John Talbott's Paris

Fulgurances l'adresse in the 11th: Killian Crowley is not quite up to Yannick Alleno but he's working on it.

Pre: Well yesterday we ate with Yannick Alleno at Pavyllon and today with Killian Crowley at Fulgurances who was asked by Delicious Magazine "Which cookbook would you take with you, to the desert island?" Ans. "L’enfant qui rêvait d’étoiles by Yannick Alleno."

6.5 Fulgurances l'adresse, 10 rue Alexandre Dumas in the 11th, 01.43.48.14.59, (Mero: Rue des Boulets), closed Saturdays and Sundays is a truly different place in Paris, offering young chefs a  several month opportunity to run a fine-tuned restaurant in a hot part of town.

Colette started off with radicchio and beets with soft cheese under the pretty red beets and leaves and my friend and I had salmon trout ; (I liked the latter); then we had beef with kale and ray with burnt onions.  then we all ended with a terrific cake  with partly baked apples.  Note: after two days of listless Richard coffee, today ours was great.

Our bill, with a bottle of wine and 3 coffees, was 123.50E or 82.32E a couple.

Go?   me, maybe.

Scaria in the 11th: Complex dishes in an innovative setting.

6.0 Scaria, 88 ave Parmentier, in the 11th, 09.83.47.62.66, closed Sundays (Metro: Parmentier) has been open for 2 years but not attracted much press, so when a keen spotter of promising new places, especially in the 11th, gave me a nod, I lined lunch up immediately. It's a coffee shop/épicerie/restaurant that is bursting with local families of all ages.  The carte consists of lots of small plates (which actually were adequate in size for us), each of which had numerous ingredients.

We three started off in completely different directions: with a mushroom and sponge cake (who ever heard of such a thing?) off the vegetarian list, and poulpe and spicy guacamole with radishes and scallops snackee with butternut puree from the fish section of the menu.

For mains, we went for slices of magret de canard with salsifis, merlu with parsnip and beef cheeks with helianthus; all of which had numerous other nuts and herbs added.

For dessert we shared a rice pudding and a ganache of chocolate.

Our bill, with a bottle and a glass of really good, light Sicilian natural wine with sulfates and 3 coffees, was 126.50E or 84.32E a couple.  dB's despite kids yelling, was 82.9

Go?  If in the 11th, this is a great local place to drop into anytime and the complexity of dishes will astonish.

Botanique in the 11th: Hurry, the game is almost up.

Botanique in the 11th is not only open on Monday it’s right near our friends’ apartment and seemed ultimately appropriate for a repeat visit, this time in game season.  We were seated right over the glass floor/ceiling of the wine cellar and across from a beautiful art strip.  We took one look at the menu-carte and Colette said “I know what you want” and she was right.

After an amuse of gougeres on top of rich cheesy cream, we were off and running:

With firsts of root vegetables with anchovies, a bulot salad and a fricassee of snails in a spicy sauce.

Then the women had the tender farm chicken, my friend had wild boar and I had quail stuffed with its innards; both the latter with different thick, tasty sauces.

Colette, not having had a first course, feasted on the roasted pear with caramel dessert.

Our bill, with two bottles of Cotes du Rhône and 3 coffees was 232.50€ or 116.25€ a couple (but bring cash or checks because their credit card machine is busted at present.)

 

Biondi in the 11th: "This (Argentinian) beef is really, really, good John." Indeed it all was.

Pre: Now, I'm famously known among my wife, family and friends as only eating French French food in Paris (excepting the occasional take-out pizza or sushi snuck in by adoring granddaughters).  But this is #8 strike day (counting up til #22, the previous French record), so the rules are relaxed.  And, I needed to find a place midway between my great friend's house, yes house, in the 20th and my abode in the 18th, open on Monday, ok, challenge met.

7.2 Biondi, 118, rue Amelot in the 11th, 01.47.00.90.18, closed Sundays, (Metro: Filles du Calvaire) has a well-celebrated chef, ex-Pulperia, who works a wood burning BBQ to its ultimate.  They/he have/has a 15.50€ menu which we chose to venture from because, well, just because, as Capt Reanuld says.  And venture well we did.  They have several dishes in small or large plates (entree-size or plat-size) and entree size was plenty enough.

As an amuse they brought us out a very adequate portion of pate with cornichons and salad followed by our firsts of half-portions (supposedly - my french friend said "half? that's enough for us both') of poulpe and very nicely spiced ceviche.  Then my old pal had an entecote (churrasco) of beef that was one of the tastiest in my life (it didn't need any sauce(s)) that made us both wonder if we should have ordered the 96€ cotes de boeuf ("Stop that John") and I had a half-portion of poulpe.  To top it off my friend did the chocolate several ways and I the declination of dulce de leche - superb - my oh my!

Our bill, with a bottle and 2 glasses of Argentinian Malbec (it seemed de rigueur) plus 2 coffees, even with La Fourchette's 20% off, was 138€.  Music was a bit obtrusive, hey, but he's South American!

Go?  It was worth every penny Richard Quest holds up.

Les 3 Bornes in the 11th: Inventive carte, attentive service, interesting wines.

6.0 Les 3 Bornes, 71 rue Jean Pierre Timbaud in the 11th, closed Sundays, Mon-weds lunch, (Metro: Parmentier), 09.83.75.97.03, advertises itself as a farm to table, seasonal ingredients, etc.  Most Americans my age connect the word “bornes” to the 1954 card game Milles Bornes, which referred to those old red-topped, kilometer stones one saw on secondary highways long ago. But no, this refers to a mother, described as petillante, by Emmanuel Rubin, and two sons.  

The carte, straight out of an ancient typewriter it seems, is inventive, if not playful, full of items such as scallops and clementines, chestnuts and cepes and poitrines of pork and veal.

They started us off with milk fed pig bits in a Jerusalem artichoke soup that was interesting but needed something.  Then my fellow blogger had an crispy egg in a sauce of Jerusalem artichoke and I had a generous portion of baked foie gras with fall vegetables - both were interesting but needed something.

For mains, my dining partner had chicken with the aforementioned chestnuts and cepes and I had the pork belly stuffed with something; interesting, huge, but they needed something.  We finished up sharing an inventively shaped roast apple and cinnamon ice cream that didn’t need anything.

Our bill with 4 glasses of wine and 2 coffees was 97.40€.

Go?  How can you not love a place that serves a wine called “the land of the  dinosaurs” although there tended to be something missing and it wasn't salt, we tried that.”

Fulgarances under Akané Monavon in the 11th: Today the staff outshone the food.

Fulgurances, 10 rue Alexandre Dumas in the 11th, was so impressive under cheffe Akané Monavon last month that we had to come back with the American I've known the longest in France (c. 1953).  We were warmly welcomed and beautifully served throughout our meal, so much so that it was pure pleasure (note across the street a store called "Plan B", clearly not what Americans first think of).

It's a 2-2-1 menu-carte for 28E and we ran the table: starting with a perfect egg with cepes and onion in a delicious broth and a tataki of tuna with greens; then a beef cheek pot au feu and BBQ mackerel, both with spinach and rice with nuts; finishing with a pannacotta with berries of some sort.

Our bill, with their filtered water, three coffees and a bottle and glass of wine, was E122.50 or E81.66 a couple.

Le Relais Ultralocale in the 11th: “Well, it’s inexpensive” and is very accommodating.

6.0 Le Relais, 10 rue La Vacquerie in the 11th, 01.70.38.64.14, closed weekends, (Metro: Voltaire) is described as serving ultralocale food, from Paris, the Ile de France and all of France if necessary. I arrived super-early and entered through the door that also leads to L’Antenne Studios and (TV) Production Performance Art Theater and the staff of both were terrifically welcoming. When my two co-diners from the area we’re seated we split up the 2-2-3 carte which was 22€ for 3 dishes.

They both had local real slices sliced tomatoes with herbs and olive oil and I had a haddock (not too smoked as is usually the case) with its spicy herbs and oil. Then the Mrs. had a garden salad with minced black olives and the men had a leg of duck which needed a lot of help (salt and pepper was not sufficient). We finished up with a crumble, yogurt with sliced strawberries and the cafe gourmand.

With a bottle and glass of wine, our bill was just under 99€ or 66€ a couple. Not really much noise and they had a wheelchair elevator.

Go back? If I lived nearby I think I might.

Fulgurances in the 11th with Akane Monavon: They keep bringing on the talent.

8.0 Fulgurances, 10 rue Alexandre Dumas in the 11th, 01.43.48.14.59, closed weekends, Monday and Tuesday lunch, (Metro: Boulets-Montreuil), is a place that brings in new chefs for a few month, so every time I eat here I vow to stop coming because I’ll never hear of them after they leave - but I break the promise when I read about a new one.  This season it’s Akane Monavon, who has traveled the world from Burgundy to Tokyo to Iceland.

The carte is 25€ for 3 dishes and we had two cool starters - watermelon with chèvre and ceviche of octopus, both nicely herbed; then BBQ’d aile de raie and crispy crusted poitrine de porc, both with spinach, rice and baby tomatoes; and finally melon with panna cotta.

Our bill, with a fine bottle of Beaujolais and 4 superb coffees from the 18th, with excellent bread, was 88€?  Db’s were 79.9.  Handicapped accessible.

Go?  Yup, until she leaves, then I’ll probably try the next young talent.  Bring 'em on.

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?

Fulgurances in the 11th: Its chef Alban Chanteloup's time in the spot-light.

7.0 Fulgurances in the 11th has a fine tradition of bringing in chefs who are at on the brink of striking out on their own but are not quite there yet: Alban Chanteloup being the most recent.  It''s not as if he hasn't been around, the list of places he's visited and or cooked in includes Switzerland, Australia (Tasmania) & New Zealand, Japan, Thailand, Laos and Viet Nam.  And I suspect there are subtle hints of their influences although the meal we had was solidly French.

He started us off with an amuse of chopped mushrooms in the light but flavor-filled bouillon.  Then the table split between a runny egg in an herb/sorrel/nut soup and artichoke heart and leafs with yogurt and grilled onions - superb.

The main courses were grilled aile de raie with spinach, lemon and fennel and BBQ'd pork shoulder with tahini and pleurottes which generated a wonderful warmth in my mouth.  Dessert was a simple compote of rhubarb and strawberries with yogurt; what better ending could you imagine?

Our bill with one bottle and two glasses of wine and 3 coffees was 145.50 or 72.75 E a couple.

Go back?  I hope to if only to see what other tricks this guy has up his sleeve.