John Talbott's Paris

Paris restaurants that are good for adults and children who wish to roam

 A dear friend going to Paris with 16 of her family (the youngest two years old) asked me where to go, so here goes (all are on John Talbott’s Paris or Google so I won’t give coordinates, etc.)

Pirouette in the 1st, near les Halles, not only has outstanding food, in good weather it has tables outside in a traffic-free piazza where kids can run around freely without parents worrying.

The Baltard au Louvre, also in the 1st, not far away, between the American visitors favorite knife and cooking ware shop, Dehillerin, and Francois Pinault's new museum, which also has plenty of tables outside with no traffic and good food.

The soufflé-focused Recamier in the 7th, not far from Bon Marche, is on a blind alley, the rue Recamier, that ends in a lovely little garden, and has lots of tables outside from which kids can escape and run around between savory and sweet soufflés.

Tokyo Eat in the 16th or its downstairs more upscale neighbor Monsieur Bleu faces the Eiffel Tower and while the view is better from Tokyo Eat, the food is better 3 flights down.

Les Climats in the 6th, near the Orsay, has a garden with tables and superb list of Burgundies.  It’s in the former telephone exchange, a photo of which hangs inside.  Superb food, elevated prices.

The Grand Cour in the 4th, is owned/run by the chef Mauro Colagreco from Mirazur in Menton, where I had the best fish of my life.  It’s in a grand court, duh, with tables under umbrellas and is surrounded by a music and ballet school, which can be either soothing or annoying, when the drum class is in session.

Thinking park wise - in the Buttes Chaumont in the 19th, the Pavillon Puebla is good not great.

Also in the Parc Montsouris in the 14th, there is a restaurant called the Pavillion, where outside, kids will have a ball and the food is not half bad.

Kitchen (Ter)re on the Blvd St Germain, has seating on the terrace, eg the sidewalk, which our grandkids found perfect for rope skipping.  The place is run by William Ledeuil, of Ze Kitchen Galerie, our favorite restaurant in Paris.

Speaking of which, Coretta in the 17th, has tables outside and borders the MLK Park and offers some of the best food in Paris at reasonable prices.

Near the Louvre, if you’re thinking of visiting it, in the Tuileries is the Saut de Loup, which has quite pleasant but not mind-blowing food in a bucolic setting with lots of room to roam.  Note: My last meal there was a disaster service-wise.

The Bois de Boulogne has two of our great old favorites, the Pre Catalan and the Grande Cascade, but unless you’re into hedge funds I’m not sure the meals for a family of 16 are affordable.

Portland Me: Sculpture, Hoffman, Modern Asian Cuisine at the Honey Paw and Yuge People.

The 12 of our nuckular family went for our traditional week in Maine (hey, we're only 1/4 French and thus only get one week of vacation) and in addition to eating lobsters every day, revisited a few places already mentioned on this site in prior years.

But afterwards Colette and I headed to Portland to eat our traditional "lunch before flight" at The Fat Duck.  Whoa, the wait was an hour - ridiculous- so we went to the Eventide, 20 people spilling out the door, Yikes, but hark, next door was a place we'd never seen, yclept the Honey Paw, advertising itself as featuring modern Asian cuisine.  Wow, was it!  Colette and I wanted two of the chalkboard specials but were told - "sorry, only at night." 

Rats!  Ok she then had the Vietnamese Masa Crepe with fried mussels, rhubarb, sambol, peanut and mople nuoc cham and I had the fried spare ribs with chili, lime, peanuts and herbs, wow x20, this is clever and good chow.  Snobs and purists will declare this as "fusion" or silly multi-ingredient food, but I think it does qualify as Modern Asian Cuisine and I will be back.

We then headed off to the Art Museum, which has been reconfigured and redone and unlike the messes the Frick and Morgan have created, the Portland has managed to improve on the old and expand the new, while retaining its over-charm.  In addition, they gave an impressive young man at the Membership Counter with a mustache straight out of Van Gogh's Postman.  The two special exhibitions are both splendid: Hans Hoffman's works on paper which are both reflective of his paintings and more daring and the works of four "American" sculptors, Lachaise, Laurent, Nadelman and Zorach, wait a minute you say, they were European.  Ah ha, but they fled oppressive Europe during the Great War, not WWII, and they clearly influenced American art and sculpture enormously.

The one bummer was seeing really big people all over Portland.  After a week in Boothbay, where everyone from 20 to 85 looks like they just walked out of a yoga class, which they probably did, to see such fat on the hogs was distressing.  What right do I have to comment on them, me a liberal physician?  Because I am paying for the diabetes, metabolic syndromes, heart diseases and other conditions that their lifestyles result in.  Meanwhile, the rabid right, of which they surely are proud members, are concerned with bathrooms, gay marriage, adoptions and abortions, which cost us nothing.  There is something very wrong with this picture.

Venice 2017: Day 3: Bar Autorimessa and da Tura (Mestre)

Backstory: People keep saying that "one cannot have a bad meal in Paris" or "thanks for your suggestions, but we were tired after the Louvre and tumbled into a great place."  Of course I discount all such stories and would never do any such thing, but..........

Bar Autorimessa is that place on the garage side of the Piazzale Roma, the bus station on the entrance to Venice, you've seen a million times that announces itself as a "bar pizza cafe restaurant" and when I bussed in from Mestre today to meet Colette at one of my favorite places, the Fiaschetteria Toscana, I had such pain going down the ramp to the vaporetto stop I realized there was no way I could walk a half a kilometer from the Ca d'Oro to the resto, so I cancelled and limped over to this well-seen joint expecting the worst.  I called Colette, sat down, ordered up some wine and started to work on a huge bowl of chips.  When Colette arrived she decided to order a pizza disavowal, which when we sampled it, was spicy and perfectly good.  We both went with gelati, on her side, a panna cotta, on mine, a pistachio.  Again it was an unexpected surprise.  Our bill, with a bottle of water and one of wine, a grappa and two espressi, was 65.40€.

Da Tura is the restaurant we ate at yesterday that Colette said we should return to on our last night in Italy, and so it was.  Tonight though she had the sea bass grilled with lemon and olive oil and I ordered a Caesar salad but got a mixed salad, which was fine by me.  We had the same waiter, who looked strikingly like Jean Dujardin and between him and the meal we were quite content.  Our bill with bottles of water and wine, no coffee but a grappa and tiramisu, was 59.85€

Venice 2017: Day 2: Antiche Carampane and da Tura (Mestre)

Antiche Carampane is another old favorite, which albeit hard to find, is well worthy the effort.  They start you off on the right foot with a cone of fried shrimp that never cease to please.  Colette then had mussels and clams with a fantastic tomato sauce that was rich and spicy, necessitating much sopping up with their fine bread.  I on the other had the almost endless mixed seafood with a whole sole, half of which Colette dipped in her sauce, much to her delight. With our coffees we enjoyed a plate if cookies that were delicious. At this point we were both satiated and off to our separate pursuits.  Our bill with a bottle of water, one of wine,, a grappa and 2 coffees, was 105.50€.

DaTura in the Hotel Bologna in Mestre is a place I chanced on when I asked the hotel, maybe 8 years ago, to make some reservations for me and the Concierge said "Of course, Sir, but how about eating at the city's Number 3 restaurant?"  "Oh, and what might that be," said I.  "DaTura," he said, "right here."  And by George, he was right and I've been coming every two years since.  Tonite, Colette ordered a divine sea bream, oven cooked with cauliflower, creamed with a cheese influenced Bechamel sauce and I had the very very very best spaghetti with clams I've ever had.  To finish we had their two-cream dessert, which was superb.  Our bill, with a bottle of water and one of wine plus a grappa was 57.15€.

Venice 2017: Day 1: la Porta d'Acqua and Moro (Mestre)

La porta d'Acqua is a rather recent addition to my every other year list of "go to" places in Venice.  Two years ago, I had a grilled octopus that as of March 2015, was the best dish of that year.  I guess you can't go home again, because today it was good but hardly a "best of" anything.  The bed of chickpea purée it sat on was quite a bit better.  I also had my first mixed salad of the Spring in Italy, which had early radicchio and arugula but for a farm-to-table place, the bizarre out of season corn kernels were a weird addition.  Colette had scampi and "royal shrimp" on warm arugula that was Pleasant and we shared a hazelnut pannacotta with caramel that was outstanding.  Our bill, with decent bread, wine, bottled water and two espresso, one corrected, was 88€.

Moro in Mestre where we've hoteled ever since our 3 year old insisted on a swimming pool and I started running, has been a Slow Food standby for about 10 years.  It's tiny, full and clearly serving both neighborhood regulars and savvy travelers, usually Asian.  Tonite we saw the Maestro Lino Moro serve up his handcut beef tartare with not a hint of egg or Tobasco but instead evoo and mustard and an unknown, to me, hot sauce.  But that's not what we had.  I started with a plateful of medium sized fried sardines with a fantastic onion topping and Colette had a unique white artichoke heart salad with tang.  I then went on to noodles with duck sauce which I shared and she terminated with a plate of four cheeses and three compotes that was simply heavenly.  With great bread, 3 varieties, a required bottle of water, one of wine and a grappa, our damages came to 60 €, "the" price-quality winner of the year.

Les Petits Princes, 26, rue du Val d'Or in Suresnes: Soaring high, with global tastes, but far from the well-trodden paths.

6.25 Les Petits Princes, 26, rue du Val d'Or in Suresnes: not to be confused with the couscous place - Le Petit Prince also on Suresnes, 01.41.47.87.61, closed Sunday and Monday nights (Tramway 2) has received rave reviews so I induced one of my longtime pals who has a car to drive out here; it's devilish parking but one can if one tries.  It's in a fresh space, with a glassed in kitchen and on the ceiling is a sculpture resembling an airplane wing, but more about the name later.  The menu is ambitious, with ingredients as far-flung as wasabi and guacamole and the food pushes the palate.

My chauffeur chose to start with an interesting combo of salsifis, haddock and poached egg sauce and I went with the scallops baked with butter and fresh parsley,  Then she had a veal onglet marinated in ginger and I the beef hanche.  To conclude, we shared a chocolate mousse.  Everything was quite different tasting from the usual; this young chef who spent 10 years at Regalade, has learned his lessons well and tried to spread his wings exploring the skies beyond those of his mentors.  Sometimes it worked, sometimes not so much.

Our bill was 115 E with a bottle of wine, nice bread, nice chorizo and sausage amuses and 3 coffees. The db's were high at the height of service but when the office workers cleared out it was quiet.

Go?  No one who reads me will schlep way out here for a meal that cannot be guaranteed to be familiar food I suspect, but maybe so.

Oh by the way, the name, why Les Petits Princes?  Well its in the midst of the huge building housing Airbus and where the Bleriot operation once was.

Indochina 50 years later: Viet Nam, is this really the same place?

Ok, reality check- I served in the Viet Nam War from 1967-68, the first 9 months in Long Binh, with a lot of consultative trips to Vung Tau, Da Nang, Nha Trang, etc, the last three months in Sai Gon, separated neatly by/with the Tet Offensive, but that's another story, the heart of my book which has undergone 20 starts and 3 revisions and shows no hope of being finished before I depart Earth.

Anyway, I returned last week after 50 years absence, and it seems like a zombie movie or tv fast forward, it is zero/nothing like I recall.  It's a totally different place and nothing is familiar.

Let's start with the food, the focus of this blog.  I recall grilled fish straight from the river, pho with a few ingredients but intense flavors and crappy wine.  Now, however, every dish is what I call Aspenized, overprepared, overingrediented and overpresented, the simplicity is gone.  And the drink lists are longer than Taillevent's 40 years ago.

One pho I had today, at Pho Hung in Sai Gon, was basic and simple and reflective of those of past eras, before the Vietnamese who moved to France and America decided to "improve" on this peasant dish.  Otherwise, I hate to say it, but one meal blended into another, whether high or low table, expensive or cheap, group or intimate.

Except, except, the coffee, which is astonishing, where was this coffee 50 years ago?

On the other hand, what I saw in Ha Long Bay, Hoi An and Sai Gon was dazzling and fresh and unexpected.  The rice paddies, which I flew over time and again, then, pockmarked with bomb craters, are from the ground, now, fish ponds or duck pens.

And the Vietnamese, whom even we doctors, treating them, viewed with suspicion, are welcoming, humorous and quick witted with we Yankees.

Finally, let me circle back to it's being a different country.  Entering Sai gon I felt I was in a totally different place; from a Mekong village then, it had become a new version of London on the Thames now- billboards, skyscrapers and rational traffic.  New multistoried buildings, brightly painted buses and Mercedes showrooms.  Unbelieveable.  Really unbelievable.

Thank you Viet Nam, like Germany and Japan before you, you've shown that fighting the USA can work to your advantage.

Indochina 50 years later: Bangkok, Thailand

We're solidly in Southeast Asia after 24 hours transit.
Bangkok is everything we recall from my R&R from Viet Nam 50 years ago, horrible traffic, ultra-friendly people and narrow two way streets with one lane and few sidewalks, full of trucks, cars and motos - but with hundreds of sky-scrapers and magnificent food.
We ate lunch at a street food street called Sol Charoen Krung 49 at a stand unnamed across from Tealicious where we had a chicken stir fry with rice and rice noodles with shrimp and calamari, plus a beer from down the alley and an espresso from across. Total 180 B = $5. Wow.
After a lovely visit to an almost empty Museum of Contemporary Art it was time for dinner at the number one selection of Tomy & Co's wife's brother who lives here running the Vogue lounge, Namsaah. The widely touted confited duck Spring roll was superb, the pork short ribs with sweet and sour sauce and apple kimchi was most excellent, but the roasted banana on a crepe base with caramelized creme brûlée was an over-the-top, best use of banana ever, dessert. With a lemon-lime flavored gin and tonic, bottle of Chilean Cab and a small bottled water, our bill was 3,024.89 B or $84.33. An incredible find and no wonder Thomas Deledalle rated it tops for us.
Day 2 in Bangkok started off slowly with another of what is deemed the best breakfast buffet in Bangkok, at the lebua at state tower, giving one everything from kouignaman to sushi, at least according to my guy who would live here more if he could.
In any case, we had another unexpected tour of the city by taxi when a rookie driver had no idea where we were lunching and exposed us to every unknown neighborhood en route to the original Mango Tree restaurant, not the one we'd asked for on the water, but nevertheless the food was exemplary - a shrimp Thai salad and green curry on shrimp, which with a big bottle of Singha and two espressi and a small still water was 3000 B or $xx.
For dinner we went to the mothership of the 12-branch Blue Elephant, whose Paris outlet we ate at in 1992. It's in a 1905 "house" and has been beautifully retrofitted so one seems to be eating modern Thai cuisine in an ancient setting. After 3 amazing amuses, we had sautéed scallops with organic lemongrass and grilled sea bass with a mixture of divine chopped and minced veggies. With a small bottle of still water and bottle of local Chenin Blanc our bill came to 2,483.47 B or zzz dollars.
Come back? To any of the 5 places we ate at without hesititation.

Montmartre Eating Update: the new and old in the North, South, West and East of it.

I live North of Montmartre and have been in my current coop or other places nearby in the 18^th for 30 years. Generally I eat lunch somewhere else in town but from time to time try the local joints. Here’s a summary of my findings:

East – A challenge; Cheri Bibi is quite frankly a mess and the Brasserie Barbes, while enjoyable for a gendarme manqué spotting drug deals at Barbes-Rochechouart, is just ordinary food.

South – Since the departure of Daniel Rose, there is really only Premices, which is truly a destination restaurant and worthy of our custom.

West – Sens Unique see below.

North – So we all know about the old: La Table d’Eugene, its second Rallonge and the Bistrot du Maquis (but forget about Coq Rico and Antoine Hearah’s places)

How about the new? – Well, there’s been a revolution, and here are the best of 2016 with a quick word about them (fuller descriptions can be found on John Talbott’s Paris):

7.5 Ken Kawasaki: Wait, wait, he's not one more Japanese chef doing French food: he's special.

7.1 Le Bistrot de la Galette: Sure does change one's opinion about eating on top of Montmartre!  (Credit for the photo above goes to the designer of their carte.)

6.9 Le Jean Mouloud: Certainly NOT your usual neighborhood bistro orientale: this place in a winner.

6.9 Le Pres d'Ici: A true breath of fresh air for the nabe.

6.5 Uptown: This is a surprising little find on Montmartre, except for....

6.0 Sunset: This is what the neighborhood really needed: a friendly, upscale farm to table bio wine cafe, neo-bistro open 7 days a week 8 am to 2 am.

6.0 Sens Unique: More than a neighborhood fish-oriented bistro; not yet a destination.

5.3 Noun: An even more pleasant neighborhood restaurant.

5.0 Le Réciproque: A delightful neighborhood place; no more no less.

5.0 Le Fichon: Nothing wrong, nothing notable.

5.0 Illiose: A friendly, neighborhood, one man band place.

Watershed Tavern at Boothbay Craft Brewery: Devil's Thumbprint: Great fried haddock and incredible fries.

The Watershed Tavern at the Boothbay Craft Brewery in Boothbay Maine was a revelation.  I've been coming to Boothbay since wartime, that's WWII and while the take-out lobsters, clams, lobster rolls and chicken nuggets (for the grands) are terrific to eat at home, we've never eaten out at a dazzling place. Today our Gang of 12 of our kids and grands decided to try this place and I went with some hesitation.

The reception and seating was immediate, the orders were taken after 20 minutes, the flights of beer arrived after 40 minutes and the food much much later.  But it was well worth the wait; I had ordered the Devil's Thumbprint, essentially fish 'n chips and it was clearly the very best huuuuge pieces of haddock with the very best aioli and very best fries I've had in eons - and the coleslaw was close to the very best.

Our bill for 12, before the imposed tip, was $289.73, thus $48.28 a couple.

Go?  So if you want to have real Yankee food rather than the Parisian imitation, you cannot do better than at this seemingly unimpressive joint.