Under construction
February 2015
February 16, 2015
February 13, 2015
Juste Le Zinc in the 8th: One more affordable, terrific bistro, this up near Clichy.
6.75 Juste Le Zinc, 25, rue de Turin in the 8th, (Metro: Clichy) 01.43.87.44.84, closed Sundays, has been open 15 days and already is packed. I went on a self-assigned search for a coq au vin that would reach the heights that Julia Child's or that at the old Chez René (25 years ago) achieved. "Desolé, Monsieur, c'est vendredi" which means - fish fish fish. Heart broken, we order the next best.
I look at carte and see ours-inade (bear's claw in mud, huh? but I've been searching all over for such ever since I read the recipe in Escoffier.) My friend, the French scholar from Berkeley, says as gently as he can to me "John, I think it's oursin soup as in sea-urchin." Ah. And it was, and it was terrific. My carpaccio of daurade was good product but ruined by too many salt crystals. OK, onward.
Then he ordered (at my insistence) the charlotte of milk-fed lamb which came out looking like a poached pear, but no, wait, those were pimento pieces that had been in the mold - lovely looking and lovely tasting. And I had a special of the days - a fricassee of duck hearts on a lovely, no, I take that back, fantastic, puree. Top-top, product and cooking.
We finished by splitting a Baba au rhum, with rum a volonté; quite nice, indeed.
With a fine bottle of Chiroubles, no bottled water, good bread, one OK coffee and over-the-top candied ginger slices, the bill comes to 86.50 E.
Go? Join me the 3rd of March when we return for coq au vin (I hope.)
February 12, 2015
Le Mordant in the 10th: Another stunning Right Bank place.
72.5 Le Mordant, 61, rue de Chabrol in the 10th, 09.83.40.60.04, closed weekends, Metro: Poissonniere. Mordant means cutting or caustic and I'm sure it was chosen to imply at the "cutting-edge," and that it is. Open a couple of weeks, the exterior is indistinguishable from the other buildings on the street - I walked right by it, as did my dining partner, the RFC, star of stage, screen & radio, both of us finally figuring out that the menus in the doorway meant that this was the place. I came in a few minutes before he (schlepping in from the banks of the Marne) and was awed by the stone walls, wood and open kitchen with 50% women chefs (the chief chef, one Lara Six, self-taught apparently, we later learned.)
He entered and knew practically every customer in the place, schmoozing each up as he threaded his way to our table (I thought: "boy if all these food guys are here, we're in for a treat.") We pondered the carte and 20 E 2-course and 24 E 3-course "menus" and after chatting up our host, Lucas Blanchy, who has been around the wine world a lot, including Japan & Thailand and of all places Texas, we settled first on the carpaccio of St Jacques and tataki of beef (French not Japanese) with avocado & lemon zest), the latter of which is about the best beef of the Year.
As we always do, we debated what to eat so both of us could share and chatted up M. Blanchy who raved about the langue de chat (really beef not cat's tongue or cookies or mache, as some sources would have you believe) with eggplant and terrific fries (here in Paris!) Yes! I had his other specialty, the pork ribs facon "Daddy Roger" with a lovely puree, really smashed potatoes. The ribs had a peppery after-taste kick to them that maybe wasn't Tyler, Texas, but was a pretty good approximation.
With all this we sampled both a white Bordeaux and red Pinot Noir as well as sampling M. Blanchy's Genepi and Gin Monkey 47 Batch - both offered.
So the bill, with no dessert, 1 bottle of wine, no bottled water, fine bread and one coffee came to 90.50 E a couple. dB level = 87.8.
Go again? The 2nd of March with Colette.
February 11, 2015
Bouillon in the 9th: Another Piege lieutenant strikes in the hopping 9th!
6.75 Bouillon, 47, rue de Rochechouart in the 9th, 09.51.18.66.59, closed Sundays and Mondays, Metro: ah #85 bus best, is described as in Gault-Millau thusly: "Dans ce quartier ou les bonnes addresses se succedent tous les 50 m," and it's true - the area is hopping. I had to make a rez 3 weeks ago and they turned away about 8 walk-ins. And for the second day in a row the chef was a Jean-Francois Piege graduate
- Yesterday Nicolas Tessier "ex-second de..." at Les Comptoirs du Medoc and
- Today Marc Favier "discret second de..." at Bouillon.
Is Piege shedding good chefs like a shaggy dog?
The tables are finished on one edge and raw on the other, 80% of the chairs are unsittable-on/in for anyone with a tender back and the toilet seat flips down unexpectedly - but other than that and the lack of sound-dampening (81.7 dB) - it was lovely.
My Chinese-agitator pal, a denizen of this feng-shui-blessed area and I immediately settled on the same superbly sourced and prepared things for this chilly day:
- a bouillon of mushrooms ("true Paris mushrooms," mind you), celery, cilantro, duck foie gras and smoked vinegar,
- a blanquette of veal with lotsa veggies, rice pilaf and a sauce my friend adored,
- an apple tart. We were very happy campers, indeed.
Our bill, with a bottle of great tasting although pallid looking wine, no bottled water, fabulous bread as a demi-baguette and 2 coffees, was 86 E for two of us.
Go back? In a few weeks with Colette for sure, if I can get in.
February 10, 2015
Les Comptoirs du Medoc in the 9th: Wow! Best meal of 2015, so far.
7.5 Les Comptoirs du Medoc in the 9th, Metro: St-Lazare, 01.45.26.61.88, closed weekends has a fascade that one can mistake for a bank or shop, which it probably was, with no indication of its function, excepting a mm sign in the window = La Maison du Medoc, which is was the CB receipt says. The interior is lush, with shaded windows, huge nude statues, cool modernistic comptoirs and candellabria in front like an altar. The lunch "menu" is 37 E, but two of us chose to go a la carte which was almost the same for a first and main.
We had just settled into our wines (the couple I was eating with are like Jack Spratt & wife - except here one drinks white and one red) when Chef Nicolas Tissier (ex-Piege) sent over some divine quenelles with chopped leeks and a beautiful citrusy flavor. My one friend, a chef and caterer himself originally from Northern California, said "this is really good."
For firsts, JJ had 3 scallops with a celery puree and a citrus vinaigrette (replacing the salmon listed on the menu) a great choice, done to perfection; my chef friend had a soft-boiled egg with mushrooms 4 ways (raw sliced, cooked and minced in a mushroom soup) which was superior; and I had the gravelax salmon which was the weakest of the three but not bad.
For mains, JJ had the lotte with ecrevisses, again perfectly cooked and the other two of us had wonderful pieces of biche (with a sauce poivrade which I wasn't wild about) that came with a ton of winter veggies - very healthy, Colette!
JJ had ordered the citron tart on the "menu" but I chef sent out some Paris-Blaignan (really mini-Paris-Brests) for all. At this point, my chef pal said "I'm not eating dinner, Nosir!"
Our bill with two bottles and a glass of wine, a 12 E Chateldon and one coffee, was 208 E for 3 or 138.66 E a couple. dB = 82.3.
Go back? In a flash.
P.S. The bathroom also gets the "coolest of the Year" award:
February 09, 2015
Le Nom M'Echappe in the 2nd: Vibrant, exciting, all locals. And the name does not escape me!
So, there's a long prequel here:
- I called for a res on a Monday, dreaded Monday, and got an 09. answering machine; left a message and
- One Catherine calls back to confirm
- I go and at 12h35 the place is packed with space (it seems) only at a common table or comptoir
- Not so, I am seated up a step and as I always do, empty my pockets of everything but my cash - cellphone, decibel meter, pad & pen, camera.
- Lady next to me asks "Are you a food critic"? "Ans. "sort of." "From which pub?" "Ah, a blog." "Which is called what?" Oooh la la.
And a long sequel:
- I go to pay at the caisse and say innocently in French to the beautiful woman in the front-room, "So the chef, where did he cook before?" "Ah, my husband, we were at the Cafe qui Parle." "Don't I know you, yes, Mr. Talbo, how are you?"
The rest is history.
6.7 Le Nom M'Echappe, (don't you love the name?), 28, rue Notre-Dame Des Victoires in the 2nd, closed weekends (they've got two kids after-all), 09.82.20.20.41 (Metro: Bourse) is one of those places that opened at the end of 2014, I never got to go to. So today, a Monday, seemed as good a time as any. The outside has the required gunmetal grey, but at least it has lettering in the window of its name, and as I entered at 12h35 the place was full; full of excitement, locals and energy - like the Apple store in the Louvre. Neat!
It took me much coaching to figure out that the dishes available at lunch were marked with a green star - Duh? - but eventually I got the program and ordered up
- a carpaccio of scallops on a stone with algae (galet Algotherapie), OK, if you say so,
- encornets with paprika on a bed of puree and semolina, and
- a coffee gourmand with
* citrus fruits in a divine sauce
* nuts on rice pudding
* chocolate with cardamon on a biscuit.
My bill, with with a half-bottle of wine (they do it by glass, bottle & a la ficelle), no bottled water, decent bread and OK coffee, was 58 E (they comp'd me to a glass of Eau de vie before Madame figured out who I was, so it was a gesture of the house not of recognition, I think. dB = 80.7.
Go? Boy, I cannot wait to take Colette. This is a place my buddy, Randy de Paris, would rate higher than I because of the "total experience." Welcome, decor, food, service, ambiance.
35 E for pissing in the street - if caught.
February 08, 2015
La 7eme Cote in the 9th: Holy cow! Desnoyer must be off today.
3.5 La 7eme Cote, 28, rue des Martyrs in the 9th (Metro: St-Georges) 01.45.26.11.84, closed Sunday nights and Mondays sounded great - meat by Desnoyer, Carnar, Carre Bio, etc, from the Aubrac, Aquitaine, Rouge des Pres, Galice, etc., on a 27 E "menu." I entered and was faced with (1) a "brunch" table, "excuse me I came for meat" and (2) Campbell soup cans - "Oh, Oh." But they would care for my needs.
So the meal started out auspiciously with 4 great chicken livers, cooked to perfection with beet and pear squares and a wonderful peppery after-taste - Yum! But then, after deciding not to have the Zebra or Kangaroo, I ordered the Limousine Faux Filet which was not Desnoyer or anybody else at the top of his form and the frites were a disaster and of the three sauces (BBQ, Tartare and Chimichurri) only the tartare was interesting. The salad had two pickled things, one of which worked. The wine was OK though.
The bill, with a half-bottle of wine, no bottled water, pretty good bread (it should be on this street) and a so-so coffee, was 40 E. dB = 71.2
Go? Sorry, not when great carnivorous places like the Comptoir Canailles, Braisenville & Le Flamboire are nearby.
February 07, 2015
Le Cafe Bouillu in the 6th: A cut above the rest around.
5.5 Le Cafe Bouillu, 6, rue de l'Ecole de la Medicine in the 6th, closed Sunday dinner and Mondays, (Metro: Odeon) 01.46.34.19.41 (but they seem phobic about answering) has been open about a year but I'm still catching up on some 2014 places. The back faces the School of Medicine courtyard and the interior resembles a cross between a Greek bordello and what they must think a New York cocktail lounge looks like.
I started off with an egg broken over a sauce of and chopped mushrooms that was quite nice and tasty. Then I moved on to grilled split gambas which were purported to have a Creole sauce, some of which were quite good but others seemed over-the-hill but the jasmine rice was a nice touch. I finished up with a vanilla creme brulee that was quite good.
My bill, with 1/2 bottle of wine, no bottled water, fantastic bread but only so-so coffee, was 57 E. It was quiet - 67.2 dB (At the start the Motown/Supremes were too loud but as customers came in, they turned it down).
Go? "Not urgent" as my friend the RFC would say, but it was open weekends and there was a film nearby I wanted to see.
John Talbott
I was surely born in France of a chef father and food critic mother.
Recent Comments