John Talbott's Paris

L'Arcane in the 18th: chef Magnin and Sophie Keller continue to astonish!

 

L'Arcane, 39 rue Lamarck on the Mont of Martre in the 18th has been open a year and we've gone every other month I figure and each time I'm surprised, pleased and walk out shaking my head at how he does such different stuff so well. Like Daniel Rose, I suspect he knows what he's served us each time and never repeats.  We went today with two very dear, old friends from Paris and Bucharest and we were blown away again.

 

Our starter, after their superb bread and equally impressive butter was a fried oyster with a crust that was incredible on the bed of "smoked" mashed potatoes; then a nicely cooked (for each of us differently) piece of salmon with marinated/pickled cucumber with an unbelievable Paloise sauce, like Bernaise sauce; followed by spectacular slices of beef (unpictured), lightly salted, with raw carrot miniballs, chanterelles, bits of artichoke with a bowl of risotto, Parmesan and Jerusalem artichoke; followed by a deconstructed Pavlova, i.e. figs and cream cheese sorbet and yellow prunes and ahhhhh meringue cigarettes; then 3 coffee accompaniments, one chocolate. a Madeleine and ahhhh.....

Our bill, with no bottled water but 3 bottles of wine and 3 coffees was, ah, I have no idea, since our friend picked it up while I was in the loo.

La Regalade in the 14th: you can't go home again.

3.0 La Regalade, 49, ave Jean-Moulin in the 14th, 01.45.45.68.58, closed weekends, (Tramway 3b: Jean-Moulin) was sold by Bruno Doucet this year to the former Fish La Boissonnerie chef Oliver (Ollie) Clarke.  This morning while confirming its address, I stumbled on Trip Advisor and stupid me, I read some reviews.  Two said it was the best bistro experience possible and two said it was horrid, one of whom, of Asian extraction, called the servers racist.  Silly me again, I should have listened to the negative reviews.

There are some traces of the Camdeborde/Doucet era in the colorful napery, rack of breads and huge terrines of pate and well as a clever street sign.  I had time to peruse the menu and about half a dozen specials and thought I'd just have one dish - the pigeon which with a 15€ supplement I could justify versus the 3-course "menus" for 37€.  But no, our senior male wait-guy said no, I had to have 3 things but I could have coffee instead of a dessert.  Btw, the lady wait-person was chipper and friendly but the guy doesn't seem to like his job and maybe should do something that doesn't involve customer service, like driving a SNCF train or working as a diener in an anatomy lab.

Anyway, forced to have a first, I, along with Colette, had the petoncles grilled, in their shells.  Colette needed lemon to make them flavorful.    our friend had a lobster risotto, she said the rice was soggy.

My pigeon was well prepared and as ordered, rose.  Colette's fish, St Pierre, was undercooked and was sent back and she added salt and lemon to improve the otherwise bland product.   Our friend's tuna was not flavorful.  The saving grace was a side-dish of well cooked white beans.

Colette had her usual rice pudding with caramel and our friend the warm Grand Marnier soufflé, both very good.

Our bill, with no bottled water, a bottle and two glasses of wine and two coffees, was181€ or 120.66€ a couple.

Go?  Well, I guess it was worth a try but Colette declared "never again!"

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Fulgurances under Sebastian Myers in the 11th; asked how it was, my friend shrugged and mouthed - "bof."

5.1 Fulgurances, 10 rue Alexandre Dumas in the 11th, 01.43.48.14.59, closed weekends, (Metro: Rue des Boulets) is the place that changes its chef every so often but tends to have innovative ones from around the globe who do interesting things.

I was held up by horrible traffic today and when I arrived the 3 others were patiently waiting and sipping some superb Jura Chardonnay.  We started off sharing marinated chinchard and terrines of chicken wings, the chicken being the far stronger dish of the two.

Then everyone else had the rather overcooked and bland lieu in need of more than just salt while I scored a bit better with my sliced hearts of lamb.

At this point we called it a day without having either cheese or figs.

With two bottles of superb wine, the second being a Rozeta, no bottled water, superb bread and 4 coffees, our bill was 178€ or 89€ a couple.

Go?  Maybe Myers needs to get the ship back up running smoothly or find different ingredients, but I cannot counsel you going now.

Circonstances in the 2nd: this place is a keeper, thanks R.!

Circonstances, 174 rue de Montmartre in the 2nd, 01.42.36.17.05, closed weekends and Monday and Tuesday nights, (Metro: Grands Boulevards,) is a place I ate at in 2013 and loved but never found time to return until one of my Bay Area pals said he'd had a superb meal there last week.  So, what did we have to lose?  We were eating with the woman in France who knows more about food, drink and tea than anyone except Buddha and even she was impressed, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

Once again, all three of us wrestled with what to have, our guest saying "it's between the tartare and pied de cochon, I'll decide when the wait-lady asks me."  Food brinksmanship!  Well, she went with the superb tartare with terrific bread, Colette had the superb mussels and cepes and I the superb pied de cochon.  Wow!

Then our guest had the confited paleron of veal, Colette the wild shrimp, and I the first wild duck (Colvert), of the fall, I've seen and it was truly game because our friend almost lost a crown biting on the buckshot.  All were great, although we thought the mashies could have used a tad more butter and Colette thought her shrimp needed more salt.

For dessert, Colette had a lemon "like a tart but in a glass" and our friend a raspberry cheesecake on top of crumble crumbles.

Our bill, with a 12€ supplement for the duck (well worth it), a small bottled bottle of fizzy, one bottle and 25 ml of Bordeaux and two coffees, was 153€ for three or 102€ a couple.

Kitchen Ter(re) in the 5th: Some say it's the best resto of the rentree; no dispute.

Kitchen Ter(re), 26, blvd St-Germaine, 01.42.39.47.48, closed Sundays and Mondays, (Metro: Cardinal Lemoine) has been fingered as the best restaurant of the rentree, one can quibble but it's certainly up there.  Today, we returned with an expert chef and her friend and our greeting equaled that given to the Pope, were he in town.  The champagne and hugs were nice but to hire the Garde Republicain to come by was a bit much. For the first time this week, my wife said "I don't know what to order."  My wife of 56 years, I was stunned.  But she got it together and we progressed.

Firsts were marinated raw fish, caviar of lime and ginger, Paimpol beans with green curry, tomato and galanga and Thai bouillon with tiny pieces of eel perched on top of tiny rounds of potato.  Superb and so Ledeuil.

Then 3 different pastas (shown to us before, above) with mushrooms, red curry and soubressade; mussels, cuttlefish and parsley; and lacquered quail, kimchi and tamarin.

For dessert we shared two portions of gianduja chocolate, coffee and miso among us.

Our bill with no bottled water save their filtered ones, 2 bottles of a fine Rhone and 4 coffees was 192€ or 96€ a couple.  The champagne and Garde Republicain were comp'd.

Aside from the incredible welcome, hugs and attentive service (night and day from yesterday, yes I mean you Millesimes 62), Himself came over and excused himself to eat with his bread and pasta suppliers, hey, be our guests, I give you some pix of the art, so very different from Ze and the pastel colored fan.

 

Millesimes 62 in the 14th; "No, it's not possible [to wrap it up]" and other service faux-pas despite one-star food.

Millesimes 62, 13, place de Catalogne in the 14th, 01.43.35.34.35, closed Saturday lunch and Sundays, (Metro: Gaite) is a place I fell in love with last month for its warm welcome, prompt service, great food and nice send-off.  Boy, was today's experience the opposite, except for the food.

We entered and were greeted but hardly recognized, despite my having reserved on La Fourchette.  Seated and given cartes with no wine list, which we had to ask for.  After a long wait, our orders were taken and water delivered but without glasses in which to pour it.  Long wait to get superb first course, given to me, with no plate or utensils for Colette, sautéed cepes with outstanding bread.

 

Long wait for our mains, same for everyone around us.  Finally Colette got her bar with carrot purée with cumin and I, my leg of lamb, cooked perfectly, but with a non-sharp knife and a salad/desert fork. (I had asked for the rarest slices (I'm familiar with legs of lamb) and the waitguy snapped and said I'd take it the way it was cooked, "thank you."  Not nice.). The beans with a touch of garlic, were also superb, but there was too much of both so I asked to have them wrapped to take home for dinner.  "It's not  possible," huh, no aluminum foil in a fancy kitchen like this?  And the media are raging on about "gaspillage."  

For dessert Colette had a fondant of chocolate with a caramel interior - again superb food.  

Our original bill was 117.60€ for this superb food, along with no bottled water but a bottle and glass of wine and 2 Illy coffees.  "Wait," I said, La, Fourchette said there was 30% off the carte."  "Oh."  Now it became 93.45€.

Les Fables de la Fontaine in the 7th: Charming chow; slow service*.

Les Fables de la Fontaine, 131, rue St-Dominique in the 7th, 01.44.18.37.55, open 7/7 (Metro: Pont d'Alma) is a fish-oriented place, not that they don't have duck and beef as well, but our dining partners wanted seafood before a big dinner ahead.  So this looked like a good option to us.

They started us off with two great types of bread: focaccia with drizzled EVOO and pepper and crusty dark bread.  Then we 4 shared the entrée du jour of sautéed cepes and salad.

Then we went our ways: with Colette having maigre with molded mélange of vegetables, J had the aioli of lieu with a lot of vegetables and M and I had raie a la grenobloise and croutons with spinach.  All were quite fine.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our bill, with the equivalent of two bottles of wine, their filtered water and 3 coffees, was 261 E or 130.50 E a couple.

*The service, that is the delivery of dishes and clearing of "dirty ones" as well as resupplying of glasses of wine was glacially slow.  The wait-folks were bilingual and very nice, but the kitchen seemed over-burdened although the place was hardly full.

 

Review of reviews – the week of September 18th 2017

Monday, in A Nous Paris, Philippe Toinard gave 3/5 to the fishy L’Epuisette, 73, rue de Rochechouart in the 9th, closed Sundays and Mondays, where for 16 or 19 E at lunch one dines on items such as rillettes of mackerel, dorade and bio wines; the other place they reviewed was the Po-Boy Café called Two Stories in the 10th.

Tuesday, Le Fooding, reviewed the Chinese Son of the Beast, downstairs from the BBQ place the Beast in the 20th.

Wednesday, Emmanuel Rubin in Figaroscope reviewed his usual 5 restaurants: giving 3 hearts to the Latin American/world food Condesa in the 9th; and 2 hearts to L’Aligot, 73, avenue Niel in the 17th, 01.44.40.28.15, closed Sundays, with a 27 E lunch formula and 45 E a la carte menu serving items such as rillettes of trout, charcuterie and Aubrac meat with aligot and the Chinese Mr Zhao in the 2nd; 1 to the pokebowl Pokawa in the 3rd; and to Jah Jah, the gluten-free, salad and hot dog place in the 10th.  In his Hache Menu he wrote up Komatsubaki in the 8th serving sushi and kaiseki essentially saying one should go.

The Dossier by the rest of the gang was about "made in Paris" products. IMHO it was a slow food news week.

Heidi Elison, in Paris Update, reviewed two lamb-centered places already mentioned: the Butchers of Paname and the Rotisserie d’Argent.

Thursday, in l’Express Styles, Francois Regis Gaudry also reviewed Two Stories in the 10th.

Sunday, in the jdd version femina, they reviewed the previously mentioned Drugstore in the 8th and the Greek yaya in Saint-Ouen.  And Aurelie Chaigneau in the jdd reviewed the previously mentioned Detour in the 9th (7.5/10); Kitchen Ter(re) in the 5th (8.5); and the Israeli Salatim in the 2nd (6).

 

Review of reviews – the week of September 11th 2017

Monday, in A Nous Paris, Philippe Toinard gave 3/5 to the already mentioned eels in the 10th and Jerome Berger gave the same to the Italian Ristorante National in the 3rd.

Tuesday, Goulven Le Polles, in Le Fooding, reviewed the meat/BBQ Carbon, 14, rue Charlot in the 3rd, 01.42.72.49.12, closed Sundays and Mondays, where for 36-50 E one dines on items such as grilled mackerel, lamb shoulder and chocolate dessert.

Wednesday, Emmanuel Rubin in Figaroscope reviewed his usual 5 restaurants: he gave 3 hearts over 5 to the previously mentioned Kitchen Ter(re) in the 5th; and 2 hearts to the Indian Diwali in Rueil-Malmaison; and one heart each to Homard & Chips, 165, blvd Montparnasse in the 6th, 01.42.39.08.28, closed Saturday at dinner, with a 20 E formula or 20-40 E a la carte for acras of lobster, roasted lobster and a soufflé of iced caramel beurre sale; Baltard au Louvre, 9, rue Coquilliere in the 1st, 09.83.32.01.29, closed Sunday nights where for 25 and 30 at lunch or 50 E at dinner one has items such as smoked tuna, duck and confited grapefruit; and Louis Caisse, 38, rue des Petits-Hotels in the 10th, 01.48.24.58.46, closed Sundays, for 20-35E for items such as oeufs mayo, steak tartare and ham coquillettes.  In his Hache Menu, he also reviewed Au Petit Tonneau in the 7th, Eric Frechon's place to go with pals in the 7th.  And the puff article also dwelt on Frechon, listing his 6 places, and his restaurants from age 17 to the present.

Heidi Elison, in Paris Update, reviewed the well-known Dauphin in the 11th.

Thursday, in l’Express Styles, Charles Patin O’Coohoon reviewed the previously mentioned Grand Bain in the 20th.

Review of reviews – the week of September 3rd 2017

Sunday, Aurelie Chaigneau in the jdd reviewed three non-French places already mentioned here: the Israeli Balagan in the First, the Italian Ristorante National in the 3^rd and the Italian Pink Mamma in the 9^th.

Monday, in A Nous Paris, Philippe Toinard gave 4/5 dots to Brute, 36, rue de Berri in the 8th, closed weekends, where from 29 (lunch formula) to 65 (dinner) E one has 2-2-2 choices, with such items such as vegetables, duck and chocolate with figs; and Jerome Berger gave 3/5 to the previously mentioned Kitchen Ter(re) in the 5th.

Wednesday, Emmanuel Rubin reviewed his usual 5 places: giving 3 hearts to the previously mentioned Montee in the 14th; and 2 each to the previously mentioned eels, The Butchers of Paname, Craie and the Italian Pink Mamma.  In his Hache Menu he reviewed the previously mentioned Grands Verres.

His colleagues Alice Bosio and Colette Monsat judged La Patisserie des Reves as having the best Brioches Feuilletees in town.