John Talbott's Paris

Le Bistrot de Marius in the 8th: Great total experience: inconsistent food.

Background: First off, I’d read that this old place had reopened under new management and chefdom, quite successfully, where the Petit Marius used to be.  Second, I’m asked a lot where to eat before and after concerts at the Theatre Champs-Elysees and I’m stumped. And third I was scheduled to eat with the blogger who invented for me the phrase “the total experience” in judging dining experiences.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5.0 Le Bistrot de Marius, 6, Avenue George V in the 8th, 01.40.70.11.76, open 7/7, (Metro: Alma Marceau).  I entered before my friends and was warmly greeted although I haven’t been here or at the adjoint, Marius & Jeanette, in a ton of years.  The fish rillettes with toast were really good so I got my hopes way up.  They have a 27€ two-course “menu” with 2-2-2 choices but my friends went a la carte.

To start my “total experience” friend had a poached egg concoction with some mushrooms within which was really quite weak and I had sautéed mushrooms with a single soft egg that tasted nasty, way too much woodiness.

For mains, the husband of the blogger had a superb piece of lieu jaune on top of some lovely fall vegetables, I had an almost as good fried lemon sole with a terrific crisp skin, but the “total experiencer” got screwed again with a weird ravioli of langoustines that tasted to me like curry, though it wasn’t.  None of us particularly likes mashed potatoes so while we tasted them, we aren’t inclined to judge them.

For dessert we all shared JJ’s baked apple on top of quinces and topped with raspberry sorbet.

Our bill with two bottles of wines from the Pays d’Oc, one white, one red, two coffees but no bottled water, was 160€ or 106€ a couple.  Sound a deafening 87.5 DB’s.  (Thats over the level where one should wear ear protection.)

Go? No, my friend is right, it is a “total experience”.

Le Camondo in the 8th: "It's the total experience, John!"

4.5 Le Camondo, 61bis, rue de Monceau in the 8th, 01.45.63.40.40, closed Sunday and Mondays, (Metro: Villiers, Monceau), is one of those places that all the food writers listed at the start of the summer, as great terrace places where one can eat in the heat of the summer.  A great friend and fellow blogger (although he insists I'm a critic not a blogger) wrangled an invitation today, and a good thing too, it was totally full of very upscale French folks, many in the 2017 fall uniform of a blue suit, blue shirt, with or without a blue tie.  The place is really spectacular, with a wonderful inside converted garage and outside garden with umbrellas shielding diners from sun or rain.

We started off, he with a dish of cool salmon with a cheesy fluff and me, with 3 crevettes, done tempura style with a nasty sauce (a problem is that the same dish done at the Bistro Cote Mer, was so good, almost no one can come up to its excellence).  However, the shaved zucchini nicely offset it.

Then my friend had the taziki of beef, which he loved but I found not much if a much, and I had braised beef, which I was disappointed in.  I realize I'm an old stuck-in-the-mud grouch, but why try to improve on beef braised simply with red wine?

Finally, he had an ordinary rice pudding and I some ok strawberries with fluffy Chantilly.

We exited having also been treated to pedestrian bread, a bottle of very fine Bordeaux, a half-bottle of Badoit and two coffees.

Go back?  I hate to bite the hand that feeds me and considering the "total experience" to have been lovely, I want them to succeed but it'll be a while before I retry it.  DB's = 85.1. But no smoking.

N3 (Napoleon III) in the 8th: three cheers for its "total experience."

Background: So, I have this longtime friend, co-blogger and co-diner, who titles himself Randy de Paris but also hails from Northern California.  He and I have a lighthearted running dispute over whether a restaurant should be judged only on its food, damned be the decor, welcome, napery, service, etc. (me) and he who judges places on all the above, an evaluation of the "total experience."

 

5.6 N3 (standing for Napoleon III), 132, boulevard Haussmann in the 8th, in the dazzling Villa Haussmann, 01.42.65.29.29, closed weekends (Metro: St Augustin).  When I approached it, it looked pretty swank, surrounding the corner of the sidewalk outside the hotel.  I was greeted warmly, even though they had no idea who I was, by waitguys who - hold your hats - had nametags.  Off the bat they served an amuse of breadsticks and cuisinart-ed eggplant that had just the right amount of spice to tingle the tongue.

The carte is fairly pricey, as required by an International hotel, but they had a "formule" for 35€ with fish on Fridays with all sorts of veggies, deserts and coffee.  So that's where I went.  The lieu jaune which everyone in Paris seems to be serving these days, was I thought, overcooked, the artichoke purée with basil ok, the girolles average but the roasted cherry tomatoes terrific.  For dessert I had their tart of the day, apricots, which was nice but worth 11€ I don't think so.

With no bottled water but a half bottle of wine, my bill for one at 47€, would be 94€ a couple.

Go?  It was a lovely experience and the girl-watching, I hope that's not sexist, to say, was wonderful.  Dear Buddha, in my next life, I want to be Bill Cunningham.

L'Evasion in the 8th: nice food but price-quality is awful.

4.0 L'Evasion, 7, place de St Augustin in the 8th, 01.45.22.66.20 (Metro: St Augustin, closed weekends, is a place my dear friend, the newly minted Math teacher, chose after I'd suggested the Crillon brasserie, which he pleaded poverty about dining at.  Thus when I interested L'Evasion, I took one look at the carte and said "this is a bargain?"  "Well, yes, it's a bit pricey."

Picking my jaw up off the floor, I said "ok, I'll have just one dish," lucky for me, because the 48€ sweetbreads with girolles was enough for three, while his wagyu beef at 42€ with a ton of veggies, was just right for him.

Our bill, with 1 bottled and one tap water and 46 cl of a Rhone and two coffees, was 134.50 €.

Go back?  No, while the beef may have been top of the line, the sweetbreads were a bit too much.

Les Oreilles et La Queue (St Honore); I went to the Eiffel Tower one with no expectations and was surprised, I went to the mothership and was disappointed.

 

6.5  Les Oreilles et La Queue (St Honore); 129, rue du Faubourg St Honore, 01.43.59.35.39, open 7/7, (Metro; St Philippe de Roule) was a place placed high hopes on, since I had eaten well at its offshoot thus summer.  The carte is exactly the same and knew what I was going to gave, the Surprise.

Two of us ordered the bavettes, and two of us the Surprises that came with glorious morilles sauce.  Only one of us had a bite of both and he declared the bavettes were vastly superior.  I was again not blown away with the frites.

For desserts three of us had the coffee gourmand and liked them while the hold out loved his panna cotta with fruits. 

 

 

Our bill, with a bottle of water, a bottle and glass of their "house" wine, a first for me forever in France, was 156€ or 78€ a couple.

Go back?  Nah, I'll go to their 2nd.

L'Alsace in the 8th: "John, why in the world would you possibly go to a chain brasserie?" "Well, hummm, let me explain."

Pre.  From the time we started coming to France for extended periods and then buying pieds a terre, my recently deceased buddy Paga and I would get a craving for choucroute and we went to all the usual suspects.  In those distant days, we could pile on the fat and calories, because we ran them off the next day.  Then we bought it from Schmid, near the Gare de L'est and then made it at home.  But this weekend I decided to go to the recently renovated, backward in time, L'Alsace, on of all places, the Champs-Elysees.

5.6 L'Alsace, 39 ave des Champs-Elysees in the 8th: 01.53.93.97.00, open 24/24 7/7 (Metro: FDR) is one of those red awning fungible brasserie-bistros you've passed thousands of times without ever looking at the carte or entering but I'd read it had been redone and was now part of the Bertrand Group which runs everything from Burger King to Lipp.  It's a pleasant enough looking place with an attentive staff, despite the fact that I'll wager folks, French and otherwise, only eat there once a lifetime, so there's little need to make a good impression, but they did, on me anyway.  The carte is one of those huge brasserie ones, with a card on the table with specials of the day and a "menu" at 30.50€ for three courses with what I came here for.

I started with the classic onion soup gratinee which was as it always is, gloppy cheese, chunky bread, slightly burned onions (for flavor), and pleasant bouillon.  Then I had what they called the choucroute Elysee, which I inquired about because the carte had listed about 6 different choucroutes.  PS, It sounded like a normal version with no frills or twists, and it was.  Finally I had the moulleux of chocolate, which was pretty much what you'd expect in a place like this.

My bill, with nice crusty bread and ok coffee plus a half-flask of white Alsatian wine but no bottled water, was 46.79€.  DB's= 84.5 

Go?  Well, it's like a Holiday Inn, providing consistent average food where you'll never be either pleasantly or unpleasantly surprised.  For me, it was what I sought today. "Mission accomplished."

Le Drugstore Publicis by Eric Frechon: it is what it is, no less, no more.

Now a prequel.  Readers may wonder why I went to this expensive tourist trap serving as its principal dish - a "classic" hamburger?  Easy answer.  1.  I've followed Eric Frechon since the days of his 190 FF menu at the old Restaurant in the 19th, and 2. I was so surprised at what Marc Veyrat did at Rural, and before him, what Frechon did at Lazare, and 3. despite the pretentious "classic" hamburger name, hey how about the MacDonald Brothers in 1953 and Ray Kroc?, figured what do I have to lose?

5.9 Le Brasserie by Eric Frechon in the Publicis Drugstore (every reporter/critic lists it differently), 133 ave des Champs-Elysees in the 8th, open 7/7, (Metro: Etoile) 01.44.43.77.64 (caution: they put you into this endless loop of "if you know the extension of your.....press.....etc.) so best to walk in, as I did.

Anyway, entering the Drugstore, itself a pretension, there's much visible extra security and one goes left to an unmarked area around which are stations above which are signs saying BAR, DESSERTS, etc. The chairs are eclectic, the tables as well, I sat in a knockoff Egg Chair with a marble table that was 6 inches too low, prompting an interesting game of knees-eys with folks on both sides.  The carte is huge, with items available all day, ice creams, breakfast, lunch and dinner stuff and beverages.

I've never had a hamburger in France that blew me away that my butcher and I haven't crafted and I've never had fries that matched those I had in Belgium 50 years ago, but I was drawn to the "classic" hamburger with fries.  I ordered the burger "bleu" which the wait-person fully understood but of course it came out overcooked but with pretty good beef, onions, pickle and a terrific tomato for this time of year.  Plus their own rather good catsup. The fries were average for Paris, which means pathetic.  Adjacent tables got nicely warm mini baguettes.

My bill with no bottled water or other courses, but a half-flask of Madrigal red wine and good coffee, was 47€.  DB's= an astonishing 75.7.

Any advice for M. Frechon, John?  Yes, have fewer greeters and managerial-types and more servers.  Granted at the height of service the suits finally bestirred themselves to help.

Go?  I was looking forward to whether this would be a good place for my pre-teen grandkids who arrive soon and decided that unless they were exhausted after touring all morning, we could do better.  Oh, and surprising to me was that I only heard French spoken.

Neva Cuisine in the 8th: Desserts to die for, music to die from.

Neva Cuisine in the 8th was an ideal place to meet a dear friend from the suburbs who had to be in the 9th to tidy her old flat which she's selling.  Colette and I arrived a bit early and installed ourselves  and were almost immediately surrounded by men in suits and open-collar shirts and annoying drum-driven music.  After a wonderful shrimp with a sweet-sour sauce.......

we went straight to mains,  Colette choosing cod with a beet purée and our friend and I choosing the grenadin of pork; the cod, Colette found boring and our friend and I loved our vegetables but either our knives were not sharp enough or the pork was too tough because we lost those battles.

Desserts on the other hand were super-terrific, a baba for our friend and a yuge Paris-Brest for us, a 1/3rd of which will be C's dinner.

 

Our bill, with a bottle and glass of wine and no bottled water, plus fine bread a lovely mini-lemon tart with our coffees, was 162.50 € or 108.33€ a couple.

Le Laborde in the 8th: A bar de Viandes that delivers the meat.

6.9 Le Laborde: Bar a Viandes, 44, rue de Laborde in the 8th, 01.53.04.08.92, closed weekends (Metro: Miromesnil) has been open since October but I only caught up with it today.  It doesn't have a large staff but they seem to be really efficient in serving the neighborhood's many office workers what they want.

I started off with three thick slices of gravlax that had just the right amount of dill and cream; then from among the cuts of beef from France, Argentina and Australia, etc., I chose the 180 onglet from Uruguay with a nice béarnaise sauce but frites that were fried in a weird-tasting oil; finishing up with a café gourmand that had two creams, a great one of pistachio and an average one with caramel sauce.

 

With 50 cl of Cahors, nice toast for the gravlax and house tap water, my bill was 59 E, which would be 110 E per couple.  dB's were 71.0.

Go? If in the area with a hankering for beef, yes.

Crabe Royal: If you're hankering for crab, this is your place.

6.0 Crabe Royal, 19 place de la Madeleine in the 8th, 01.81.69.96.70, open 7/7 (Metro:Madeleine) says it's been opened since 1870 serving the biggest crabs, Kamchatka, but clearly this is a redo because the place is sparkling new.  Along with the other one-trick or themed restaurants in Paris, from Rouge Tomate to Pomze, it's crab crab crab with a little lobster thrown in.

I have been hankering for a crab roll that would be of the standard of those I remember from childhood trips to Maine; but of course those memories can never be duplicated but their crab roll on toasted brioche comes pretty close.  I had neither a started nor dessert so I really have to judge this place on its crab and white wine which was quite good.

My bill was 38.50 E with two glasses of Burgundy and one coffee.

Go?  Certainly if you're craving crab.