John Talbott's Paris

Bouillon in the 9th: "This may be among the best meals of the fall" said Colette.

Bouillon in the 9th is a place I keep forgetting, then returning to with great pleasure.  The moment our friend from nearby looked at the carte she said "I want the whole chicken, you'll share eh? It's better than L'Ami Louis....Eh?"  "Actually no, I want the scallops" Colette said.  Hummmm.

"And me, I want the bulots remoulade and then the sautéed cepes with parsley sauce, nuts and parmesan" said I. Colette to the rescue - "Order the whole chicken and we'll have the rest for dinner tonight."  Brilliant!

So out came a passel of scallops with endives and two huge chicken quarters with a sauce we all dipped the big warm demi-baguette into - Hold On! - and a bowl of the best frites I've ever had in Paris, maybe the world.

With 1.5 bottles of wine, one bottle of Orezza, and 3 coffees, our bill (subtracting the 1/2 chicken we took home) was 123.50 E = 82.32 E a couple - our pal was right - 50 E for a whole roast chicken here compared with the 85 E it costs at Coq Rico or L'Ami Louis - no debate.

Quinte in the 16th: Totally elegant, totally cool, totally 16th, totally reasonably priced, totally soul-less.

5.2 Quinte, 79, rue de la Tour in the 16th, 01.40.72.84.46, closed Saturday lunch, Sundays and Mondays (Metro: Rue de la Pompe) is in the old Mets Gusto space but WOW is it different: cool exterior, tables with leather tops and elegant settings, a 2-course forced "menu" at 29 E and a 18 E bottle of wine; looked terrific.

Our friend from up the road at the OECD started with the entrée du jour - a cauliflower soup and I had the cannelloni, advertised as stuffed with shrimp but I could only taste chopped ham and cheese, albeit the sauce was creamy and certainly made from crustaceans.  Then both ladies had the merlu with fennel that I thought was the blandest merlu of the season, even with a ton of ground pepper and salt.

We all had different desserts:
- an OK choco-caramel
- an OK pot au chocolat and espresso and
- an OK baba au rhum.  No more, no less.

Our bill, with very heavy grainey bread, no bottled water, 1.5 bottles of the best prix-qualite wine of the year and 2 coffees, was 154 E or 96.66 E a couple.

Go? Sadly I must say no!  One of my culinary-cyber-friends talks about chefs' putting their souls on the plate - despite the wonderful welcome, décor and prices, soul is seriously lacking here.

Le Marloe in the 8th: Still elegant, nice and good to boot.

Le Marloe in the 8th, in contrast to our meal yesterday, gives you the feeling on entering that they're glad to see you, happy to work there and proud of their food.  After being seated, the sommeliere immediately asked if we'd like a bottle of the wine we'd liked last time - almost 18 months ago - wow!  Yes and also the veloute of cepes with nuts, croutons and fluff which was Greenwich Mean Standard, we all agreed.

For mains, our Cantabridgian polymath, at my urging (so he could brag about it back in Cambridge), had the Croque Monsieur; Colette had the daurade with parmesan risotto; and I had a dreamy creamy chestnut puree that far surpassed the squid it came with.

The wonderful desserts consisted of a warm tart tatin and rice pudding, perfect ends to a lovely, elegant meal.

Our bill with good bread, a bottle and glass of wine, bottle of fizzy water and 3 coffees, was 174.20 E or 116.13 E a couple.

 

41 Pasteur in the 15th: The Game was off.

6.5 41 Pasteur, 41 blvd Pasteur in the 15th (the old l'Epicuriste space), 01.47.34.15.50, closed Sundays and Mondays (Metro: Pasteur) opened this fall under chef Jean-Marie Burnet who has worked in many fine restaurants outside Paris and his kitchen was on our friend's and our list to try.  When our friend entered at the appointed time he felt a chilly reception from the start and he warned us when we arrived.  The carte was classic and he and I ordered the same things, which is dangerous, but we struck gold on the first and struck out on the main.

Said firsts were incredibly light soufflés of brochet with a mussel cream sauce, the combination of which was simply terrific; Colette then had the merlu with great white beans which did not 'wow' her; and my friend and I had the dry as a bone sanglier with an admittedly nice wine sauce and better than average pieces of parmesan polenta.  Now, in fairness, I ordered knowing that both civets and wild boar were dry but this was too, too dry.

For desserts we passed around a chibouste of chestnuts with dried fruits in whiskey, a clafoutis of pears with praline/rhubarb ice cream and chocolate two ways - in a crusty tart and as a creamy milk chocolate mousse - all quite nice but no more.

Our bill, with no bottled water, OK bread, a bottle and glass of wine and 2 coffees, was 129 E or 86 E a couple.

Go?  Oh boy, I was dreading answering this question.  Yes for the food, no for the welcome or lack thereof that our friend picked up correctly.

Paris Pix: Happiness is the new chic.

Premices in the 9th: The Game's not over yet.

Premices in the 9th is a place I came to three times in 2013 and loved and just got put on the back burner for no good reason.  A few days ago Colette was thumbing through her log-book and said "why don't we go Tuesday?" "Why not indeed?" A quick look at the carte, which had colvert duck and sweetbreads, was tempting but the 36 E menu was even more so.

 

Within seconds after arriving, the amiable chef, Alexandre Weill, an HEC grad (equivalent to Harvard/Stanford Business School) who also graduated more importantly from the Ecole Ferrandi, the Restaurant du Marché, Ambroisie, Apicius, Bigarrade, the Ritz and Troisgros was at our table chatting us up in perfect English and explaining the dishes of the day.  And minutes after that we had some over-the-rainbow brioche and butter with rosemary as well as a nice Bordeaux.

M. Weill had explained that the sauteed foie gras could be prepared two ways: one with oysters and chopped apple; the other with pumpkin -  one in our party is not wild about oysters so we had both and both were delicious.  Then came a parmentier of ox tail with carrots the likes of which I've not tasted before.  And finally came the figs with strawberry ice cream - we were delighted by everything.   Colette commented that our lunch was among the best she has had the past 6 months in Paris. 

Our bill with fine bread, 1.5 bottles of wine, 2 coffees and really good macaroons, was 163 E for three, thus 108.66 E a couple.  

 

Cornichon in the 14Th: The Game is on.

Cornichon in the 14th cannot be beat for game once the season is on and today they were in full flower. As opposed to some places, for example Caius, which lists all sorts of items on its outside that are unavailable inside, here most of what's advertised is there.

For firsts we sort of shared a portion of duck-filled raviolis with mushrooms and uncooked figs and fried mackerel on top of red cabbage and dandelions - very expressive of fall, and perfect with our wine.

As mains we had the supions with sausage and black rice and a wine-ink sauce; partridge with a most inventive and tasty "millefeuille" of cabbage and potato; and colvert duck legs and undercooked breast (exactly what I wanted & needed) with a cepes pastille.  Wonderful all.

To top it off the ladies both had French toast with banana ice cream and peanuts and I had the Abbaye de Citeaux which I recall from Patricia Wells book was only available for a few weeks (it was OK not outstanding, though).

Our bill with their bottled water, 1.5 bottles of wine and 3 coffees, was 187 E or 124.66 E a couple.

Reviews of reviews: the Week of October 19th, 2015

Monday-Tuesday, in A Nous Paris, Jerome Berger reviewed and gave 3/5 dots to the previously mentioned Bistrot Papillon in the 9th and Philippe Toinard gave the same to the previously mentioned Le Balcon at La Philharmonie in the 19th.

Tuesday in Le Fooding, there was a review of Fulgurances, 10, rue Alexandre Dumas in the 11th, 09.81.09.33.32, closed Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, where one can have 19-22 E menus at lunch and 44 E a la carte at night and Saturday lunch for items such as Nordic-Japanese marinated beef, echine de cochon and sabayon.

Wednesday, in Figaroscope, Emmanuel Rubin reviewed his usual 5 places giving three hearts to the (ex-Epicuriste sited) 41 Pasteur at that address, 01.47.34.15.50, closed Sunday and Monday, where for 26-30 E at lunch or 33 + 38 Eat dinner one can have items such as brochet mousse, veal breast and a faux-filet.  He also rated two places two hearts – 750g La Table, 397, rue de Vaugirard in the 15th, 01.45.30.18.47 open 7/7 costing 24 E (wine not included for items such as a cream of bacon, beef piece and French toast as well as Juste, 48, rue Laffitte in the 9th, 09.82.33.93.47, closed Sunday and Monday, where for about 30 E one can dine on oysters, a half-lobster and cod filet.  He also rated as one heart – Les Bols de Jean in the 2nd and gave a broken heart to Joseph and Lucien in the 2nd.

And in his Hache Menu, Rubin wrote up the Italian (ma non tropo) Le George in the 8th.

The Dossier this week by Colette Monsat, Hugo de Saint Phalle and Alice Bosio covered new places in St-Germain des Pres: Freddy’s, Evi Evane Mezes, Clover, Teppanaki Ginza Onodera, Desi Road, Petit Capri Bazar, Margherita, Aux Amis and also Aux Pres, Guy Savoy at the Monnaie and L’Alcazar.

The staff at l’Express wrote up 6 places for brunch in Paris.

Sunday in the jjd, Robert Melchar gave 6.5/10 to the well-known Chez Francis in the 8th; returned to Le Petit Poucet (6.5) in Levallois-Perret; and (re)discovered Le Frank in the 16th (7).  In its version femina, they covered Le Balcon in the new Philharmonie in the 19th too.

Le Bistrot du Maquis in the 18th: The Game is in.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Le Bistrot du Maquis in the 18th is not only open on Sundays, in Montmartre, it's reachable in a few minutes from home; a no brainer for today.  However the ardoise takes some thinking: pigeon, dove, lieve prepared two different ways - hoo boy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

An old friend, a former food critic in Paris now living in England was in for the weekend and he and I both started with a lovely cepes soup, described as a crème but not too much, quite light actually and perfect for a slightly biting moist day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For mains Colette chose the palombe/dove with quince sauce on top of shredded cabbage; our friend the rable de lieve that was tender and cooked perfectly like a filet mignon; and I had the civet de lievre with red wine sauce and mushrooms that with a bit of great bread, sopped up quite nicely.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For dessert our friend had the rice pudding with an orange accent and Colette had two baked apples with a boule of ice cream and  caramel sauce and we all shared another bottle of wine.

Our bill, with no bottled water, 2 bottles of wine and 3 coffees was picked up by our guest (wait a minute, that's not the way it's supposed to work, oh well.)

AG in the 6th: The Game is up.

 

AG in the 6th has been the source of inspiration for many dishes for many of my cook-friends, so it shouldn't have been a surprise that they had the first game of the season for me.

First-off we were offered a tiny bowl of basil mousse with a speared cromesquis (fritter) of parmesan, a wonderful sendoff.  Then our guest had the red tuna snacke special wrapped like a Japanese roll with red cabbage, black sesame and beets and I had the tart of Colvert duck with duck foie gras and mushrooms - both delicious preparations indeed.

Then Colette had a terrific piece of merlan (hake) with white beans and a few tiny mussels, Granny Smiths and foam and our friend and I had the first of the season venison (unpictured) each portion of which came in two large hunks that were tender as can be, with parsnips, potatoes and a juice reduction.

Colette ordered a papaya, passion fruit, chervil and meringue dessert and as if by magic a chocolate, peanut and praline based pair of desserts followed that the chef generously sent out.

With a bottle of our favorite Bordeaux (which our host recalled we had ordered on prior visits), good bread and butter and four coffees (and a glass of wine offered) our bill was 113 E; thus 75.33 E.  A wonderful beginning to the game season!