The Galerie d'Art Saint-Honore is hosting a show of 42 paintings done by members of the Brueghel family at the Galerie d'Art Saint-Honore til December 15th and we went - me selfishly thinking there'd be a lot by Pieter the Elder so I was somewhat disappointed. (BTW: people who think I made/make Colette up can see her silouette facing the gallery window.)
1.5 Wows!
70dB* Crom'Exquis in the 8th was so crowded and well-reviewed that when I ate there a few weeks ago I immediately made a reservation for when Colette would be here. We started out with the signature cromesquis, today made with foie gras. A fine start especially with the bread.
Colette glomed onto the Jerusalem artichoke soup with foie gras and lemon and I had a dish of mackerel filets with various raddishes. Both were terrific.
For mains, Colette had the cod with a very light creamy sauce with mushrooms and I had a veal milanese which needed a boost of extra lemon and salt along with the tartaresque sauce provided as well as the creamed celery or leeks (looked like celery, tasted like leeks) to rise to the occasion.
To end, Colette had a crumble of apple, pear and raspberry and I had a millefeuille of mango and chantilly; Both fine.
The bill, ah the bill, read 159 E and I automatically signed it not looking at it until I was home and realized they'd charged us for two bottles of Cotes du Rhone.
Now readers from cities like New York or San Francisco probably think $100 per person at lunch for an almost star meal is par for the course but I sure had sticker shock until I realized the error. In any case all will be illuminated when I return to the 8th Tuesday to negotiate a refund.
*the dB ratings are decibel max's recorded on my handy-dandy acoustic sound level meter, an idea Francois Simon pursued for a while.
Le Clocher de Montmartre in the 18th is an easy hop, skip and electric Montmartrobus from our flat and Colette wanted a place nearby, so voila.
Our two food-fiend-friends from Manhattan/DC shared some smoked salmon cubes with crackeresque things and Colette and I shared what were called "nuggets" [sic] of pork but were in my estimation, round croquettes of what I thought were pigs' feet but our wonderful waiter assured me originated from the upper end of said piggie.
Then our friends had the Nicoise and shrimp salads which they finished every morsel of, while Colette and I struggled to eat even 20% of our chicken breast with mushroom and cheese sauce and pasta as well as a "snacking" portion of entrecote with a fine salad and fries (the rest of the chicken tonight with some cranberries we hustled over, will be our homage to Thanksgiving and especially Art Buchwald's artful rendering of the event.
For a finale, our East Coast friends shared the restaurant's famed Paris-Brest (which deserves its fame) and Colette and I shared a lemon tarte of a sort.
Our bill, with no bottled water, a bottle and 2 glasses of wine and very fine bread and butter was 73.25 E a couple.
Monkeys Place in Ambilly/Annemasse (FR) is the sort of place one (me) only tumbles into after a funeral of a friend of 50 years; goofy name, across the street from my Ibis hotel/motel, unheralded by the websites; and rec'd by a bilingual concierge/desklady as one of those places across the street that "doesn't look like much from outside but has great food."
It also extended my search for good bahn mi thit and pho, a search I've been unconsciously pursuing since Viet Nam in 1967-8. And it did not disappoint.
In addition to the aforementioned; they had 4 sauces staring at you - soy, BBQ, piquant and nuoc mam, the only good thing our Army brought back from that silly war (just as Korea intoduced kim chi to American palates).
In any case, if you're in the area and want/need a reasonably priced meal, prepared and served by a charming young couple, this is it.
The bill, with a bottle of Saigon beer, no bottled water, coffee or dessert, was 13.80 E.
Le Diligence chez "Annie" in Chene-Bourg (SW) is just over the border from Annemasse (FR) where I was staying: I wanted to park near the "temple" where I was assisting at an enterrement and not have to worry about time. This place looked perfect: traditional food, game in season and nearby.
I tried calling, my hotel tried calling; they don't answer the phone and their website said - "one must reserve". So I went a bit early for France but not Switzerland, where they actually go to work at 6:30 AM.
Big sign on door: we don't accept credit cards - Merde! - I have no Swiss francs (well only 4.05 SWF), no Swiss bank check but lots of Euros. Enter; approach Annie who really looks stern at my explanations of (1) trying to reserve (flicking her mobile lying on a nearby table like an errant fly) and (2) having none of the world's premium reserve currency; waves me away; but no, she's waving me towards a table.
Kinda cool place, wood beams albeit new; full to bursting at 12h15 with locals - bums, workmen, businessmen, couples, friends; OK.
Look at the menu, civet de chevreuil (love) with spaetzle (hate), red cabbage (love) and red-wine-soaked pear (love). OK, order that plus a green salad to start (drenched in dressing but quite good for such a drenching). Quite nice.
With a 5 dl carafe of an open Goron red, no bottled water, an eau de vie de coing in honor of my dear, near, recently departed friend and a coffee, my bill was 73.30 Swiss Francs; now Annie struts her stuff - "how much is 73.30 Swiss Francs in Euros" she demands of a local sitting 2 feet away - and he snaps back - "72 E." Done.
Tonite I decided to go across the street in Annemasse to L'Angkor (as in Wat) and have to confess that while I'm familiar with Viet Namese, Laotian and Thai cuisine I know zero about Cambodian stuff.
The menu looked good and I asked if the Mi Shao with shrimp (crusty noodles) would show off Cambodian cuisine at its best - Ans."Yes." I looked Cambodian food up in wiki and it says "With an emphasis on simplicity, freshness, seasonality and regionalism – Cambodian food has won praise for its elegant and understated use of spice, its harmonious arrangement of contrasting flavours, textures and temperatures within the overall meal rather than a single dish, and its thoughtful and, at times extravagant presentation of dishes with plenty of herbs, leaves, pickles, dipping sauces, edible flowers and other garnishes and condiments."
OK this was all that, nice undercooked shrimp, wonderful bamboo shoots, calm sauce - but no Whamo, but I guess that's normal.
In any case, my bill, with some nice Rhone, no coffee or dessert, was 20.50 E.
I went to the Brasserie St Maurice in Annecy years ago and on approaching it with an old, dear (or is it dear, old?) friend today, after we'd been closing day'd out of Pere Bise & the Belvedere and locked out of the Super Panorama and after he'd rejected anther place on the same square, said - "let's go, my memory of it is, that it was not bad." Astounding for an old guy to have remembered correctly; indeed, I just found my 2004 post and I said it was "not bad."
There were two nicely priced menus, one forced the other 2-2-2 and we each took one.
My friend started with what were essentially vegetable egg rolls and I had salmon rillettes; both of which came with a nicely dressed salad abnd both of which were pretty darn good.
Then he had the lake trout, which looked and tasted like salmon but so what? and I had a jambonette of pigeon; both of which came with superb, best ever I've had polenta like corn bread and both of which were quite good.
For finales he got the cheese with a pear puree and I a chocolate "soup" with fresh fruit; once again all was well.
Our bill, which he kindly paid for, supposedly in return for my picking him up at the airport this morning and driving down from Geneva, with a bottle of nice Cotes du Rhone, terrific bread, two coffees and no bottled water, was 74 E.
Afterwards we strolled around the lake; how can one not?
I went back to Il Vesuvio in Annemasse, because it was such a cool place, but despite the free dish of artichoke hearts, peppers and zucchini, I will not go back because despite my pleas to the lovely waitresss and pleasant Italian pizzaman,
the crust was still not crusty.
My bill with a half of Nero was 21.50 E.
Le Cigalon in Thonex is a quite wonderful place, just like I was looking for after a tiring 4 hour trip from Milan. It describes itself as on the French border of Switzerland and indeed, when I left, I turned left and passed by the Douane bldg, as quiet as a shuttered gas station.
The place can be pretty pricy but the 54 E menu sounded interesting so on I plunged. First came two fishy amuse-gueules (the decor which you can see above, is fishy-themed), a light croquette of "x" and a light tartare of "y," then 3 crevettes on top of a sweet (in a nice way) bed of diced beets. (unpictured)
The first course was/were scallops from Normandy, perfectly cooked, in a pumpkin soup with what seemed to be very mild fish eggs on top. Then two generous slices of lotte (monkfish) on a bed of wild mushrooms, so smoky I thought some truffle oil had been sprayed on, but no. And finally, a complicated but tasty dessert of chocolate, spun sugar, pistachio, griottes and halved cherries.
With more nummies in the form of lemon, wonderful bread, a half-bottle of wine and a coffee, the bill was an impressive, for me, 83 E.
I was surely born in France of a chef father and food critic mother.
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