John Talbott's Paris

La Causerie in the 16th: Plus ca change........

5.5 La Causerie, 31, rue Vital in the 16th, 01.45.20.33.00, (Buses: 22 and 32) closed weekends, is in what used to be the space occupied by Chez Gerard, where I ate at years ago and then in 2007 when it was on its last legs and rated it average - 5/10.  I returned to it in 2007 when two colleagues from the Royal Monceau took over and thought it improved - to 5.4.  More recently, they renovated something, redid the carte and reopened under a new name La Causerie. Since I'm always looking for a place near my friend's work, at the OECD, I leapt at the chance to go with her and a colleague when I read Francois-Regis Gaudry's recent report.  It seemed pretty much the same as the last time we were here, although the menu is radically different.

For firsts, we spread the table, with lovely looking warm vegetables, lovely looking oeufs mayo and salad and lovely looking warm mackerel, without the classical potatoes and vinegar, but tabouli, which I shouldn't be picky about but I am.

For mains we went with the fish, chicken and veal kidneys, which again, were lovely, well prepared but didn't shoot any stars.

Desserts were the rice pudding, which I'm never wild about and Baba, with decent rum.

 

Our bill with a bottle and two glasses of wine, no bottled water and three coffees, was 163€ or 108.66€ a couple.

Go?  I'm afraid it's not worth the schlep unless you're living in the Godforsaken 16th.  DB's were a high 84.7 and there were some pesky Yankees.

Vava in the 18th: another revelation on Montmartre, what's going on here?

7.5 Vava, 42, rue Veron in the 18th, 01.53.41.15.40, closed Sundays and Mondays.  (Metro: Abbesses, but no elevator these days)  has been open just a while but was half full today with non-tourists, despite its location.

The front room guy and chefs were very chatty and cool and my famous friend and I were made most welcome.  It's a cliche, but I had an impossible time deciding what to have dithering between the palourdes and the mixed mushrooms.  My mind was made up when I learned the clams were replaced by razors, which I'm not wild about, so it was the Japanese and French mushrooms in an intense fluffy sauce that I choose and they were exceptional.  My friend had an equally fine mix of burrata, tomatoes and peaches.

Then for mains, she had what was called barbecued beef but their idea of BBQ is surely not American; fine rare beef it was but it was a long way from Texas, Kansas City or North Carolina, but no matter.  I had the crusted sweetbreads, which I've begun to think the French are over crusting these days, with chorizo, an interesting twist, and some of the best mashed potatoes I've had.  

Finally my friend with my help, had a delicious dessert of brioche, orange and cream.

Our bill, with a bottle of fizzy water, a bottle and a glass of wine and 2 coffees was 130€.

Go?  Absolutely.

Fulgurances under Celine Pham's last month: we'll miss her.

Fulgurances, 10, rue Alexandre Dumas in the 11th, 01.43.48.14.59, (metro: Rue de Boulets) closed weekends and some Mondays, is a place my wine friend and I have enjoyed numerous times and when he suggested we go after the summer holidays, I was game even though we weren't sure who'd be cooking.  Well it was Celine Pham not the new Aussie who starts next month but that worked out beautifully for us.

It's the usual 2-2-1-2 menu and we split down the middle, him starting with tomatoes and me with raviolis of beef with cilantro, lemon grass and other Indochinese spicy things in the superb broth, plus fantastic mushrooms.

Then he had the lieu jaune and I the chicken, both with very nice veggies and new or purple potatoes.

We ended with 3 terrific cheeses (the bread was as good as usual).

Our bill, with a bottle and 3 glasses (it's a long story) of wine and coffees (offered) was 92€.  Decibels really minimal except for the bus going by.

Go?  You bet, never fails, cannot wait for the Aussie.

La Boites Aux Lettres in the 18th: on the top of Montmartre, with cheeseburgers, are you kidding me?

5.5 La boite aux lettres, 108 rue Lepic in the 18th, 01.42.51.76.84, closed Sunday nights, (Metro, nope, bus = Montmartrebus) is a place someone told me about and was open on Mondays in August, so I invited my two buddies from the Left Bank to try it out.  I entered a bit early, took one look at the menu, Fish n chips, Croque Madames/Messieurs, Cheeseburgers with bacon, Holy Cow, how do I explain this to my friends?  Walk out, to where?  Jeez.  Chicken that I am and devoid of options, I order up wine for the three of us, one red, one white (since they're a Jack Sprat couple) and wait.

 My friend enters, waves, sits, wait a minute where is his husband?  Sick.  Ok.  That's ok.  But we've got all this wine and a menu that looks horrid.  Yikes.  Plus the fish n chips and fish burger are no more.

No problem, my friend orders some beets and goat cheese and they're surprisingly good, if not great.  Except for the screaming French infants, life is great.  Then he had a risotto of the day (with veggies) and I a onglet of beef (ordered and served beautifully blue), wait a minute, this stuff is not from Metro, it's seriously good and between talking and eating I forgot to photograph them.  To finish we sort of shared a wonderful mango, chantilly concoction.

Our bill, plus one coffee and a carafe of water, was 82 E. dBs = 71.1 despite the screaming babies.

Go?  You know, I really hate people who say "you can eat anywhere in Paris," or "you should have been at Pyramide in 1953." But you know, occasionally you tumble butter side up.  Who knew this dump could put out such great food. On the top of the awful hill?  Astonishing, wonderful, probably never to be repeated but I'll remember it.

Sorry for the malfunction of photos, to make up for it here's a tattooed beauty from the quarter.

Cazes in the 18th: Wow, Pow, but John, you don't eat Brunch, remember?

Prequel:  So, since it opened I've passed Cazes practically every day on the famous 95 bus and even gotten off and looked at the chalkboards, but alas, they're only open for dinner, except Sundays, and you know how much I hate brunch, at least the French idea of what American brunches are like.  It was driving me crazy so I got off the bus one day and looked at the brunch menu, it wasn't brunch, it was a sampling of small dishes/tapas French style with some scrambled eggs to sucker in the Yankees who might be drifting by (none were there today, save me.)

7.0 Cazes, 44, rue Joseph de Maistre in the 18th, 01.85.09.14.99, open Tuesday-Saturday nights and Sunday for a real French brunch, (Metro: faggedaboudid, do the 80 or 95 bus). Parigi, or whatever she calls herself these days, would declare this is a feng shui danger zone, since several good places and my beloved snail shop have gone belly up here, but I went anyway.

They gave me three options for arrival for lunch/brunch and being a good, albeit anxious boy, I chose the earliest 11:30, convinced that the 1 PM and 2:30 seatings would be backed up (PS I was right).  From when I entered I realized that this place was different, sure, like everybody in town they say they're doing farm-to-table, home cooked food with natural, bio wines at reasonable prices.  Yah, but they deliver. 

The wait-lady presented the brunch menu: beverage, ok, juice, ok, then gazpacho, a salad with cukes and mild feta and leafy herbs, two slices of a filet with smashies, pickled radishes (they said mackerel) a la Japanese, scrambled eggs with herbs, Paris ham, a great sliced comte and good bread.  So stupid of me, I said "I have to choose, eh?," being Canadian.  "No you get it all, they're very small portions."  Yah, well, I could put up the good fight until the ham, and then I tugged on my forelock and got it wrapped in alumnium to go with tomorrow morning's eggs.

To top it off, they served a slice of perfect brioche with the best apricot jam of my life and a bar of chocolate with a crème anglaise (which my "French" mother in 1953, very un-pc called négresse en chemise.)

My bill, with a half bottle of wine, with an espresso rather than their American-looking coffee, would be 41.50€ or 83€ a couple.  dB = 64.9

Go?  No question.  I'd just ask that one of my loyal followers, who eats out at night, confirms my impression.

 

 

5.1 Les Fernandes, 18, rue Guisarde in the 6th, 01.43.29.52.18, (Metro: Marbillon) open 7/7, looks like it's been around forever, with its raw wood and plethora of chalkboards and perhaps it had, but it advertises that all its dishes are made from scratch and the wine selections seemed reasonable to a rookie like me. I arrived a bit before my old friend/colleague who is in the midst of a move from the south back to Paris because of the silly tradition/law/rule that one must give up administrative hospital responsibilities at 65, no matter how competent, wise and able you are.  Anyway I had a lovely glass of white wine from Gascony and considered my options.

Originally I thought of shrimp and snails, but switched to osso bucco, which my friend also chose, followed by a "chocolate "tulip" with cream and red fruits.  I found the red sauce on the veal's knuckle too intense but the dessert was first rate.

Our bill with a bottle of Bordeaux and aforementioned glass and two espressos with tap water, was 90.50€. dB's = 71.1

Go?  It was ok, but not worth a return trip.

5.1 Les Fernandes, 18, rue Guisarde in the 6th, 01.43.29.52.18, (Metro: Marbillon) open 7/7, looks like it's been around forever, with its raw wood and plethora of chalkboards and perhaps it had, but it advertises that all its dishes are made from scratch and the wine selections seemed reasonable to a rookie like me. I arrived a bit before my old friend/colleague who is in the midst of a move from the south back to Paris because of the silly tradition/law/rule that one must give up administrative hospital responsibilities at 65, no matter how competent, wise and able you are.  Anyway I had a lovely glass of white wine from Gascony and considered my options.

Originally I thought of shrimp and snails, but switched to osso bucco, which my friend also chose, followed by a "chocolate "tulip" with cream and red fruits.  I found the red sauce on the veal's knuckle too intense but the dessert was first rate.

Our bill with a bottle of Bordeaux and aforementioned glass and two espressos with tap water, was 90.50€.

Go?  It was ok, but not worth a return trip.

The Butchers of Paname in the 6th: really nice folks, nice meat and pleasant prices.

 

5.8 The Butchers of Paname, 9, rue de l'Ecole de Medicine in the 6th (Metro: St Michel, Odeon), 01.42.39.99.49, closed Sundays is a place I ate at only yesterday it seems when it was La Cave des Cordeliers but a friend who is an expert spotter steered me here and I ate with another blogger on a rainy afternoon amid a sunny reception from the great staff.

They have an incredibly priced menu, 3 dishes for 24.50€, which today consisted of a lovely tomato gazpacho, with basil, a piece of lamb, supposedly the tenderest portion of the thigh and bio strawberries with whipped cream.  My partner had this and I think she really scored.

Unfortunately I had the other lamb described as a rollatine of deboned shoulder, both falling apart and crusty, which it was.  But for me it was too far aged toward mutton than toward milk fed.  Both came with darned good mashed potatoes with slices of pickled red onion on top, great!

Our bill, with a bottle and glass of wine, no bottled water and 2 coffees, was 68.30€.

Go?  I think so even though I probably will not, given the plethora of new meat places, despite the fact that the Jiminy Cricket on my shoulder says I should to make amends for the 25.50€ error in our favor for the undercharged wine.

L'Evasion in the 8th: nice food but price-quality is awful.

4.0 L'Evasion, 7, place de St Augustin in the 8th, 01.45.22.66.20 (Metro: St Augustin, closed weekends, is a place my dear friend, the newly minted Math teacher, chose after I'd suggested the Crillon brasserie, which he pleaded poverty about dining at.  Thus when I interested L'Evasion, I took one look at the carte and said "this is a bargain?"  "Well, yes, it's a bit pricey."

Picking my jaw up off the floor, I said "ok, I'll have just one dish," lucky for me, because the 48€ sweetbreads with girolles was enough for three, while his wagyu beef at 42€ with a ton of veggies, was just right for him.

Our bill, with 1 bottled and one tap water and 46 cl of a Rhone and two coffees, was 134.50 €.

Go back?  No, while the beef may have been top of the line, the sweetbreads were a bit too much.

L'Ami Georges in the 2nd: Like Bogart's Rick, "I was misled."

4.5 L'Ami Georges, 5, rue du Quatre Septembre in the 2nd, (Metro: 4 Septembre), 01.42.97.48.80, open 7/7, was a place I wrote myself a note about having something new - decor, owner, chef, awning, menu, who knows? Boy I sure couldn't find it. Once seated at a comfy banquette, I looked over the menu, double chalkboard of specials, promo for St Vaast oysters (where my friend is running a marathon relay this week) and asked if the calves liver was thick or thin, "neither," hummm.  

Anyway he started off with shredded carrots and I, 2 oeufs  mayo, both of which must have been good enough to be polished off before I could get a shot.

Then he had mussels and frites that he ate every bit of; I had the calves liver ordered blue which was  really sinewy and rice mashies which there was no way I could finish.

For dessert he had what looked like a clafoutis.

With a bottle of fuzzy water, for him in training, and carafe of Bordeaux for me, getting ready to take my new stationery bike for a spin, and two coffees, our bill was 77€.  DB's = 81.1.

Go back?  Nope, it was just average (5.0) minus .5 for the hot house tomato and lettuce in full season.