John Talbott's Paris

Le MaZenay in the 3rd: Chef Groison continues to Zen-aze.

Le MaZenay, 46 rue de Montmorency in the 3rd, spells its name with a capital Z, thus Zen, and the food has a pure Zen spin to it.

Colette was the only person who ordered a starter (spider crab soup, that was supremely creamy, tasty and beautifully flavored) but someone, the chef or attentive wait-folk, thought that the sight of her sitting alone was unfortunate and sent my friend from the 11th and I a wonderful (rabbit?) terrine with various pickled vegetables, which we enjoyed equally as well.  Then she had another starter, snails with creme de cassis and salad; while we two had the partridge with white beans and puffed potatoes, and, and, glorious cepes.  Finally, we all sort of shared a portion of figs on a very delicious tart.

Our bill, with a bottle and carafe of wine, one of bottled water and 4 coffees, was 191 E or 127.33 E a couple.

 

Raw in the 3rd: not much “until the coques.”

Pre: I’ve been reading about Raw and thinking this is the sort of place I’d like except some reporters mentioned it has "California food."  Well,that’s a turn off.  But i conquered my doubts because of the rave reviews.  Plus I really liked Cru not far away, when it was up and running.

5.25 Raw, 57, rue de Turenne in the 3rd, (chef William Pradeleix), open 7/7, (Metro: Chemin Vert), 01.77.18.37.50, is not “California food,” whatever that is.  It’s not, it’s really French French food.

The setting and carte are cool and it says we should share plates.

So my friend started with the gazpacho - which she reacted to with a Provençal (where she lives) shrug.  Ok.  Then she had a ricotta mousse, with shaved zucchini, yellow beets, gingered watermelon and citrus oil, sounds good eh?, nope another shrug.  I had daurade sashimi with pickled mango, flying fish eggs and white truffle vinegar (yuck, I hate truffles).  At this point, we almost quit, but I in my funk said “how about we share some coques?”  Ok.  Suddenly the earth shook - lovely coques with pickled rhubarb and ginger butter with above average crusty bread.  Ok, you’re forgiven for past sins.

Our bill, with a bottle of San Pellegrino, one of Satellite and two coffees, was 82.50€. db’s Unmeasurable.  A/C and handicapped accessible.

Go?  For the coques, bread and wine in the food desert called the Marais - yes.

Le MaZenay in the 3rd: Spectacular, esp. desserts, although I shouldn’t be surprised after several visits.

Le MaZenay in the 3rd is a delightful experience from start to finish.  Sure, their lunch “menu” is 25€ for three courses, which is easy on the wallet, but the “zen” in MaZenay is evident in chef Denis Groison’s cooking and presentations.

We went with the French friend we’ve known the longest here (she and several of her other French friends painted the third floor in our West Side brownstone 50 years ago in trade for camping out a while shortly after I’d returned from Viet Nam.)

Anyway, our friend from the 20th, started out with the “menu” entree, a perfect egg with sliced coppa and Jerusalem artichokes in their sauce, a terrific beginning.

Then she had the sauvage escargots, Colette had farm chicken with a tarragon sauce and I reveled in a paleron of beef with divine baby onions.  My my!

For dessert, the perfect ending to any meal here, we had the millefeuille of the day, a moelleux of chocolate and a crusty dessert of pecans and other nuts.

Our bill, with a bottle and pot of wine and three coffees, was 151.50 or 101.50€ a couple.

Le MaZenay in the 3rd: Chef Groison once again pulls wonderful rabbits, or at least game, out of his hat.

Le MaZenay in the 3rd has pleased us since it opened and for some reason we go in the fall when game (grouse, pigeon, partridge), mushrooms and figs or mirabelles are on the menu.  As I’ve noted before, Chef Denis Groison's culinary education included stints in Viet Nam and Singapore, which certainly informs his cooking, as do the dishes of his grand-mother.

In any case, I started off, as I did on my first meal here, with wild snails on top of cream on top of a sable on top of a huge green salad composed of greens, arugula, baby spinach and herbs.

Then Colette had a plate of sautéed fall mushrooms with fall vegetables and chopped chestnuts and I had the perdreau with figs, haricots verts, a walnut sauce and a perfect spicy sauce.

To finish up, Colette ordered up and ate the house specialty, the millefeuille with bourbon and vanilla, and surprise, the chef sent me out a dish of his grand-mother’s gouere of poires Williams, which as I told him, was the best preparation of pears this decade.

Our bill, with a bottle and glass of wine and two intense coffees, made like they are in Naples, was 128€. Just as after my first visit, the chef came out to inquire (sincerely) how we liked our food.  With some chefs, one suspects they’re just going though the motions or fishing for complements but Chef Groison, I sense, really wants to know.  And we did.

On the way home, in a louche part of town I saw this walk in place that raised suspicions:

Au Bascou in the 3rd: new chef, same old, sorry.

6.0 Au Bascou, 38, rue Reaumur in the 3rd (Metro: Arts & Metiers) 01.42.72.69.25, closed weekends, is a place we all-loved 20 years ago, non?  But it got a bit tired and the carte seemed stuck in Basque time.  So when a trusted source whispered they had a new chef, I convinced a fellow blogger and his always willing husband to go.

Looks pretty much the same.  First friend orders stuffed peppers with a touch of espilette which were ok and #2 has the “menu” (25€) first, a fine terrine de campagne, with great crusty bread.  So far so good, “why are you nasty, John”

Main dishes: both my friends chose the quail whose interior was unctuous in a delightful way, but the skin was not crisp as I like it (am I being unfair?) and I had, what else?, the veal axoa, right, with espilette, gotta do it.  Well, my fellow blogger and cook extraordinaire asked “is this really veal, veal is young and tender, this is old, tough, bad product and overcooked.”  Ouch!  But since I was starving, I ate enough to appear satisfied.  Now you see why I’m nasty.

Desserts were a panna cotta, a prune-apple tart and a treat called a “creme tendre Au chocolat” that was more than very nice. Ok, the meal was saved.

Our bill, with two Basque wines, one red, one white, don’t ask, no bottled water but one coffee, was 161€ or 107.32€ a couple.

Go?  Yes if you want the Basque food of yesteryear, no if you have been to the Basque Country recently or want something new.

Mr. T. In the 3rd: Not bad, not bad at all, indeed very good (again).

Mr. T., 38 rue Saintonge in the 3rd, 01.42.71.15.34, closed Monday and Tuesday, (Metro: Filles du Calvaire) is a place I had a very nice lunch at a few weeks ago and wanted to sample more of today with Colette.  We went with two dear friends whom we’d met when they were on sabbatical 5 years ago here.

Three of us started with the ceviche of bass with a delightfully spicy dill dressing and one of us had the egg and button mushrooms - all were surprising.

Then two had the cod that Colette called “interesting and delicious,” one had the burned mackerel and I wanted to try a dish I didn’t dare have last month - two tacos with calamari and a great spicy sauce.

For desserts three of us had caramelized figs and Colette ventured to try the weird sounding  “clockwork orange” cheesecake.

Our bill, with two bottles and a glass of wine, one glass of bottled water and four coffees, was 226 € or 113€ a couple.

Carbon in the 3rd: exciting food in the Marais? Thank Buddha.

Prelude: one of my most challenging jobs is to find new and good restaurants to go to with my friend of mine of 64 years who lives and works in the Marais (yah, I know, if this is my toughest barrier, I’ve got it pretty easy).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

7.4 Carbon, 14, rue de Charlot (Is not named for Charlie Chaplin but some guy who executed another guy in 1626, there) in the 3rd, closed Sundays and Mondays, 01.42.72.49.12, (Metro: faggedaboudid) has a sign on the door that says “an ode to nature,” whatever that means.  When I entered I was welcomed warmly but quickly realized the horrible and incredibly loud American music would drown out any conversation, so I asked for it to be turned down, which it was .0001 decibels to the raised thumbs of my like aged co-diners (there was no one young in the place, so the usual excuse “the young people like it this way,” just didn’t hold water.  PS. We had to ask 4 times in English and French (they are bilingual as was the carte and clientele.)  The decor is what I call post-flood brute, unpainted concrete, with plants cleverly suspended on platforms 6 feet over our heads, in case of flooding I assume.

Ok.  The carte is not exciting, but wait.  The stuffed encornet with veggies and croquettes with the best mayonaisse I’ve had in years we’re outstanding.

Then my great friend who bicycled with me down the Loire in 1953 had the lieu jaune, which seems to be all the rage these days, and I had pork with roasted apples that while classic and perhaps trite, was just right for a chilly afternoon.

My friend wanted to hurry off to her cabinet but I insisted on a chocolate dessert with a merengue wafer and I was so right to insist - Ab Fab!

With fine bread, no bottled water, a bottle of Ardeche and one espresso, our bill was 106.50€?

Go? Without hesitation!  Despite the goddamn music at 73.8 DB’s plus.

 

Mr. T. in the 3rd: “I’m coming back with my partner next week.” (Excuse the bad photos)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

7.5 Mr. T., 38, rue Saintonge in the 3rd, 01.42.71.15.34, closed Mondays and Tuesdays (Metro: Filles du Calvaire) is a place one could be put off by, because of its name, its location and its reputation for cocktails, brunches and burgers - but don’t fall for all that.  Sure the name speaks to old Yankees my age but it’s for the Chef, Tsuyoshi Miyazaki, who with another ex-Passage 53 compatriot started this place to bring the young folks of the quarter something different.  As for the brunch on weekends, I called to confirm they had real food as well and was reassured they did.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My friend who lives not far away and I both desired the same two starters and mains so we quickly agreed to order all four.  Our starters were sautéed mushrooms with a soft egg and a ceviche of bass, both outstanding.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then we had the lieu noir with a crispy skin and squid ink sauce and “burned” skin mackerel with nuts.

I really wanted to try their desserts so my friend agreed to split the tiramisu with cocoa crumble which was splendid.

Our bill, with superb bread and coffee, a bottle of wine, 2 aperos and 2 digestifs but no bottled water, was 120€. DB's = 86.9 when the place filled up and all the youngsters got talking.

Go? It’s always nice to find a place with no pretentions, but enormous potential and wonderful fresh food along with terrific service. Yes, indeed, go.  And enjoy the rollers.

Derriere in the 3rd: a quirky place that had "the best waitress and ile flottante (since my Mother's)" he said.

6.5 Derriere (so called because it's in a beautiful courtyard in back of the reputedly well-frequented cocktail joints 404 and Andy Wahloo), 69, rue des Gravilliers in the 3rd, 01.44.61.91.95, open 7/7 (Metro: Reaumur/Sebastopol, Arts et Metiers) has been open for a while but its descriptions always turned my prospective co-diners off - "a ping pong table [note pix of kid running away after a shot], a billiard one, mismatched chairs, plates and decor?" they would say, are they really serious about the food?  Finally I found three takers and we discovered that like Apple, Google, etc., one can have fun and good food in the same area.

 

When I arrived and explained that the chair at the table assigned would probably throw my back into spasm in 5 seconds, they immediately replaced it with a cushioned one - wow!  Plus there were slices of super melon sitting as amuses. Double wow!  Then the waitlady appeared with huge menus and cartes, carefully offering us one or more in English and also offering to do explanations.  My old pal from Bucharest whispered to me "she's the best waitperson I've had in years."  In any case, my three invitees ordered the same first, slices of eggplant nicely charred with a dollop of hummus on top, a supremely well-constructed dish, my friend from the Bay Area said.

Then two of the four had these quite large papillottes of fish of the day, on top of julienned vegetables, another beautifully constructed dish.  Another of us had the beef cut of the day and I went with veal liver cooked on skewers, which I didn't realize when ordering it "bleu" that it would because of the skewers turn out over-grilled on the outside and on the inside as well - someone was not watching carefully back in the horridly butcher-knife banging kitchen.  All were, very well-sourced dishes, however.

For dessert, one of my co-diners had the ile flottante and another fresh berries with sorbet, the "ile" gaining the "best since my mother's" praise.

Our bill?  I dunno.  My friend from the East makes deals with owners/waitpeople and responsibles, and even after living 40 years under Communist rule, doesn't believe in collective responsibility, so he picked it up.  However, I know the wine was 40 € a bottle, we had two, and the dishes ran from 10-28 €, so I guessed 240 €, but was disputed on my math.

Go back?  Indeed, this place, however quirky and noisy (83.5 DB), was rather charming and worth another visit.

Le Tresor in the 4th: "The look and the menu are like those of an ancient brasserie, but it's not."

 

 

7.0 Le Tresor, 9, rue du Tresor in the 4th, 01.42.71.35.17, apparently open 365/year (Metro: Hotel de Ville) is a place I've never been to and when my friend, a local savant,asked how I'd heard about it, I was embarrassed to tell the truth, that I found it written on one of the hundreds of small torn envelopes and scratch pads that float around my flat awaiting discovery - one of them said "open on holidays" and today was Labor Day.  He took one look at the décor and carte and marveled at how old and new both were.

Both my cameras were on the blink and I was forced to use my iPhone, which results clearly show that I have difficulty with steadiness.  It turned out that this was the season for Easter beef from Aubrac and he ordered a bavette and I the tartare, with not so crisp frites but both beefs were terrific.  We then shared a pear sable, also very good

Our bill with a bottle and glass of Saint Pourcain, so-so bread, no bottled water but two fine coffees, was 83.40 E which my friend shook his head in amazement at.

Go?  You bet, just wait for the next holiday.