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.
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