled lamb on the spit that was well-spiced and tender as can be.

And we closed with ice cream and a mango panna cotta type dessert.

Our bill with a bottle of super wine was $83.60 before the tip.

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A celebratory dinner saw us and the whole nookooler family at Citronelle, a place I loved so much it was my first choice for another celebratory dinner when I left an an editorship in DC a decade years ago.  

This was probably the worst price-quality meal of the year in whatever country I've eaten in, however.

The amuse gueules were OK but nothing out of the ordinary and the bread was OK.  After that things went downhill.

We all ordered the $105 prix fixe dinner and had as firsts: crab tempura, an escargot "porcupine" with BBQ sauce (a bad idea) and green asparagus.

Then we had the crab tempura (I ordered two firsts, being told the bill would be adjusted - PS it wasn't), a dorade royale, lobster (which was pretty good but worth the extra $20, nah), and vegetable tasting plate.

Desserts consisted of a "rubber ducky" (offered because I said I didn't want dessert, having left both first courses 1/2 eaten), faux hard-boiled eggs and several other items I gave up sampling.

We six had three bottles of wine, one of which I was allowed to order and the other two $15 more than what I ordered but per the sommeliere, what I "needed" (thanks Bob Dylan.)

The bill: a staggering $357 a couple for a meal that could best be described as amateurish.

Go?  I'm afraid that after 20+ years of loving his food in California, Baltimore & DC, Michel Richard and I must part ways.

Salumeria Rosi Parmacotto: the 73rd St branch of this Parma wonder.

Today, for the second time in as many months I found myself in Manhattan, desperately seeking nourishment; this time I called my newest New York food expert and said I'll be at a service at the Riverside and have no idea when it'll be over or who might join me; Where?  Either Daniel Boulud's new place or the 3-year old Salumeria Rosi Parmacotto, said he.  For several reasons, the latter suited best.

It's got post-modern decor, music from Sinatra to Getz/Gilberto, a long deli/charcuterie/salumeria case and maybe 30 covers inside and 20 out.  The theme is definately Tuscan cured, sliced meats.  So be it.  (But, first a trip to the loo; where I saw the chef's certificate from the French Culinary Institute, a seat of higher learning my eldest daughter pursued between college and law school - good omen!)

Massive menu, largely taken up with (duh) Italian deli treats; I had the spicy sopressata, best I've ever had.  (with superb foccacia and no EVOO - Bravo!)

Then I had the tripes non-Florentine, that is with tomatoes and parmesan (Parma got it?); best of show as well.

Dessert; tough decision; pannacotta vs budino di pane; waiter - "The pannacotta with strawberries & rhubarb hands-down."  He was right, well I assume he was, I didn't try the other.

My bill with wine and three courses before tip (and not counting the $17 worth of meats I schlepped home for dinner) would come to about $41 before tip.

Go?  My goodness, yes.

Where we want to eat – Notre Dame: an archival essay* and update.

WARNING AND UPDATE: This is article published in April 2008 and thus is wildly out of date; but I wanted to reprint it for several reasons, not the least of which is as an historical archive. That said I must update it and note that several things have changed:
- Colette and I have had such on and off experiences at Vieil Ami that it’s off our list

- L'Orangerie closed
- L’Epigramme has a new team at the helm
- Le Reminet is back to what it was 15 years ago, top flight food
- I haven’t been to most of the others in a long time, but
- Ribouldingue and Sola have come onto the scene with a roar and
- Ze Kitchen Galerie never fails to dazzle.
Thus my list now consists of:

Ribouldingue
10, rue Saint Julien le Pauvre 5th (Metro : St Michel)
T : 01.46.33.98.80
Closed Sunday and Monday
Menu-carte 25 €, a la carte 30-35 €.

Le Reminet
3, rue des Grands-Degres, 5th (Metro : St Michel, Maubert-Mutualite)
T : 01.44.07.04.24
Open 7/7
Lunch menu 13.50 €, dinner a la carte 40-60 €.

Sola aka Sola par Hiroki Yoshitake
12, rue de l'Hotel Colbert in the 5th, (Metro: St Michel)
T: 01.43.29.59.04 (but beware quirky phone-answering reliability)
Closed Sundays and Mondays
“Surprise” menus at lunch - 2 entrees, 1 plat, 1 dessert = 45; one more plat = 50E; dinner 45 and 60 E for the same.

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The most tourist-trafficked spot in Paris, indeed the world, may well be around Notre Dame on the Ile de la Cite. Unfortunately, that’s also about the most culinarily desert-like place there is in the city.

If you’re dragging your feet so much that you cannot stand, you’re really stuck with Le Vieux Bistro, a 4.5 in my book, newly taken over by Sarah Peronnet, a former lawyer who trained in cooking in England and Canada, who serves Lyonnais comfort food (onion soup, boeuf bourguignon, quenelles de brochet, cheese and tarte tatin) that’s not bad but her wine is priced outrageously, e.g. starting at 29 €.

Counter-intuitively, the next closest place is actually on the Ile St Louis, Antoine Westermann’s (pre-Drouant) initial foray into Paris, yclept Mon Vieil Ami. I’ve had all good meals here except one famous time I was bragging about my sniffer-outer qualities to two buddies and the meal fell flat for me, them and the poor mother fro Eastern Europe that we pulled along. Usually though, it’s of high quality and fun food. While jam-packed, needing reservations, there is a “common table” one can sometimes luck out at.

In the other direction, that is West, just up the quai des Orfevres past the justice boys, is a much better and more interesting new place than Le Vieux Bistro, where the food was great a while back – indeed a solid 6.5. It’s run by the same team that manages the Cinq Mars, Lei, Cailloux and l’Altro and is called Quai-Quai. I very much liked* the oeufs mayo, salad with microtomed strips of seasonal veggies, rare lamb chops with curried beans, cod and fresh spinach and a broche perdu with a honey sauce.

If you could fly across the river you’d be at my favorite restaurant in Paris, perhaps the world, the impossibly-named Ze Kitchen Galerie which almost breaks the rating system, it’s that good. I will not bore you with more of my praise for it, but simply say that it’s worth the extra 10 minutes walking or flying across the Seine to dine there. Our last meal* was even better than our first one, years ago.

And then, presuming your feet are still functioning, a mere 200 meters farther on, is another new place - l’Epigramme (which clocks in between 6.6 and 8.8, depending on who’s counting). I think by now I’ve tasted pretty much everything on the carte and I have found nothing lacking, although my dining partners occasionally quibble. I like the amuse bouche terrine, tete de veau, scallops on a puree of cauliflower, poitrine of veal, lievre royale, ox-tail stew with chopped root vegetables, beef cheeks, veal, rascasse, St Nectaire, rice pudding, chopped apples in a sable "sandwich" and banana, chunks of chocolate cookie and formage blanc.

Finally, just past Ze is the Spanish bastion, Fogon St Julien, which is reputed to dish up the best paella in town, something I cannot dispute. It’s not new, but in new digs, but you probably didn’t come to town to have paella anyway. However, there is a French spin to what chef Alberto Herraiz does, and what he does is quite good, so don’t dismiss it out of hand.

NB – One place I’d tout you off is called l’Orangerie, located up the street from Mon Vieil Ami, run by Michel del Burgo, who should have learned good cooking at Taillevent, but the one and only time I went, performed horridly.

* At Ze March 26th, we were treated to a couple of soups of carrot with shrimp, basil, mushrooms and was it coconut milk?, an extra glass of wine and an extra dessert, but February 20th at Quai-Quai we were overcharged and March 21st we fully paid at l’Epigramme; so I guess it all cancels out.

My favorites near Notre Dame are:

Mon Vieil Ami
69 St Louis en l’Ile, 4th, (Metro : Pont Marie)
T : 01.40.46.01.35
Closed Monday and Tuesday lunch
Menu 38 €.

Quai Quai
74 quai des Orfèvres, 1st (Metro : Pont Neuf)
T: 01 46 33 69 75
Closed Sunday and Mondays
Lunch formula 17, menu 35 €

Ze Kitchen Galerie
4, rue des Grands Augustins, 6th (Metro: Saint Michel)
T: 01 44 32 00 32
Closed Sundays.
A la carte 30 €.

L’Epigramme
9, rue de L’Eperon, 6th (Metro: Odeon)
T: 01 44 41 00 09
Closed Sunday nights and Mondays,
Menu-carte: 28 €

Fogon Saint-Julien
45, quai Grands Augustins, 6th (Metro : St Michel)
T : 01.43.54.31.33
Closed Mondays
Rice menu : 35 €, paella for two 36 €.


*Originally published in 2008

 

Le Petit Pamphlet in the 3rd: an archival* review.

1.02 Petit Pamphlet {I do these numbers just to drive John Whiting nutz}, 15, rue Saint Gilles in the 3rd, 01.42.71.22.21, closed Saturday and Monday lunch and all day Sunday, was described to me by my most trusted Parisian food critic as “not fun;” now, what does that mean? Oh I know, Bernard Loiseau (The Perfectionist,) is reputed to have said it’s all about providing pleasure, but not fun?

Well, my friend/colleague was right, but not completely right. It was pathetic and pretentious too. You enter, not bad, nice space, nice table coverings, nice bullfight poster (like you had in college in 1953, except not Manolete in Madrid but nobodies in Bayonne), nice rillettes and olives with three kinds of nice bread), nice wait-staff, nobody smoking except the proprietress, nice wine list all at 20 € - right?, you’ve stumbled on a find, despite the fact that you hated the mother ship Le Pamphlet.

Ok, so it’s in the heart of the touristy Marais, half the patrons are either Anglo-Saxons making notes or persons speaking English as their common tongue and the menu is terribly limited (4 starters at 9 €, 3 mains at 15 €, 4 desserts at 7 € and 2 specials, and they all have a Latinate, e.g. Italo-Spanish, spin to them). Soldier on, stout fellow!

Order the pasta with coquillagey stuff like paella (an homage to the Fables of Fontaine, I presume); the faux filet with potatoes and tiny girolles (seasonal) and roasted figs with caramel ice cream – how can one go wrong?

Well, the figs and chocolate mignardise were great, the rest barely acceptable, plus the plates, except for the figs, arrived with such astonishing rapidity that either they have a brigade of 40 all set to prepare your food or it’s all flash-prepared.

This meal caused me to reflect on why it was so different from that at the Grande Ourse. OK, it’s the 3rd vs the 15th, an annex vs an original. But I thot they weren’t really trying, as the Grande Ourse was, they were coasting - where they were, they didn’t need to hustle.

The bill = 54 €, clearly the worst price-quality of the rentrée.

*Originally published in September 2006