John Talbott's Paris

Mumi in the 1st: Very very good foodwise and servicewise, except.....

Mumi is still my #1 restaurant for 2018 in the city proper (L'Ours in Vincennes beat it out by a whisker in the 'virons) and four of us had a terrific meal again today.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The chef started us off with a lovely but pungent mushroom soup in handmade mushroom bowls followed closely by parmesan biscuits with red pepper blobs and a warning from the bilingual staff not to eat the coffee beans they were on.

Then we went on to split the mackerel with mussels and courgettes several ways including a zucchini blossom.  At this point our dining partners eyes lit up and their tongues loosened; a good sign.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For mains again we split up the maigre (fish) with grape leaf rolls and a slab of pigs belly that I thought was perfectly crisped on the skin and moist on the inside which the male member of the local couple thought was underdone (not me.)  At some point the chef came purposefully over and recognized me (even though the reservation was in our friend's name); which I thought was a nice touch.

For dessert, again we split the choices which were essentially ices with in one case apricot and the other - mango.  The mignardises were divine raspberry rounds.

Our bill was 193E (that's 96.50E a couple) with a bottle of wine, 3 coffees, 2 bottles of their own sparking water (9E) and here's what got my male friend concerned, 4E for the flat water that Colette confirmed was "eau de Paris" (I think she should have said "Chateau Hidalgo," but then...).

 

 

L’Arcane in the 18th: the difference is literally night and day.

L’Arcane in the 18th has become not only a neighborhood favorite but our favorite anywhere in town.  Recently, it seems to be on everyone’s list when visiting, but posts about its prices and sold-out-ness led me to ask our intended dining partners today to call and ensure that we would get a table.  They did and we had another spectacular meal at what I consider very reasonable prices.

As usual, I will present the panoply of dishes as they came with brief descriptions at the end.

• a strip of neither thin nor thick salmon withnuts, wasabi, Viet Nan bay and citronelle sorbet (no photo)
• a generous piece of cod, beautifully cooked with wild fennel accompanied by tasty fregola
• an even more generous rondelle of veal with an aubergine purée and incredible fried chunks of potato
• an ice cream cone with rosemary ice, apricot jam and a chocolate bottom
• wild and not strawberries with cream
• mignardises

Our bill, with two bottles of wine, their bottled bubbly water, 3 coffees and a tea, was 234.50€ or 117.25€ a couple.  Decibels so low it wasn’t worth mentioning.

Go back? It doesn’t take Jumping Jack to say “in a flash.”

Re: My reference to “night and day.”  I think our experiences are so different in price and availability from the posters I read is because we eat at lunch.  It makes a hellova difference.

Reviews of reviews: The week of June 18th, 2018

Monday-Tuesday, in A Nous Paris, Alexis Chenu reviewed but did not rate all the new Brazilian places in Paris: Uma Nota, Bistro Paradis, Oka, Brutos, Botecou.

Tuesday in Le Fooding, they reviewed the Japanese Sanjo in the 1^st.

Wednesday in Figaroscope, Emmanuel Rubin listed the 20 best restaurants for summer eating in Paris.  They were (2nd choice): Baieta (Fables de la Fontaine), Apicius (L'Ours), Uncino (Racines), Hugo & Co (Terra), BOULOM (L'ile nouvelle generation), Sauvage (Clover Green), Les Enfants du Marche (Street Bangkok Roast & Beer), Aux Bons Crus (Le Paris-Paris), Ground Control (Cafe lai'Tcha), L'Abysse (Robuchon-Dassai), Pianovins (Petit Panisse), B.B. (patio du Sens), Petit Pres (Bal de la Marine), Zebra (l'Angelus), Perruche (Hasard Ludique, Felicita (Faggio Osteria), Anne (Le Collectioneur), Pan Soul (Grand Bleu), Petrossian (Pilgrim), Sellae (Neso).

Also Wednesday, Heidi Ellison in Paris Update liked the previously mentioned Vantre in the 11^th.

Thursday, in L’Express Styles, they reviewed the previously mentioned Israeli Blitz in the 11^th and Bon Sauvage.

Reviews of reviews: The week of June 11th, 2018

Monday-Tuesday, in A Nous Paris, Alexis Chenu reviewed but did not rate Ramen Bowl in the 8th and Jerome Berger gave 3/5 to the previously mentioned and reviewed Petit Panisse in the 11th.

Tuesday in Le Fooding, they reviewed a bagel/etc place in Arles called Simone and Paulette.

Wednesday in Figaroscope, Emmanuel Rubin reviewed and gave 2/5 hearts to 4 places: the Cafe Noisette, 74, rue Olivier-de-Serres in the 15th, 01.45.35.86.21, closed Saturday lunch and Sundays where for 30E at lunch one dines on items such as gravlax of beef, lamb navarin and fromage bkanc (dinner consists of tapas); the previously mentioned and reviewed Petit Panisse in the 11th; the Coates-run Etienne Marcel, 64, rue Tiquetonne in the 2nd, 01.45.08.01.03, open 7/7 where for 35-50E one has items such as artichoke vinaigrette, scallops Milanese and tarts; Le Flaneur, 50, Blvd du Temple in the 11th, 01.55.28.75.28, open 7/7, costing between 35-40E at nigh (less at lunch) for items such as asparagus, mackerel and red fruit.  Getting a broken heart was Mamie in the 2nd.  His Hache Menu covered the already reviewed Angelus in the 17th.

The Dossier this week by Alice Bosio, Colette Monsat and Hugo de Saint Phalle covered new restaurants around Montmartre: la Traversee, Le Caulincourt, Vava, Mokko, Le Grand 8, Chez Proust, Loca, Polissons.

Also Wednesday, Heidi Ellison in Paris Update liked the already reviewed Berty in the 13th. 

Thursday, in L’Express Styles, they reviewed the previously Le Flaneur and Grive in the 11th, Le Bon Sauvage in the 6th and Mon Loup in the 17th.

Le 6 Paul Bert in the 11th: Great desserts amidst noisy (gasp) French, jammed together.

5.9 Le 6 Paul Bert, 6 rue Paul Bert in the 11th, 01.43.79.14.32, closed Saturday lunch, Sunday and Monday, (Metro: Faidherbe-Chaligny) Is a place I’ve always liked and a friend who lives nearby alerted me that there was a new chef, so I thought I’d try it with another friend who used to live not far away.  The neighborhood seems very different than decades ago when the original Bistro Paul Bert and Temps au Temps opened, there must be 8 restos a stones throw away, ripped jeans and baskets are de rigeur and among the tongues I heard was a definite “nyet.”

I entered a bit before my friend and realized this was one of those places where the tables were so jammed together, you were almost eating in your neighbors' lap and hearing their every word.  But I had a glass of excellent white Loire and read my paper, where I learned absolutely nothing.  Once she arrived we both agreed to have the fried octopus (I thought they were rubbery on the inside, overcooked on the outside, but she said hers were perfect).  They came with a spicy sauce and lovely baby aubergines.

Then she had a nice piece of merlu and I had what I would call shredded, confited and wrapped round of lamb’s leg, which I know didn’t come from Metro, but could have.

Finally we ordered what sounded like classic American picnic desserts, a cheese cake and carrot cake. But they were neither Americanesque nor French but creations the Japanese chef, who came from the Costes Chez Julien, turned out, and they saved the meal for me.

A word about the service.  In the sense of the kitchen turning out the dishes in a timely manner, it was awful.  In the sense of friendliness, attention and helpfulness, they get full marks.

Our bill, with a bottle of wine, two coffees and two 22€ (your eyes aren’t failing you, 22€) 3-course “menu’s,” our bill was 85€.  Great bread but horrendous noise that broke my decibel-meter.

Go?  I’d certainly send my backpacking grandkids, for 22€?

Angelus in the 17th: The perfect antidote to yesterday’s elegant meal; gutsy food, great service, no froufrou.

So, after yesterday’s blowout elegant food at my best restaurant experience of 2018, I needed a respite.  My “date” today got a tour gig, his business after all, and I was left scratching my head where to go.  Then I read Emmanuel Rubin's Hache Menu about a new independant (meaning not Flo) brasserie not far from me.  Good for kids, on Sundays, honest stuff.  Allllllright!

6.5 Angelus (the bell on the awning gives it away), 4 Place de la Porte de Champerret in the 17th, (Metro: Porte de Champerret) 01.43.80.85.14, open 7/7, voiturier my Lord, looks like a thousand, million, places in France but you sense a difference.  One, they have track lighting as in a Broadway show.  Two, they treat you as a restaurant client not a brasserie bum.  And three, one day after Rubin’s review, there are food critics and someone holding his review who is either Russian with an American accent or an American with a Russian one.

Anyway, I entered, was asked by the mature manager, maybe owner, if I wanted something to drink and when I said a carafe d’eau, a younger waitguy, overhearing us, immediately appeared with the water.  Whoa. They are paying attention.

I then regarded the carte and really had a hard time deciding, alternating between wanting to test the kitchen and satisfying my lusts.  I ordered the oeufs mayo, a test of freshness, tradition and creativity, no?  Yup.  They were perfectly salted and seasoned, classic but new.  And the salad dressing on not tired lettuces was terrific.  Suddenly in my head I heard the Beatles “nothing to complain [get hung] about” from Strawberry Fields.

Next I had fried calamari with a perfectly spicy sauce a part, this could have been Metro food, but was not.

Finally, not sure of what dessert to have, I did the easy thing, and chose the very rewarding cafe gourmand, with one of the most chocolaty macarons ever.

My bill?  Ok.  They were out of their wine of the month, which seems to be a tradition now in Paris, so it was 6€ more a bottle but with a half of such, no bottled water, but a coffee, the count would come to 50€.

Go back?  Rubin was spot on, with a family, on a Sunday, if you live here, it’s a natural.

PS, they get extra credit for a well-trained staff as opposed to that at L’Ours, two mature manager types who clearly know their way around restaurants and a handicapped toilet on the ground floor.

Jacky Ribault takes l’Ours up a notch from Qui Plume La Lune, 7.5 to 8.0, to become my best meal of the year.

So let’s get to why you won’t go here out of the way straight off.   You think It’s too far from central Paris, you didn’t like Qui Plume, it’s too fancy, blah blah blah.  Reality: It’s 7 minutes from Auber on the RER then a brief walk, it’s less Japanesey than Qui Plume, it is more pretentious than fancy I’ll admit.  And the service after 10 weeks is still not polished.  But the food, oh la la!

8.0 L’Ours, 10, rue de l’Eglise in Vincennes, 01.46.81.50.34 (RER or Metro: Vincennes), closed Sundays and Mondays has been open 10 weeks and it shows: the very nice young girl at the front desk doesn’t know or hasn’t been trained to handle more than one thing or person at a time, she parked me in a side room which was fancy but whose chairs had no back support until my “date” showed up, they were out of the wine I ordered (but did substitute a better one at the same price), the more junior waitguy hadn’t memorized the no-choice menu offerings and the establishment left you waiting between courses longer than should occur in a star-seeking place.

But the food, from the often open kitchen, most of which I’ll omit the superlatives about:

Chinese tea (which I guess was supposed to calm us before the storm of dishes)

Two amuses - ginger and fish and a salsify something

Lieu noir with beet juice and a risotto made from some healthier grain than rice

Filets of beef, perfectly undercooked without instructions from us and parcooked mini-veggies

A lovely assortment of cheese (which my old friend got talked into taking, but since she was paying I went happily along for the ride)

Terrific bread and butter

Strawberries, incredible cherries, and a rhubarb sauce　

Chocolate nummies.

Coffee in wildly constructed cup holders.

Our bill, as I said, my friend of 50 years, paid, I dunno.  But the 3 course (which is 6 or 7 In reality) “menu” was 45€ and the wine 22€ (although a glass was 12€).  (Dinner is 75 or 105€).

Go?  You won’t but I will even for the chef holding court.  Or to see a neighborhood where they have cool leaf blowers and colored bicycle covers.  You'd think you were in Amsterdam.

Mon Loup in the 17th: A nice neighborhood bistro. But you cannot eat “nice.”

6.0 Mon Loup, 114, rue de la Condamine in the 17th, 09.51.55.24.29 (Metro, Villiers, Rome?), closed Wednesday at lunch, Sunday nights and Mondays (weird, eh?) is the new little sibling of Ma Biche in Montmartre which is a whole other story (for that see the handout photographed below with the wine list showing their Ma Biche and Mon Loup wines.)  I convinced two terrific eating friends to come/go here rather than the new/expanded/moved Sauvage because this place would be truly new not just a replica, hummmmm, guilt is beginning to creep in.

For starters, my friends had the perfect egg in pimentos with espilette, sort of piment doubled, and three nems filled with very cheesy feta (much too cheesy for me.)

Then Madame had a hamburger, saignant with cheese and Hollywoodian salad on top and waffled potatoes and the gents had overcooked sausages with a lukewarm towards cold pile of potatoes dauphinois.

Finally we split a portion of chocolate moulleux and rice pudding, the former of which saved the day.

The bill was generously picked up by my guests, mind you, whom I’d arm-twisted into coming here, so I really don’t know the figure.  But I do know they have a fantastic 20 minute lunch formula with coffee for 12.50€! and glasses of wine start at 3.50 and bottles at 29€ and the dishes ranged from 8-20€?  db's a gentle 66.6

Go?  If living nearby, sure but more than 10 minutes away, you’ve got better choices, as amusing as the handout is.

Oh, and the thrones in the toilettes were cool and I'll bet gays can get wedding cakes next door.

Seraphin in the 6th: “This is really excellent” said my food writer friend after I stumbled into this place.

Let me start by saying this is not where I had intended to eat with my great food-worthy friends.  I’d made a reservation by phone for a Monday lunch at Desnoyez's new place in the Marche St Germain.  But when I arrived It was closed.  It’s starting to rain heavily.  What’d’ya do?  You look over where Alan Geean’s place used to be - gone.  The Eastern European soup kitchen next door - I don't think do.  So you sit on a concrete post and Google, Mark Zuckerberg is suddenly your best friend.  Well, there’s Sathees, enter, it's soups and salads, go next door to Avant Comptoir du Marche, all stools and small plates and by now my back is killing me.  Let’s see - across the street where Letourbe used to be, I think.  Hummm...

6.3 Seraphin, 5, rue Mabillon in the 6th, open 7/7, 01.56.24.41.00 (Metro: Mabillon) is clearly a trap for tourists seeking refuge from the tempete outside.  But hark, some genuine French office workers with ties arrive, this could be real food.  Why have I never heard of it?  (Lets ignore the bagels and burger specials.)

My friends show up and the TV star orders a cocotte of cod with curry and very fresh vegetables, not Metro, which she thinks is great and the entrecôte and fries are deemed terrific by my co-professor.  Reluctantly I must agree.  Finding good beef is easy, finding good fries is highly unusual. We end up sharing an apple tart.

Our bill, with a bottle and glass of their “wine of the moment” (that shows how low my expectations of this place were) and two coffees, was 102€ or 68€ a couple, which they insisted they pick up (although it was my screw up with the reservation.) Most generous.  dB's 72.8

Go?  “You can’t have a bad meal in Paris,” “Drop by anywhere”, “I found the most interesting place that's not in the guidebooks or your blog.”  Bullshit, I’ve never believed any of these.  But whatever it was, reptilian memory, feng shui, sheer dumb luck - for stumbling/tumbling on a place, we did well.

Reviews of Reviews: The week of June 4, 2018

Monday-Tuesday, in A Nous Paris, Philippe Toinard reviewed and gave 3/5 to Les Elephants, 120 rue Legendre in the 17th, 09.80.62.17.36, open for dinner Tuesday to Saturday and lunch Sundays, costing 30 E for the menu and 39 E a la carte for items such as sardines, tele de veau and rhubard; and Jerome Berger awarded the same to the previously mentioned Les Residents in the 17th.

Tuesday in Le Fooding, they wrote of a new Argentinian meat place Loca in the 18th.

Wednesday in Le Figaroscope, Emmanuel Rubin reviewed his usual 5 places awarding 3/5 hearts to three places: Sens in the Hyatt Park Vendome in the 2nd, 5, rue de la Paix in the 2nd, 01.58.71.10.60, open every day only fir lunch costing between 80-120 or menus at 58 and 68€ for items such as chicken and foie gras, monkfish and a dessert chariot;  the previously mentioned and reviewed Pianovins and Adeline Grattard’s Asian-themed Cafe Laitcha near her other place.  He gave two hearts to the steakhouse Bleu Grill, 119, Blvd du Montparnasse in the 6th, 01.42.79.06.80, open 7/7, costing between 25 and 40€ serving only a frisée as a first, duck breast and strawberries and the Viet Namese Hanoi Corner in the 9th.  His Hache Menu returned to Petrossian in the 7th, open 7/7, which he notes has jacked its prices up to 100 without wine, menus at 130 and 170€ for caviar and caviar. The Dossier this week by Alice Bosio, Colette Monsat and Hugo de Saint Halle tested caramel ice cream and declared Hugo & Victor in the 7th the victor.

Also on Wednesday, Heidi Ellison in Paris Update reviewed the well known Bordeluche which had unfriendly service but good food.

On Thursday Francois Regis Gaudy in L’Express Styles reported on a new Japanese chef’s appearance at the well-known Le Dome and rated it 2/4; and Charles Paton O’Coohoon reviewed Mon Loup, 114, rue de la Condamine in the 17th, 09.51.55.24.29, (Metro: Rome), closed Sundays, Mondays and Wednesday lunch featuring bio products on the carte including a 20 minute formula with coffee for 12.50€ containing items such as a brandade of merlu, risotto and pork.

Sunday, in the jdd version femina, they featured offshoots of restaurants: BOULOM/A Noste, Deviant/Vivant,  Cafe lai’Tcha/yam'Tcha, Pilgrim/Neige d’Ete.  In the main jdd, Aurelie Chaigneau gave 7/10 to the Franco-American-Japanese Rigmarole in the 11th, 6 to the American Coffee Club in the 6th, and 6.5 to the Japanese Chez Guan in the 12th. 

In the weekend Figaro, to put things in perspective, Stephane Durand-Souffland wrote about Marc Veyrat's place in the mountains where apparently you pay for the view with 10€ water and 14€ coffee.