John Talbott's Paris

I realize I must have been a French peasant in another life; love that food.

The day this was written, as I was sitting at Christian Etchebest’s newest Cantine, that across from the Dupleix metro, that I really like simple, peasant food. Oh the charcuterie might be from his friend Ospital, the trendy coldcut maker, but the thick cut fries and other plates I saw whizzing by me in this absolutely jam-packed, standing room only place, were pure peasant stuff. I really had a hard time deciding what to have and did what I rarely do, composed my meal around my main: cabbage stuffed with pigs’ feet.  Knowing that, I went easy before, with a dozen or so crevettes, cooked simply on the plancha, topped with salt, pepper and espilette. It took some work to get them out of their shells, which as my friend Paga insists keeps the calories down, but they were about as simple a dish as you can get. Then the stuffy cabbage, not so simple, but certainly, on the coldest day I’ve experienced in Paris in almost a decade, perfect. After that, who could do a heavy dessert and though I could and do have fresh fruit every breakfast, having someone else peel and cut them and place them in a basil syrup seemed like another logical dish.

As I left I thought of other places of its ilk; places like Christian Constant’s Café Constant, Grand Pan and Dans les Landes, where one has a similar choice of just plain, mouthwatering, stomach pleasing, end-of-meal satisfying dishes. Sure, I like places like the Bristol, Meurice and Les Ambassadeurs; table clothes and napkins folded when exiting for the bathroom, setting wiped for crumbs and hovering waitstaff are fun once in a while but I don’t know, in my heart I’d rather have simple food, bustling service and a sense that you’ve really tucked into tucker.

Where you too can eat like a peasant:

La Cantine de Troquet Dupleix
53, blvd de Grenelle in the 15th (Metro: Dupleix)
T: 01.45.75.98.00 (but no reservations)
Open 7/7
Costing about 30 € a la carte.

Café Constant
139, rue St-Dominique, 7th (Metro : Ecole Militaire)
T : 01 47 53 73 34
Open everyday.
A la carte about 30 €.

Le Grand Pan
20, rue Rosenwald in the 15th
T: 01.42.50.02.50
Closed Saturday lunch and Sundays
A la carte 35-55 E

Dans Les Landes
119 bis (not 119, as some have reported it) Rue Monge in the 5th, (Metro: Censier-Daubenton)
T: 01.45.87.06.00
Closed Sundays and Mondays
Costing 25-35 € a la carte.

Reviews of reviews: The week of February 13th, 2012

Monday-Tuesday in A Nous Paris, Philippe Toinard wrote up and gave 3/5 dots to the much-changed (chef, plates, menu, etc) Pierre au Palais-Royal, coordinates unchanged, where for 33 E at lunch and 39 E dinner one can have jambon noir, Ile d’Yeu bar, Normandy sole as well as chicken hearts, a rable de lapin, ecrevisses and freshly made linguini with Nantua sauce; while Jerome Berger next door wrote up the 3 dot Pizzeria di Rebellato in the 16th.

Tuesday, Jeanne Pochan in Le Fooding reviewed La Globulle Rouge in Brest.

On Wednesday, in Figaroscope, Emmanuel Rubin reviewed his usual five places, giving one his rare 3/5 heart ratings: Le Coq Rico, coordinates given before, where he concludes that the elevated prices are worth it (for the chicken offal, oeuf poele, poule au pot and fruit salad. Then come three 1/5 hearters: the Corsican l’Accent Corse, 123, rue de la Convention in the 15th, 01.45.54.08.62, closed Saturday lunch and Sundays, where for 35-40 (18 and 21 E menus) one has a croustillant corse, cannelloni and flan; the fast-food/dinette Luncha, 16, quai du Louvre in the 1st, 01.42.33.32.14, open 7/7 one can have salads, a brochette of duck and French toast for 20 a la carte and 11 E menu; and epicerie-cave-cantine L’Aspartinette, 72, rue Condorcet in the 9th, serving tapas and burgers for 15-25 E. A broken heart was awarded the Italian Autentico in the 9th.

The Dossier this week dealt with taking the kids out for pasta shells during their Spring break and suggests:
The Café de l’Alma
Le Relais du Parc
Ferdi
Café Germain
Mama Shelter
Boco
Be, Boulangepicier
Hotel Amour
Table d’Eugene

Francois Simon revisited Le Dome in the 14th, saying one should go but it is dear.

Wednesday as well, in l'Express, Francois-Regis Gaudry was rather harsh about Verjus, coordinates already given, but loved Le Camion qui fume, ditto coordinates, Charles Patin O'Coohoon reviewed Gyoza Bar in the 2nd and Marie-Amal Bizalion reviewed Mad-Eo in Rennes

And Saturday, Francois Simon’s Croque Notes concerned La Poularde in Monrond-les-Bains.

 

Girondine in the 13th: an archival* review

5.0 Girondine, 48 bvd Arago in the 13th, 01.43.31.64.17, closed Sunday night only, menu-cartes are 18.90 and 30 €, bills itself as the bistro of Gargantua, and it surely is. I saw the announcement of its getting a new chef on RestoaParis and when my enquiries about it among my food critic buddies were greeted with silence, I decided to go.

It’s in that funny no man’s land in the 13th where no metros run but restos abound to feed the residential buildings at night and hospital staffs and lawyers in the day. The day I went the weather was splendid, the terrace was wonderful but despite the occasional breezes, two chain-smokers marred it.

The two menu-cartes are startlingly good values; the 18.90€ is less interesting (ex., avocado and shrimp salad, rabbit gigolette and foie de veau) but includes a glass of wine with two courses; the 30€ offers an apero (small but refreshing) and tapenade on toast and a ¼ pitcher of wine.

I had what was called a croute of morilles and champignons but was really a cream sauce of just morilles, that tasted like the woody forest itself. The confit de canard was surprisingly bland but had a nicely browned, crunchy skin: but the accompanying potatoes and chocolate moelleux dessert (called a kif) were my best of the genre of the decade.

The arrival of plates was quite slow, likewise delivery of water; the morilles and salad had the same shredded stalks of some exotic item; coffee was Florio; and the service was strange – despite seeming friendliness, the waitress never enquired why I ate only 2/3rds of each dish (Ans: portions being Gargantuan, it was too much for me, but maybe she knew that from experience.)

Total = 32.50€.

*Originally published in September 2006

"God watches out for fools and little children" (at least for supper).

A FAQ is whether I cook in the evening after my main meal at lunch and I launch into a long digression about how I baked as a child when my father went off to war, cooked in college for my humor magazine and prepared elaborate dinners in graduate school for my roommates and wife-to-be. Then stumbling and mumbling I say something about it being easier in Paris to pick up some chicken at my rotisseur, sausage at the Italian traiteur or morsels at the Galeries Lafayette or Bon Marche than to cook something elaborate from scratch, especially if I’m eating alone.  More often than not, though, I am looked out for by a guardian angel or somesuch who places food in my face just before I need it. Examples.

Last week, after returning from 10 days in the States, I went to a restaurant in my quartier (Sens Uniques) and as I walked down the street (Damremont) recalled that both best baguette of the year 2007, Arnaud Delmontel, and Chez Virginie, on most “best of” fromagerie lists, were right there. So a baguette, a St Marcellin (that I’d heat to fondu it) and a mountain cheese (that I’d raclette a day later) and I was set for two evenings.

Then a few days later, after a quick trip to Geneva, I was at a real (by real I mean everything didn’t come from that big central Chinese kitchen that I imagine all the traiteurs get their stuff in the window from) Chinese place (Mirama) on the rue St Jacques. Midway through the lunch that had been ordered by a real Chinese lady member of our party, she told us they even supplied take-out to the Elysee. ‘Ohhhh, would they treat me as well as the President of the Republic?” “Sure, I’ll order the Singapore rice noodles for you.” Another two nights taken care of.

Then yesterday after lunch at Le 122, I was walking down Bellechasse and passed a place (Saveurs et Co.) with luscious stuff in the window, kept walking, reversed direction, walked inside and saw some really good looking quiches (5 or 6 different): got the Savoyarde; two more nights.

To visit:
Chez Virginie
54 Rue Damrémont, 75018

Delmontel
57 Rue Damrémont, 75018 or 39, rue des Martyrs

Mirama
17, rue Saint Jacques, 75005

Saveurs & Co.
38 Rue Bellechasse, 75007

Reviews of reviews: The week of February 6th, 2012

Monday-Tuesday in A Nous Paris, Jerome Berger wrote up and gave 3/5 dots to La Cantine du Troquet Dupleix, coordinates and food choices given already while his colleague Philippe Toinard gave only 2/5 dots to Les Toques, 10, rue Letort in the 18th, 09.54.20.94.08, closed Sundays and Mondays where, despite the nice wines and welcome the food was not up to it – the salmon, pork, lamb and cheese cake just didn’t do it.

Tuesday, Yves Nespoulous in Le Fooding reviewed La Machine a Coudes, 35 rue Nationale in B/B, 01.47.79.05.06, closed Sundays, serving (in addition to cheese and wine), maigre, basque pork, boudin noir and rice pudding for 20-30 E.

On Wednesday, in Figaroscope, Emmanuel Rubin reviewed his usual five places, giving three his 2/4 heart ratings: L’Instant d’Or, 36 ave Gerrge V in the 8th, 01.47.23.46.78, closed Sundays and Mondays, with a “very important price [sic]” of 80-120 E, menus at 42 (lunch) and 49, you can have a bio egg, blue lobster and poached clementine; Le Petit Cheval de Manege, coordinates and food types given before; and Les Saisons, ditto. One heart went to La Pizza d’Anita in the 16th and the “Yankee” burger place Big Fernand in the 9th.

The Dossier this week talked more about burgers and rated the places best known for them in this order from 8.5-5:
Le Camion qui fume
Big Fernand
Maison Mere
Au Comptoir de Brice
Livingstone Steak House
Blend
Les Crocs de l’Ogre
Mansart
Au Vide-Gousset
Just BE
Floreal
Bioburger

And Francois Simon’s Hache Menu concerned FL Restaurant, coordinates given before, where he says to go if you’re nearby.

Wednesday as well, Charles Patin O’Coohoon reviewed Les Saisons in Paris (see before) and Solena in Bordeaux.

 

Eating in/on Montmartre: Revelations

Since we’ve owned a place in the 18th that is technically in/near Montmartre, we’ve been on the lookout for good if not great food. Back in the ‘90’s, we had the first-rate Beauvilliers, the fine Cottage Marcadet, and a rather decent Moulin de la Galette and Le Restaurant as well as a superb Thai and Italian place, now all long gone, changed chefs or management or gone downhill.

Everytime a new place opens we rush to it: Aizpitarte’s La Famille, Herrah’s Beauvilliers/Chamarre Montmartre and the newer version of the Moulin de la Galette, the bigger more southernly-located l’Orientale, L’Histoire de….., 2 Pieces Cuisine (aka 2PC), La Buissonerie, Le Pirogue, la Table de Lucullus, Le Tяuc, Le Diapason, Le Winch, Mon Oncle and the Bistro Poulbot - flash in the pans for the most part and then flamed out. And of course there are those places that exist but we’ve stopped going to - Chez Paula, l’Entracte de Sonia & Carlos, Le Maquis, Wally the Saharien, Les Negotiants, La Casserole, Café des Deux Moulins, Paris Boheme, Les Sauterelles, Le Bulldog, Sale & Pepe and Le Café qui Parle.

Several have survived intact however, like La Table d’Eugene, Mirroir and Enachi, which while not as mind-blowing as Guilo-Guilo, is more like real, reasonably-priced Japanese food one gets in Japan.

But (and time will tell), four places have opened in the past while that give hope to those of us wishing we could walk to a place.

First among them is Sens Unique on rue Damremont in the old Le Winch space, where I had outstanding noix de petoncles (with their coral) cooked on a plancha with a delicate but slightly sweet/slightly sour sauce with spinach leaves around a round of crab bits, picked off the little buggers; inventive, complimentarily flavored, subtle and sublime; their version of bourride, with mild fish (monkfish like), a pink salmon trout-type one - both offset by a piece of fierce haddock - as well as beautiful sliced wild mushrooms, carrots, bok choi and broccoli and a superb Paris-Brest.

Then there was the newly-reborn (under Herrah’s direction), Clocher de Montmartre on the rue Lamarck next to Sacre Coeur where I ate with my tres exigent French neighbor. We were both impressed by her salad with what was called fish from the ends of the world, consisting of salmon, smoky halibut, eel, tuna and two kinds of fish eggs and my wonderfully sauteed langoustines with a salad of great greens, both with a sweetish dressing but a very tart kumquat to squeeze on top. The mains were also impressive: she had a thin slice of veal's liver with pickled onions, apples (harvested a few months ago) and mashies, pretty damn good - and I had Roscoff onions from Brittany stuffed with minced ox tail, accompanied by a dish of absolutely first class rice with an intriguing sauce. And this was topped off with another terrific Paris-Brest.

The third place I would put to you is LUI ... LINSOLENT aka Lui... L'insolent on the rue Caulaincourt, which while nowhere near its downhill competition, is pretty good. There I had a sweet sabayon of gambas and petonicles; veal kidneys in armagnac sauce with smashed potatoes and incongruously placed black whole peppercorns atop and three small creme brulees - vanilla, chocolate and lavender. Again, not incredible food but pretty good for the nabe.

Finally, I should mention Westermann's latest venture - Coq Rico, which has gotten mixed press, indeed, my dining partner there last week said she'd return but I was less enthusiastic, mainly because I can get just about the same quality chicken from my local rotisseur down the hill, without the huge schlep up the hill. However, I did find my first of hearts, gizzards, livers with foie gras and curried fritters, and her main of chicken as well as the bread and butter quite good (the problem was her egg first and my pintade main, both barely adequate).

Coordinates are:

Sens Uniques

44 rue Damremont in the 18th, (Metro: faggedaboudid, use Bus #95)
T: 01.42.23.04.63
Open 7/7
Lunch menu 15 E for 2 dishes, 17.50 E for three and a multiple choice 30/35 E menu.

Au Clocher de Montmartre
10 rue Lamarck in the 18th, (Metro : none, Bus : Montmartrebus)
T : 01.42.64.90.23
Open 7/7
A la carte about 35 E

LUI ... LINSOLENT aka Lui... L'insolent
15, rue Caulaincourt in the 18th, (Metro: Place de Clichy)
T: 01.53.28.28.31
Closed Sundays and Mondays
Lunch menu 23, a la carte 20-30 E.

Le Coq Rico
98, rue Lepic in the 18th, (Bus: Montmartrebus)

T: 01.42.59.82.89
Open 7/7
A la carte 50-60 E.

Reviews of reviews: The week of January 23rd, 2012

Sometime, but dated 22 January, Francois Regis Gaudry of L’Express, said the La Coloniale, 25, rue Mazarine in the 6th, 01-43-43-69-10, 25-50 € a person, was very, very good and on 27 January, wrote up La Cantine du Troquet Dupleix, the second of its sort at 53, boulevard de Grenelle in the 15th, 01-45-75-98-00 costing 25-35 € for charcuterie, razor clams and rice pudding. And two reviews dated 26 January by Charles Patin O’Coohoon just showed up; L’Escient in the 17th and the Tuscan Sassotondo in the 11th.

Monday-Tuesday in A Nous Paris, Jerome Berger wrote up and gave 3/5 dots to Coq Rico, 98 rue Lepic in the 18th, 01.42.59.82.89, open 7/7, the third venture undertaken by Antoine Westermann (after Mon Viel Ami & Drouant), this based on French fowl, serving for about 50 E everything from chicken soup to pintade fermier and Grand Marnier mousse; his colleague gave 3/5 as well to L’Instant d’Or, 36, ave George V in the 8th, the former Flora Mikula’s Saveurs de space, 01.47.23.46.78, closed Sundays and Mondays, with a 42 lunch formula (menus at 49 and 98 E) for salmon with yuzu, turbot, scallops, rougets and mascarpone.

Tuesday, Yves Nespoulous in Le Fooding also reviewed the above-mentioned La Cantine du Troquet Dupleix, mentioning the head cheese, pork echine and rice pudding.

On Wednesday, in Figaroscope, Emmanuel Rubin reviewed his usual five places, giving two, 2/4 hearts: Au Clocher de Montmartre in the 18th, coordinates given before and the old Cave a l’Os a Moelle, renamed La Cave Schmidt, 181 rue de Lormel in the 15th, 01.45.57.28.27, closed Mondays selling not only wine but on the carte for 25-35 E items such as herring, baeckoffe and floating island. The three on-heart places were the Cabinet de Curiosites Culinaire, 23 ave Junot in the 18th, 01.53.41.81.40, only by reservation Wednesday-Sunday, costing 60-100 E before wine for crab rilettes, squid and brie; Flottes & Go, a sandwich second to Flottes next door, 2, rue Cambron in the 1st, 01.42.60.00.84 costing 10-20 E for salads, chicken fricassee and rice pudding; and Le Clan des Jules, 7, rue Brochant in the 17th, 01.42.29.37.62, closed Sundays at dinner, a second restaurant by the Fils a Maman gang serving camembert croquettes, Atlantic City cheeseburgers and a baba for 40 E a la carte or 14 and 17 E lunch menus.

The Dossier this week talked of Japanese food and Japanese restaurants in Paris.

And Francois Simon’s Hache Menu about Benoit answered himself “Bof” as to whether to go.

In Saturday’s Croque Notes in Le Figaro, Francois Simon talked about the closure of Alain Chapel’s eponymous restaurant in Mionnay.

Saturday, Jean Claude Ribaut in Le Monde discussed whee to go for poule au pot and pot-au-feu, etc on these chilly days, mentioning Philippe Excoffier, 18, rue de l’Exposition in the 7th, the “top chefs” spinning through l’Alcazar in the 6th, Coq Rico; as well as couscous at Monsieur le Prince, El Mansour and the Café du Commerce.

 

Le Pantruche: Haven't we gone through this before?

Le Pantruche in the 9th, coordinates given before, where I ate just about a year ago and said that "My friends all love the place, the service is terrific, the prices right and the setting superb, but I will not be back, regretfully."   So why did I return?  Because, everyone in the food world, including Le Fooding, Figarosope and maybe Pudlo, said it was the best in Paris and I'd been touted onto it by an old friend.  Ergo, go with him and see who's right.  (But more about that later.)

  

The "menu" after all the brouhaha, has crept up a bit, from 17 € for 2 dishes and 32 € for three to 18 € and 34 € but no matter.  My friend and I also crept in, he obviously known, me seemingly unknown (but then why did they ask after we'd finished what I really thought of my meal yesterday at Coq Rico? Hummmm.  Mark Zuckerberg is really selling our likes, hits and locations).  They graciously provided us an amuse bouche of Jerusalem artichoke soup with snappy truffle bits.   Delicious, even for me a truffle ignoramus (but more about that later.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our firsts were an egg with lentils and toast with moelle - pretty good - and a watercress soup with chopped cold oysters - no better, no worse than a year ago's.  So far, our competition is a draw.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

OK, the main round.  He had a huge slice of duck, perfectly cooked rosé with carrots sliced whole and I had sweetbreads, undercooked on the inside, crisp on the outside with carrots cut in half; both were first rate and had great sauces.  Knock-out his side.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

He had the Pavlova, which consisted of a meringue base, with chopped grapefruit and a taragon (wow?) ice cream; I had a Grand Marnier souffle with caramel sauce - which he declared was overkill and Angelo Dundee (bless his soul) would have lodged a complaint about - but I thought was inspired, although I'll give my partner credit, caramel does trump Grand Marnier, but hey.

The bill, ah that's complicated; because he's a celebrity well known to the house, they were pouring wine and giving out coffee as if there was no tomorrow; so lets just say that with three dishes each and a bottle of wine, but no coffee (offered), bottled water and the amuse (offered) and the best crusted bread of 2012, a bill would be about 100 E.

Go back?  I gotta eat my words, my hat and my pride - one year ago I said anti General McArthuresque "I will not be back," but I will. 

Le Coq Rico in the 18th: has Westermann broken the Montmartre curse?

5.5 Le Coq Rico (pun, got it - cocorico, le coq gaulois, that rooster on every French sports' player's Coq Sportif shirt or is that dating me?), 98, rue Lepic in the 18th, (Bus: Montmartrebus) is the third of Antoine Westermann's Paris adventures (after Mon or Au Vieil Ami and Drouant - the first inconsistent and the second right on), 01.42.59.82.89, open 7/7, commenced with such a media blitz/buzz from the Big Boys that you'd'av'thot it was the Second Coming.  Good food at the top of the Mont - no way.

Give them credit, Westermann and chef Thierry Lebe and their investors (many of whom I sensed in the room today) have torn the old Divette du Moulin apart and reassembed it into a cool largely stone-walled 20 seat restaurant, many seat bar/counter facing the kitchen (above),

and a 14 seat private backroom with a huge wine selection.

The menu is all fowl all the time, from eggs to soup, from foie gras to chicken and pintade.  Much has been made about the 92 E cost of a whole chicken, but divided by four it is normal; get off it.

For starters, my companion chose the egg (OK) which, with a dipping bread-stick, OK, was OK; while I had the hearts, gizzards, livers with foie gras and (I think I got it right) curried fritters which were to my tongue, much more adventuresome.

 

 

For mains we chose - her, the chicken, me, the pintade; verdict, her 22 E chicken was far superior to my 25 E pintade, but, but, but, when the pintade was topped with the cabbage - wow!  The frites were OK, the salad nicely dressed and the bread and Baratte bois butter were outasight.

Our bill, with a bottle and a glass of wine (it's a long story), no bottled water or desserts but two coffees was 108 E.

Go?  When it's 22°F and climbing the Mont is like Everest without oyygen, I dunno', but in the summer, when there's little else up here except for Au Clocher de Montmartre and farther down, Sens Uniques, the Table d'Eugene and Lui l'Insolent, I could reconsider.

La Cantine du Troquet Dupleix: Peasant food at its best.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

6.5 La Cantine de Troquet Dupleix, 53, blvd de Grenelle in the 15th (Metro: Dupleix), 01.45.75.98.00 (but no reservations), has been open a couple of weeks and from the crowds of folks jamming the bar and even waiting in the zero degree temperature on the terrace, it's clear Christian Etchebest has another hit on his hands.  He was there today (center photo), talking to folks by the bar for 30 minutes, then plunging in to serving and working hard.  My bottom photo shows what has become the House crest, which is very nice.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The menu is very large and ambitious for a place that features itself as just another cafe/cantine; charcuteries from his friend Ospital, salads, Basque specialties, meat and fish.  Wines come by the glass (5 E), 1/2 liter (11 E), full liter (20 E) and bottle (22 E and up).  I had a difficulty choosing but went with the crevettes a la plancha with Basque spices, cabbage stuffed with pigs' feet and thick frites and a "soup" of fruits.  Everything, save the frites, which I'll never find again after those from a truck in Brussels in 1955, was first class, albeit first-class peasant food - simple, good products, well-made and delicious and perfect for the coldest day here since a decade ago.

My bill, with three dishes, bread not to my liking but not bad, no bottled water, a coffee and a half-liter of wine winds up at 40.70 E.

Go?  My glory yes, but go early (which here means 12-12:20); even then there were 10 folks at the bar and when I left some men with suits and ties and ladies in elegant clothing, had been standing around waiting over 20 minutes.