John Talbott's Paris

L'Amarante in the 12th: Christophe is back - big time!

7.4 L'Amarante, 4 rue Biscornet in the 12th, 09.50.80.93.80, closed Wednesdays and Thursdays, (Metro: Bastille) is the new place Christophe Philippe has settled at after abandoning his wonderful eponymous Christophe in the 5th December a year ago.  I went with the French friend I've known indirectly since our student days, a woman who I know loves good, real, French food.  We perused the menu and decided on the same things - dangerous, if one is uncertain hands, but we felt confident.

We started off with veal brains, beautifully crisp on the outside, moist on the inside; moved on to the veal sweetbreads, beautifully crisp on the outside, moist on the inside; and terminated with a chocolate mouse made with a mousse and chocolate chips from São Tomé & Principe, just mighty fine.

Our bill with a bottle and glass of wine, no bottled water and OK bread should have been 101 E a couple but for various reasons was totally all fouled up and we wound up paying 5.85 E apiece, so we'll need to revisit soon to repair the error.

Go?  As we were getting up to go I said to my old pal - "pretty good place, eh?"  And she said "pretty normal food,"  which for her is the highest compliment possible.

 

Le Gabriel in La Reserve in the 8th: Prix/qualité? Hummmmm.

 

 

Le Gabriel in the Hotel La Reserve, 42, ave. Gabriel in the 8th, 01.58.36.60.50, open 7/7 (Metro: FDR) is a place I originally crossed off my list due to its prices (120 E a la carte, 115 E tasting menu) but reviewers and one of my dear friends said "Go!."  And Figaro said it had a 58 E lunch menu so I convinced myself if I could go to 48 E places, why not here?  It's swank, there's no other word for it, dripping with staff.

 

Well, the carte is certainly vertiginous but when the lunch menu appeared and I saw it was two forced courses (1st and main or main and dessert) costing 67 E I felt taken.  My dining partner, who's in the business, said she'd not heard a good thing about the place - food, service, etc.  Oh no.  but we soldiered on.

 

The amuse was a pleasant enough round of salmon with dabs of sauce and shaved things on top;  the Cesar salad was a long quarter or eighth of lettuce with some Cesar sauce within and I a pitcher to add, plus cromesquis of lobster and sardines; the milk-fed lamb cooked seven hours' style was accompanied by a dense wine sauce and a superb puree; and the mignardises that came with our 9 E coffee were nothing special.

Our bill, with a bottle of nice Cheverny, no bottled water and no dessert (they were about 20 E each), was 186 E a couple.

Go?  Haha  You jest.

Reviews of reviews: the week of March 23rd 2015

Monday-Tuesday, in A Nous Paris, Philippe Toinard reviewed and gave 3/5 dots to the aforementioned Les Comptoirs du Medoc; and Jerome awarded to same to the neo-bistrot Ribote, 17 rue Paul Chatrousse in Neuilly, 01.47.47.73.17, open weekdays with a 22 E lunch menu and 40 E carte, serving items such as haddock ceviche, confited lamb and lemon cream.  In addition, Alexis Chenu discussed places serving roast chicken, including the Poulet Puree in Boulogne, Jeanne A. in the 11th, Rotisserie Stevenot in the 9th, Solyses in the 18th and also Mon Petit Poulet in the 17th, Loup in the 1st, Coq Rico in the 18th and the Rotisserie Dufrenoy in the 9th, 16th and 18th.

Tuesday in Le Fooding, Yves Nespoulous reviewed the seafood neobrasserie La Maree Jeanne, 3, rue Mandar in the 2nd, 01.42.61.58.34, open non-stop 12-23h00 7/7 serving items such as lobster consume, fried eperlans and bouillabaisse for 7-24 E a plate and a 18 E lunch menu.

Wednesday in Figaroscope, Emmanuel Rubin, in his Hache Menu, went to Louis in the 9th.

Then he followed with his usual five reviews, giving 3 hearts to the aforementioned Maree Jeanne in the 3rd and 2 to L’Orriu di Beauveax (formerly the Cave Beauveau) in the 8th, now serving Corsican food such as sardinade tarts, eggplant bonifacienne & conchiglioni with morilles on menus priced from 29-35 E at lunch and double that a la carte as well as the previously mentioned L’OW’Y in the 3rd.  Also rans were the previously mentioned Le Bichat (1 heart) in the 10th and Huabu (busted heart) in the 9th.

Figaroscope’s Dossier this week was written by Hugo de Saint Phalle , Alice Bosio and Colette Monsat and discussded where the « top chefs » are now :
Saperlipoette in Puteau
L’Acajou
La Scene a l’Hotel Prince de Galles
Le Galopin & La Cave a Michel
Antoine
Pierre Sang on Gambey
A Noste
And also Miniatures & Bagnard, 1 K, Le Peninsula, La Plantxa, Metropolitain, Kube, Spontini 50 & Viande & Chef.

Wednesday, also, Heidi Ellison in Paris Update went to the previously mentioned Juste le Zinc in the 17th.

Thursday, in L’Express, Franois-Regis Gaudry reviewed the China Gourmand in the 9th.

Venice/Mestre 4: The Soul Kitchen (no kidding, no pretentions)

Ah to be back to the high speed internet world of Paris after the week of suffering from Italian wifi.

That off my chest, today for a variety of geo-psycho-physical reasons I chose to spend some downtime in my hotel in Mestre, the Plaza, which other than its miserable wifi, lack of highspeed or good tele  connections, is a delightful place to stay (we've been staying in Mestre since 1961 for another variety of reasons, when visiting Venice).

My plane back home (Paris) was at 15h30 so since there's no food at Marco Polo - pity - I figured the next best was the Marriott - Da somebody or other - but it was closed exceptionally, so my charming desk clerk suggested the Soul Kitchen in their building.  "Are you kidding" thought to myself I?  But ever the good soldier (remember Bronze Star Viet Nam) I reserved (10% off for hotel guests - whoopee).

Entered, parked luggage, installed, seized on my choices.

 

I started with my surefire Venice special, a green salad, this time fixed by myself, corrected a bit with freshly ground pepper and moved on to spaghettini vongole - verdict the clams were terrific, the pasta not so much.

My bill with wine, no bottled water, a coffee and a grappa to send me off to Parigi, was 33.75 E.

 

Venice/Mestre 3: Fiaschetteria Toscana: incredible salad: Columbus Pizzeria: my standby

 

 

I'd read about the Fiaschetteria Toscana in several places and despite its being smack in the Middle of Tourist Central, I went.  I saw a waiter standing out front and my heart sank - "oh no, not a tourist trap beckoning the suckers to enter."  No, actually the folks entering seemed informed eaters.  And the menu was dated today's date so this was hardly a trap.

I wasn't in the mood for a big lunch so I ordered up a green salad, thinking it would be one more dreary example - unh unh; it had spicy early arugula and other lettuces and was dressed by my waiter with oil, vinegar, salt and pepper perfectly.  Ahhhright!

Then I had trenette pasta with small sea prawns ("Hot" the menu said; "spicy OK" he asked? [he deduced  I was visiting from France and was alert to their aversion to hot chilis]).  They were tender and delicious and not at all hot or spicy in the Thai/Mexican/Korean sense.

They had wines from a "automatic dispenser", never seen that notation before but I had some bottled stuff, which with no bottled water, OK bread and a corrected coffee, came to 44 E.

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Dinner was at my favorite Mestre pizzeria - Columbus in Mestre - and it was unchanged from 20 years ago.

I had the tomato/arugula brochette in honor of my Grandson C. who loved these the most of the 12 of us who summered at La Foce in Tuscany this summer.

Then I had the pizza diavolo, as spicy as ever with some box wine.  It is not pictured but you know what a pizza looks like.

My bill, without bottled water or coffee, was 27.50 E and I caught the wonderful Bus #2 home.

Venice/Mestre 2: Antiche Carampane (best fried baby shrimp ever) & Da Turo (divine sole)

 

Today, I went back to the Antiche Carampane, which no longer has a sign saying "No lasagna, no pizza, no tourist menu, but one saying "No pizza, no lasagna, no tourist menu", a sign of the times I guess, in food habits of the American people.

In any case, when first I came here, eons ago, it was a local dive, hard to find and with an opaque menu; now it's full of visitors, some discussing the opportunities of the fallen ruble, screaming kids and an English menu.

They started me off with an amuse of the most spectacular tiny deep fried shrimp I've ever had and I was in their grip.

Next I had a green salad with berries (rasp, black and blue), a lovely local sole ("would you like it prepared M?" "Certo"  Comes back lovingly deboned with a drizzle of EEVO and sprinkling of salt, oh my) and then 2 cheeses of their choice (soft, almost burrata-soft, gorgonzola and hard, almost parmesan hard, fossa, with a mango marmalade and ginger compote - not bad, not bad at all.)

My bill, with no bottled water, a carafe of house wine and pretty good bread plus a corrected coffee, was 54 E.

I'll be back, if only for the shrimp as an amuse, 1st, main & dessert.

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Tonite I ate at an old favorite in Mestre, Da Tura, cyberenticinglygiven as daTura.  It was a mixed bag.

The amuse of fresh anchovies with citrus was outasight; from then it was mezzo-mezzo.  My fried zucchini flowers stuffed with ricotta and veggies just didn't work and the bio pasta with baby squid lacked character.  What can I say?

My bill with no bottled water but kinda good 5 breads and a local Valpolicella plus a grappa resulted in a bill of 45.50 E.

Venice/Mestre 1: La Porta d'Acqua (best dish of the Year) and Moro (best rabbit/pasta as well) no pix:under construction

La Porta d'Acqua in Venice was brought to my attention by someone and a good thing too, because even though it's a favorite of Yelp or RTA or some place, it's mighty good.

I entered in a foul mood, having schlepped thru the rain, gotten lost (only once) and was greeted like an old customer.

I started by ordering fried anchovies and then frittura paranza and my wonderful Albanian waitguy suggested I swap the anchovies for octopus which he said was better - Wow was he right; crisp on the outside, tender on the inside, on a bed of mushed and firm chickpeas.  My second, the frittura, was partially successful - the calamari were terrific, the gambas and langoustines not so much.

With terrific bread bits, a good Primitivo wine, bottled water and coffee corrected (and lemoncello offered), the bill was 58 E.  A definite go back in two years for some pasta.

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Moro in Mestre, where I've been lodging for 50 years, has been a faithful friend and tonight did not disappoint.  I entered and saw my name on a Reservation Card - - later 2 Chinese visitors came in and were dismissingly dismissed - not racism because I had been treated thusly a few years ago.

In any case, I ordered up some local pasta - Bigori I think - with minced duck that was outa sight.

With a half bottle of Tears of Christ, no bottled water and a grappa, my bill was 21 E, folks, a few klicks from the big V.

Paris Pix: Donald near Charlie

Paris Pix: One way to advertise your country.

Reviews of reviews: The week of March 16th, 2015

Monday-Tuesday, in A Nous Paris, Philippe Toinard reviewed and gave 3/5 dots to the new place set up by Julien Rouchteau (ex-Table du Lancaster) called Je l’M, 4, place Henri Barbusse in Levallois-Perret, 01.47.57.49.00, closed Sundays and Mondays with 25 and 29 E formulas and a la carte at 35 E for items such as pate, cote de veau and agrume tart, all prepared by his wife Laure;  meanwhile Jerome Berger announced that David Lanher (ex-Racines I & II, Cremerie, Caffe Stern, Noglu) has taken over Vivant Table in the 10th with lunch formulas at 28 and 34 E;  and he gave 3/5 dots to the previously mentioned Dersou and Amarante, Christophe Philippe’s new place in the 12th, at 4, rue Biscornet, Levallois-Perret, 09.50.80.93.80, closed  Wednesdays and Thursdays, which has a 19 E lunch menu (50 E a la carte) and serves items such as crispy pork, veal and chocolate mousse.

Tuesday in Le Fooding, Yves Nespoulous reviewed the “oyster and wine pop-up bar” OW’Y, 24, rue du Vertbois in the 3rd (the Jeune Rue), no telephone, no reservations, takeaway or eat bivalves and have a glass of wine for 36-50 E depending, from 11-21h except Sundays 11-14h, closed Mondays.

Wednesday in Figaroscope, Emmanuel Rubin, in his Hache Menu, went to the aforementioned Amarante describing it as a real bistro.  Then he followed with his usual five reviews, all of non-French places : giving 3 hearts to the Korean Soon Grille and 2 to the American Tomboy, Indian Naan and Italian pizzeria La Taverna and one to the Fish’n’chips place Fich.

Figaroscope’s Dossier this week was written by Colette Monsat, Hugo de Saint Phalle, Alice Bosio and Florence Vierron covered Spanish places :
Iperiber
Bocata
Fogon
La Bodega
Bellota Bellota
Les Caves Saint Gilles
Les Poulettes Batignolles
And also Tourrette, Rosimar, Eusebio & Jours de fete.

Wednesday, also, Heidi Ellison in Paris Update had a positive meal at the afore-mentioned Moustache in the 6th.

Thursday, in L’Express, they reviewed the previously mentioned L’Amarante.