John Talbott's Paris

John's Top Ten of 2017 facing summer vacation

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.

8.2 Desnoyez

8.0 Kitchen Ter(re)

8.1 Accents, Tous, Fulgurances

8.0 L'Escudella, Chez Jean (9th, reportedly closed)

7.8 Pirouette, Polissons, Detour

7.7 Le Bistro d'Yves

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7.6 Racines des Pres

7.5 Parigots, Pertinence, Grand Bain, Saint-Joseph

7.4 Savarin, Bel Ordinaire, Zebulon

7.2 Alan Geaan

7 Aux Deux Amis, Tresor, Le 122, Loiseau RG

Reviews of reviews – The week of July 10, 2017

Tuesday, In Le Fooding, Golven Le Polles wrote up William Ledeuil’s newest Rive Gauche place, Kitchen Ter(re), 26, blvd St-Germain in the 5th, 01.42.39.47.48, closed Sundays and Mondays, running one from 36-50 E for items such as gazpacho, chicken with harissa and strawberry sorbet.

Wednesday, Heidi Ellison of Paris Update went to the previously mentioned Bonace.

Thursday, in l’Express Styles, Charles Patin O'Coohoon reviewed the Poule Au Pot, 121, rue de l’Universite in the 7th, open 7/7, 01.47.05.16.36, costing about 40 E for items such as poached eggs, terrines and sweetbreads and Francois Regis Gaudry reviewed the previously mentioned Sourire in the 7th.

L'Arcane in the 18th: once again "impeccable."

 

L'Arcane in the 18th has been so consistently astonishing that Colette insisted we go back with the entire visiting family members; everyone from 10 to 81 was justly "oohing" and "awwhing" throughout.

They started us off with a fascinating and unexpectedly spicy mixture of squid, goat cheese and squid ink, with pine-nuts, followed by another dish with the kick - cold and warm (beignets) tomatoes with a dusting of tomato powder.

Then for our main, the chef sent out some Iberian pork slices with creamy mashed potatoes and a flattened mix of summer veggies, really ratatouille, delicious.

To finish, the pre-dessert was a surprising mixture of watermelon and mint ices, followed by a Swiss specialty, meringue with elderberries and gruyere cream; followed by three mignardises, a frozen white chocolate square, a marinated cherry and a mini-sweet-sandwich.

Our bill, with three bottles of wine, no bottled water, but 4 coffees and two Cokes, was 372€ or 124€ a couple.  My oh my!  

Time for our summer break, see y'all the end of August.

Le Kitchen Ter(re) in the 5th; William Ledeuil and his incredible team scooooooore again.

Background: Ever since he cooked at Savoy's Les Boquinistes in the 6th, then moved next door to establish Ze Kitchen Galerie, then opened KGB (Kitchen Galerie Bis), adjacent, we've watched and eaten his consistently surprising food - in other words, while the dishes change all the time their quality stays at the same high level.  His third place, Kitchen Ter(re) - un, bis, ter, got it?, opened a week ago, and we were only slightly surprised to be greeted at the door by his wonderful lieutenants from Ze and himself, all in blue not white.

8.0 Le Kitchen Ter(re), 26, boulevard Saint Germain in the 5th, 01.42.39.47.48, closed Sundays and Mondays, (Metro: Maubert, Cardinal Lemoine) has been touted as a bouillon and pasta place with Asian spices - but don't be fooled, this is Ledeuil doing his Top-of-the-line French food by French chefs using some foreign ingredients - everything from harissa to kimchi. We were greeted terribly warmly and given the almost impossible to decide between menu.

However before that he treated us to coups of Charles Heidsieck champagne and an incredible tomato gaspacho, which they insisted we'd had before at Ze.

Then the four of us ordered the beef tartare, mostarda and soubressade, Galician octopus with a strawberry and Nepal pepper sauce and what were essentially beignets of soft shell crab and shrimp with black sesame.  Incredible!

Our mains were a dish of chicken with harissa and confited lime, Iberian pork with kimchi and girolette, and girolles with a Thai pesto and pecorino sauce.  Did I taste everything and figure out the  tastes?, no: did the cooks among us figure them out?, yes.

We finished off with a strawberry "cappuccino" with pistachio and wasabi, a strawberry, peach and melon sorbet "fyord" and an intense Gianduja chocolate, coffee and miso delight.

Our bill, with 3 3-course and 1 2-course menus, their filtered water and two bottles of red and white Rhones, plus 3 coffees and one tea, was 192€, or 96€ a couple.  DB's = 87.8. Annoying music - nil.

Go?  Please don't, I want to go back and if you all flood the place, I'll be left outside in the cold with the smokers.

 

Alliance in the 5th: where chef Omiya continues to deliver great products, with surprising textures and tastes accompanying them.

Alliance in the 5th is one of those places that is consistently good by being surprisingly different each visit.  By now the chef, Toshitaka Omiya and his delightful front room staff know us but at this level of the game there's no way he is giving us anything special, except a friendly welcome.  That results in everyone in the small place being happy and leaving with a smile.

He started us off with two amuses, one a minibrioche and the other a crisp pastry clam shell with a dollop of anchovy; then a crab and broccoli concoction with a surprising sauce.

The fish course consisted of lieu jaune with haricots verts, intense apricot that perfectly completely complemented the blander fish and almond slivers that didn't add anything to the fish, IMHO. The sauce that accompanied the lieu was light and very flavorful. Then came two pieces of tender as can be spring lamb, wow! (with a wonderful sauce)

Desserts rolled out equally impressively; citrus fruit with mint, a vanilla mousse with shaved black olives (it may sound bizarre, but it was anything but), a chocolate mousse with nuts and perfectly lovely warm from the oven financiers.  Did I forget one chocolate at the end?

Anyway, our bill, with three bottles of wine, rec'd by the gracious front room major domo, no bottled water but two coffees, was 219€ for 4 thus 109.50€ a couple for what is called a 3-course menu.

Loiseau Rive Gauche in the 7th: some of the best desserts of the decade.

7.0 Loiseau Rive Gauche's dishes have been consistently interesting, complex and copious since we've been coming back after a long hiatus following Loiseau's suicide.  But I don't think we've ever been so blown away by the desserts until today. Once again we ordered the 3-course "menu" now priced at 42€ but one gets many more than 3 dishes.  

They started us off with corn bread type muffins with an herb butter and an egg concoction flavored with cumin accompanied by parmesan wafers followed by a giant oyster covered with teeny cucumber cubes with a cucumber juice flavored with horseradish.

Then Colette had the caramelized cod with just undercooked green peas and I the crispy skinned poitrine de cochon with 2 sauces and a large bowl of fantastic white beans covered with fluff.  

Finally came the aforementioned desserts, an apricot purée with a cream very much like zambaglione and white celeriac floating island, followed by jellies and chocolate buds sitting on flat pieces of chocolate.  just before leaving, we each were given a box containing a delicious madeleine.

Our bill, with a bottle of wine and no bottled water as well as 2 coffees was 124€.

Anything wring, John?  Yes, the music was more like you'd find in a NYC bar than a fancy Paris place and the "boom boom" noise from the Dance Studio above didn't help.

Le Reminet in the 5th: sometimes the best ones are the old ones.

 

Le Reminet in the 5th is a place we've been coming to forever it seems, and has never disappointed. The younger members of our family were down at Notre Dame today and so it was a logical choice.

My son in law chose to have some oysters first and given his Chesapeake roots, his praise was noteworthy.

Then all of us had a main which consisted of 3 lemon soles, quite yummy, 2 line caught sea bass, equally so, and I could not have been happier with my piece of shoulder of cochon de lait.

We ended with 2 creme brûlées, a pavlova of litchis, a panna cotta and an "exotic" coco-spoom.

Our bill before our 50% discount for booking via La Fourchette was an eye popping 382 but we actually only paid 226 € or 75.33 € a couple, which for 2 bottles of wine, 2 of coke and 4 coffees was a fine price-quality.

Reviews of reviews – The week of July 3, 2017

Tuesday, Gilles Dupuis in Le Fooding, reviewed Marrow, 128, rue du Faubourg St-Martin in the 10th, 09.81.34.57.00, closed Sundays and Mondays, where for 16-35 E one feasts on items such as croquettes of goat cheese, poulpe and apricot tart.

Wednesday, Heidi Ellison of Paris Update went to the previously mentioned Odille.

Thursday, in l’Express Styles, Charles Patin O'Coohoon reviewed the previously mentioned Pirouette in the 1st and Francois Regis Gaudry reviewed the Japanese ERH in the 2nd and the Peruvian Vague in the 10th.

Sunday in the jdd Aurelie Chaigneau reported on the New York Paris burger place PNY, near the Pont Alexandre in the 7th, closed midday and Mondays (6/10); the aforementioned Racines des Pres in the 7th (8), and the aforementioned Fish Club in the 1st (7).

Semilla in the 6th: it's been a while.

Semilla, in the 6th, a part of what I think of as the Fish Empire, was pretty damn good when it opened and was suchlike today for our gang.  From the outside, it's hard to identify it but once inside the welcome is very warm, and the language, bilingual.  After I translated the French carte for our family, one of our wait-folks did the same for a neighboring table of visitors from the East, I asked my daughter "so how good was my version?"  "His was much more descriptive" she said, diplomatically.

For firsts, among us we shared a ceviche of daurade, a platter of confited tomatoes and one of string beans.  

Then two of us went with the beautiful rouget that looked like a real fish, three with a faux filet (that came with potatoes so enriched that my cook-daughter suggested they had added a few potato flakes to pounds of butter and cream) and I had hard to beat slices of leg of lamb with my first eggplant of the summer.

The grandkids ended up sharing strawberries marinated in something.

Our bill, with no bottled water but two bottles and a glass of wine and 4 coffees, with great chocolate truffles, was 300€ or 100€ a couple.

Pottoka in the 7th: "Good choice Dad."

 

 

Pottoka in the 7th provided us with a superb meal last time we came in the winter, but we soured on the lack of space for our coats.  Today, no such problem with an offer to take my jacket as soon as we'd entered.  

Our grandkids started off with two big "tapas" platters of Basque charcuterie and cod fritters with excellent aioli.

For our mains, Colette had tuna with avocado and peanut butter and the rest of us loved the turbot with mushrooms, pork chops got the ravest review, and terrific riz de veau.  

We finished with us all sharing 3 portions of chocolate mousse with a dollop of peanut butter ice cream.

Our bill, with two bottles of wine, no bottled water but 2 cokes and 4 coffees, was 281 € or 93.66 € a couple.