John Talbott's Paris

Review of reviews: the week of May 6th, 2019

Tuesday, in Le Fooding, they reviewed Willette, 21 rue de Trevise in the 9th, 09.83.48.10.87, closed weekends where for 16-35€ one dines on items such as sausages, carpaccio of beef and panna cotta.

Wednesday, in Figaroscope Emmanuel Rubin reviewed his usual five places, awarding three hearts to one - the previously mentioned Loiseau Rive Gauche costing 45-115€ for items such as pea soup, pigeon and lamb.  The rest garnered 2 hearts: the Brasserie Belanger, 140 rue du Faubourg-Poissonniere in the 10th, 07.82.32.92.08, open 7/7, where for 30€ one dines on items such as leeks vinaigrette, avocado toast and sausage; La Mauvaise Reputation, 11, rue d’Hauteville in the 10th, 01.45.23.98.74, closed Saturday lunch and Sundays where for 30-40 or 17 and 20€ lunch menus, one has pate, cod and brioche perdu; the Korean Jong-no Samgyetang in the 13th and the Iranian Koukou in the 15th.  His Hache Menu dealt with the Australian Aussi(e) in the 11th and the Dossier concerned new brunch places in Paris.

Wednesday as well, Heidi Ellison in Paris Update reviewed the relocated but aforementioned Virtus.

Thursday in L’Express Styles, they reviewed three places already mentioned: Bonjour Bonsoir in the 9th, Brasserie Bellanger in the 10th and Polpette in the 9th.

Willette in the 9th: A bistrot-cafe-troquet defined.

Pre: This was my last meal in Paris with my eldest granddaughter after 2 weeks+ of eating wonderful food and at the end she said "I'm enjoying all of it."  Me too.  And it's always great to end on a high note.

7.7 Willette, 21, rue de Trevise in the 9th, 09.83.48.10.87, closed weekends (Metro: Cadet) has been open about 2 months and is the very definition of a modern bistrot-cafe-troquet; neighborhoodly, inventive, friendly, open, reasonable, etc.  The chef is William Neff, who passed through the houses of Ducasse and Marchand and the wine expert is Kevin Blackwell, ex of Autour d'Un Verre, The menu at lunch is a simple 2-2-2 one for 22 Euros and the dishes are ever so inventive/

We split the choices right down the menu: starting with the a mound of shaved fennel, orange slices and avocado as well as thin slices of raw beef (carpaccio) topped with a spicy tarragon mayonnaise and shredded parmesan.  My oh my!

Then my granddaughter had eggplant described as fondant which it was in the best sense of the word, with a soft egg, fried bread and sliced cucumbers and I had the quasi de veau with smashed potatoes and mache.  Again, superb.

As we were pondering the desserts our host suggested "why don't you try both" and we did enjoying both a banana cake with pecans and caramel beurre-sale and a deep, dark, intense chocolate.  Yummy!

Our bill, with a fine Loire red, terrific bread and two coffees, was 84 E.  dB's were 81.5 and up.

Go back?  Would that I could immediately; it was that good.

La Bicyclette in the 19th: Astonishing food, prices, clientele and location.

Pre: I keep thinking that at 83, decrepit and failing, I should give up this nonsensical quest for new places in Paris with astonishing food, prices, clienteles and locations - and then, like two days after a marathon, I say to myself "No, I want to do this again/forever."

7.9 La Bicyclette, 5, rue de Chaumont in the 19th,, 06.10.40.33.12, closed weekends (Metro: Jaures) is way off the beaten culinary path, even for me, just over in the 18th.  But it sounded interesting: owner/front guy Bertrand Disset from the Bataclan brasserie, chef Slavica Marmakovic (ex Sunset and Clamato, two of my faves).  It has a 3-2-3 "menu" for 19 E at lunch with intriguing sounding products, ingredients, spices and herbs from all over the Mediterranean, but hey if Novak Djokovic got to be #1 eating this stuff, count me in.

First off, the chef sent out a bouillon of vegetables and herbs that was pungent and had my fellow blogger and I trying to identify what was in it; hummm, cumin, parsley,....  Then she had the panzanella with smoked ricotta, described by Wikipedia as "a Tuscan chopped salad of bread and tomatoes,.... sometimes also onions and basil, dressed with olive oil and vinegar."  Simple, eh?  Nope.  Complex.  And I had coques with spinach and cedrat, again you would think simple but it was not.

For main courses we both had succulent lamb bits cooked as kebabs with a yogurt sauce or a flatbread that was astonishingly-surprisingly tasty with shaved turnips; followed by a rhubarb-lemon crumble and roasted pineapple between pastry leaves.

Our bill, with a bottle and glass of wine and two coffees, was 77 E a couple.

Go back?  Despite the weird location, indeed!

The Clown Bar in the 11th under Axel Gallart: Big small plates that are very fine indeed.

7.3 The Clown Bar, coordinates well known, was a breath of fresh air under chef Sota Atsumi and everyone wondered what would happen when he left for the still unopened Maison in the same Arr.  Well what happened was Axel Gallart and higher prices for main plates (33E).  But luckily, as others have pointed out, the first courses are big and reasonably priced (9-17E) and one does very well with two of them per person.

As we did, ordering the white asparagus and mi-cuit fois gras, giant black beignets wrapped around rather large pieces of succulent merlan inside, burrata with raddichio, beets and grapefruit, veal brains with incredible Tosazu vinegar and what was called "chocolate chaud" which was a lighter version of chocolate mousse over ice cream with chocolate bits on top.  All first rate and plenty filling.

Our bill, with a bottle and glass of wine and 3 coffees was 143 or 95.32 E a couple.  dB's so low I didn't measure them but once the pesky Yanks showed up at 1 PM, it was a bit higher.  And the bread is worth noting.

Go back?  Why not?

Le Sergent Recruteur in the 4th: "It's missing something; the WOW factor?" Except the desserts.

6.2 Le Sergent Recruteur, 41, rue Saint Louis en L'Ile in the 4th, 01.43.54.75.42, (Metro: Pont Marie), closed Sundays and Mondays has been closed for quite sometime but was apparently in the back of the mind of Alain Pégouret, he of Laurent for 18 years and while it technically doesn't open until May 24th, their website took my reservation as well as emailing and telephoning me to confirm.  And it was jam-packed, except for the bar seats, by 1 PM.

The chef himself brought out our amuses of mackerel rillettes scoops of which fell over the thin toasts and a mousseline of mussels - both quite nice.  Then we had the 49 E 3 course  (39 for 2) "menu" which was much more approachable than the carte whose items exceeded my budget.

The starter was 4 spears of parcooked asparagus with a Campari Orange mousseline which was no better than OK.  The main courses were nice pieces of merlan with a terrific toasted exterior and a strip of beef shoulder perfectly cooked but marred by an anchovy sauce which just didn't go with it IMHO.  At some point, my co-diner asked if I'd come back; I said "no"; "why?"; we struggled - she suggested it lacked the wow factor, I said nothing dazzled me.

For desserts we shared a terrific vacherin and lemon tart and with coffees had equally impressive mignardises of chocolate and assorted seasonal fruits.  Now these all hit the wow/dazzle buttons.

Our bill with a bottle of Touraine and one of Badoit, plus two very strong and wonderful coffees, was 192 E or 128 E a couple.  dB's were 76.9 and up as VIP's filled the room with talk and laughter.

Go back?  I already answered.

La Verriere in the 14th: Another Japanese chef but cooking very Asiatic food.

5.5 La Verriere, 4, rue Niepce in the 14th, 01.83.75.69.21, closed Sunday nights (Metro: Pernety) has recently opened in the not-quite-finished Hotel Niepce and the decor is splendid, indeed eye-popping.  I wish I could say that about the food.  We went on the advice of trusted friends and their terrific meal was a French one cooked by a Japanese chef.  Ours was not.

We entered a few minutes after our American friends/guests and the music was loud, but worse, it was American Christmas songs.  They decided they'd have the 36 E 3-course "menu" and because of the huge difference in prices between that and the carte, even with 20% off with La Fourchette, we went along.  The first course was anchovies a la japonaise with tomato, mozzarella and yuzu vinaigrette which was nice but more Italo-Japanese than French.  Then we had many slices of American bacon besides a "Japanese savory pancake" aka okonomiyaki that was OK but hardly thrilling.  And for dessert they served a chou craquelin matcha, translated by fowlbakes as "a cream puff with a crunchy, crumbly sweet biscuit layer baked on top of it. It’s kind of similar in concept to Japan’s melon pan, or Hong Kong’s bo lo bao. ... Japanese for “smooth”, it tastes like a cross between a ganache and pastry cream ..., also nice but so what?

Our bill, with a bottle and glass of wine and bottled water plus 4 espressos was 202 E or 101 E a couple.

Go back?  I'm afraid not. It's not French, it's not Italian, and it's not Japanese - it's just confused.

Reviews of reviews: the week of April 29th, 2019

Wednesday, Heidi Ellison in Paris Update, reviewed enthusiastically, the previously mentioned Septime in the 11th.

And Sunday, Aurelie Chaigneau in the jdd, covered the aforementioned l’Avant Comptoir du Marche in the 6th (7.5/10); Bricktop Pizza in the 10th (7); and the Oyster Club in the 4th (7.5).

Au Fil du Temps in the 18th: Another astonishing place in the former food desert of the 18th.

6.9 Au Fil du Temps, 44 rue Joseph de Maistre in the 18th (Metro: Place de Clichy) 09.86.31.21.19, closed Mondays, is a place I regularly pass on the 95 bus on my way elsewhere but it looked inviting, young and hopeful, so on a rainy Sunday what have I got to lose?

There were three of us and we really tested the chef and carte: first having what looked like an oval pizza with tomato and mozzarella, a friand of goat cheese and spinach and a fine terrine de campagne.

Then we further tested the chef's range with a tartare of house-cut beef and fries, falafel with tabouli and peas and green beans and two brochettes of rumsteak cooked bleu to my taste which came with a perfectly splendid shallot sauce as well as not bad fries at all.

We topped the meal off with a nice chocolate cake with creme fraiche and orange peelings.

Our bill, with a bottle of Moonseng (whoever heard of such a thing?) and three coffees, was 80.30 or 53.53 E a couple - let that sink in - 53.53 Euros a couple.  For a terrific meal on a dreary rainy cold Sunday.  Wow!

Go?  Anytime, but especially if you're up on Montmartre.

Vermillon in the 9th: So good in such a tiny space.

7.7 Vermillon, 5, rue de Calais in the 9th, 01.42.41.49.68 (Metro: Blanche), closed Sundays and Mondays is another place my dear friends in the 9th told me they were eager to go to since it opened a few months ago.  It's tiny and invites comparisons to Daniel Rose's first version of Spring nearby.

There were three starters on the 3-3-3 carte and we had all of them: a soft egg with chorizo, artichoke with coriander (marked as babaganousch on the bill) and a terrine with figs which was moist and melt in your mouth good - off to a great start.

Then we had the two non-vegetarian main courses: strips of grilled mackerel in a Thai sauce and perfectly fatty pork ribs (correctly called poitrine on the bill) with lovely teeny potatoes.  To finish up we shared two portions of flourless chocolate cake made with beurre sale.  Delish!

Our bill, with a bottle of Touraine and Badoit and three coffees was 130.50 or 65.25E a couple.  Excellent bread and sound = 58.8 dB's.

Go back?  Absolutely.

L'Office in the 9th: My oh my, chef Charley Breuvart and owner Charles Nikitits have a star on their hands.

Pre: "Have you been here before, John?" my friends ask.  "Yes and no; I have been here, when Charles Compagnon owned it and I loved the food dished out by Kevin O'Donnell, but they are gone replaced by new decor, owner and chef."

8.2 L'Office, 3, rue Richer in the 9th, 01.47.70.67.31, closed weekends (Metro: Chateau d'Eau) looks much the same as it did for the last decade but the new team has brought forth a sea change in its food.  The menu looks deceptively simple but the dishes themselves are anything but.

Of the four entrees that were offered the broccoli and tartare of maigre spoke most beckoningly to us.  I'm still trying to figure out how the chef got so much flavor and seasoning into such a simple looking sauce - it was astonishing.

Then the table split between decorticated shrimp in a rich bouillon with cereal wafers and what was called "beef Wellington" but was not the whole roast beef but very big pieces cooked perfectly and individually inside a pastry flecked with seeds and cereal grains with a rich pepper sauce; again a dish that looked so simple but was, in reality, complex, incredibly flavorful and hard not to love immediately.

At this point, I think we all were full and didn't "need" dessert but we "wanted" it.  And again, what came out was much more complex and flavorful than what we expected: a chocolate ball of ice cream, small babas au rhum and what was called cheesecake but I'd call a mousse of passion and mango on a pie crust.

Our bill, with two bottles of Chinon and two coffees was 260.60 E or 130.30 E a couple.  dB's = 66.2 when it was quiet but it got to a shouting level quickly.

Go back?  To the most inventive meal of 2019?  I'm almost afraid that I'll be disappointed, but you bet.