John Talbott's Paris

Paris Pix: JFK, Magic & Rich Gone Broke

Paris Pix: Car with French plates.

Paris Pix: Cafe window in the 17th.

Paris Pix: Chet Faker?

Reviews of reviews: The week of April 27th, 2015

In Monday-Tuesday's A Nous Paris, Jerome Berger reviewed the italo-American East Mamma and Philippe Toinard gave 3/5 dots to La Passerelle, 172, quai de Stalingrad in Issy, 01.46.48.80.81, closed Sundays and Mondays where on a 40 E or 34 E lunch or 95 E dinner one can have salmon, brandade and a chocolate dessert.

In Tuesday's Le Fooding, they reviewed El Tast, a Spanish/tapas place in the 18th.

Wednesday, in Figaroscope, Emmanuel Rubin's Hache Menu covered Aux Pres in the 6th.

Then, as usual he reviewed 5 restaurants in C'est Nouveau: giving 3/5 hearts to the Corsican U Mulinu, 28, blvd de l'Hopital in the 5th, 01.43.37.78.76, closed Sundays, with 15 and 18 menus at lunch, 35-55 E a la carte at dinner for items such as Corsican charcuteries, white beans and brocciu; the modern quinguette La Poudriere, 58, promenade du Verger in Issy, 01.46.45.87.29, closed Mondays at dinner, serving items such as foie gras terrines, pork and strawberry tarts; the Korean Hero in the 2nd; and the Asian Marclee in the 9th.  He also reviewed the gluten-free dinette Nous in the 10th.

The Dossier this week was on Paris markets and who/what they're best for:
The most Bobo Aligre, Halle Beauveau
The most people Les Enfants Rouges
The most trendy Saint-Martin
The most varied Saint-Charles
The most RG edgar-Quintet
The most chic President-Wilson
The most globe-trotter Saint-Quentin
The most Bio Batignolles
The most pointu Saint-Germain
The most familial Versailles Notre-Dame
and also the Place des Fetes, Rasphael Bio

Thursday, Mina Soundiram in L'Express, also reviewed Hero in the 2nd.

Reviews of reviews: The week of May 4th 2015.

Monday-Tuesday, in A Nous Paris, Jerome Berger gave 4/5 dots to Le Vitis, 8, rue Falguiere in the 15th, 01.42.73.07.02, closed Sundays and Mondays with a lunch formula at 15.50 E, a la carte about 40 E for items such as green asparagus, milk-fed pork and a truffade of chocolate.

Tuesday in Le Fooding, they reviewed the Marseille pizza place La Bonne Mere.

In Figaroscope this Wednesday, Emmanuel Rubin’s Hache Menu was about Les Bains and Sophie de Santis gave a 4/5 to the aforementioned Le Barbesin the 18th.

Then he followed with his usual five reviews, giving 3 hearts to the previously mentioned Tennat in the 11th; and 2 hearts to three places : Cheri Charlot, 33, rue Richer in the 9th, 09,80.41.78.27, closed Saturday lunch, Sundays and Monday dinners running one 15-20 E for "chic" sandwiches; Le Berger & les Poissons, 17, rue Jean-de-la-Fontaine in the 16th, 01.40.50.14.30, closed Saturday lunch and Sundays, costing 18 E for the lunch menu and 25-40 E for a la carte dishes such as haddock, and mini-omelette and pigeon; and the Italian Baretto di Edgar in the 2nd.  Garnering one heart was the Cafe Dad in the 17th.

The Dossier concerned vanilla ice cream ratings from Bertillon (17/20) to Haagen Dazs (8.5/20).

Heidi Ellison in her Paris Update, reviewed the previously mentioned Les Poulettes de Batignolles.

Thursday in L’Express, Francois Regis Gaudry reviewed the bio Pousse pousse, 5, rue Notre-Dame-de-Lorette in the 9th, 01.44.63.22.63, closed Sundays and Mondays, costing 20-25 E for salads and chocolate cake.

AG in the 6th: Even without Alan Geaam, the place marches on marvellously.

AG in the 6th is a place Alan Geaam established in the old site of the also excellent Bistrot de l'Alycastre at 2 rue Clement, across from the Marche St Germain and adjacent to a soup kitchen.  We've been coming since it opened late last year and have never been disappointed.  Its menu changes according to the market and 3 dishes are still 28 E.

To start us off they gave us some parmesan "cookies" (upper left) and a celery soup with EVOO and chives; then 1 of us had the perfect egg, petits pois and red radish and the other 3 had the sauteed foie gras, mint and a bouillon of artichoke (no wastage here).

Then we split with Colette and JJ having the swordfish steak, celery and rhubarb, with flowers and R and I having the quasi de veau, beautifully sourced and cooked, with a mousseline of potatoes, veggies, lemon sauce and Nastarium leaves (which I posited were Nasturtium).  Both dishes delivered a nice after-taste kick.

As usual, R aboring sweets, chose the cheese (very nice selection for a small place); Colette had the chocolate tart and JJ and I had the declinaision of strawberries.  All good.

Our bill, with very nice mignardises, 2 bottles and 2 glasses of wine, good bread and 3 coffees was 177 or 88.50 E.

The Brasserie Barbès in the 18th: Spectacular setting, not so much the food - Bobo's finally land.

5.1 The Brasserie Barbès, 2 Boulevard Barbès in the 18th, (telephone yes, 01.47.70.30.89, but useless since when we showed up after I'd made a reservation 4 days ago the guy at the desk looked blank & said they don't take reservations), open 7/7, (Metro: Barbès Rochechouart.) We chose to be seated on the second floor, featuring a painting of Monsieur Armand Barbès (1809-1870) or the Abbesse Marguerite de Rochechouart (1665-1727) in drag - just kidding, the staff didn't know who it was of. 

Reassuringly, the team of Jean Vedreine (Sans Souci & le Mansart) and Pierre Moussie (Chez Jeannette, le Floreal, where one of our terrific waitguys, whom I recognized, came from) did a wonderful job renovating what was a burned out, miserable, cheap store (Vano) opposite Tati and the newly renovated Louxor but smartly left in place the guys across the street selling everything from cigarettes (counterfeit, I'm told) to all sorts of drugs (genuine, I'm told) who scattered the moment the cops showed up, only to slink back after they'd gone East.

Finally assembled and confronting the carte, we ordered rather defensively I thought.

As firsts, our friends from just up the hill ordered the crusty egg with Conte cream and the beets with fresh cheese (both unexciting) and Colette had the very bland carpaccio of bar and I the cromesquis of chorizo (unpictured), not dazzling but the best of the lot.

Then, after a LONG WAIT (OK it's only been open three days) for the mains - Colette had really boring shrimp cooked in a nut/bread crumb batter; my old pal from the East and I had the miserably over-cooked double lamb chops (sad because the product was good)  Lest you think I'm picky, I ordered mine Bleu/Blue.  Our friend from farther north had a medium sized slice of liver (unpictured), the best of a bad lot.

We shared the desserts and they were good!   a chocolate tart, a millefeuille of caramel beurre sale and my favorite - a chou with pralines and almonds that were carmelized.

Our host insisted on paying the bill, in return for kindnesses long-forgotten by me, but Colette stole a look; with 2.5 bottles of wine, no bottled water and 4 coffees = 180 E.  It was very noisy = 86.2 dB = the level at the Deepavali festival in Tirupur city, India (55 is their acceptable level).

Go?  Well, if you're wearing a baseball cap or hoodie and are pushing a stroller, go with the Bobo's; otherwise,I have no advice.

Paris Pix; Walking around the Ministry of Culture, etc.

Zebulon and the Ministry of Culture in the 1st: Wow!

Zebulon in the 1st is a place we only ate at last week but Colette insisted we return to with a very dear old friend whose brother just happens to work in the Palais Royal in the Ministry of Culture, so he could join us and show us around - the Ministry has a lot of original art, not usually accessible and a wonderful view of the Buren courtyard and Bourse de Commerce. 

Our friend chose to start with a dashi (Japanese bouillon; the chef is French, from Cameroon, worked in Japan many years) with foie gras, magret de canard and cilantro that gave it a kick;  her brother had the entree du jour - aubergine and its caviar plus slices of a terrine de campagne and Colette and I both had their ever-splendid quail with crosne(s) and razor clams which also had a kick.

Then the table split 50/50 between lovely slices of veal filet, artichoke and white asparagus and the pigeon royal with with potato crisps.

For desserts we sort of shared a deconstructed tarte tatin and some pineapple with sorbet.

Our bill with two bottles of wine, no bottled water and 4 coffees, was 256 E or 128 E a couple (lots of supplements to their 45 E "menus").