John Talbott's Paris

Accents in the 2nd: Perfect perfection.

Accents in the 2nd is a place I stumbled on a month ago or so and loved and I was afraid my second meal with Colette and a dear French friend might disappoint - Not!

After an amuse bouche of smoked fish two of us had and shared smoked salmon bits with veggies and raviolis of langoustines with greens - the latter among the best dishes of the year 2017.

For mains we chose the three most appealing ones: a jarret of veal, grilled mackerel and Spring lamb shoulder, all with appropriate vegetables; although my carrot puree had some ginger in it that sent the taste zooming to the top of the tent.

Colette ordered a rhubarb with meringue, and we had three Ethiopian coffees in really cool cups (indeed the restaurant's interior design, while minimalist, was stunning) and the chef topped us off with three big slices of orange flavored sponge/angel cake with house whipped cream and we were three happy animals.

Our bill, which covered terrific bread and herb-flavored butter and two bottles of wine, came to 190.50 E or 127 E a couple.

Reviews of reviews – The week of March 20th, 2017

Monday-Tuesday in A Nous Paris, Jerome Berger announced that Le Dauphin (4/5) as now open at lunch with a 30€ carte, no reservations, Closed Sundays and Mondays.

In Le Fooding, Goulven La Poulles featured the Hawaiian snack place, Ahipoke in the 10th.

Wednesday, in Figaroscope, Emmanuel Rubin reviewed his 5 new places: giving 2/5 hearts to and the Sicily-Greek place Little Mama in the 10th. All the rest got one heart: the above-mentioned Ahipoke; Bill the Butcher, 11 rue du Quatre-Septembre in the 2nd, 01.42.33.55.96, closed weekends where for 10-15€ one can dine on quinoa salad, meatballs and perfumed rice; the salad-vegetarian place, Optiun, 56, rue de la Rochefoucauld in the 9th, 01.72.38.86.81, closed Sundays and Mondays open 9h30-18, where for 12-20€ one can have items such as salads and juices; the Mauritian oriented Agalega in the 2nd.

In his Hache Menu, he reviewed the previously mentioned Aux Deux Amis and carried an interview with its “GC,” Yves Camdeborde.

Along that line, the Dossier dealt with all the Camdeborde creations: Le Comptoir du Relais, l'Avant Comptoir, l'Avant Comptoir de la Mer, l'Avant Comptoir du Marche and the Hotel Relais St-Germaine.

Heidi Ellison in Paris Updates went to the Greek-cheffed Etsi, 23-25 rue Eugène Carrière, in the 18th, 01.71.50.00.80, closed Sundays and Mondays, with a lunch menu at 18 E and a la carte about 33 E, serving dishes such as ceviche, haddock or pork and chocolate cake.

Thursday, in L’Express Styles, Francois-Regis Gaudry reviewed Orties, 24, rue Rodier, Paris in the 9th, 01.45.26.86.26, closed Sunday, Monday and Tuesday for lunch, with a 28 E 4-course menu at lunch and 45 E 7-course menu at dinner, featuring items such as lieu jaune, pintade and a petit sable.

Tous in the 9th: xxxxxxxxxx so eat dessert first.

Tous is another place I ate at while Colette was out of town last month and I was eager to return with her.  We went with a wonderful fellow blogger who did me a great service returning some ink cartridges to Darty.   Well, anyway,

I was happily installed with a glass of wine when the ladies entered and they ordered up the "menu's" at 22 E for three courses;  Colette asked  to substitute a mushroom soup for the tartare of veal which was "yuge."  Both of them were happy for my sharing and I was, once again, impressed by the chef's innovative offerings.

For the daily special, the ladies had the daurade with big clams that were tough and hard to open, though the fish was nice and I had a poitrine of veal that was succulent and perfectly offset with turnips and carrots, the latter oood'd and ahh'd by my co-diners.

At this point I was a very happy boy, but our host rolled out the dessert cart and my companions had a bit of each: a baba, milk chocolate cake with caramel sauce (incredible), peach thing, chocolate mousse (very fine) and "brownie", well, I think if I had to do it over again, I'd start with the desserts - they were chef-made and fabulous.

Our bill, with their bottled waters, 2 bottles of wine was 116 E or 76 E a couple.  What a meal, what desserts, oh my!

L'Escudella in the 7th: Man, can this Dude cook.

 

L'Escudella in the 7th is a place I really liked last month and was eager to take Colette and a long-time Parisian friend too.   We were greeted warmly and treated to two amuses: the first some goat cheese balls and the second a crab shell full of jellied crab soup with dill that was simply fantastic.

The plate of the day (at 15 E) was another fabulous dish, of pintade and the other two of us had succulent pieces of duck breast, cooked to perfection (I neglected to photograph my friend's entrée of cold large green asparagus which was also worth writing home about.)

The desserts the ladies ordered were a Paris-Carcassone and a meringue ball filled with cream and mango, both superb and we finished up with some mignardises that went perfectly with our Illy coffees.

Our bill with no bottled water but a bottle and a glass of wine, was 138 E, or 92 E a couple.

Pirouette in the 1st: It's good to be back.

Pirouette in the 1st was our 1st meal back in Paris after our sojourn in Venice; not that Venice and Mestre were bad, its just nice to be back.  The place looks the same as in years past but the carte has definitely changed, while maintaining some golden oldies.

Half our party of 6 were more comfortable looking at the English version of the menu/carte and the rabbit raviolis were gone but two of us had the "Spring harvest" which consisted of morels, peas and a sauce of truffle-infused mushrooms; wow!

For mains, everyone was extremely happy with the scallops, lamb chop, marinated beef and crispy sweetbreads with their vegetables.  The beef went over very well with the twins and the adults were not displeased with what they ordered either.

Colette must have her rice pudding here and two others ordered it as well, while the rest of us sampled and enjoyed.

Our bill, with 2 bottles of Chateldon and a St Nicolas, plus good bread and 2 coffees, was 286 E or 96 E a couple.  As others have noted, however, at the height of service, it was rather noisy but that will not stop us from returning.

Venice 2017: Day 3: Bar Autorimessa and da Tura (Mestre)

Backstory: People keep saying that "one cannot have a bad meal in Paris" or "thanks for your suggestions, but we were tired after the Louvre and tumbled into a great place."  Of course I discount all such stories and would never do any such thing, but..........

Bar Autorimessa is that place on the garage side of the Piazzale Roma, the bus station on the entrance to Venice, you've seen a million times that announces itself as a "bar pizza cafe restaurant" and when I bussed in from Mestre today to meet Colette at one of my favorite places, the Fiaschetteria Toscana, I had such pain going down the ramp to the vaporetto stop I realized there was no way I could walk a half a kilometer from the Ca d'Oro to the resto, so I cancelled and limped over to this well-seen joint expecting the worst.  I called Colette, sat down, ordered up some wine and started to work on a huge bowl of chips.  When Colette arrived she decided to order a pizza disavowal, which when we sampled it, was spicy and perfectly good.  We both went with gelati, on her side, a panna cotta, on mine, a pistachio.  Again it was an unexpected surprise.  Our bill, with a bottle of water and one of wine, a grappa and two espressi, was 65.40€.

Da Tura is the restaurant we ate at yesterday that Colette said we should return to on our last night in Italy, and so it was.  Tonight though she had the sea bass grilled with lemon and olive oil and I ordered a Caesar salad but got a mixed salad, which was fine by me.  We had the same waiter, who looked strikingly like Jean Dujardin and between him and the meal we were quite content.  Our bill with bottles of water and wine, no coffee but a grappa and tiramisu, was 59.85€

Venice 2017: Day 2: Antiche Carampane and da Tura (Mestre)

Antiche Carampane is another old favorite, which albeit hard to find, is well worthy the effort.  They start you off on the right foot with a cone of fried shrimp that never cease to please.  Colette then had mussels and clams with a fantastic tomato sauce that was rich and spicy, necessitating much sopping up with their fine bread.  I on the other had the almost endless mixed seafood with a whole sole, half of which Colette dipped in her sauce, much to her delight. With our coffees we enjoyed a plate if cookies that were delicious. At this point we were both satiated and off to our separate pursuits.  Our bill with a bottle of water, one of wine,, a grappa and 2 coffees, was 105.50€.

DaTura in the Hotel Bologna in Mestre is a place I chanced on when I asked the hotel, maybe 8 years ago, to make some reservations for me and the Concierge said "Of course, Sir, but how about eating at the city's Number 3 restaurant?"  "Oh, and what might that be," said I.  "DaTura," he said, "right here."  And by George, he was right and I've been coming every two years since.  Tonite, Colette ordered a divine sea bream, oven cooked with cauliflower, creamed with a cheese influenced Bechamel sauce and I had the very very very best spaghetti with clams I've ever had.  To finish we had their two-cream dessert, which was superb.  Our bill, with a bottle of water and one of wine plus a grappa was 57.15€.

Venice 2017: Day 1: la Porta d'Acqua and Moro (Mestre)

La porta d'Acqua is a rather recent addition to my every other year list of "go to" places in Venice.  Two years ago, I had a grilled octopus that as of March 2015, was the best dish of that year.  I guess you can't go home again, because today it was good but hardly a "best of" anything.  The bed of chickpea purée it sat on was quite a bit better.  I also had my first mixed salad of the Spring in Italy, which had early radicchio and arugula but for a farm-to-table place, the bizarre out of season corn kernels were a weird addition.  Colette had scampi and "royal shrimp" on warm arugula that was Pleasant and we shared a hazelnut pannacotta with caramel that was outstanding.  Our bill, with decent bread, wine, bottled water and two espresso, one corrected, was 88€.

Moro in Mestre where we've hoteled ever since our 3 year old insisted on a swimming pool and I started running, has been a Slow Food standby for about 10 years.  It's tiny, full and clearly serving both neighborhood regulars and savvy travelers, usually Asian.  Tonite we saw the Maestro Lino Moro serve up his handcut beef tartare with not a hint of egg or Tobasco but instead evoo and mustard and an unknown, to me, hot sauce.  But that's not what we had.  I started with a plateful of medium sized fried sardines with a fantastic onion topping and Colette had a unique white artichoke heart salad with tang.  I then went on to noodles with duck sauce which I shared and she terminated with a plate of four cheeses and three compotes that was simply heavenly.  With great bread, 3 varieties, a required bottle of water, one of wine and a grappa, our damages came to 60 €, "the" price-quality winner of the year.

Reviews of reviews – The week of March 13th, 2017

Monday, in A Nous Paris, Alexis Chenu reviewed the Asian burger place Motto and Philippe Toinard gave 4/5 dots to the previously mentioned Sourire.

Wednesday in Figaroscope, Emmanuel Rubin reviewed his usual 5 new restaurants: disliking and awarding a busted plate to the Bistrot de l’Opera Comique, 16, rue Favart in the 2nd, 01.42.96.69.86, closed Sundays and Saturday and Monday lunch, offering for 45-60 E razor clam tartare, cuttlefish and roast turbot; but giving 2 hearts to the previously mentioned Les Resistants in the 10th, the Mexican Isla Calaca in the 9th, the granola-salad place Marcelle in the 1st and the Viennese Otto in the 18th.

His Hache Menu was on the Persian Mazeh in the 15th.

Figaroscope’s Dossier was on all the new Asian restaurants that have opened recently.

Heidi Ellison in Paris Updates went to the previously mentioned Fulgurances in the 11th.

Thursday, in L’Express Styles, Francois-Regis Gaudry reviewed Orties, 24, rue Rodier, Paris in the 9th, 01.45.26.86.26, closed Sunday, Monday and Tuesday for lunch, with a 28 E 4-course menu at lunch and 45 E 7-course menu at dinner, featuring items such as lieu jaune, pintade and a petit sable.

John's Top Ten of 2017

As usual, the rules are, only in Paris and surrounds, only meals eaten at new places this year, only at lunch and only supplying total bill, usually with wine and coffee but not bottled water.

8.1 Accents, Tous, Fulgurances

8.0 L'Escudella, Chez Jean (9th)

7.8 Pirouette, Polissons

7.7 Le Bistro d'Yves

7.5 Parigots

6.9 Laborde, Apollo, Cochon Gaulois