John Talbott's Paris

Thoumieux in the 7th: Wahid Sylvestre stays steady.

Thoumieux in the 7th was the ideal place on New Years' Eve day; the regular (not abbreviated or forced choice) menu, sparkling as New Year's Eve should be, and friendly, which one hopes for so much in 2016.

Our guest, a famous Franco-American blogger, took one look at the menu and declared it was just right for her - pumpkin soup. leg of lamb and a lemon tart for 29 E.  Her pumpkin soup, now mandatory for all Parisian restaurants to serve when the temperature dips below 70 degrees F, was Ok, no more, no less.  Colette and I whiled away the time by tasting their radishes, excellent bread on which we spread butter or rillettes of duck with foie gras.

 

Our dining companion then had an over-cooked leg of lamb (it sure tasted like mutton to me), Colette had the very good but skimpy piece of merlu over top of spinach (a really small portion of both fish and spinach given the price!), and I scored with a wonderful crispy-skinned moisty-inside piece of sweetbreads.

 

For dessert, our friend had the deconstructed lemon tart and Colette their tasty version of rice pudding with caramel; I contented myself by stealing as much as I could of both.

Our bill, with a liter carafe of Morgan, no bottled water but 3 coffees, was 179 E, or 119.66 E a couple.

John's Top Ten (and more) of 2015.

8.5 La Bourse et la vie

8.0 L'Axel (Fontainebleau), Thoumieux, Mensae

7.8 Freddy's

7.7 Salt

7.5 Les Comptoirs du Medoc

7.4 Amarante, Le Regalade St-Honore

7.3 Fulgurances

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7.25 Mordant, Fables de la Fontaine

7.2 Les Jardins des Plumes (Giverny), La Table du 11 (Versailles)

7.1 Zebulon, Heimat, Triangle, Louis

7.0 Les Pinces, Les Poulettes Batignolles, Tennat, Pages, Thoumieux Brasserie

6.9 La Cantine du Troquet Daguerre, Grand Coeur, AG Halles, Troquet Cherche-Midi

6.75 Les Crocs des Halles, Bouillon, Juste le Zinc, Plantxa

6.7 Le nom m'echappe

6.6 Les Affranchis, Comptoir Iode. Les Cocottes (Sofitel)

6.5 Le Sauvage, Hexagone,  L'Orriù Di Beauvau, Gros, Yar

Reviews of reviews: the December 30th, 2015

Monday-Tuesday, in A Nous Paris, Jerome Berger gave 3/5 dots to Le Pigalle, 9, rue Frochot in the 9^th, 01.48.78.37.14 (Metro:Pigalle), open 7/7, were the carte is about 30 E for a terrine de campagne, squash soup and panna cotta; while Philippe Toinard gave the same rating to Lou Bistrot, 4, rue du Debarcadere in the 17^th, 01.45.72.22.55 (Metro: Porte Maillot), closed weekends where for 30-40 E one can have a pumpkin soup, encornets with cheese and a chocolate/sable dessert.

Tuesday in Le Fooding announced their annual awards, in Paris, awarded to:

Dersou

Le Bon St Pourcain

Trois Fois plus de Piment

Hero

SaAm

Wednesday, in Figaroscope, Emmanuel Rubin reviewed his usual 5 places giving three hearts to the new Regalade St-Honore across the street at #106, NOW OPEN 7/7 AS WELL AS THE Comptoir Iode, 8, rue de Paradis in the 1^st, 09.53.32.55.45 where one can have oysters hot or cold, poached haddock and brie with truffles for about 30-40 E and the Italian Salsamenteria di Parma in the 9^th.  Garnering two hearts was another Italian place – Louie Louie in the 11^th.  A busted heart went to the brasserie L’Amuse Gueule in the 4^th.

And in his Hache Menu, Rubin wrote up Le Chalet de Didine in the Champs-Elysees Noel Village, saying surely don’t go.

The Dossier this week by Alice Bosio, Colette Monsat and Hugo de Saint Phalle was about the best pasta in Paris, giving the 1^st place to Ida.

Wednesday, in Paris Update, Heidi Ellison wrote a negative review of La Maison Bleue.

Thursday in L’Express, Francois-Regis Gaudry also wrote up La Regalade’s successful move across the street.

And Sunday, Aurelie Chaigneau in the jdd rated La Bourse et La Vie a 7/10, Le Pigalle a 6.5 and returned to Schwartz’s Deli (6.5).

Mensae in the 19th: "I declare this innovative" quoth Colette.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mensae in the (way to hell and gone) 19th is "the place" to be today; sleek, spare and spacious; reminding us both of Eric Frechon's old haunt only a few blocks away.  The regular carte had several specials added; all of them sounding pretty standard but were hardly standard in their execution.

For instance:
- we shared the starter for two which consisted of 4 frogs' legs sauteed in butter and garlic with not a hint of bite
- Colette's lieu jaune was perfectly sourced, perfectly cooked and perfectly sauced with a mousse of mustard seeds, horseradish and parsley
- my "crispy" (in English) poitrine of porc was so crispy it required a heavy hand on the knife, and
- our shared dessert of a poached pear with caramel beurre-sale was as good if not better than I had a couple of weeks ago.

Our bill, with a bottle of Chinon, no bottled water but 2 coffees, was 102 E.  Colette wants me to note that the music in he first room (where one enters) was intrusive; we sat in the next room and were comfortable, but noted that one couple  moved away from the window, we think because of the cold emanating from the glass.

Go?  Oh boy, Yes, New Year's eve is only 70E which is a bargain if you can get in.

Les Saisons in the 9th: Holding to its high standards.

Les Saisons in the 9th has come through with splendor once again.  We entered to Christmas decorations and a warm welcome from the Lutz's, who offered us some festive champagne and then we ordered a fine bottle of Gamay Bois Jacou.

Colette did not order a first but I had a lovely salad with herring, potatoes and radish slices- but, oh oh, soon after, the chef sent out some of the day's soup (parsnip and chestnuts) and we continued happily on with a beautiful piece of turbot (with celery & lobster sauce and she thinks - leeks) for her and a great piece of fois gras with a puree and roast apples and clementines for me.

Our bill, with great bread, no bottled water but 3 coffees (one offered), was 76.60 E.

 

 

Reviews of reviews: the Week of December 21st, 2015

Monday-Tuesday, in A Nous Paris, there were no restaurants reviewed.

Tuesday in Le Fooding there  was a description of places serving meals from 10-400 E apiece including in Paris Le Grand Restaurant (200 E) and the Japanese Oishinoya (24 E).

Wednesday, the Figaroscope eating staff also did not publish.

And Wednesday, in Paris Update, Heidi Ellison took the week off.

Saturday, Colette Monsat in Le Figaro, profiled Paul Bocuse celebrating his 90th birthday and half-century of serving three-star meals.

La Regalade in the 1st: Regal, rustic, rich and rewarding.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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a Regalade, aka La Regalade St Honore in the 1st in it's new space and incarnation is a place two friends from the Bay Area and I ate at and loved so much we decided to go back when Colette was in town, thus today.  The carte looked pretty much the same but among the 4 specials was the pigeonneau three of us enjoyed 3 weeks ago.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All but she ordered a first: an egg, a soup of crab and the risotto with superbly crisp shrimp.

All four of us had the delicious pigeonneau with its nice puree and intense sauce.

For dessert, again, all four of couldn't resist the Grand Marnier soufflé; and throughout we enjoyed the couples' favorite white a Jurancon Cuvee Marie.

Our bill, with their superb bread, terrine/cornichons, no bottled water but two coffees, was 132 E a couple.

"Any problems, John?"  Well now that you ask, yes: with both meanings of the service - the delivery of dishes took forever and there was a slowness also in clearing the table between courses and getting our check.

Reviews of reviews: the Week of December 14th, 2015

Monday-Tuesday, in A Nous Paris, Jerome Berger gave 3/5 dots to the aforementioned Japanese Oishinoya in the 2nd.

Tuesday in Le Fooding there was a review of Mampuku in Bordeaux.

Wednesday, in Figaroscope, Emmanuel Rubin rated his top places for the year:

Le Grand Restaurant

Le Clarence

Mensae

Teppanyaki Ginza Onodera

La Bourse et la Vie

Les Marches

Freddy's

Etoile Sur Mer

Chez Thoumieux

Rosemary

Dersou

Trois Fois plus de piment

Salt

Au Bon Saint-Pourcain

La Regalade St-Honore

Yam'tcha

Hexagone

Dilia

Fulgurances

L'Amarante

Wednesday, in Paris Update, Heidi Ellison wrote up the aforementioned La Régalade Saint Honoré.

Paris Pix: More street art.

G. IV in the 2nd: A sandwich place, John? well yes, and no!

6.0 G. IV, 3, rue Poissonniere in the 2nd, 09.81.35.30.45, (Metro: Sentier), closed Mondays but brunch Sundays, is temporarily buried in scaffolding, but underneath, a really cool, clean, wine-bottle and epicerie-jar filled eat in/take-out place that clearly already has captured the hearts and palates of the folks who work in this transitional area.  The name - G. IV - well, it depends who you ask.  The guy who served me said his name was Georges and he was of many such named in a large family - the other waitguy told my dining partner that he had no idea why it was called that.

My friend ordered up the duck with a mound of sliced carrots and big salad (she felt the duck needed some ooompf, and borrowed some of my mustard, I disagreed); I had the pot-au-feu, not on the ardoise, which I found quite delightful and we shared the tiramisu (it was also quite pleasant).

Our bill, with a bottle of wine, quite nice bread and 2 coffees, was 48 E for the two of us.  dB =76.6.

Go?  This is another place that's not a destination for visitors, but for folks working in the high-tech, architecture, design businesses nearby, it's delightful and reasonable.