John Talbott's Paris

Affinité in the 5th: Elegant food as you would expect from the folks at Alliance.

6.7 Affinité, 52 boulevard St Germain in the 5th, 01.42.02.41.71, (Metro: Maubert-Mutualite) closed Sunday and Monday is in the very strangely configured space previously held by Aux Verres de Contact.  It's around the corner, sort of, from Alliance, a place we really like.  So we went with (perhaps) too high expectations.  They offer a 5 course tasting menu for 50E but we ordered off the carte.

Another friend from the Bay Area (there are a lot of them) started off with tasty and properly soft octopus covered with a jelly and I had the entree du jour - oysters and raw mushrooms with cream; good product but not really exciting.

Then we waited forever for our mains; now luckily, our friend and we, had lots to discuss so it was time well spent.....but something's wrong in the kitchen.  Now's the time they should have served us the amuse with divine bread.

Colette had the spring veal while our friend and I both had the saddle of lamb which was proper, although it needed salt, with chickpeas.

To finish up, we all had ethereal desserts; they the citronelle and I the rhubarb.  I say ethereal because they were small, light as feathers and almost weren't there.

Our bill, with a bottle and glass of wine and three coffees, was 187.50 or 125E a couple.  dB's were 78.2 and there was no music.

Go back?  Actually I much prefer Alliance.  This didn't blow me away like it did.

Marcore in the 2nd: "This is good"....About as good as it gets.

Pre: A week ago we ate at Bouillon Rocheuart 47 with good judges of food and they mentioned its former chef there and his wife (Marc Favier and Aurélie Alary) had moved on, never letting on that they knew where.  Sometime later they sent me a note saying in essence "Get over to Marcore, it's good."  Never one to turn down good advice, we went.

7.9 Marcore, 1, rue des Panoramas in the 2nd, 01.45.08.00.08 (Metro: Bourse) closed weekends is in the midst of unfolding 3 spaces: a restaurant, bar and traiteur; all spanking new and quite glorious as befits the area.

We were warmly greeted (both the chef and his wife having been warned by our friends that we'd show up) and treated to slices of their superb bread with a cream of ? anchovies and almost raw beef picana (sirloin cap).  Then Colette and our two around-the-world friends had the 36 E (for 3 courses, 28 E for 2) had a superdooper salad of mache on vinegared pureed beets and mackerel and I had a slice of extremely interesting and delicious terrine of foie gras with a tart jelly, not your usual slice at all.

Colette and JJ had a terrific chunk of merlu with carrots, pureed squash and lots of herbs with horseradish mustard; R. had the poitrine of veal with spring veggies; and I had divine morilles in a cream sauce with an egg (really, really, special).

For dessert, three of us shared in the fine floating island with a golden cookie.

Our bill with 2 bottles of wine, one while from the Rhone and one red from Paris - you read that right - a Turbigo, 3 coffees and an infusion, was 222 or 110E a couple.  dB's 64.5

Go back?  For sure.

Le Beslay in the 11th: Everything house-made; all good; just nothing dazzling.

6.5 Le Beslay, 67, avenue Parmentier in the 11th, 01.83.75.11.71 (Metro: Parmentier), open 7/7 although brunch is offered on Sundays, is a wonderful looking and is cheffed by an Italian, Antonella Finelli who came through Divellec, Lucas Carton, and La Grande Cascade. The lunch "menu" is 22E but even a la carte it is very reasonable.

 

We were eating with two old friends who are familiar with Paris, one from childhood.  They both ordered marinated salmon firsts, photos left and right, quite different, one with Greek yogurt, the other a mass of greens called "Omega"; while Colette had what in Italy would be called minestrone but in the 11th is veloute du chef.  My fine carpaccio of bar was right on for the moment.

Then my old friend from college had the chicken (which was much too much), his partner had a "vegan style" dish, and I had osso buco (Colette going with another portion of carpaccio of bar).

For dessert, one of us had the apple tart, another ordered the meringue with kiwi fruit and two of us had the cafe gourmand, of which the creme brulee was most notable.

Our bill, with a bottle of brilliant Haut Medoc, a small sparkling water and 2 more coffees, was 166 or 84E a couple.    dB's = 66.9

Go? If this were in my neighborhood, maybe, but with the schlep, I suspect not.

Reviews of Reviews: The week of April 1, 2019

Wednesday, in Figaroscope, Emmanuel Rubin rated three restaurants 2/5 hearts - the caviar-focusned Astara,  7, rue des Petits-Champs in the 1st, 09.74.19.76.70, open 7/7, where for about 40€ without liquids and where caviar is 1€ a gram, you dine on items such as a soft egg, cup of caviar and baba with vodka; the Mediterranean oriented Vida, 49, rue de l’Echiquier in the 10th, 01.48.00.08.28, closed Sundays and Mondays, where for about 40€ one has items such as vegetable soup, calamari and yogurt with fruit; and the Vietnamese Monsieur Printemps in the 2nd.  Meriting a broken heart were the Italian Le Boccador in the 8th and the couscous fast-good Graine in the 2nd.  His Hache Menu concerned Le Club Des Bateaux-Mouches in the 8th.

The Dossier this week by Alice Bosio and Hugo de St Phalle was on new seafood places that included: Ebisu, Calibre, Chardenoux, Presq’ile, Brasserie Lutecia and also Istr, Mersea Beaupassage, Restaurant Amelie, Seulement Sea, Fish & Chill and the Oyster Club.

Wednesday as well, Heidi Ellison in Paris Update reviewed Franqette, 8 rue des Dames in the 17th, 09.73.52.07.14, closed Sundays and Mondays open only at night.

Sunday, Aurelie Chaigneau in the jdd reviewed her three places: giving 7/10 to the Japanese Kodawari Ramen, 7 to the dinner and dance Badaboum in the 11th, and 5.5 to the Korean Hero.

Brasserie Lutetia by Gérald Passedat: "Didn't taste the garlic in aioli; didn't taste licorice in licorice souffle; didn't...

Me: Free for lunch?

She: The 7th?

Me: Brasserie Lutetia?

She: Why?

Me: Sunday and Gérald Passedat

She: OK.

Approach outside door, bilingual sign says: "Open for Breakfast at 8; enter main door on right" but door is open so enter.

Arranging table at a banquette as requested, management-type manages to tip over a flower vase full of water; however, impressive restoration and olive wood bread plates, etc. make one hopeful.

4.5 Brasserie Lutetia (ex-Abwehr Zentrum) by Gérald Passedat, 43 boulevard Raspail in the 6th, 0149.54.46.46, open 7/7 (Metro: Sevres-Babylone) has a stunningly expensive lunch "menu" at 85E but a la carte seems manageable.  

Waiter to Colette: "Would you like some focaccia?" "No." Disappears without asking me if I'd like some, which I would, only to reappear with sour dough but no focaccia.

Oysters appear and are of a proper temperature and texture.  Then aioli "des Familles." Our friend, the woman who knows more about food than God herself, said "Aioli is the most tasty dish in French cuisine;" however we found the fish to be tasteless and the vegetables overcooked and soggy; plus the aioli sauce "had no garlic."  Colette' ordered "Nantua de potimarron", their take on quenelles de brochet sauce Nantua which turned out to be 50% soup, 3 unexciting quenelles with two decorative tiny crabs.  And, the fritto misto's were really fish 'n' chips with a weird batter, soggy fish but the chips were crisp as were some green leaves.

 

For dessert, Colette had the licorice souffle which had absolutely no whiff of licorice and our friend had a chocolate dessert made  like two fish - bizarre!

Our bill, with a bottle of wine and 2 coffees, was 194 or 129.32E a couple.  dB's 66.2 once they muted the music.

Go back? Sleeping again instead of reading, eh?  When the highlight of the meal is a chocolate covered almond, there's a problem.

ERH (water, rice and man) in the 2nd: Another elegant Japanese-influenced place.

Pre: A terrific food spotter friend told me about three places he found this Spring while I was away and I was eager to try all; this was the first, which I had hesitated to go to when it opened because its subhead was La Maison de Sake.

8.1 ERH La Maison de Sake, 11 Rue Triquetonne in the 2nd, 0145.08.49.37, closed Sundays and Mondays (Metro: Etienne Marcel) is situated in a cool wooden slatted building containing the resto, a sake shop and a whiskey bar, and has lots of flowers welcoming you.  Rather than describe each dish, which comprised two fish, two meats and a "pina colada" dessert (unpictured, unfortunately because it was the highlight of the meal) I'll just roll them out.

 

The chef's use of different ingredients, herbs and sauces was dazzling and the three of us left culinarily dancing.

Our bill with a bottle and 2 glasses of a very good wine, superb bread and olive oil and 3 coffees, was 261 or 174 E a couple.

Go back?  We will, but I think I'll be happy with just three courses at 35 (offered at lunch on weekdays), rather than 5 at 55 E  on Saturdays.

Le Cellier (Louis Version 2.0) in the 9th: Wow, Zow, Pow! Sounded simple but was anything but.

Disclosures, disclaimers, disrupters. First off, I've loved Stephane Pitre's Louis since I first set foot in it.  Second, I think a chefs' "second restaurant" is often more daring than their established ones so I was primed to like Le Cellier.  And third, as Chef Pitre told us when we had a few minutes before our local friends arrived - sometimes the simplest of dishes are hardest to find sous-chefs to actually cook.

8.0 Le Cellier, 25 rue de la Victoire in the 9th, 01.48.74.61.03, closed weekends (Metro: ND de Lorette) is the second restaurant of Stephane Pitre, whose Louis garnered its first Michelin star a few weeks ago.  It looks simple (stone walls, comptoir, wine shelves), has a simple 28 E 3-course lunch "market menu" with items such as chopped beets, pork cheeks and chocolate mousse, but oh boy, it's anything but simple.

Our choices for firsts were a celery soup and chopped beets, I briefly and sillily thought about skipping both, but when the beets arrived with sprigs of peppery herbs stuck in I was sold - "this guy is a genius, red beets with herbs - holy moly!"

Then Madame had the salmon fume on pasta, simple eh?, and the rest of us had braised pork cheeks, what could be simpler?  The pasta had a cheese intensity that was off the charts and the pork had a tenderness your grandmother only dreamed of.

Our wonderful wait-person warned us that there were only a couple of chocolate desserts left over from last night (when there is a totally different concept - tapas-sized, etc - and Breton-influenced, dishes) so we snared one mi-cuit and one mousse along with two creme caramels.  Now for my whole life I've taken chocolate mousse for granted, but after hearing the chef talk about how difficult it is to find cooks who can do simple traditional food, like mousse, I had a whole new respect for my mother.

Our bill, with one bottle of Bordeaux, one of Badoit and three coffees, was 156.50 or 78.25 E a couple (however, we did get some coups and olives first and cherry liquor last.)  dB's were 80.4 and we asked to have the music turned down.  

Go back?  What's French for "in a flash?"  Even without the gift of an Orangeman toilet brush from our friends and branded sardines from the chef.

Bouillon (47, Rochechouart) de Chef Remi Lazurowicz in the 9th: Now we're talking, this is good stuff.

 

7.9 Bouillion 47, ex Bouillon, 47 rue de Rochechuart in the 9th, 09.51.18.66.59, closed Sunday and Monday (Metro: Cadet) was taken over late last year by Chef Remi Lazurowicz. from Bruno Doucet's La Régalade Saint-Honoré and despite the big photo of two of my least favorite people - Gainsbourg et Birkin - has done a super job at reviving this popular local joint.

 

The amuse was a sliced potato en croute with creme fraiche that was astonishingly and surprisingly good.

We started off with razor clams. octopus and gravlax, the latter two with most tasty salads and their dressing.

Then came their signature joue de boeuf, falling off the bone if there had been one, tender slices of quasi de veau, cod and another dish of octopus (I couldn't resist it it sounded so good).

To finish up were concoctions of lenon. meringue and cookies that were very, very good.

Our bill was picked up by our most gracious and generous hosts, but if I had to guess, with 2 bottles and 2 glasses of wine and 3 coffees, it would run something like 113.50E a couple.  dB's varied around 75.6

Go?  In the blink of an eye.

Picotte Paris in the 11th: Tasty...inventive...excellent.

7.8 Picotte, 42 rue de Malte in the 11th, 01.49.29.98.77, closed Saturday lunch, Sundays and Mondays (Metro: Republique) is run by two young folks who hail from the north and south of France and thus present dishes from all its regions. We were warmly welcomed.

 

For a first Colette had carrots two ways and our friend from the Marais and I had a most inventive vichyssoise with eggs two ways, "surf and turf' it said.

For mains, the ladies had the sandre  with veggies and I had the melt in your mouth echine of pork with succulent sucrine, both simple yet excellent.

 

For dessert we all had what we've been eating at home all week for breakfast and dinner - early Gariguette strawberries in a sweet but not over-poweringly sweet sauce.

Our bill, with a bottle of wine and three coffees, was 95.50 or 66.67 E a couple.  dB's = 78.4

Go back?  This is a definite "find" of Spring 2019.

Adjuge at Drouot in the 9th: What did you expect from Ducasse, John?

5.5 Adjuge, 9 rue Drouot in the 9th, 01.48.00.22.02, closed Sundays and some Saturdays, (Metro: Richelieu-Drouot) is the latest in Alain Ducasse's attempts to resuscitate iconic or tired restaurants and spoiler alert - it didn't work, at least so far.

I'd picked it because we were lunching with an expert who knows more about antiquaries and architecture than anyone I know and thought he might enjoy nosing around the rooms culling the dreck from the dross again, but on sitting down he insisted that whether the customers looked elegant or thuggish they were all bottom-feeders.  Anyway he started off with chilled cooked pork knuckle with pickled tiny veggies and I had eggs mayo, both safe choices, but rather bland ones.

Colette then had some scallops which she deemed better than yesterdays, which is not saying much; our friend had the salad frisee which had a crouton/green ratio of about 10/1; and I had quenelles de brochet which were about as bad as they come.

To finish up, our friend had the apple clafoutis and Colette another ile flottante which was so sweet she had to brush her teeth on getting home.

Our bill, with 46 cl of Bordeaux and a bottled water, was 134 or 89.32 E a couple.  dB's and awful 79.7.

Go back?  Not likely.  In response to my self-question about Ducasse.  I respect him for having "saved" many of my old haunts - Aux Lyonnais, Allard, Benoit, etc., but if I reflect, I only was dazzled by one - Rech - and I suspect it was Jacques Maximum's hand on that tiller that made my day.  In addition, he still hasn't condemned the Sultan of Brunei for his stoning of gays policy.