John Talbott's Paris

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.

Le Cornichon in he 14th: Q. The "quintessential bistro" in Paris? A. Pretty close.

Le Cornichon in the 14th is a place a local turned us onto a few years ago in game season and we usually go then, but another denizen of the area needed to be near his home and office and so we found ourselves here again today.  Someone said "you must reserve" and indeed, you must (today there were two office parties and with the other locals, the place was packed).

My companions quickly decided to have the soup with two types of mushrooms while I had sweetbreads of lamb toasted on the plancha with a host of vegetables; both perfect for a dank, dark day.

For mains we had the fish of the day - a perfectly cooked piece of rouget, duck bits with mushrooms and baby pork morsels with carrots.

I rarely have cheese, because our street is such a great source of such for dinner, but it called to me and was terrific; meanwhile our friend had an intriguing lemon tart, really a wafer and Colette had pineapple with a sorbet.

Our bill, with two bottles of wine and three coffees, was 185 E or 123.33 E a couple for a fine fine meal.  Was it traditional bistro? No, bistronomique? Maybe, neobistro? Humm?  I have difficulty with classifications.  But in the end, who cares?

Zeyer in the 14th: a Dome Brasserie, Just that. No more. No less.

6.1 Le Zeyer, 67 rue d’Alesia in the 14th, 01.45.40.43.88 (Metro: Alesia), open 7/7, is a place my old French friend suggested near his digs for a Sunday lunch when I pressed him to name where he went with his kids for fun.  Only on receiving the bill did I grasp that it was the third place to the big Dome and Bistro du Dome Montparnasse, the latter of which I like quite a lot.  As I walked by the spread of shellfish in front, I fixed on a few oysters and indeed, on the menu Zeyer (43€) 6 such bivalves were waiting for me.

My friend ordered the St Pierre (which he called John Dory showing off his English), with risotto surrounded by sliced radishes and I had an entrecôte cooked blue which was fine without all the cooked onions and peppers on top.  The frites that came with it were the usual in Paris, which means soggy, not crisp.

Then with my “menu” I got a creme brûlée which we both had 1/3rd of.

Our bill, with a bottle of Chateldon and 50cl of Gamay from the Loire, plus two coffees, was 96.20€. Db’s = 81.3

Go again?  Hey, this was just the perfect nearby brasserie to catch up with an old pal after many years apart.  The company, service and ambiance far outweighed any complaints about the food.

The Bistro du Dome: Sometimes the best ones are the old ones.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pre: In 1991, on our first sabbatical in France, we were loyal readers of Patricia Wells reviews in the Herald Trib and followed her advice to come here and over the years have been pleasantly surprised to find it putting out consistently good seafood 365 days a year, despite multiple changes of kitchen and front room staff.  It being Easter Sunday and our family having gone to the Catacombs it seemed a logical place to eat.

We were seated in the very back, in what used to be the “Yankee zone “ but today was Francophonic and ideal.  They still have those huge chalkboards which seem dated after 27years but so what?  Colette ordered the good old aile de raie, my daughter had the scallops with corrals and spinach and my grandson and I had the solettes in butter with thick potatoes.

To finish up, Colette and my daughter had the apple crumble, our grandson the chocolate moelleux and I a fine baba.

Our bill with a bottle and two glasses of wine, no bottled water but 3 coffees was 201.50€ or 100.75€ a couple.

Cornichon in the 14th: Like an old shoe, it’s so easy to go back to, esp. for the game.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cornichon in the 14th has been an “old reliable” that is, dishing out simple, solid, bistro food served with humor, grace and warmth, for quite a while. We owe our great friend S. for bringing it back into our regular orbit and today we went with another treasured friend, a French pal who dates back 64 years (Yikes!). If you didn’t get the name before walking in, the art on the walls certainly brings it home.

We three, I’m serious, struggled for minutes, to decide what we wanted, the choices were so tempting.  Anyway Colette started with a generous portion of coques in butter, our friend, another generous portion of tete de veau and me, a too big bowl of chestnut soup with bacon and mini-Brussel sprouts, signaling the start of Fall/winter.

The real reason I wanted to go today was to have a touch of game before an extended exit from France, during which I probably wouldn’t have much taste of such treasures.  Our dear friend settled on a cocotte of partridge with lots of veggies, Colette had the paleron of beef with startlingly colored veggies - brilliant greens, vivid red beets and bright carrot-colored carrots.  I meanwhile indulged in a tourte of grouse with its innards accompanied by the bowl of lovely greens.  All were super.

But this being “the last supper” as it were, we had to order desserts - Colette had figs with lettuce, who ever heard of such a thing?, but it worked, our friend the tartelette and I holding up the cheese front, some lovely chèvre cru.

Our bill with no bottled water but two bottles of a Cotes de Roussillon and three coffees, was 206€ or 137.33€ a couple, if my math is correct.

Montee in the 14th; “an excellent meal” our guests agreed.

Montee in the 14th is now a regular stop for us on the Paris food circuit; wonderful welcome, brisk not brusque service and exciting food, of which, one of our exacting guests said today you can taste each ingredient.  As I entered I had a deja vue experience, sitting down a few tables back was a couple I regularly eat with.  WTF?  But not today.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The lunch “menu” is supposed to be short but Chef Takyuki Nameura doesn’t scrimp on ingredients or courses.  First off came some intruiging amuses of cheese biscuits on toasted shaved mushrooms.  Then shot glasses with layered beets, yogurt and celeriac, followed by shaved calamari, coconut and boulghour.  

Next the big show - cod with a potato, St Pierre with fennel (unpictured) and quail stuffed with innards with currents.

Finally, the desserts - a Palova, chocolate and oreillettes.

Our bill, with their filtered and sparkling water (10€), 2 bottles and one glass of Bordeaux and 4 coffees (20€) was 270 € or 135€ a couple.

La Regalade in the 14th: you can't go home again.

3.0 La Regalade, 49, ave Jean-Moulin in the 14th, 01.45.45.68.58, closed weekends, (Tramway 3b: Jean-Moulin) was sold by Bruno Doucet this year to the former Fish La Boissonnerie chef Oliver (Ollie) Clarke.  This morning while confirming its address, I stumbled on Trip Advisor and stupid me, I read some reviews.  Two said it was the best bistro experience possible and two said it was horrid, one of whom, of Asian extraction, called the servers racist.  Silly me again, I should have listened to the negative reviews.

There are some traces of the Camdeborde/Doucet era in the colorful napery, rack of breads and huge terrines of pate and well as a clever street sign.  I had time to peruse the menu and about half a dozen specials and thought I'd just have one dish - the pigeon which with a 15€ supplement I could justify versus the 3-course "menus" for 37€.  But no, our senior male wait-guy said no, I had to have 3 things but I could have coffee instead of a dessert.  Btw, the lady wait-person was chipper and friendly but the guy doesn't seem to like his job and maybe should do something that doesn't involve customer service, like driving a SNCF train or working as a diener in an anatomy lab.

Anyway, forced to have a first, I, along with Colette, had the petoncles grilled, in their shells.  Colette needed lemon to make them flavorful.    our friend had a lobster risotto, she said the rice was soggy.

My pigeon was well prepared and as ordered, rose.  Colette's fish, St Pierre, was undercooked and was sent back and she added salt and lemon to improve the otherwise bland product.   Our friend's tuna was not flavorful.  The saving grace was a side-dish of well cooked white beans.

Colette had her usual rice pudding with caramel and our friend the warm Grand Marnier soufflé, both very good.

Our bill, with no bottled water, a bottle and two glasses of wine and two coffees, was181€ or 120.66€ a couple.

Go?  Well, I guess it was worth a try but Colette declared "never again!"

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Millesimes 62 in the 14th; "No, it's not possible [to wrap it up]" and other service faux-pas despite one-star food.

Millesimes 62, 13, place de Catalogne in the 14th, 01.43.35.34.35, closed Saturday lunch and Sundays, (Metro: Gaite) is a place I fell in love with last month for its warm welcome, prompt service, great food and nice send-off.  Boy, was today's experience the opposite, except for the food.

We entered and were greeted but hardly recognized, despite my having reserved on La Fourchette.  Seated and given cartes with no wine list, which we had to ask for.  After a long wait, our orders were taken and water delivered but without glasses in which to pour it.  Long wait to get superb first course, given to me, with no plate or utensils for Colette, sautéed cepes with outstanding bread.

 

Long wait for our mains, same for everyone around us.  Finally Colette got her bar with carrot purée with cumin and I, my leg of lamb, cooked perfectly, but with a non-sharp knife and a salad/desert fork. (I had asked for the rarest slices (I'm familiar with legs of lamb) and the waitguy snapped and said I'd take it the way it was cooked, "thank you."  Not nice.). The beans with a touch of garlic, were also superb, but there was too much of both so I asked to have them wrapped to take home for dinner.  "It's not  possible," huh, no aluminum foil in a fancy kitchen like this?  And the media are raging on about "gaspillage."  

For dessert Colette had a fondant of chocolate with a caramel interior - again superb food.  

Our original bill was 117.60€ for this superb food, along with no bottled water but a bottle and glass of wine and 2 Illy coffees.  "Wait," I said, La, Fourchette said there was 30% off the carte."  "Oh."  Now it became 93.45€.

Millesmes 62 in the 14th: this place has the smell of one that changes the menu seasonally.

7.7 Millesmes 62 by Sandrine & Stephane Savorgnan, 13/15 place de Catalogne in the 14th, 01.43.35.34.35, closed Saturday lunch and Sundays, (Metro: Gare Montparnasse) wins the business cards of the decade hands-down and the setting inside is lovely as well, although the exterior on the place de Catalogne outside still reminds me of Mussolini Brut.  I was surprised not to see any homages to Barcelona where the massacre just happened, but there were no signs in the huge deserted circle.

The menu or should I say menus looked very interesting, with glutin free and many vegetarian dishes.  I chose to have terrific lentils with outstanding decorticated langoutines and cherry tomatoes that had been marinated and toasted giving them a sweet but vinegarish offsetting taste to the other ingredients.  Then I had a poitrine of duck cooked blue, I know, I know, but it was terrific product with roasted shallots and an unbelievable fig sauce, the only strange thing being the potato galette which I mistook for spaghetti squash or another shredded veggie - nothing like Christian Constant's version.

 

With a half bottle of Rhone, no bottled water and a coffee but no dessert, with The Fourchette-30% one persons can exit for just under 40€ and this is really fancy place, packed with locals.

Go back?  On my trusty steed ASAP.  Despite the woman talking on her cellphone prompting me to ask fir a change on seats it was not too loud - 70 dB

Les Fauves in the14th: A wonderful eatery before or after the train.

 

Ok. So let's play a little word game here.

I say "restaurant Edgar Quintet," and you say

"Ceriserie. Is this a trick question?"

"Yes, what else comes to mind?"

"Nothing." 

Exactly.  If you're looking for food around the Gare Montparnasse, excepting for the excellent Ceriserie, there is nothing, nada, nul.  You get produce from the grocery and eat on the train.  But no longer.

 

6.3 Les Fauves, 33, boulevard Edgar Quintet in the 14th, 01.72.38.58.92, open 7/7 has been open but 4 months to rather good reviews and was packed to the rafters today.  A lot of folks are either coming off or going to trains, but my genial host, the manager, said especially in the evening, the locals come out.  And with good reason.  I arrived an hour and 4 minutes late, having been dumped off my bus at Madeleine, because of Gay Pride Day, which I wholeheartedly support, but because the crazy right folks promised a counter demonstration, it prompted a police presence that harked back to 1968.  I leapt off the bus to get on the Metro, "sorry, closed."  No problem, Chauffeur Prive, aye yie yie, 30 minutes wait and when the charming and patient driver, a woman yet, showed up apologizing, she tried to cross the Seine and every point was policed off, maybe complicating things was Paris's attempt to show they were ready for the Olympic bid by running events along the Seine all day this weekend.  Finally we got to the Pont d'Austerlitz and across and I entered the restaurant full of explanations.  Sorry we gave your table away, well sure, but.  The place was decorated with raw wood that signaled "bio, farm to table."  Cool.

Finally I was seated by the window, more about that later.  I looked at the carte.  Ok, a tomato gaspacho, the first of my season, delicious and cooling. Next a duck magret cooked blue like I requested with a weird tasting sauce (something the chef from the La Maison du Danemark picked up there?). Finished with a cafe gourmand that had the best tiramisu of the year, an ok chocolate and passable fruit salad, nothing special.

My bill, with their house-filtered water, great bread, good coffee and a half-bottle of wine comes to 47€.  I also got a terrific digestif, offered, which I guessed was eau de vie de Prune, wrong, a rhum, wow!  DB's 66.6-80+.

Return?  If going to or coming from Montparnasse, you bet.

Problems?  Well yes,  there are three zones, outside, outside with the windows fully open and inside.  I was at the border of zones 2 and 3 and the cigarette smoke was relentless.

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