John Talbott's Paris

Le Petit Celestin in the 4th: "A really good bistro" per Wendy Lyn and that pretty much sums it up.

5.7 Le Petit Celestin, 12, Quai des Celestins in the 4th, 01.42.72.20.81, open 7/7 (Metro: Sully-Morland) is all one could hope for in a crusty old bistro in the Marais: red red red awnings, paint and tableclothes, cool modern decor touches and attentive staff.  I entered on a great sunny day to see my friends ensconsed in front of the bar on which sat a huge tarte tatin which looked mighty tempting, but wait....

My old friends were already working on some white wine and a Ricard but I caught up with some Sauvignon (they are very proud of their unfiltered wine selection and justly so) and off the bat we got delicious bread from Thierry Breton and a lovely petit pois soup with raw onion and chives and were off to a great start.

One pal started out with a gigantic artichoke heart filled with creamy chopped pleurottes with a boiled egg atop, the other with sardines in a can (I've got 4 in my cupboard - Sorry) and I had a batch of sauteed girolles, parsley and garlic which were crispy, crunchy and captivating.  Off to an even better start.

Then the guy to my left had the heirloom tomatoes which were Gold Standard but as a main, puhlease! and the rest of us luxuriated in grilled gambas atop a duxelles of pleurottes which my chef friend complained had lost their heads (the best part he claimed, which I tried to calm him about) and I complained about their strange toasty shelly taste (which he tried to calm me about).  At this point all of us agreed that "We're coming back.")

For our finals we shared a cheese dish of compte and Brie de Meaux (quite good, although my palate was already reeling from some tasting I'd done on the way at Laurent Dubois up at St. Paul) and that tarte tatin with creme fraiche (very good if I say so myself).

Our bill, OK there was a lot of booze because of our celebrating my new heart and all of our rentrees  and one coffee but no bottled water. so it came to 188.10 E: but a normal couple's bill with a bottle of wine and 3 courses each would be more like 99 E.

Go again?  You betcha, in a flash, and I'll tell my visiting friends from the US of A this is a real bistro with updated farm to table food.

Le Molitor in the 16th: Great stunning setting, food quite good, service excorable.

6.5 The Hotel-Restaurant Molitor, 13 Rue Nungesser or 3 rue Molitor in the 16th, 01.56.07.08.50 (Metro: Porte d'Auteuil) open 7/7, 01.56.07.08.50, "was closed in 1989 and listed as a Historical Monument. It then became the haunt of artists and the dilapidated building became the temple of the Paris underground" and reopened after 25 years on 19 May, 2014 with Yannick Alleno designing its menu.  Everyone says the Rooftop Resto is the place to go this summer, so hey, it's sunny, Saturday, I'm on my way.  The fascade is a dashing Mustard yellow, the ground floor resto post-cool and the swimming pool's building arrestingly colorful. But I'm seated facing the pool not on the rooftop three stories up.  Whas up here?

"But ah, I reserved for the rooftop.
Ah Monsieur, desolé, it's closed today because of the bad weather
But, but, but.....
Is it the same food?
No
[Yikes, whadoIdonow]
Ans.: Stay the course, I'm way to hell and gone, suck it up John."

So I look at the carte - Goodness gracious! - three courses a la carte run one 60 E plus and wines are almost that much.  Think "DEEFENSE!"  Order some Sancerre Rosé, and soon the terrific bread/butter and foie de something appear and all is well in the world.

OK, I order the cheapest 1st, which actually appealed to me most as well, the cold cream of petit-pois with buds on top and whole peas on the botton - delicious and summerly refreshing.  Next, a filet of veal, almost blue as ordered with girolles, very very tasty with a touch of salt.  No dessert but a fantastic coffee with great chocolate/caramel/nut squares.

My bill, with house filtered water, was 58 E - thus 116 E (on up) a couple without dessert.

Go?  Ahem.  Let's see.  The service was horrible (from long waiting for the menu, to access to my wine, to delivery of the check) but the food and its delivery from the kitchen, were perfect.
- My advice to the Molitor/MGallery Collection owners is to hire a new manager, an experienced old manager or an efficient manager.  
- My advice to you my readers, is to go if you're at the Parc des Princes, Roland Garros or the Hippodrome and Daddy is paying.

L'Esquisse in the 18th: the Rentrée Gastronomique re-enters with a Roar.

7.0 L'Esquisse, 151 bis, rue Marcadet in the 18th, 01.53.41.63.04, closed Sunday and Monday (Metro: Larmarck-Caulaincourt) opened 3 weeks ago and already is a hit with the locals and folks following chef Laeticia Bret (ex-Ritz and Bistral, who works calmly and exactly like Daniel Rose at Spring not Jon Favreau in "Chef") on their motos.  Its name, L'Esquisse, can be translated as sketch or beginnings and the sketch refers to the painting over the door and on their card, the beginnings to their newness.

Backstory: I ate here on the recommendation of my colleague Alain Fusion, the only French critic working in Paris in August it seems.  The quartier, my quartier, was practically a "food desert" when we moved in 25 years ago; oh, there was Beauvilliers, Per Baco and the Cottage Marcadet but it took years before things took off with the Table d'Eugene, Sens Uniques, L'Insolite, Le Cafe Qui Parle, Jeanne B. and most recently Le Bistrot du Maquis.  So to have a new top-top place with a 22 E 3-course lunch menu, 30-40 E a la carte offering and wines starting at 20 E, was promising indeed.  Especially since I got back to Paris on my rentrée by flying via the South Pole to avoid my friend Bárðarbunga.

I started off with a fabulous dish of a terrine of pigs' feet with more fabulous shaved pickled vegetables (everything from carrots to celery to cukes) alongside a schmear of mayo; then quail cooked in two speeds (legs fried, breasts roasted was my guess) with shaved fennel; accompanied by a terrific 20 E a bottle vdT, bread this quartier hasn't seen in decades and superb Colombian (I think) coffee.

My bill with their filtered water, a half-bottle of wine and no dessert, was 34 E.

Go?  Sure, go, ha-ha, you never will ("It's too far, it's too away from the Metro, it's too new.")  Silly, silly people.  This sort of place is what makes Paris's innovative chefs rule despite the groans from NY, Copenhagen and Girona.

Paris Pix: There goes the neighborhood.

American Cool exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery and Zaytinya in DC.

On one of my last days before the rentrée to Paris, we went to DC for some art and food.

The spectacular exhibition of the day was called "American Cool"at the National Portrait Gallery; it consists of photos of cool folks from Lester Young to Jon Stewart and like John Updike's Rabbit series' references, it was a literal flashback of important people during my lifetime.  The other stuff at the Mellon (as we call it): Degas-Casat, Wyeth and "Monuments Men"'s mementos, Freer (more Whistler) and Phillips (from their permanent collection were worth a visit but not a trip from out of town

Lunch at Zaytinya with our oldest daughter was the usual, which is to say, wonderful, mezze meal.   With 2 glasses of wine and iced tea and one ouzo, our bill was $115.50 before tip for three, thus $77 a couple.

Paris Pix: Street colors

Paris Pix: Extra-conjugalitis lives.

Paris Pix: Lovely day for the water.

Paris Pix: Cool fascade.

Paris Pix: Cute name.