John Talbott's Paris

Review of reviews: The week of January 22, 2018

Monday-Tuesday, in A Nous Paris, Alexis Chenu talked about a number of ski chalet themed places open this winter.

Tuesday in Le Fooding, they revisited a Venice (California) type salad and sandwich place called Echo in the 2nd.

Wednesday the 10th, in the Figaroscope, Emmanuel Rubin reviewed 5 new restaurants giving 3 hearts to the Japanese chef’d restaurant, Automne, 11, rue Richard-Lenoir in the 11th, 01.40.09.03.70, closed for lunch weekends and Monday all day, where lunch formulas are 21 and 26 (dinner a la carte 60-70 E for items such as mussel soup, rouget and poached pears.  His other 4 places were all non-French, 2 hearts to the Italian Epoca in the 7th and 1 heart each to the Japanese Omusubi Gonbei in the 1st, dim sum at Yun in the 10th and bao bun oriented Ducky’s in the 6th.

Hugo de Saint Phalle interviewed Gregory Marchand of the rue de Nil.

Also on Wednesday, Heidi Ellison in her Paris Update liked the previously mentioned Bouillon Pigalle in the 18th.

Thursday in L’Express Styles, Francois Regis Gaudry reviewed the well-known Pied de Cochon in the 1st open every day all day and Charles Patin O’Coohoon covered Chez Marius, 11, rue de Chabrol in the 10th, 01.45.80.46.27, open 7/7 which serves Italian food but in the French tradition; lunch menus are 16-19.50 and carte 30 E for items such as herring salad, endives and orange and al dente risotto with smoked eel.

Review of reviews: The week of January 15, 2018

Monday-Tuesday, in A Nous Paris, Jerome Berger reviewed and gave 3/5 dots to the previously mentioned Capitaine in the 4th and Philippe Toinard gave the same to daRock, 17, rue de Bagnolet in the 20th, 01.56.06.97.85, closed Sundays and Mondays, where one can dine on such items as pintade salad, duck breast and chocolate moelleux for 16 or 22 at lunch weekdays.

Tuesday in Le Fooding, they revisited Racines which has become more like a trattoria.

Wednesday the 10th, in the Figaroscope, Emmanuel Rubin reviewed 5 new restaurants giving 2 hearts to the refurbished Lebanese restaurant Maison Noura; and two each to Les Passerelles a l’Hotel Parister, 19, rue Saulnier in the 9th, 01.72.63.29.80, closed Sunday lunch, with lunch menus at 19 and 25, a la carte 40E and the Maison Brequet, 8, rue Brequet in the 11th, 01.55.28.32.90, open 7/7, where for 24 and 29 at lunch, 40-60E at dinner one dines on items such as pate, leg of lamb and pistachio mousse.  Getting one heart each were the crepes place Brutus in the 17th and the poke-bowl joint, Natives in the 10th.  His Hache Menu covered the soup-soup Mardin open from 5 AM to midnight.

Alice Bosio, Colette Monsat and Hugo de Saint Phalle used the Dossier to feature other soup places: Super, Pierre Geronimi, Kitchen (Ter)re, Neighbours, Dome, Petit Vendome, Bar A Soupes, Cinq Fois Plus.

Also on Wednesday, Heidi Ellison in her Paris Update liked the previously mentioned Mr T. albeit complaining about its portion sizes.

Thursday in L’Express Styles, Francois Regis Gaudry reviewed the British l’Entente in the 2nd and Les Halles in Nimes.

Review of reviews – the weeks of January 1 and 8, 2018

Wednesday the 10th, in the Figaroscope, Emmanuel Rubin reviewed 5 new restaurants giving 3 hearts to Monsieur, 7 rue de Berri in the 8th, 01.40.76.40.18, closed weekends, where for a 39 E lunch menu or 100-120 E a la carte one dines on items such as foie gras, roast sole and kouglof and 2 hearts to the previously mentioned Buffet in the 11th.  Garnering one heart each were Le Bourdonnec in Lafayette Gourmet, La Binouzein the 10th and the Thai Chang in the 1st.
 
In his Hache Menu he wrote up the Café Tortoni in the 3rd.

And Alice Bosio, Colette Monsat and Hugo de Saint Phalle rated the best couscous in town, deeming Le Tagine in the 11th the best.

Also Wednesday, Heidi Ellison in Paris Update reviewed the previously mentioned Radioeat in the 16th.

Thursday in L’Express Styles, Francois Regis Gaudry reviewed the previously mentioned Table of Bruno Verjus in the 12th and Arnaud Nicolas in the 7th ; and Delphine Le Feuvre reviewed La Traversee, 2, rue Ramey in the 18th, 09.54.86.79.95, closed Saturday lunch and Sundays, where on 17-20 E formulas at lunch and 5-30 E a la carte, they serve items such as cod, and a ganache of chocolate.

Circonstances in the 2nd: I’d forgotten how I’d learned about it.

Circonstances, 174, rue Montmartre in the 2nd, 01.42.36.17.05, closed Monday and Tuesday dinner as well as weekends (Metro: Grands Boulevards/rue Montmartre) is another place I’d eaten at without Colette, which she wanted to go to.  We entered and found another great friend from the Bay Area already installed.  I’d completely forgotten it was he who “found” it and recommended it to me last year.  Yikes!  (The team that runs it previously were at Hier & Aujourd'hui which was also one of our favorites).

We were unanimous is heading first for the foie gras de canard with crushed peas that was spectacular.

Then he had the huge portion of brandade that had chunks of cod rather than the usual blender presentation; Colette had the chicken with parsley sauce and big beans that she was not wild about; but I was wild about my pork cheeks in red wine that was as great as any beef cheeks prepared similarly.

To finish up, we had the lemon, pear and chocolate desserts, all top of the line.

With a bottle of Bordeaux and three glasses more that came with the plats, no bottled water but 2 coffees, our bill was 143€ or 95.32€ a couple.

Pertinence in the 7th: Japanese chefs, Ryunosuke Naito et Kwen Liew, showing their stuff.

Pertinence, 29, rue de l’Exposition in the 7th, 01.45.55.20.96, closed Sundays and Mondays, was one of those places I ate at this Spring and loved but never got around to revisiting with Colette until the wine maven I’d gone with then, reminded me that has become one of his and his wife’s favorite dining spots.

All four of us chose to go with the 3 course 38€ lunch which was splendid.  The chefs started us off with an amuse bouche soup of warm vichyssoise followed by a perfect egg, mushrooms and quinoa.  Rolls and butter were first rate.  Our main courses were beef cheeks with red wine and beet sauce (and raspberries) and dessert was caramel iced banana.

With a bottle of Morgon, no bottled water but 3coffees our bill was 199€ for 4 or 99.50€ a couple.

L’Arcane in the 18th: The first Michelin star of 2018?

L’Arcane, 39, rue Lamarck in the 18th, 01.46.06.86.00, closed weekends (Metro: Lamarck/Caulincourt or the Electric Montmartre bus), has only been open a year and already deserves a Michelin Star, in my opinion.  It’s the brightest star, pun intended, in the quarter, run by folks from Fredy Giradet’s Best Restaurant in the world, near Lausanne.

We went again with two of our most trusted/precious friends and had another stunning meal.  After specifying that one of us hated oysters and I disliked truffles, they started us off with an amuse soup of lobster and raviolis.  Ohhhh, my.

Then we had one of my favorite fish, lotte (monkfish), wound in two small rounds, with a sweet garlic sauce.  We were asked how we liked our pigeon, and our answers went from red to raw (stand up straight there, Mr/(Dr). Talbott) and it came as ordered with a nut tartare and a pasta with cheesy, chestnut sauce that was quite exceptional, albeit not pictured.

Dessert consisted of a mousse of clementines, pistachios and financier.

With terrific bread, mignardises, 2 bottles of wine (one glass of white offered), one house sparkling water and 4 coffees, our bill for four was 254€ or 127.25€ a couple.  For a one star meal, if Michelin ever wakes up from its long slumber.

The Cafe du Coin in the 11th: inventive, innovative, inaccessible.

The Cafe du Coin, 9, rue Camille Desmoulins in the 11th, 01.48.04.82.46, closed almost never, (Metro: Voltaire (Leon Blum)) is one of those/these neighborhood finds, that are so far away for us, in the 18th, that we wouldn’t frequent were it not so great.  We went again today, its 40th day the menu said, and they were warm, welcoming and wonderful.

Our great French friend who, as we sat talking. recalled the days of 1968, as do we, came down from the 20th and we settled in for some serious dining.  There were three firsts and we each preferred one, our friend, the veloute of a Jerusalem artichoke type thing with fish eggs, Colette the multi-colored carrots, and I the pizzeria with raclette and spicy greens.

Then with only two choices of mains, Colette took the “ minestrone” of shellfish and mini-bits of butternut squash and our pal and I, of all things, fried chicken with salad, half of which will serve as dinner tonight.

For desserts we shared 2 portions of Ok panacotta and one spectacular Financier.

Our bill, with two bottles of two sheep wines, from the Gard, no bottled water but 3 coffees, was 110.90€ or 73.93 € a couple.

Radioeat in Radio France in the 16th: if you’re going to a concert in their glorious auditorium, go!

Radioeat, in Radio France, 116, ave President Kennedy in the 16th, 01.47.20.00.29, almost never closed (RER: Radio France), is sited in a spectacular setting overlooking the overflowing Seine and has rather decent food, especially way out here if before or after a concert in their auditorium which has the best acoustics in my opinion in the area.  Plus the wait-guys have this cool "F" rainbow patch.

For starters our fellow blogger chose the entree du Jour, a celery soup and Colette and I went with the Gambas tempura with a “spicy sauce,.....absolutely fabulous” it said in English.  Well, it was neither spicy nor AbFab.  As they say in New Zealand “the people don’t like spices here.”  But it was quite good doused with salt and pepper, freshly ground.

Then our friend sticking to the “menu” had the paleron of beef, which she didn't finish, Oh oh, bad sign.  Colette had the cod which she did not rave about either.  Only I, stuck with the 35€ scallops, which I chose because they were out of squid a la plancha - good move!  The St Jacques were delicious with a brilliant morille sauce and so so black rice.

So onward to dessert where we had the worst galette of Kings of the year and a decent roasted pear.

Our bill with 2 bottles of Bordeaux, no bottled water but three coffees, was 177.50€ or 118.32€ a couple if I got the math right.

Le Bistrot du Maquis in the 18th: Montmartre’s undiscovered treasure, shushhhh!

Le Bistrot du Maquis, 69, rue Caulincourt in the 18th, 01.46.06.06.64, closed Tuesday and Wednesday noon, (Metro: Place de Clichy I guess) is one of those neighborhood treasures that we who live in the Fox News “no go zone,” consider “ours.”  So, our friends from “no pee” aka North Pigalle, were happy to schlep up where they used to live to revisit.  The menu carte on a Sunday lunch remains a terrific 36€ for three courses or 29€ for two with bottles of wine starting at 23€.  And the heaters were on.

To start, two of us had the parsnip soup with smoked halibut which was wonderful, and two others the somewhat crunchy crab salad, equally delicious.

Then the Language Dominatrix had lovely scallops, her mate the paleron of beef, Colette the rouget and me, my very first civet de biche of the Fall/Winter, how did I miss it so far?  Especially with the lard, baby onions and divine sauce.

For dessert, others indulged in the apple crumble and mango and white chocolate and I poached and finished off the wine.

With 3 coffees, 2 bottles of wine, one bottle of Chateldon and lots of great companionship, our bill was 211€ or 105.50€ a couple.

Mr. T. In the 3rd: Not bad, not bad at all, indeed very good (again).

Mr. T., 38 rue Saintonge in the 3rd, 01.42.71.15.34, closed Monday and Tuesday, (Metro: Filles du Calvaire) is a place I had a very nice lunch at a few weeks ago and wanted to sample more of today with Colette.  We went with two dear friends whom we’d met when they were on sabbatical 5 years ago here.

Three of us started with the ceviche of bass with a delightfully spicy dill dressing and one of us had the egg and button mushrooms - all were surprising.

Then two had the cod that Colette called “interesting and delicious,” one had the burned mackerel and I wanted to try a dish I didn’t dare have last month - two tacos with calamari and a great spicy sauce.

For desserts three of us had caramelized figs and Colette ventured to try the weird sounding  “clockwork orange” cheesecake.

Our bill, with two bottles and a glass of wine, one glass of bottled water and four coffees, was 226 € or 113€ a couple.