John Talbott's Paris

Reviews of Reviews: The week of February 22nd, 2016

Monday-Tuesday in A Nous Paris, Jerome Berger reviewed and gave 3/5 dots to Au Bon Pourcin, coordinates given before and Philippe Toinard reviewed and gave three to le XVII sur vin, 99, rue Jouffroy d’Abbans, in the 17th, 01.412.27.26.16, closed Sundays and Mondays, charging 50-60 E for items such as a salad frisee, duck with potatoes (too many) and crêpes Suzette.

Tuesday, Le Fooding had a review by Matthieu Jauniau-Dallier of the previously mentioned Papillon in the 17th.

Wednesday, in Le Figaroscope, Alice Bosio, Hugo de Saint Phalle and Colette Monsat wrote up the ten new restaurants in the 11th-12th, Faidherbe-Charonne area:
La Cave du Paul Bert.
Clandé.
Mokonuts.
Dersou.
Capucine.
Louie Louie.
Dune.
Also East Mamma, Jones & Passerini.

And Emmanuel Rubin’s Hache Menu covered the previously mentioned a ramen focused Ippudo.

In his reviews of 5 new places this week he gave 2 hearts to L’Ecorcheur, 31, rue Notre-Dame-de-Nazareth in the 3rd, 09.84.45.13.41, closed Sundays as well as Thursday and Saturday dinner where for 35-45 E one can have items such as endives soup, a faux-filet and chocolate cream;  the Korean BBQ place KBG in the 6th;  the previously mentioned Les Jalles, under new direction evidently, in the 8th; and the newly owned Heimat in the 1st.  Then one heart to the Bistrot d'Asnières, 90, rue Maurice-Bokanowski in Asnières-sur-Seine, 01.47.33.44.06 closed Sundays.

Also Wednesday, Heidi Ellison in Paris Update reviewed no restaurants this week.

This week in L’Express Styles, Charles Patin O'Coohoon reviewed the well known but revamped L’Alcazar in the 6th and Francois Regis Gaudry reviewed the previously mentioned Papillon in the 17th.

Finally, in the jdd, Aurelie Chaigneau gave 7.5/10 to Naturellement in the 15th; 7 to the Restaurant de l’Hotel Bachaumont in the 2nd; and 7.5 to Zebulon in the 1st (all of whose coordinates have been given before.)

Jones in the 11th: Not Bones, anymore, and not yet up and running at James Henry's speed.

 

5.8 Jones, 43, rue Godefroy Cavagnac in the 11th, 09.80.75.32.08 (also via La Fouchette) closed weekends (Metro: Voltaire) is in the old Bones space and has much of its ambiance and James Henry's spirit but not his soul.  Henry left in August 2015 and the inheritors have tried to keep thing running, so it was with great hopes that I went with my expat friend who's lived here forever,

The menu for 3 courses is very affordable (23 E) and the products fresh and inexpensive.  My friend started off with haddock and beets with a creamy sauce and I had onion soup, which was blenderized, then blow-torched to give it a crème brulee crust, then topped with some rounds of roasted onion; both were OK but nothing to write home about.  Then she had a piece of beef that was undercooked without her asking with butternut squares and I had mackerel covered with leaves of brussel sprouts; again both were OK but not spectacular.  For dessert she had balls of ganache and cereal and I had the cheese that saved the meal for me and her, too, I think.

Our bill with a bottle of wine and one coffee, was a very agreeable 76 E.  dB = 82.1, but we were alone, except for rather loud music.

Go?  Not unless I hear lots of good things from the big boys - in fact, when I got home I looked up reviews and found this in Le Fooding - "At lunch however, the dishes are inconsistent......"  I wish them well; they reminded me of Septime & Pierre Sang Boyer, very good, farm to table inexpensive ingredients but without the skills of a James Henry to pull it off.  And while I'm at it, a treacherous circular staircase to the toilets in which there was no soap.

Flesh in the 9th: Genuine BBQ: Texas, NYC, Carolina's?; it's complicated

6.8 Flesh, 25, rue de Douai in the 9th, 01.42.81.21.93, (metro: Blanche) closed Sunday nights, is a place where Chef Simon John Lewis cooks up pretty mean BBQ at after stints at Spring and Frenchie's, that the local families, at least on a Sunday in blustery/chilly February, flock to.  Is it Texas slow cooked BBQ, NYC brisket, French Angus beef or California tacos?  Well, sort of all of them and none of them.

So I arrived about 12:12 (these days given the buses and my knee, I leave lots of leeway) and apologized and sat by the window and indulged in a glass of Cotes de Beaune while trying to figure out from the jdd why the folks in Nantes are so upset at a new airport - is it totally ecological? more carbon, more fuel? totally NIMBY? totally, ah just the French necessity to march whenever there's a protest?  whereas Americans would go and vote for Bernie or the Donald?  In any case my two dining partners arrived, we switched tables to be warmer and went for the chalkboard special for two - the beef short ribs and the regular menu'd brisket.  But neither arrived and our charming waitperson informed us that the shortribs, featured on all the walls, hadn't arrived today.  Heard that one before?  Well, take down the chalkboards, then.  At this point we ordered and waited and waited and waited - finally two dishes (unordered, thus offered to temper our tempers and satisfy our hunger) arrived: they were really really good - two spicy, avocado filled tacos and fried chicken pieces - we were off and running.

In place of the short ribs, we had the brisket, not Jewish NYC deli sandwich-like but more Californian clean, non-fatty, perfect slices-style; pork ribs that were more reminiscent of the deep South, fried chicken, universally American; and two side dishes, thick fries, supposedly with garlic that I deemed only OK and wonderful white beans, almost Milanesque.  All in all, this was genuine BBQ, although the BBQ sauce was questioned by one of us to be not house-made, but she wasn't born in America, so disregard that.

Our bill, with a bottle and 2 glasses of wine, the two supreme starters offered for our delay, and two coffees offered due to one's coldness, was 90 E for three, thus 60 E a couple.  dB's = 73.3

Go back?  Yippie ki yay! If only for the shortribs - this place dishes up great chow and Simon is a charming host; a definite Sunday lunch go-to place.

Mamagoto in the 10th: A breath of fresh air around the Train Stations.

7.2 Mamagoto (we'll get to the name later, but it's not an offshoot of Momofuku), 5, rue des Petits-Hotels in the 10th, (Metro: Gare de L'Est or buses), closed Sundays and Mondays, 01.44.79.03.98 (but you can reserve on La Fourchette) has been open about 3 weeks and is already fully up and running. Quoting Le Fooding - "Running this restaurant with a funny name (which means “a light meal” in Japanese) is a trio of chic restaurateurs raised rue de Bellechasse : Thomas Loustau, the boss of Chez Graff, Guillaume Gazier for the wines, and Koji Tsuchiya, who used to work at l’Astrance, in the kitchen."  It has both tapas (Basque and Spanish influenced) as well as big stuff - beef and lamb, for example.

So, I got there way early, when the wait-staff were just putting on their aprons and cleaning the windows, 20 minutes before my dining partner.  Limping in, I apologized, but they ushered me to practically any table I wanted, asking immediately if I desired something while waiting - "Of course, a glass of white wine (a very nice bubbly Cava)......and then some guacamole on piment d'Espelette chips" (whew, spicy hot they were, but I like them that way, not tasteless like in the USA).  When my pal showed up she was obsessed with her meal yesterday at Papillon and took some distracting, but the poulpe with radish slices and duck croquettes with a creamed corn sauce (it may sound blah but it was anything but) were yummy enough to bring her back to earth.  We ended up sharing a moderately OK Paris Brest, "moderately OK" in contrast to the superbly OK guacamole, octopus and croquettes.

Our bill, with a bottle of Le Petit Martin and 4 coffees (2 offered), was 79 E.  dB's = 78.3

Go back?  Oh yes.  The combination of Staff (one of whom worked in Brooklyn a year), Owner (who was wine tasting and talking to us from the comptoir) and Chef (who is already attracting visitors from the East) works very well indeed.  This place is a keeper.

Illios in the 18th: A friendly, neighborhood, one man band place.

5.0 Illios, 61 Rue Ramey in the 18th, 01.42.23.67.60, also La Fouchette/Fork, closed Saturday lunch and Sundays (Metro: Jules Joffrin) is a place you've been by many times if you take any bus up the Mont, but I can guarantee you've never popped in; why? because Illios sounds Greek not Mediterranean, because it's not got those Pudlo, GM, etc signs outside or because you've never heard of it - ah, but one of my loyal readers had and recommended it to me as a nice French neighborhood place.

My starters was peppers stuffed with frsh cheese and herbs which was lovely, but my main, sole tropicale, was the reason I avoided sole for my first 50 years visiting France - tasteless and rubbery.  Unfortunately neither the potatoes nor the string beans helped at all.

The price was right though - 29.50 E with a demi-carafe of white wine.  dB's were not even worth recording.

Go?  Unless you're a student staying in the hostel across the street I'd say no.  Or enjoy seeing one guy welcome you, take your order, cook, deliver the plates, scrape them and say goodbye.  I wondered what he'd do if 22 rather than 8 seats were occupied.

Reviews of Reviews: The week of February 15th, 2016

Monday-Tuesday in A Nous Paris, Philippe Toinard reported on the first interactive wine museum, the previously mentioned Caves du Louvre in the 1st and Jerome Berger reviewed and gave 4/5 dots to Jones, same address as the previous Bones in the 11th now serving 18-23 E lunch and a la carte dinner plates to be shared for about 35 E, except on weekends – items include duck, focaccia and burrata.

Tuesday, Le Fooding had a review by Matthieu Jauniau-Dallier of the previously mentioned Papillon in the 17th.

Wednesday, in Le Figaroscope, Alice Bosio, Colette Monsat and Hugo de Saint Phalle wrote up new restaurants that serve special requirements:
PH7 & Wild and the Moon for vegetarians
Rose Bakery au Bon Marche & 13 A Baker’s Dozen for cakes, etc
Les Nicois & Matiere a for a dinner with pals
Mensae & Galopin for Top Chef fans
Grand Central & Chez HE for taking kids
Hexagone & Le Clarence for celebrating a promotion
L’entrée des Artistes & 110 Taillevent for your wine snob uncle

And, in an article about the upcoming spring vacation they recommend:
A pot-au-feu at La Bourse et la vie
Daurade at La Cevicheria
A donburi at Oishinoya
A hot chocolate at Capucine
A ble noir crepe at Madeo
A burger at the Camion qui fume
A tarama at Salt
A sausage/puree at Lazare
A Carbonara at Ida
A salad of green papaya at Street Bangkok.

And Emmanuel Rubin’s Hache Menu covered the previously mentioned Papillon.

In his reviews of 5 new places this week he gave 3 hearts to the previously mentioned L’Avant Comptoir de la Mer; two hearts to Mamagoto, 5, rue des Petits Hôtels in the 10th, closed Sundays and Mondays, 01.44.79.63.98 serving inventive tapas for 24-28 E at lunch and 35-45 E for dinner ; the African- World Food Le Nouveau WalyFay in the 11th ; and the previously mentioned Le Pres d’Ici.  Garnering 1 heart was the burger place – My Pop Company.

Also Wednesday, Heidi Ellison in Paris Update reviewed no restaurants this week.

This week in L’Express Styles, Charles Patin O'Coohoon reviewed the previously mentioned Les Marches in the 16th.

John's Top Ten in 2016 (so far)

John's Top Ten in 2016 (so far)

8.0 Anthocyane, L'Inconnu
7.5 Pierre Sang on Gambey
7.4 Anicia
7.25 Le Boeuf Maillot
7.1 Restaurant H
7.0 Gentiane
6.9 Botanique, Bistrot Paradis
6.8 Histoires

Reviews of Reviews: The week of February 8th, 2016

Reviews of Reviews: The week of February 8th, 2016

Monday-Tuesday in A Nous Paris, Philippe Toinard reviewed (3/5 dots) the crowd-funded Le Pre d’Ici, 151 bis Rue Marcadet, 09.52.60.08.01, closed Saturday lunch, Sunday dinner and Mondays serving locavore food such as meat from Normandy, vegetables and a chicken ballotine for 20-25  E at lunch and Jerome Berger reviewed and gave 4 dots to Sushi B in the 2nd.

Tuesday, Le Fooding had a review of Chez Graff, 62, rue de Bellechasse in the 7th, 01.45.51.33.42, closed Sundays, costing 16-35 E for items such as squid, pork and a poached peach.

Wednesday, in Le Figaroscope, Alice Bosio, Colette Monsat and Hugo de Saint Phalle wrote up the new restaurants in hotels one might think about for Valentine’s Day:
Hotel Bachaumont
La Cuine de L’E7
Sylvestre
Grand Pigalle
Le Pigalle
Grand Hotel Amour
Les Bains
Le ‘1K

In addition, there was an article by several of the women editors of favorite places (I’ll only mention the restaurants):
Papacionu
La Vache dans les Vignes
Les Triplettes de Belleville
Encore
Terrass Hotel
La Truffiere
Etangs de Corot

And Emmanuel Rubin’s Hache Menu covered the room service at the Maison Souquet.

In his reviews of 5 new places this week he gave 3 hearts to the previously mentioned Anicia in the 6th.  The other 4 got 2 hearts each: Boutary, 25, rue Mazarine in the 6th, 01.43.43.69.10, closed Sundays and Mondays, serving items such as crab and caviar and egg with caviar for 60-120 E (lunch menu = 49 E); Le Mazenay, 46, rue de Montmorency in the 3rd, 06.42.83.79.52, closed Saturday lunch, Sundays and Mondays, serving a sausage terrine, roast pigeon and moelleux of apples for 40-50 E; a coffee & bakery” Mokonuts in the 11th; and Cazes, 44, rue Joseph-de-Maistre in the 18th, 01/85.09.14.99, closed Sundays and Mondays, serving items such as dandelion soup and bar with kiwi fruit for 20-35 E (formulas 13 and 19 E at lunch).

Also Wednesday, Heidi Ellison in Paris Update reviewed the Bol Porridge Bar I the 10th.

This week in L’Express Styles, Charles Patin O'Coohoon reviewed the previously mentioned Biondi.

Luz Verde in the 9th: "It's not Mexican food, John, it's really French, you'll love it."

 

5.7 Luz Verde, 24, rue Henri-Monnier in the 9th, 01.74.64.29.04, closed Sundays and Mondays (Metro: St. Georges) is a place my wonderful food source in the 9th has been after me to eat at saying more than once - "John I know you don't eat non-French food in Paris," but "It's not Mexican food, John, it's really French, you'll love it."  Ok, so I'm in thrall of her and I surrendered today.  Approaching the place by the sex-shops and guitar-repair places I wondered what I had got myself into.  I entered and said her name, and they said "Oh, N.?"  "Sure, right over here."  The music was blaring and I took out my dB meter and saw they had a red decibel indicator to the right of the bar - it said 68 dB, mine read 85.8.  Oh, oh.  Aside from that, though, the place was decent enough, hopping with young French folk and had a menu that looked like it might have French food (cochon, squid, pear dessert) but there was a half-page of guacamole and tacos; OK!

My friend from down the street looks at today's offerings and says "There are no couteaux."  Her husband and I shrug.  Ok, no couteaux, no big deal, we want the guacamole.  But we're guys and we have no cojones - like all guys, we'd never ask for something off the menu - impossible (ref: Deborah Tannen, You Just Don't Understand: Women and Men in Conversation).  But she does and miraculously they appear, not 3, not 9, but like the parable of the fish and loaves, a bowl full, not rubbery and/or sandy but quite delicious.  Meanwhile he and I content ourselves with the frijoles and pig, each with its own generous assortment of veggies and tacos, while awaiting our guacamole - whoops!  at this point I, anyway, am full, and say "let's forget it" and it is so negotiated.  But, then dessert, hummmm, pear, caramel and tonkas - hummm.  It was the dessert of my week - absolutely delicious.

Our bill, with the guacamole which we ordered but never got but they charged for, plus a bottle and glass of wine and no bottled water but decent bread and 3 coffees (again, 2 ordered, 3 charged for, maybe this is why they're advertising for help), our bill was 80.50 or 76.66 E a couple.

Go back?  I think not, despite the lovely, English-speaking staff; this is great among friends chow but................

Strogoff in the 2nd: Tapas, tartares and tartines in hipster heaven

5.5 Strogoff, 37 blvd Bonne Nouvelle in the 2nd, 01.77.13.47.99 (Metro: Bonne Nouvelle), closed Sundays was chosen not because Michael Strogoff, of Jules Verne fame, worked for Tsar Alexander II of Russia, who dressed in cool royal garb but because it was reachable from the cabinet of my dining partner.  It's a simple enough place based on simple enough ideas - tapas, tartares and tartines.

My American expat friend who has lived and worked here forever had the special of the day, a jazzed up tuna tartare (jazzed up by spicy cukes and other good for your health things); I had a ceviche of daurade with also lots of herbs and greens; and we both had their excellent fries (not from Metro for sure) as well as sharing a moelleux of chocolate with ice cream - quite decent indeed.

With 50 cl of a Cote de Cascogne, no bottled water, OK bread and 2 coffees, our bill was 58.10 E. (dB level varied all over the place but max'd at 81.8.)

Go back?  Not necessarily, but the wait-people are superb and the prices are right so for some folks staying nearby, it's a light meal possibility.