John Talbott's Paris

Les Desnoyez in the 20th: Great Grub and the prix-qualite prize of the year, so far, award.

Setup: So I Uber over to the darkest 20th, on a street filled with graffiti, I'd never heard of before this month, the rue de Denoyez.  There are young folks coming in and out places that seem to be exhibition, dining or clothing spaces.  On this street are at least two restaurants that recently popped up. Today I was with my great pal, a fellow blogger and what a treat we had.

 

8.2 Le Desnoyez, 3, rue Denoyez (Desnoyez, Denoyer, what gives here?), in the 20th, 06.61.19.18.31, closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays (Metro: Belleville). I enter - 23 seats, 6 of them stools, look at the menu 2-2-2, but starters at 4€, whoa, and (Oxford comma) the wine list, beginning at 20 something.  Wow.  Two chefs, one front room woman and a bunch of clients who are either local or visitors from other regions of France.  We order.

 Firsts, we shared.  Leeks with goat cheese and nuts and fried chicken livers with coriander.  Man oh man.  In heaven.

 

Then maigre with carrot puree and a pork sausage with lettuces, I thought the latter was the only downer - the sausage should have had more moisture e.g. fat from something like pigs' feet.

 

Finally, desserts of goat cheese with oregano and EVOO and a Creme Catalan/Creme brûlée. 

Our bill, with no bottled water, so-so bread, one bottle of Ardeche and two incredibly good coffees was 63 €.

Go?  My great resource, Mangeur, said "yes", I can only agree.  Super food, great prices, how long can they go on in so tiny a space.  Run!

ChoueTte in the 20th: "How would you rate it?" "9, 8, 7" "Ah but I probably won't be back."

6.8 ChoueTte (well, that's the way they spell it), 87, rue des Pyrenees in the 20th, 09.86.44.93.58, closed Sundays and Mondays (Metro: Maraichers) means both owl, of course, and great or superb.  And it was.  And it's kind of strange that none of the big boys have reviewed it for the 4+ months since it opened because it is truly an oasis in rather a food dessert.  Anyway, I got there ahead of my only two readers of this blog who had in tow, one boyfriend, and because of a mixup in seating we only connected via cellphone to get together.

As we began to order our firsts, I realized none on the chalkboard spoke to me so I asked if the tapas on the laminated carte were available for lunch; Ans. For sure.  So, while my companions enjoyed their white bean veloute with bacon and oil of cepes and 3 beet cubes with a chorizo emulsion, I was more than pleased by my mozzarella beignets.

 

For mains two of us had the duck parmentier with celery puree and orange sauce and the other two swordfish steak with watercress sauce and carrot mousseline; both fine but not mind-blowing.

Come dessert time, all of our eyes went to the bottom of the laminated carte where the ices from Raimo in the 12th were listed and among them, I was most impressed by the fig, rhubarb and confited ginger.

The bill, ah the bill, hummm; well, the threesome kindly treated me which was a pleasant surprise since we managed to put away almost the equivalent of 3 bottles of wine.  BTW, the bread was not impressive, nor the coffees, but the conversation made up for them.

Go?  Those of us living afar find this part of the 20th distant but for others it is a nice safe harbor in a storm.  Warning though: sitting in the back room subjects one to both loud noise (78.4 dB) and isolation from the wait-staff.

Les Triplettes (de Belleville): Not a destination but definitely fun if you live nearby.

5.1 Les Triplettes, 102 blvd de Belleville in the 20th, 01.43.15.09.54, open 7/7, (Metro: Belleville or Couronnes).  Sofiane Saadi Haddad, ex of Quedubon, much loved by its neighbors, has arrived on this Street of Dreams, Chinese vegetables and electronics.  The place is totally spiffed up, with an enormous number of tables that were fully occupied (and noisy - 88.5 dB) by the time we got to our main courses.  The prices for this fresh food, are astounding: 12.50 E for lunch with coffee, a la carte 20 E or so and wines 22 E+.

The menu lists many things "of the day" - salad, raw fish, etc., none of which existed today, but we soldiered on.  My dining companion, ordered "sensible" things (which were the order of the day this being an appetizer, salad, burger, fish 'n chips and light dessert place) and started with 3 croquetees with salad - very tasty I must say and I, frustrated at not being able to have raw fish, had the next best thing, cold cod salad with cilantro or another leafy thing just as spicy, also quite tasty.

Then as we were waiting for our mains, I saw the fish 'n chips go by - "Whoa!" - it looked terrific.  And Madame's Caesar salad arrived and wouldn't you know, there were chunks of battered protein with chips sauce and it took us both a minute to realize it was the same batter and sauce - quite quite good.  Meanwhile, I had the North African style lamb with couscous and dried fruits that was also quite edible.

We picked at the compote of mirabelles, which with a bottle of wine, no bottled water and two coffees, resulted in a check of 56 E.

Go?  If 25-35, in the mood for cocktails and light food in the heart of Belleville, you bet.

Now off to dinner with delicious looking Jewish pastries from Nani next door:

Felicity Lemon: "The best, inventive meal since we arrived," my buddy Paga said.

I returned to Felicity Lemon (a half block down from the Belleville Metro) with Colette, our two ex-downstairs' neighbors and my oldest French friend, furiously tugging my forelock and pre-apologizing for what I thought might be the culinary equivalent of the "Sophomore slump" - that is, a disasterous second meal after an astonishing first a few weeks ago.  Not to worry.

First, the mistress of the salle came out and asked if we were aware of their new policy of small plates, then chef Sylvia François thanked me for writing her and it up so well a bit back and while nothing was comp'd or putting-on-the-dog stuff, we once again had a wonderfully creative meal.  We just ordered away and among the five of us had almost everything offered.

 

 

 From top to bottom, each more interesting than the previous:
Carottes rapees and Burrata
White asparagus with a pear and lemon-horse-raddish sauce - whoa!
Tuna in a boullion with ginger and yuzu
Arancini (Sicilian squid ink rice balls) and salad
Calamari with red peppers
Thai pork salad
Scallops with passion fruit, sliced ginger and passion fruit
Duck breast with an apricot sauce.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As we were dithering over the desserts I said - "one of each" and so it was - a grenache of chocolate, apple tart and cocoa a lemon cakey thing.  As Liberace would say - "Wunnerful, wunnerful!"

With three bottles of Jeff's Languedoc, no bottled water and 3 coffees (I said we weren't comp'd but I don't see the coffees on the bill so, we maybe were) - the bill was the equivalent of 68.80 E a couple.

Felicity Lemon in the 20th: The price is right, the cantine-tapas atmosphere cool and the superb food is made in the kitchen*.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

7.2 Felicity Lemon, 4, rue Lemon (see - it's a play on words - Rue Lemon, Felicity Lemon, Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot's Secretary's name - got it?) in the 20th, (Metro: Belleville), 01.71.32.71.77, closed Sundays, Tuesday and Wednesday dinners, is a place I've been waiting to go to since it opened in September 2012 but never found the right companion or day.  But today, my old ex-co-host from the food website that cannot be named was finishing up a Paris by Mouth tour at Jacques Genin and it was a quick two stops on the Metro away.  It's on an alley, across the street from a hottie hotel and has a carte with lots of French tapas-size offerings.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We sort of ordered three dishes and sort of shared them and more than sort of, enjoyed them all: the winner for me was/were the quail legs with garlic with really spicy green mango strips but the interestingly-filled sausage with a la plancha'd slices of pumpkin (which tasted more like French squash than American pumpkin) and sole with a salad with at least two types of spicy radishes were pretty darn good too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then she, having noshed for 3 hours on croissants, cheese and charcuterie, was disinclined to proceed but I insisted on trying the baked apple with beurre sale caramel and whipped cream and it too was outstanding.  With a bottle and glass of Cotes du Rhone (the wines go from 2.80 a glass, thru 7.50 a 50 cl carafe and 16 E a bottle on up), no bottled water but two coffees, our bill was 57.80 E for the two of us.

Go?  Not to cross town for, but if you find yourself in Belleville, this is the place.  dB level = 66.3; oh by the way, the chef is a black woman - one Sylvia François - hummm, wonder where she came from that results in these flavors? 

*My reference to food made in the kitchen is not only a swipe at Metro-dependant places but a tip of the hat to F. Simon who in today's Croque-Notes said - "Alors, demandons aux chefs de revenir un peu plus a leurs fourneaux."

Mama Shelter in the 20th: "John aren't you 4 years late?"

 

 

 

 

 

4.5 Mama Shelter, 109, rue de Bagnolet in the 20th, 01.43.48.48.48 (Metro/bus; foggeddaboudid, walk), is a place that opened in 2008 and got very mixed reviews and lukewarm ones from 2/12ths of us at Paris by Mouth; so why did I go?   Hummmm. 

Well, it keeps being mentioned in the print (cf Figaroscope) and webo- (PbM) media; it's open on Monday, and I have been a loyal follower of Alain Senderens since his glory years at Lucas-Carton, L'Archestrate, Lucas-Carton (that's right) and through his voluntary de-star-ment at Alain Senderens and transformation of it and le Passage (whew!) to his new vision and life-style post 65 years of age.

This place neither looks nor has food of any of his prior efforts; it's hipster-ville, with a pizza station in front, a long common table, mismatched, trendy seats, newspapers (marked "Bad News" in English), bars (I counted three) and what else?  Lord.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For a starter I chose the cocotte of artichoke hearts, carrots and winter veggies in a rich (but not cream-based) sauce - one piece of artichoke was so hard as to be inedible, the rest was OK.  On to the special of the day - can't see it? - neither could I or at least see what it was getting at - the salmon was OK but with noodles and what the 18th century Brits and French thought was "curry," it just didn't make it. 

Immediately, one of the head guys on the staff of very attentive and wonderful waitfolk, said "Not to your liking?, want something else?, please let us repair this damage."  I said it was me, my taste-buds, not to worry, it just didn't work for me.  (PS no charge on the bill).  But then I had the fudge/caramel/vanilla sunday and it was just fine.

The bill, OK, if they had charged me as I insisted they should, but they didn't, being really nice, three dishes and a half of wine with coffee and very fine bread, would amount to about 47 E.

Go?  Sadly, I'm afraid not, I fear that my old culinary king is truly on a downhill slope - sorry, Alain, I loved you when you were you but now, this hipster-World Food thing is not worthy of the Senderens brand despite the terrific staff.

"Le Baratin: Best restaurant in Paris?" wrote Francois Simon Saturday; wow, will that draw fire.

When anyone writes a headline like "Le Baratin: Best restaurant in Paris?" you/he know(s) it's going to draw fire, like the brave WWII GI's in Hollywood movies who left the bunker to deceive the nasty Nazis and allow their comrades to eliminate them.  The trouble with this sort of teaser is that, especially with M. Simon, one doesn't know whether he's being sarcastic, sardonic, solipsistic or sadistic.

But to mix metaphores; saying that sort of thing, is like throwing meat to the wolves, even when tempered by his 4th sentence stating that it's impossible to declare a place as the "best restaurant in Paris", as it was years ago, because comparisons with the neighborhood trattoria, sushi-joint or adorable South-West bistro are impossible to make.   But the raw meat is there, wolves gotta go.

The ardoise is incredible - 18 E for (I think) 6 firsts, 3 mains and 3 desserts or cheese.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In any case Paga, facing his last meal after a month, didn't have to convince me much to go back there after a five year hiatus. (P.S. Only afterwards did I check the archives and see that in 2006 when "everyone" "discovered" it after it had hidden for 20 years in the deepest 20th, I found it merited only a 5.25 and never returned.)  Madame had the beet salad topped with chopped eggs, M. the museau vinaigrette and I the best of the three, chicken livers topped with tasteless chopped peanuts and salad.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mains were an OK cocotted veal with rice and a so-so rable of lapin with mushrooms, a lot of carrots and a fine gratin of cauliflower.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The finale consisted of an OK St Nectaire and OK creme caramel.

Our bill for three meals, no bottled water, quite miserable bread, three coffees and a bottle of wine (we did not order the temptingly named Yoyo Banyuls) would come to 87 E for 3, thus 58 E a couple.

Go?  To the "Best" restaurant in Paris for 87 E a couple sure, but the Baratin, not so.

Les Mondes Bohemes in the 20th: "Une maison de vacances?"

 
5.0 Les Mondes Bohemes, 31, rue des Vignoles in the 20th, 01.43.48.69.38 called to me as I continued my quest to eat in the country, in the city - on the Rue des Vignoles, a corruption of vignobles, my handy-dandy Bernard Stephane "Dictionnaire des Noms de Rues" tells me, and it was heralded a few weeks ago as being a "terrasse des vacances" and one of the 10 best terraces in Paris in the same company as Tokyo Eat and the Cafe Marly.  Right up my alley so to speak.

The area has undergone Boboization since the days in the '60's when we used to crash at a house (yes, a house, small, but a house) of a dear friend, who's now off cavorting with George Clooney et al in Deauville (tough life these French friends of mine have, houses in Paris and Deauville on a schoolmarm's salary, but then it's Socialism and they believe in science). The area even has goofy cocktail places like this.

The Bohemian World, as this restaurant is called, is a great looking place, sort of like a summer beach restaurant, with vivid colored chairs and lots of greenery and a terrific staff, who once they figured out that my guest wasn't showing, showered me with kindness and even an English/American/speech joke.

 

OK.  So they have two "menus" - one at 13 and the other at 18 E for two dishes (but dessert is only 7 E more so figure 20 or 25 E) and wine comes every whichway at reasonable prices.  I didn't really cotton (wonder what the origin of that is?) to the starters but wanted my daily fix of greens, so I had a lovely mesclun salad and faiselle (cheese with herbs) that was surprisingly simple, surprisingly spicy and surprisingly good.  Chalk one up for the home team. 

Then I had the roasted chicken "filet", how can you screw that up,right?  And it came not with dreaded mashies but roasted potatoes but everything was tasteless, where is Mr Mcilheny when you need him?

 

 

 

 

 

For my dessert, I had a switcheroo times two; I ordered the pistachio creme brulee - "all out" - "may we serve you the coffee creme brulee" - and then of course they found one more order of the pistachio; all is well in heaven.  But throughout, in this totally locally-cliented (where not one patron had a tattoo (yes I peeked) and all the smokers sat on the right of the terrace), unheard of, place in the unreachable 20th, the staff was chipper, flexible and nice to even a foreign interloper from the 18th.

The bill, one of the best prix/qualite deals going - with the 13 aka 20 "menu" plus 1/2 liter of wine, a quite good coffee, albeit poor bread, and M. Delanoye's best H2O, one exits only 27 E lighter.

Go?  If you're in the 20th on holiday, why not?  You won't run into dsk there, I guarantee you.

Spring in the 1st: Choices and flowers and Colette is in heaven

Colette's in town and that means a return to Spring where she swooned over the flowers/plants in the front and back as well as the choices for red protein - pintade, veal or lamb shoulder.

Himself preparing the amuse gueules of stacked tuna, veal, trout eggs and a leaf of lettuce with vitello tonnato sauce aside. 

 

 

 

 

OK: here we go with the main stuff:

- merlu with a fluffy sauce whose perky acidity came from the green tomatoes, with kalamata olive halves, with a green tomato beignet,

- a rollatine of tete de veau with a tad of foie gras, yellow mushrooms and sorrel leaves,

- the pintade of two sorts, sauteed in butter then grilled, served with a fresh almond/red wine sauce and a puree, and a

- dessert trio of red-wine-soaked cherries with vanilla ice cream, a crustless lemon tarte and a tuile with minted chocolate.

The bill, with two coffees, no bottled water and 1.6 bottles of a Loire red with a super rolls and his traditional wonderful algae butter was 132 E.

Go?  Isn't it obvious; I avoided saying wonderful, marvellous, great, good, fine, superb, etc., because with his cooking it gets repetitive but it is all of the above.

Le Bistrot du 20eme in the 20th: A real 20th century bistro: 1950's dishes with modern sensibilities.

5.1 Le Bistrot du 20eme, 203, ave Gambetta in the 20th (Metro: St Fargeau), 01.40.31.86.07, open 7/7 is a place that was calling to me and not just because it was Saturday when the fabulously priced 3-course "menu" (14 E) was not served but a la carte was estimated to be 25-35 E.

(Front-story.  I ate there, subtitled my review "A real 20th century bistro: 1950's dishes with modern sensibilities" and when I got home read Emmanuel Rubin's review subtitled "Where are the rutabagas" in which he mentions food from "after the [WWII] war.....ration cards.....and a sack of potatoes [by the door].") well, at least two of us got the same ambiance/impression.)

Let me explain.  As one enters, you seem swept back to the 1950's, antique bicycles, chotskies, dangling Kub Or boxes and boxes or bags of seasonal products.  So you get the message - post-war food with seasonal products.

He/they had three dishes marked in green, meaning among other things, the chef's specialities that day.  I chose all three. 

I started with the (tiede) but previously cooked foie gras with honey that seemed to have a hint of fig, very nice indeed. 

Then I moved on to the jeu de boeuf which my charming waitress, who desperately wanted to speak English, although born in Algeria, advised was so tender it could be eaten with a spoon.  She lieth not.  It was tender and served atop well-cooked sliced carrots.  However, I didn't think the vinegarette sauce worked as well as the classic red-wine reduction.

Then I was to have the roasted brioche with careme caramel sale but didn't have room.

My bill with toasted bread (it was May First after all), 50 cl of the wine of the moment and a coffee was 42 E.

Go?  If it's old bistro cooking with modern sensibilities you're looking for and you're staying at the hotel the waitress said was just up the hill or live nearby, for sure.  While the other bar-cafes were jammed with muguet bearing customers, they looked fungible, serving fugible industrial food.