John Talbott's Paris

Vermillion in the 9th: Best price-quality Paris meal of 2019?

Vermillion in the 9th is a place that three of us liked so much last month we returned today, with Colette in tow.  On spying the chalkboard, we all said "ceviche of chinchard, oh yes, 90°F., oh yes."  Oh no, only thing they didn't have.

But, in the end it didn't matter.  We started off with a cool and cooling artichoke dip with cumin and coriander and a cold avocado soup with cucumber and mint; pivoted to the perfectly cooked cod with a ratatouille of olives, tomatoes and celery as well as beef tataki ans sweet potato puree; and finished with a beurre sale chocolate cake (that everyone loved) and homemade granola (unpictured that everyone hated).

Our bill, with a bottle of wine and 3 cans of Perrier plus 3 coffees, was 124.50 E or 62.25 E a couple. 

L'Office in the 9th: Once again, good grub with wonderful herbs and spices.

L'Office in the 9th may have turned over its owner, chef and waitress but it's kept its charm, quality and allure.

We were eating with the friend from Paris I've known the longest - a connection of 66 years - wow!  We started with chilled  langoustines in tomato water jelly, gazpacho the way I like it - smooth but with chopped vegetables - and a tartare of cooling maigre with just the right amount of ooompf.  For mains, the ladies had 3 slices of wild bass with spinach in pasta cups and I had what I had before - a filet of beef wrapped Wellington-styles with forcemeat.  We finished up with what they call cheesecake but I call passion-mango mousse, strawberries and their sauce and three mini-babas with rum and whipped cream.

Our bill, with a bottle and glass of Beaujolais and 3 coffees, was 198.80 or 132.52 E a couple.

Le Cellier in the 9th: Simple, oh so simple food, why can't every block have one?

Le Cellier in the 9th is Stephane Pitre's bistro d'a cote as it were, serving a "simple" "menu" of 2-2-2 food for 28 E at lunch.  You may recall I said on eating here before that the Chef talked to us about how difficult it was to find chefs who could cook "simple" classics.  Well, he seems to have found them

We started off with two portions of tomato gazpacho, that was, well, gazpacho, simple and cooling and a pate (replacing the ham on the chalkboard which looked good on another diner's plate.)  Then Colette had the roast chicken with carrots which she deemed roast chicken and my longest serving French friend and I had something not so simple, a creamy, cheesy risotto with mussels and cauliflower, a dish I maintain cannot be made well more than 20 klicks from Modena - but I was wrong - it was superb! To finish off we had diced watermelon with the hint of a sweet sauce over them.

Our bill, with a bottle of wine and three coffees was 113.50 or 75.66 E a couple.

Condesa in the 9th: Still one of the greatest places in town.

Condesa, 17 rue Rodier in the 9th has been a favorite of ours ever since it opened.  One thinks that Chef Indra Carrillo has pulled out all his magic tricks and then he pulls a centime out of your ear, or the culinary equivalent.  In contrast with every other place in town that has a surprise or no-choice menu and you struggle to remember all the ingredients - he handed me list of what I'd had as I left. 

 

So there you have it: everything from abalone to poularde, goat cheese to Greek yogurt and gombo to tarragon.  Wow!

With three glasses of Champagne (offered), a bottle of Chinon, 2 bottles of their filtered water and three coffees (needless to say their bread is as good as always), our bill was 181E or 120.66E a couple. 

The Grand Cafe Capucines in the 9th: Well, the mayonnaise and tartare sauces were outstanding.

5.0 The Grand Cafe Capucines in the 9th, 4 blvd des Capucines, 01.43.12.19.00, (Metro: Opera), open 7/7, says it's been open since 1878, but it was closed for an extensive renovation, which was terrific and it's now reopened.  I went there with two old friends, one French, the other, Romanian.

I convinced my friends to help me indulge in 5 lovely langoustines which came with very tasty mayonnaise.

Then my friends had the bar and raie and I the merlan, which were all serviceable but the chips/fries that accompanied them were among the worst I've ever had; soggy inside and out and tasteless, even for a French restaurant.  The waiter inquired, my friends told the truth, he offered a new plate, we vehemently demurred.  But the tartare sauce was outstanding.

We finished up with OK millefeuilles and crepes with orange Marnier.

Our bill was picked up by my French friend but I suspect with three wine aperos and a bottle of Cotes de Gascogne plus 3 coffees it was between 160 and 180 E or 120 E a couple.

Go back?  Sorry, there are better alternatives on Sundays, although I did like the decor and sauces.

Willette in the 9th: A bistrot-cafe-troquet defined.

Pre: This was my last meal in Paris with my eldest granddaughter after 2 weeks+ of eating wonderful food and at the end she said "I'm enjoying all of it."  Me too.  And it's always great to end on a high note.

7.7 Willette, 21, rue de Trevise in the 9th, 09.83.48.10.87, closed weekends (Metro: Cadet) has been open about 2 months and is the very definition of a modern bistrot-cafe-troquet; neighborhoodly, inventive, friendly, open, reasonable, etc.  The chef is William Neff, who passed through the houses of Ducasse and Marchand and the wine expert is Kevin Blackwell, ex of Autour d'Un Verre, The menu at lunch is a simple 2-2-2 one for 22 Euros and the dishes are ever so inventive/

We split the choices right down the menu: starting with the a mound of shaved fennel, orange slices and avocado as well as thin slices of raw beef (carpaccio) topped with a spicy tarragon mayonnaise and shredded parmesan.  My oh my!

Then my granddaughter had eggplant described as fondant which it was in the best sense of the word, with a soft egg, fried bread and sliced cucumbers and I had the quasi de veau with smashed potatoes and mache.  Again, superb.

As we were pondering the desserts our host suggested "why don't you try both" and we did enjoying both a banana cake with pecans and caramel beurre-sale and a deep, dark, intense chocolate.  Yummy!

Our bill, with a fine Loire red, terrific bread and two coffees, was 84 E.  dB's were 81.5 and up.

Go back?  Would that I could immediately; it was that good.

Vermillon in the 9th: So good in such a tiny space.

7.7 Vermillon, 5, rue de Calais in the 9th, 01.42.41.49.68 (Metro: Blanche), closed Sundays and Mondays is another place my dear friends in the 9th told me they were eager to go to since it opened a few months ago.  It's tiny and invites comparisons to Daniel Rose's first version of Spring nearby.

There were three starters on the 3-3-3 carte and we had all of them: a soft egg with chorizo, artichoke with coriander (marked as babaganousch on the bill) and a terrine with figs which was moist and melt in your mouth good - off to a great start.

Then we had the two non-vegetarian main courses: strips of grilled mackerel in a Thai sauce and perfectly fatty pork ribs (correctly called poitrine on the bill) with lovely teeny potatoes.  To finish up we shared two portions of flourless chocolate cake made with beurre sale.  Delish!

Our bill, with a bottle of Touraine and Badoit and three coffees was 130.50 or 65.25E a couple.  Excellent bread and sound = 58.8 dB's.

Go back?  Absolutely.

L'Office in the 9th: My oh my, chef Charley Breuvart and owner Charles Nikitits have a star on their hands.

Pre: "Have you been here before, John?" my friends ask.  "Yes and no; I have been here, when Charles Compagnon owned it and I loved the food dished out by Kevin O'Donnell, but they are gone replaced by new decor, owner and chef."

8.2 L'Office, 3, rue Richer in the 9th, 01.47.70.67.31, closed weekends (Metro: Chateau d'Eau) looks much the same as it did for the last decade but the new team has brought forth a sea change in its food.  The menu looks deceptively simple but the dishes themselves are anything but.

Of the four entrees that were offered the broccoli and tartare of maigre spoke most beckoningly to us.  I'm still trying to figure out how the chef got so much flavor and seasoning into such a simple looking sauce - it was astonishing.

Then the table split between decorticated shrimp in a rich bouillon with cereal wafers and what was called "beef Wellington" but was not the whole roast beef but very big pieces cooked perfectly and individually inside a pastry flecked with seeds and cereal grains with a rich pepper sauce; again a dish that looked so simple but was, in reality, complex, incredibly flavorful and hard not to love immediately.

At this point, I think we all were full and didn't "need" dessert but we "wanted" it.  And again, what came out was much more complex and flavorful than what we expected: a chocolate ball of ice cream, small babas au rhum and what was called cheesecake but I'd call a mousse of passion and mango on a pie crust.

Our bill, with two bottles of Chinon and two coffees was 260.60 E or 130.30 E a couple.  dB's = 66.2 when it was quiet but it got to a shouting level quickly.

Go back?  To the most inventive meal of 2019?  I'm almost afraid that I'll be disappointed, but you bet.

Le Cellier (Louis Version 2.0) in the 9th: Wow, Zow, Pow! Sounded simple but was anything but.

Disclosures, disclaimers, disrupters. First off, I've loved Stephane Pitre's Louis since I first set foot in it.  Second, I think a chefs' "second restaurant" is often more daring than their established ones so I was primed to like Le Cellier.  And third, as Chef Pitre told us when we had a few minutes before our local friends arrived - sometimes the simplest of dishes are hardest to find sous-chefs to actually cook.

8.0 Le Cellier, 25 rue de la Victoire in the 9th, 01.48.74.61.03, closed weekends (Metro: ND de Lorette) is the second restaurant of Stephane Pitre, whose Louis garnered its first Michelin star a few weeks ago.  It looks simple (stone walls, comptoir, wine shelves), has a simple 28 E 3-course lunch "market menu" with items such as chopped beets, pork cheeks and chocolate mousse, but oh boy, it's anything but simple.

Our choices for firsts were a celery soup and chopped beets, I briefly and sillily thought about skipping both, but when the beets arrived with sprigs of peppery herbs stuck in I was sold - "this guy is a genius, red beets with herbs - holy moly!"

Then Madame had the salmon fume on pasta, simple eh?, and the rest of us had braised pork cheeks, what could be simpler?  The pasta had a cheese intensity that was off the charts and the pork had a tenderness your grandmother only dreamed of.

Our wonderful wait-person warned us that there were only a couple of chocolate desserts left over from last night (when there is a totally different concept - tapas-sized, etc - and Breton-influenced, dishes) so we snared one mi-cuit and one mousse along with two creme caramels.  Now for my whole life I've taken chocolate mousse for granted, but after hearing the chef talk about how difficult it is to find cooks who can do simple traditional food, like mousse, I had a whole new respect for my mother.

Our bill, with one bottle of Bordeaux, one of Badoit and three coffees, was 156.50 or 78.25 E a couple (however, we did get some coups and olives first and cherry liquor last.)  dB's were 80.4 and we asked to have the music turned down.  

Go back?  What's French for "in a flash?"  Even without the gift of an Orangeman toilet brush from our friends and branded sardines from the chef.

Bouillon (47, Rochechouart) de Chef Remi Lazurowicz in the 9th: Now we're talking, this is good stuff.

 

7.9 Bouillion 47, ex Bouillon, 47 rue de Rochechuart in the 9th, 09.51.18.66.59, closed Sunday and Monday (Metro: Cadet) was taken over late last year by Chef Remi Lazurowicz. from Bruno Doucet's La Régalade Saint-Honoré and despite the big photo of two of my least favorite people - Gainsbourg et Birkin - has done a super job at reviving this popular local joint.

 

The amuse was a sliced potato en croute with creme fraiche that was astonishingly and surprisingly good.

We started off with razor clams. octopus and gravlax, the latter two with most tasty salads and their dressing.

Then came their signature joue de boeuf, falling off the bone if there had been one, tender slices of quasi de veau, cod and another dish of octopus (I couldn't resist it it sounded so good).

To finish up were concoctions of lenon. meringue and cookies that were very, very good.

Our bill was picked up by our most gracious and generous hosts, but if I had to guess, with 2 bottles and 2 glasses of wine and 3 coffees, it would run something like 113.50E a couple.  dB's varied around 75.6

Go?  In the blink of an eye.