John Talbott's Paris

Bonne Aventure in St. Ouen: Superb som, but food not up to the hype/buzz.

Pre: Ah, the pain, the trouble, the obsessing!  It's Sunday, I want real food not brunch, reachable in the strike, friends in the Marais, far 5th, understandably don’t want to venture out.  What to do?  Ok.  There's this place opened besides the Paul Bert Flea Market by a woman born in St Ouen - trained at Frenchies, great reviews, much buzz, Le Fooding loves it, how can I go wrong?  Well, let me count the ways.

5.0 Bonne Aventure, 59 rue des Rosiers (but don’t tell your Uber driver that, he’ll tell you it doesn’t exist, dumps me on the rue Pierre Curie), 01.49.48.09.69, closed Tuesdays (Metro: Porte de Clignancourt). I can’t book on line so I telephone “don’t worry, Sunday lunch, there’ll be lots of seats” - yah outside in the rain, which was packed.  

But I enter at about a second before noon.  Inside empty. “Ummmm, I couldn’t reserve.” “I tried, really I did.”

Looking at cheffe, guy says, “well, (looking at watch), we open for lunch (clock dings MIDI) ah, now.”  “Can I get you something?”  From then on, service sparkles!

A quick regard of the 3-3-3 carte tells me what I want and the super informative sommelier/barguy tells me what to drink.  I start off with the quite nice micuit of foie gras, which Colette Spoiler Alert, has lettuces, etc., with brown ends (ergo she’ll never come.) Then I had the 7-hour leg of lamb, hummm, that’s right hummm, it could have been cardboard, veal hung several years, whale meat left abandoned, with one of those things that’s supposed to be healthy for us, yah fregola.  Finally I had a chocolate cream, ok!

My bill, with coffee and 1/2 a bottle of wine (I took the remainder home) and rather good bread, comes to 36€.

Go?  I don’t get it.  Must be me.  30 30 year old's can’t be wrong, can they?

Mova in the 17th: Another unknown (except by his neighbors) chef innovates in the Batignolles.

7.6 Mova (don't ask me what it means), 39, rue des Dames in the 17th, (Metro: Clichy maybe), closed Sundays and Mondays, 01.45.22.46.07, has been open but a second and already has a devoted local clientele.  This is the sort of place Americans would love to go to - smallish. young Mom 'n Pop, fresh farm-to-table, reasonable (25E for 3 courses 2-2-2), no Yankees  - "But it's not near the Eiffel Tower John."  Well, I can't help that.

My co-blogger "date" bowed out, since he lives in the Marais and there's little chance of public trans today, so I was left to carry the cross.  I started with what was called mackerel with pickled celery and pear but I swear was cabbage and apple - so much for my skills of deduction.  Then I had the daurade with an almost perfectly crispy skin and one of the best creamy risottos of my life outside of Modena.  I finished with a dessert of creamy lemon, meringue bits and crumble - quite nice.

My bill, with 3 glasses of wine and a coffee, was 49E or 98E a couple.

Go?  You never will but you should.

Kozo in the 9th: “This is really good.” Indeed it was. Another superb Japanese chef cooking French food.

7.6 Kozo, 48 rue St. Georges in the 9th (Metro: ND de Lorette), closed Sundays, Mondays and Tuesday lunch, 01.48.78.46.09, was one of the “finds” a great friend and food-finder found in this flavor bursting sector of the area.  She keeps what she calls a blacklist, aka blocklist, of places I’m not allowed to go to without her or something bad will happen to me.  And her success rate is terrific.

For lunch there are two possibilities: an amuse, salmon tartare and fish of the day for 25€ or 3 other possibilities for 34€. We split but both got the lovely silky cream of parsnip soup first.  Then, while my friends had the salmon with chopped endives, I had something I’ve never had: foie gras Royal (a purée really of foie gras, with chopped sauteed mushrooms) - superb; that must have come from the chef's time with Rostang or Blanc.  Then, they had the maigre and I the magret de canard, both with veggies and both quite good. We ended up sharing the figs, rice pudding and caramel ice cream dessert.

Our bill, with 3 glasses of wine, 2 coffees and one Chateldon, was 113€ or 75.33€ a couple if I got the math right.

Go?  Most definitely.  Kozo Mikita has a real hit on his hands.

Chez Val in the 18th: “Hope for the best, prepare for the worst.” Sez Lee Childs’ Jack Reacher.

Pre: So today, December 5, 2019, was the day of the Mother of all French Strikes and I was all set for a day of misery.  However,  I awoke to the sound of a leaf blower in the garden, children buzzing before school, and the electricity and internet worked.  But, ever the pessimist, in anticipation of just such a strike day, I decided to eat nearby, but where?

Then I recalled that one fine afternoon I was walking home and almost stumbled over a strikingly beautiful, very thin young woman painting a sign on the sidewalk around the corner from my building.  “What’cha doing?”  “Lettering a sign for my restaurant.”  “What sort of food?”  “French.” “Welcome to the neighborhood!”

5.7 Chez Val, 57, rue Montcalm in the 18th (Metro: Jules Joffrin), closed Sundays and Mondays, 09.72.85.49.51, reminds me of the Samovar, on West 94th in NYC or the original Spring in the 9th - one person taking orders, cooking the food, serving 20+ persons, tallying the bill, all effortlessly.  The carte is a simple 3-3-3 one for something like 20€, the wines about the same price.

So to start, my friends who live up the Mont had the perfect egg with petit pois and cream of tomato soup, and I had 3 lovely beef croquettes.

Then one of my pals had the filet of lieu with a purée of something and two of us had filets of pork, with vegetables.

To finish we shared portions of chocolate mousse and creme caramel.

Our bill with a bottle and glass of wine and no coffee (we forgot) was scooped up by one friend, but looked to me upside down to be something like 80€ something for three, thus, let’s say 60€ a couple.

Go?  If you live or rent in the neighborhood, this is a fine local find.  It sure beats banging heads with the black casseurs.  And the bread is superior for the nabe.

Les Polissonnes in the 10th: 20€ for 3 courses of serious food!

5.5 Les Polissonnes, 8, rue Vicq-d’Azir in the 10th (not to be confused with Polissons, Rue Ramey in the 18th), 09.84.23.64.80, closed Mondays (Metro: Colonel Fabien) is the sort of bistro everyone should have on their block - smallish, welcoming, seasonal products, interesting enough choices and very reasonable prices.

While we had not agreed to it, my cyber expert friend and I split the very large portion of delicious charcuterie, then both had steaks with a fiery pepper sauce and potatoes and ended with generous portions of chocolate and apple tart and brioche perdu.

Our bill with a fine bottle of Cotes du Rhône and 2 coffees, with cognac offered afterwards, was 62.10€. Db’s were 70.5.

Go?  As I said, I wish I had a bistro of this quality/price ratio in my neighborhood.  And the "naughty" aka Polissonnes, women who run it clearly care about the neighborhood dogs.

Joysters in the 9th: As close to Shellfish/Seafood Heaven as you can get.

Oh John

Why are you there?

Why, when you eat terrific oysters in Baltimore and sublime lobsters in Maine all year?

Why, when you could be at Gagnaire, etc., do you go to a stripped-down wall oyster etc., joint?

Interesting you should mention Gagnaire, this place serves the same Freres Besson oysters they do.

Plus I do have friends and readers who say: 

“Hey, were eating at Chez l'Ami Jean tonight, so we just want a light lunch, oysters and stuff.”

Ok.

8.0 Joysters, 7, rue Cadet (a pedestrian street for those of us handicapped), in the 9th, (Metro: Cadet), 01.73.71.49.19, open 7/7, is the third place Mathieu Darmont has opened in the recent past, following Tous and Ensemble and I went wanting a shellfish kick on a dreary dank day and who should help me up the step but himself, asking how I am, etc.  

Ok, so does that pose a conflict of interest?  I guess.  But I declare it now.  I loved Tous and Ensemble and Darmont has a rare flair for opening new places that meet perfect niches in Paris’ eating spectrum.

I knew what I wanted even before I saw the carte - 6 Specials #3 from the Freres Besson and bulots with flavored mayonnaise and some white wine.  Right?  

What could be simpler?  (Now, I maintain there are lots of dishes I can make better than any restaurant, among them are bulots, but these exceeded mine.  And the Besson Brothers oysters M. told me, only are served at a few places, like Chez Gagnaire.  Ok.)

Darmont offered me a bit of fish soup, which on reflection, I should have tried, but I was so focused on the incredible oysters and lush bulots that I stupidly resisted.

My bill, with a half bottle of Reuilly made for Joysters, was 37.50€ and I fully expected to take the rest of the bottle home to have with the gravlax I ordered to take-away as well, but it turned out the salmon was offered.  DB’s were 66.4 of Neil Young and Louis Armstrong era music so I was happy.

Go?  As I said, it’s a niche place, totally local clientele, no frou-frou, 20-course, raw rabbit food with pony-tailed waitresses, etc.  For that, please go elsewhere TA steers you to. Save this for pure seafood delights.

Gaston in the 17th: The butcher of Batignolles, yes, but.....

5-6.0 Gaston, 11, rue Brochant in the 17th (Metro: Brochant), open 7/7, opened or was refurbished about a year ago and since it is never closed, thus open Mondays, is “the butcher of Batignolles” and got 9.2/10 on La Fourchette, with glowing comments on its 70 day aged cotes de boeuf, it beckoned me and us.

I entered way earlier than my friends and sat down to read the newspapers and ordered a white from Gascony, Three Musketeers and all that, “it’s moelleux” said the waiter.  “Perfect” said I.  And it was. Along with tart green olives I was in heaven.

My friends entered, ordered and first surprise - a lovely slice of what I guess is their “famous terrine of chicken livers a discretion” with cornichons, delicious.  Madame then had the vegetarian eggplant main although she, having read their website, really wanted the pithiviers of beef they listed, and as previously agreed, M. and I shared a cotes de boeuf, ordered “bleu.”  Second surprise, it was not served on the bone but cut up so it was sort of medium-rare, swimming in a sauce with garlic and cups of Bearnaise and chimichurri for dipping beside.  The fries, as I’d been warned by web-sters, were soggy and I didn’t attempt the salad.  So far, a bummer.  But then, third surprise, digestifs of aged rum appear, suddenly what was a 5/10 meal, turns out 6/10.

Our bill, with that glass of Gascony, bottle of Crozes-Hermitage and three coffees, was, I dunno, my friend scooped up the bill, but the beef alone was 90€ for 2 (although a single steak was only 24€) so you do the math.  Db’s were a hearty 77.8.

Go?  I’m afraid not, despite the wonderful service and rave customer reviews, it’s just not up to par.

Advice to the chefs: Either serve the beef on the bone sliced at the table or let the customers slice it.  Don't let 90€ of 70 day aged beef sit under a heat lamp in a sauce - that's a tragedy!

Oursin in the 8th: Pretty damn good seafood in a dazzling Greek Island setting.

6.9 Oursin, 60, ave des Champs-Elysees  (2nd floor in Galeries Lafayette Elysees), open 7/7, (Metro: FDR) opened recently by Simon Porte Jacquemas, a designer, who I don’t know and Kaspia Caviar and Erica Archambault, who I do know from Septime and more so, Clamato.  The prices are double those at the latter but then, the seafood offered is higher end.

They started us off with tiny biscuits with an intense fish mousse un-pictured; then we shared a tarama of oursin/sea urchin with olive oil on warmed bread, also oiled.  For mains, my friend chose the cod with sweet spices and mustard seeds plus carrots and I had the octopus with braised fennel, delightful cherry tomatoes and green sorrel.  We ended up sharing a ganache of dark chocolate with confited kumquats, citrus and mint.

Our bill, with a bottle of D’Oc and two coffees, was 122€.  Noise level zero.

Go?  Despite the prices, even if not shopping at GL, I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it.