John Talbott's Paris

Le Bistrot Du Maquis in the 18th: still an undiscovered gem in Montmartre.

Le Bistrot du Maquis in the 18th remains one of the great culinary mysteries of Paris: how can a place so good, in such a popular location, not have been “discovered” by any but our neighbors?  Well, frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn. It's full, it's friendly and it's doing just fine. Colette and I went back today with one of our dearest friends who schlepped in from the burbs to help us eat up a storm on a stormy awful day and it held up its reputation as one of the undiscovered treasures of the hill.

I took one look at the carte and ardoise which one can pick and choose from and quickly decided this was to be my abat day, so started off with some veal tongue which was not cold but warm and sausage like.  The ladies, however, delayed, and then had healthy portions of scallops with a purée while I kept to the line with a very generous portion of kidneys which were beautifully sourced and cooked.  For dessert, I held off and instead poached on their apple tart with ice cream and creme brûlée, which were mighty fine, indeed.

Our bill, with wine and coffee, was 153€ for 3 or 102€ a couple.

Vava in the 18th: Manif? Teargas? Burning cars? Who knew? I had the best, smoothest, silkiest chocolate mousse ever.

Dis-something: I don't want to be Marie Antoinette-ish, just because I live in the unfashionable 18th where no one would think of demonstrating, but despite the genuine grievances of the French lower-middle class, we live in a bit of a bubble in the working part of Montmartre, where life goes on despite our tone-deaf Presidents.  So we went out to lunch.

 

Vava in the 18th is in a strange place - on the one hand it's in the Tourist Center of Montmartre and on the other hand it's on a residential street and all Vava's customers are local folk - the visitors come by, look at the carte and pass on to the Italian takeout or Thai place.  Silly people, but then, they're looking for something other than we were.

All three of us decided to go straight to main courses and skip the entrees, thus we had: beef with some smoked broccoli puree, chicken with girolles and sweetbreads  with a terrifically spicy chorizo sauce and a puree.  The pureed potato, ordered by our friend and served to me along with the sweetbreads,  was (according to Colette) exceptional.

For dessert, our friend from down towards the trouble had a salad of fruit, Colette had a tarte tatin and I had the winner of all winners, a silky smooth chocolate mousse, one of the best I've ever had, and I eat a lot of chocolate mousse.

Our bill, with a bottle and glass of Marius with the etiquette of the week, a bottle of gassy water and two coffees, was 167.50 E or 111.66 E a couple.

 

La Condesa in the 9th: Another impressive array of inventive cuisine.

La Condesa in the 9th has long gone from just a favorite of ours to the "don't miss" category.  Just when you think Indra Carrillo has performed every trick in the culinary book, he surprises you yet again.  The scope and spread of his talent is beyond easy description, so once again I'll do my best with some photos and descriptors:

 

• a corn "tortilla" with goat cheese
• mushroom tempuras with sorrel sauce
• a sorbet of green apples with a mousse of celery, horseraddish and a crumble of oats
• scallops with a puree of comice pear, roasted and pureed trumpet mushrooms with some hot pepper, a mousse of Meyer lemons
• an open ravioli with cepes and pureed shrimp and a small portion of consume
• poularde with kale, barley and Brussels sprouts
• persimmons with passion fruit
• round shaped madeleines
• chocolate ganache with sesame ice cream

Our bill, with their filtered water, a bottle and glass of wine and two coffees was 122 E.

Variations in the 11th: Well, the vegetables were great.

5.0 Variations, 15, rue Trousseau in the 11th, 01.70.69.25.41, closed Sundays and Mondays (Metro: Ledru-Rollin) is a brand new place 3 of us walked by a few weeks ago, looked at the carte and all agreed "we gotta come here."  So thinking we'd be the first to discover this place, we went with great anticipation.  It's stylish, has beautiful wall paintings, very comfortable chairs and banquettes and well-priced courses.

Well.....

For firsts, Colette had what was called gravlax, but was simply pieces of salmon that she deemed "boring," and my fellow blogger and I had the cromesquis of beef that were frankly quite dry instead of bursting in one's mouth with hot flavor as I expect and told her to expect.

Then our friend had a very thin slice of faux filet marinated in the Japanese style, (whatever that means, not soy, for sure) with very nice vegetables; Colette had the "poisson de nos marayeurs" perhaps they meant mareyeurs = fish sellers, in any case, cod with terrific artichoke pieces; and I had another starter, the poitrine snackee with a terrific root vegetable rectangle.

The desserts, made by pâtissier Carl Marletti were outstanding and presented on beautiful plates - a floating island, chocolate with chocolate and iced mignardises.

Our bill with two bottles of excellent Cotes Catalanes and three coffees, was 111 E or 74 E a couple.

Go?  My sainted Mother had several expressions she constantly repeated: "That girl comes from a very nice family and has a nice face" (when she was overweight); "Don't speak ill of the dead" (which is applicable to George Bush the Senior today); and "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all" (which applies to today's meal).

Goguette in the 11th: A wine bar not a singing society or film.

Goguette in the 11th is a place I took Colette and our actress friend to today and clear forgot that there was a cool bead curtain of Frida Khalo leading to the plate deposit and wine depot.

Once we straightened out the mixup between our waiting in the 2nd room our friend waiting in the front room we got to work, that is eating.  Colette had a lovely portion of chinchard (translated in my A-Z as saurel, huh?) and our friend and I had the huge pork chop.  To finish we all had the so-called biscuit with tonka Chantilly which was ab-fab.

It's a wine place, right? so we let our hosts convince us to have a bottle and a half of a wine called Nada.  Nada = Nothing, right?  No way, it was terrific.  With that plus coffee, our bill as 118 E or 78 E a couple.

Le Vent d’Armor in the 5th: Fine fish by the Seine

Le Vent d’Armor in the 5th is a place that for some reason opened without the ballyhoo and buzz that usually accompanies two experienced people moving from Divellec to this superb place on the Seine.

We both decided to have the 36€ 3 course “menu” which costs as much as many single dishes.  They started us off with a carrot soup amuse with a mousse in which the essence of carrot came zinging through.  Then we had a most generous filet of rouget and salicorns with a lemon butter sauce and greens.  The main course was a perfectly cooked piece of cod with vegetables topped with a baby Brussel sprout.  For dessert Colette chose the gratin of fruits and berries and I had a superb chocolate mousse with nuts and Grenadined grapefruit.

Our bill, with a bottle of Sancerre, one of Thonon and great bread and butter, was 129€.

Le Train Bleu in the 12th: Yet again?

Le Train Bleu in the 12th is getting used to me and us; this is my third visit in just a few weeks, this time prompted by a friend’s arrival on the TGV from Provence at 12:40, so lunch elsewhere would have been difficult.

In any case, I’m in love with their leg of lamb, so even though Colette preferred the rougets, my friend and I were very satisfied to have the gigot and potatoes.  For dessert we diverged, she going with what they called profiterolles with the sauce a part and me with the chocolate pastry of the day.

Our bill with a bottle of Chateldon and one of Bordeaux, plus three coffees, was 218€ or 145.32€ a couple.

Reviews of reviews: The week of November 26th, 2018

Monday-Tuesday, in A Nous Paris, Jerome Berger reviewed Colette & Tire-bouchon, 184, rue Lamarck in the 18th, open in the evening only, 09.53.35.42.83, costing 29 for the formula and 35€ a la carte for items such as grilled leeks, marinated tuna and apple tart.

Tuesday, in Le Fooding, they reviewed the previously mentioned Bilili.

Wednesday, in Figaroscope, Emmanuel Rubin gave 4 places two hearts: Le Petit Boutary, 16, rue Jacquemont. In the 17th, 01.46.27.76.23, closed Sundays and Mondays, with lunch menus at 23 and 29, dinner 49 and 59€ for items such as lentils, quasi de veau and chocolate crumble; the previously mentioned Goguette in the 11th; la Strasbourgeoise, 5 place du 8 Mai 1945, 01.42.05.20.02, open 7/7, where for 40-50€ one dines on items such as choucroute and the house tart; and the pizzeria Marzo Rive Droite in the 16th. Garnering one heart was a trattoria Gusto Fresco in the 1st. Rubin’s Hache Menu dealt with the opening of l’Orangerie in the Four Seasons-George V, open 7/7 running one 150€ (menus at 95 and 125€) for items such as langoustines, rouget and raisin ice cream.

Also Wednesday Heidi Ellison in Paris Update reviewed the previously mentioned Traversee in the 18th.

Thursday, Francois-Regis Gaudry in L’Express Styles and team reviewed the already mentioned Gare au Gorille, Trois B (aka BBB) and Goguette as well as the Berlin/German Gemuse.

Sunday in the jdd, Aurelie Chaigneau reviewed 3 places, awarding 8.5 to the previously mentioned Bar des Pres, 7.5 to the well known l’Entredgeu in the 17th and 7.5 to l’Arbre Jaune, 96, rue Jean Pierre Timbaud in the 11th, closed Sunday nights and Mondays 01.85.15.25.82 with lunch menus at 15 and 17, a la carte 30-40€ for items such as stuffed calamari lamb parmentier and salmon tataki.

The Brasserie Lorraine in the 8th: spicy rock fish soup like they used to serve; the rest just “OK.”

The Brasserie Lorraine aka la Lorraine, 2 pl des Ternes, In the 8th, (Metro: Ternes) 01.56.21.22.03, open 7/7, was one of the last “independent” brasseries until it was acquired by the Freres Blanc (I remember it well because they stopped serving the fish soup a volonté and then had a Mckinsey-type ask me to fill out a survey; I told her the place was ruined. Subsequently like the old New Yorker  cartoon the little brasserie fish got eaten by bigger fish, etc., until there is is one whale-sized Flo-Blanc-Bertrand.) Q. So why was I here? A. Because acquirer of useless information that I am, I heard (from Elle and Air France Madame, really?) the place had been redesigned by one Laura Gonzalez and I decided it was time for a revisit. We entered and rather liked the renovation, especially the vases in back of the banquette.

All three of us ordered the rock fish soup, which while no longer endless, at least came with a large pitcher of extra soup not just a measly portion.  Then while Colette had the daurade on rice our friend recovering from pneumonia and I had quite nice fish and tartar sauce with quite nasty soggy undercooked or singly-cooked chips.

For desserts Colette had the Grand Marnier soufflé and we had the baba au rhum, OK but no more.

Our bill, with a bottle and glass of wine and three coffees, and very good bread, was 191€ or 127.32€ a couple.

We had to ask two times for the loud music to be turned down; we had to ask several times for the bill and our request for a 2nd bottle of wine took so long we chose not to accept it when it finally arrived.  Clearly the staff (all of whom were most pleasant) was stretched, maybe because of the 'unrest' on Saturday?  

Le Bistrot de Madeleine in the 9th: "Really really good: Good, really good."

7.3 Le Bistrot de Madeleine, Cuisson a la  braise, 4, ave Trudaine in the 9th, 01.42.85.19.35, closed Sundays and Mondays (Metro: Anvers) was a place that called out to be explored: between our flat and that of a friend, open Saturday with regular food not brunch and with a appealing, sanely priced carte.

Dishes here are deceptive, in that they sound like those in a thousand other places, but the care and preparations are anything but ordinary.  Our friend started with the raviolis in a thick creamy sauce, very good.  Then we all three had the quail with pears and maybe turnips or parsnips or both and onions, in a honey sauce that tossed the dish into the stratosphere - different, clever and quite quite good.  For dessert, the other side of the table chose the clementine concoction on a sable with clementine colored sheets of meringue and I had chocolate mousse which was different in that it had terrific toasted nuts and herbs surrounded by a thin not thick Chantilly sauce.

Our bill, with a bottle of well-described wine and a small bottled water plus two coffees was 139 E or 92.66 E a couple.

Go?  Without hesitation; once the music is turned down, it's positively blissful.