John Talbott's Paris

Belle Maison in the 9th: Super seafood for a chilly day, inside and out.

Belle Maison in the 9th is a safe harbor off the Rue des Martyrs' madness and despite its cool temperature, provided a warm welcome.

Colette started off with some splendid scallops and our fried just back from South Africa and I had the raviolis stuffed with crustaceans and salmon.  A very auspicious beginning but as Colette pointed out, portions seem to be approaching American standards.

For their main courses, all of which are printed on a separate listing of 2 daily specials and two fish specials, convincing me they stick with what came in today; our friend had a big chunk of veal with veggies and Colette had two large filets of merlan - I being content to poach off their large portions.

For desserts, Colette chose the baba a la williamine, our friend had a chou with pralinated cream and I went with a scrumptious right out of the oven tarte tatin sort of - to me it looked like a tipped over kouing-aman - all were worthy of their roles in finishing out the meal.

Our bill, with fine bread and algae butter, a bottle a glass of wine, no bottled water but three Illy coffees, was 133 E or 88.66 E a couple.

Pirouette version 2.0; sails on flawlessly under its new chef Francois-Xavier Ferrol

7.8 Pirouette, at the old address in the 1st but with a new chef, Francois-Xavier Ferrol who comes off cooking 7 years at the Bristol and Ledoyen, has long been a favorite of ours and we wondered how things were going a half-year after Tomy Gosset had departed for his own place in the 7th.  Short answer: very well indeed.

Our genial host, a bit less hirsute than when last seen, started us off with glasses of bubbly and balls of onion with creamy parmesan, which were over the top.

For mains, two of us had the scallops with Jerusalem artichokes and leeks, one the red partridge with a sauce diable and I had a perfect egg with cream of Jerusalem artichoke and mushrooms and ham.

Desserts were the rice pudding with caramel beurre sale and a coco sable with chocolate and almond ice cream.

Our bill, with a bottle of my favorite wine, which they recalled, a bottle of water, and 4 coffees, was 167 E or 83.50 E a couple (oh yah, there was one other dish, a parmesan pre-dessert, offered that was terrific.

Go back?  This place stays firmly on the list.

 

Montée in the 14th: "This is a real find" our friend said.

Montée in the 14th is a place I quite enjoyed last month and revisited with Colette and a fellow blogger.  As opposed to so many place with "no choice" "menus" that announce the dish on its delivery, here, you have it all printed out every day - how sensible!

And so, as they say in church, follow along in your hymnal:
- amuses
- house made bread with a brandade of cod
- scallops with shaved radishes on quinoa
- cauliflower with rice and mushrooms
- bass with black pepper
- pork with sprouting lentils
- coconut and pineapple wafers
- marrons glaces
- oreillettes.

At some point our guest said " This is a real find."  Indeed.

With a kir and bottle of wine, no bottled water and three coffees, our bill was 200 E or 133 E a couple.

Cleo in the 7th: Just like a US airline: something is causing the delays but no information is forthcoming.

Cleo in the 7th that I was eager to return to after a great meal last month.  We went with an expat with whom I'd first visited France in 1953. The "menus" for 2 (29 E), 3 and 4 courses are terribly reasonable for a very upscale hotel in the 7th and had great choices as before, but, but, but.....

The chef started us all out on the right foot with yuge Normandy oysters; then the ladies had scallops and blood sausages and sashimi with jellied oranges - delicious. So far so good.  We sipped our fine wine, caught up on the travails of our lives, sipped our wine and caught up on the travails of our lives, and, and, and, you get the picture.  No main courses appeared; we waved our hands; but since we were the only customers, no wait-people passed by.  At some point we all decided this was ridiculous.

When the food finally appeared the rather grumpy wait-lady tossed our wait away as of no consequence - "oh the kitchen fell apart," or somesuch, like that happens everyday, who are we to question the wait?  Well, if the food produced were spectacular, one could tolerate such delays, lack of explanations and behavior; but it wasn't - the chicken was ok, no more no less; the fish was overcooked, way overcooked; and the "pulled pork" had creepy BBQ sauce that was lukewarm, nicely complementing the tepid pork and potatoes.

I'd like to say that the dessert made up for it all but it didn't - the chou with a Chantilly interior and chocolate crème was just average.

The bill, with a bottle and 2/3rds of wine, Evian, and 3 coffees offered without an explanation or apology, was 98.22E

Le Bordeluche in the 17th: "A bit chilly in here isn't it Dear?"

Le Bordeluche in the 17th is a place they recognized me from a few weeks ago when I had a wonderful meal and I was looking forward to returning with Colette; the welcome was warm but unfortunately the room temperature after the holiday closure, was not.

Our guest today ordered the farm egg with crisps of parsnip which he was quite pleased with.

For mains, Colette chose the nut-encrusted back of colinot on spinach leaves while my friend and I had the cod on smashed potatoes; both fine for the chilly winter day.

Colette decided to go for the a "modern" apple tart with caramel ice cream, which she was not wild about but I found it quite good.

Our bill, with a bottle and 2/3rds of wine and two coffees and no bottled water, was 145.07 E, thus 96.72 E a couple.

L'Etoile Nord in the 10th: "I want to go because this guy can't cook."

2.0 L'Etoile du Nord, 8, rue de Dunkerque  in the 10th (inside the Gare du Nord), 01.40.36.54.36, open 7/7 (Metro: Gare du Nord) has been open 2 months to a lot of PR buzz but scarce serious reviewing.  A couple of weeks ago a more serious food writer suggested we go because she was curious given the fact that she doesn't think Thierry Marx knows how to cook.  She later had a "must-make" business conflict so I induced Colette to try it.  Despite the Gare du Nord's interior ugliness, the glass enclosed two-story restaurant/brasserie is quite nice.

I started off with the leeks (on the 25 E 3-course "menu") which were way undercooked and tough and not helped by chunks and sauce of oranges.

Then after a very long long wait we got our mains: Colette had a duck filet in a casserole that she deemed quite good, but my fish n' chips was in such a tidy square it could not have been prepared today.  In addition the chips were stone cold and thus gelatinous and yucky.

In addition to the long waits, when the staff spilled a few drops of wine they did not clean it up and after our main course the crumbs were not removed from the glass table. Also,  the music was loud disco stuff and there was no sharp knife for the duck.

Another long wait ensued - we alerted the waiter and instead of bringing the dessert, he brought the bill!  Finally the dessert arrived; it was supposed to be an ile flottant, but I've never seen a square island; it too was not up to par.

When the check arrived, it was for 3 palerons of beef..........

Our bill, when it finally arrived...., with no bottled water nor coffees, but a bottle of wine, was 76 E. 

Unfortunately for us. our friend's warning was accurate.

Go?  Not even if this were the only restaurant to open in 2017.