John Talbott's Paris

Reviews of reviews: The week of November 11th, 2013.

Monday-Tuesday, Philippe Toinard in A Nous Paris, reviewed and gave 3/5 dots to Le Pario, coordinates given before and reviewed (positively) here; while his colleague Jerome Berger awarded 3/5 dots to the dinette-buvette-tapas place Lucien La Chance, 8, rue des Dames in the 17th, 09.73.52.07.14, open evenings only, closed Sundays and Mondays, with items such as various vegetables, pastrami & chocolate mousse.

Tuesday, in Le Fooding, Yves Nespoulous reviewed the Bistro Bellet, 84, Rue du Faubourg-St-Denis in the 10th, 01.45.23.42.06,open evenings only except Sundays and Mondays with 32-36 E menus with items such as moules, grouse, veal kidneys and Beaufort cheese.

In Wednesday’s Figaroscope, Emmanual Rubin awarded 2 hearts to 2 places, the Viet namese The Table du Viet Nam in the 7th and the most recent outpost of the “neo-Japanese” Orient Extreme Neuilly. Garnering one heart was the Comptoir Gourmet in the 4th and getting broken hearts were Romeo and Brut.

The Dossier this week by Colette Monsat, Alice Bosio, Hugo de Saint-Phalle and Francois Simon dealt with the newest wave of Japanese chefs at:
The most recent
Etude
Le Caviste Bio
H Kitchen
Encore
Les Enfants Rouges
Table
Les Anes (Pas si veux)
Passage 53
La Table d’Aki
Abri
L’Office
Clandestino
Le Sot l’y Laisse
Kei

And Francois Simon devoted his Hache Menu to Es, coordinates given before, where he and a dining partner paid 262 E for a meal he said was a piano concert by a genius.

Thursday, in L’Express, Francois-Regis Gaudry also wrote up the Table du Viet Nam.

Balthus, Vermeer and Magritte plus The Stage Door Deli - NYC

It's a fine art fall in New York with block-buster shows of Balthus, Magritte and the masterpieces from the Mauritshuis.  The first two are there until January 12th, the latter January 19th.  And if you need a sandwich five times what you should have, The Stage Door Deli has it.

Are there only 6 worthy restaurants in Paris?; how sad.

The day this was written, I ate with an old colleague-friend in the food biz at Le Griffonnier in the 8th; Why?  Because at 11 AM he was sitting in the dentist's office with his iPhone battery on life-support and I knew I'd better agree to something or I'd go hungry.  So, remembering it positively from the years before I had a blog, took pix and wrote detailed reports of meals, I made a rez with minimal enthusiasm and we went.  And you know what?  It was great.

So what's my point?  It's that, in the rush to go to "the" hottest restaurant in Paris today, whether blessed by the NYT or CH or whatever, and the list is here for all to read: Spring, Septime, Frenchie, Chez L'Ami Jean, Chez Denise, the Paul Bert Three, The Christian Constant Trio and occasional outliers like Les Papilles or Maceo - we contribute to the sense that any other place is less worthy.  What's shameful is that folks (arrogant Americans no doubt) make reservations at these hot spots and either never show or cancel at the last minute, which for a place with 20-40 covers, is killing when it's at a level of 10-20%.

So my question here folks, is, why aren't we touting places, like Le Griffonnier, or ..., or ...., or....?

Except for Ptipois and Parigi, who try to move us out of the comfort zone, the lists of "Where I should go" are pretty predictable.

Shouldn't we all spread the news and choices a little wider and move seekers of info on CH out of the hot top 5-10?  Or, as they say, should I just shadup?

Le Caillebotte in the 9th: familiar faces, nice food. Not unlike my introduction to Pantruche.

 

 

 

 

 

 

5.5 Le Caillebotte, 8, rue Hippolyte Lebas in the 9th (in the old Le Daron space, a place I gave an extraordinary -1.0 to) is the second restaurant brought to us by the Pantruche team and is somewhat stark, with plywood and a short but interesting carte and well-priced wines.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The firsts took quite a while to appear after ordering but were worth the wait; my dining partner, a beginning chef, had the poached foie gras and langoustines in a langoustine bisque (very very nice) and I had two gigantic Roumegous oysters, warmed enough to cut in 4 parts, which were intensely flavored and came with a bowl of lettuce soup.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For mains, my young friend had the scallops, which were smoky, with a mousseline of watercress and lemon butter and I had the civet of lievre, just right for the first really cold day of Fall, and a lot of very finely sourced veggies.

Rather than dessert, we chose to indulge in another glass of wine and coffee and talk.

The bill with all that, so-so bread and no bottled water was 109 E.

Go?  While not hitting all the high notes, this place is worth a revisit.

Reviews of reviews: The week of November 4th, 2013.

Monday-Tuesday, Philippe Toinard in A Nous Paris, reviewed and gave 3/5 dots to the Bulle, same old address, but with a new chef who came through the houses of Westermann, Bocuse and Marx, lunch formula 18, lunch menu 22 and dinner menu 50 E for items such as mussels, dorade and a crème glacee chocolat; and his colleague Jerome Berger awarded 3/5 dots to the “Produits frais. Pas de surgeles.  Pas de micro-ondes.  Pas de Metro.” Hollybelly, 19, Rue Lucien Sampaix in the 10th, no telephone, no reservations, costing about 20 E a la carte for things such as a soup du jour, lentils and sausage and a frangipane tart.

Tuesday, in Le Fooding, Yves Nespoulous reviewed the second restaurant of the team behind Pantruche, this a  neobistrot called Caillebotte, 8 rue Hippolyte—Lebas, in the 9th, 01.53.20.88.70, closed weekends which on lunch formulas of 14-18 € and menus of 34 et 48 € serves oysters, quail and figs.

In Wednesday’s Figaroscope, Emmanual Rubin awarded 2 hearts to 4 places, the previously mentioned BAT in the 9th; the previously mentioned Etude in the 16th, the previously mentioned Roca in the 17th and a Tel Aviv street food type place in the Marais – Miznon.  Finally he have 1 heart to La Faille in the 2nd.

The Dossier this week by Colette Monsat, Alice Bosio and Francois Simon dealt with kouglofs in Paris at:
Vandermeersch
Raoul Maeder
Sebastien Gaudard
Lenotre
Delmontel
Laduree
Gerard Mulot
Dominique Saibron
Eric Kaiser
Benoit Maeder

And Francois Simon devoted his Hache Menu to Le Ciel de Paris (166.60 E for 2).  “Go?” “Bof de chez bof.”

Thursday in L’Express, Mina Soundiram wrote up the American Freddie’s Deli in the 11th.

Saturday, Francois Simon wrote up three places in Marseille: Tiboulen de Maire, Paule et Kopa & La Cintinetta.

And Sunday in the JDD Aurelie Chaigneau’s Sunday address was Les Enfants Rouges, coordinates given before – 7/10); her discovery of the week was Mitsou (6) and revisit to Il Brigante (7.5/10).  And in the JDD femina, Frncois Lemarie went to the refurbished L’Ourcine.

Vallotton at the Grand Palais: Another block-buster many of whose works are new (to me).

After yesterday's visit to the Braque show I thought I'd give art a rest, but I was prompted by two friends to go back to the Big Palace and I'm glad I did.

As with all artists and shows that proceed chronologically, (from Titian to Monet to Mondrian) you start with almost student stuff, go through periods reflecting what others are doing, get to a point where the artist in question is doing his or her own thing and then see where they either begin to lose their eyesight or see things more blurred and the last few rooms are usually quite special.

Three Wows!  Until January 6th.

Le Cafe du Commerce: I know, I know, but I was desperate.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Backstory: Today, a Sunday, I had intended to go for lunch to Holybelly (who knows what that means), an interesting sounding Anglophonic/Anglophilic place deep in England-town in the 10th, (think Bob's Juice Bar, Sunken Chip, Le Mal Barré...) no reservations, no phone, no space - 8 people waiting on the sidewalk and 8 inside, none older than 25, menu not terribly interesting for an old guy anyway; so onto Back-up Resto #1, the new cafe on the surface of the Place de la Republique called the Café Monde et Médias run by the SOS Group (not very encouraging eh?) which Wiki says has "10 000 salariés et ses 300 établissements" but was supposed to have a menu concocted by some famous (helicopter) chef, but was just serving a brunch/buffet; so on to my Back-up Resto #2, the Bistro du 15eme, closed two weeks ago exceptionally, for renovations - drat, closed again, this time due to new scheduling.  Hummmm.  So start walking down the rue du Commerce, recall that my good friend Pierre45 said I ordered incorrectly at the Café du Commerce in 2005 and was great for steak - OK, there it was and has bivalves too.  Super.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5.0 Le Café du Commerce, 51, rue du Commerce in the 15th, 01.45.75.03.27, open 7/7 (Metros: Commerce or Emile Zola) is a spectacular looking place, 3-4 stories high with a nice carte.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I started with 6 Utah Beach oysters, ordered BIG but delivered and charged small, which I ate with relish (not relish).  So far so good.  Then I had the bavette with shallots which didn't add much and fries which needed something so I asked for an English steak sauce (A1 or Worchester) and malt vinegar, insread got some nice bearnaise sauce and mustardy sauce and some regular vinegar, visably brightening my day.

My bill with white and red wines to go with my oysters and beef respectively, plus quite nice bread and butter and a coffee, was 54.50 E.

Sometime during my meal I looked at my fellow patrons - French all - and concluded that the old folks like me, despite their deafness, were interesting to have nearby, all beautifully dressed whereas those men under 50 were schlumps while their (non) wives were elegant.  How could a nation's male population schlumpify in 50 years (cf Nicolas Hulot) while their significant others elegantified (cf Christine Lagarde).   The lady besides me on the Metro going home only reinforced the point (see below).  I asked permission to take the shot.

So Go?  Good oysters, fabulous setting, but I think not.

Braque at the Grand Palais: 288 works.

The Georges Braque Show at the Grand Palais is a block-buster to beat all block-buster shows; 288 works, many I've never seen before.  I was told by an art hisorian friend to wait til the last two rooms and then I'd be turned on, but actually I started to get excited 5 rooms from the end of the 2nd floor part and liked its last two rooms and almost everything on the first floor.

It's worth a few Wow's  - until January 6th.

Kokoro in the 5th: Great products eminating from Japanese chefesse in a small kitchen.

5.5 Kokoro, 36, rue des Boulangers in the 11th, (Metro: Cardinal Lemoine), 01.44.07.13.29, closed Sundays and Mondays, has been open since August and received no press, which is remarkable since its chef (Sakura Mori) was the pastry chef at La Gazzetta and two hot chefs in town were there today.

 

The menu is limited (2-2-4) but reasonably priced (24E for 2, 29-30E for 3 courses) with wine by the glass (5.50 E) and bottle (starting at 33E).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My friend the poly-culinary-sage ordered the beets, mackerel and hazelnuts and I had the trumpets of death with toasted squid rings - I thought both were interesting and made cleverly with good products.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For mains, she chose the merlu with veggies and I the pork (which really was notyhelped by the sauce it had) with veggies - again I thought the products were good and cleverly prepared - she deemed nothing "extraordinary" and I guess she's correct.  We sort of split a cheese plate of farm St Nectaire and Basque goat cheese from Manesh ewes.

With terrific house-made bread and butter, a bottle and glass of wine, no bottled water and one coffee, our bill was 95.50 E a couple.

Go?  While not on the top of my "Go-To" list, if you want nice products, in an intimate setting (dB level 78.2) in the 5th - Yes.

Brassai Photos at the Hotel de Ville: Nice.

Seeing a huge show of Brassai's photographs is like re-encountering an old friend; you know every emotion and wrinkle but are delighted to be reminded.

Until March 8th 2014.