John Talbott

The Week of November 14th, 2005 Monday, in A Nous Paris, Philippe Toinard did both reviews, giving 3/5 blocks to the Terre des Truffes, 21, rue Vignon in the 8th, 01.53.43.80.44, closed Sundays, with lunch menus at 65 E and 95, a la carte 62-70 E, serving truffles with everything from bread to ice cream and 2/5 blocks to Bound, coordinates given previously that is in the old Barfly space, serving everything from a club-sandwich to sushi. Wednesday, it being the day before the release of the Beaujolais Nouveau, Sebastien Demorand in Zurban devoted his space to places serving the famous wine. Since most of their coordinates have already been reported, I’ll just list them. They include: Les Enfants Rouges, Les Coteaux, Jacques Mélac, La Cloche des Halles, Le Gavroche, Le Rubis, Vin chez moi, Le Comptoir du Relais, + Le Verre Volé, 67, rue de Lancry in the 10th, 01.48.03.17.34, that I’m singling out because it has a fantastic bargain – with a bottle of Beaujolais, costing 15 E, one can dine at the buffet à volonté, having everything from ham on the bone to cheese(s). The only downside of the celebration is its adoption of an English marketing slogan – “It’s beaujolais nouveau time.” In the same day’s Figaroscope, Emmanuel Rubin’s “C’est nouveau” gave three hearts to Gaboriau-Le Pergolese, 40, rue Pergolese in the 16th, 01.45.00.21.40, open everyday, chef’d by another “best worker of the year,” serving “old school” ballottines of foie gras and duck, raviolis of langoustines and potato and ginger nems for 38 E at lunch and 50-70 E a la carte; two hearts, the photo and blurb to the Pourcel’s new Paris place Sens Par La Compagnie des Comptoirs, 23, rue de Pothieu in the 8th, 01.42.25.95.00, open everyday except Sundays and Mondays, for raw daurade, shrimp tempura and beef tartare for 50-70 E a la carte; two hearts each to the business resto R Café, 6, rue Chauveau-Lagarde in the 8th, 01.44.71.20.85, closed Sundays, serving chestnut raviolis, beef cheeks and a chocolate dessert that’s “pro,” with 28 and 38 E lunch menus and runs 40-45 E a la carte and Les Fernandises, 19, rue de la Fontaine-au-Roi in the 11th, open everyday except Saturday lunch and Sundays, where the truculent Normandy-influenced boss has departed and a pleasant pair now serve more Southwest-oriented food, such as foie gras, supions and crème catalan for 30-35 E a la carte; and finally one heart to La Mer a Boire, 1-3, rue des Envierges in the 20th, 01.43.58.29.43, closed Sundays, {Ed Note: the review sounds suspiciously like it’s a wine bar although it is not so stated}, serving cheese, tapas, terroir salad and a good selection of wines for 15-20 E. Figaroscope’s “Dossier” covered oyster and shellfish places, such as: Huitriere Garnier Ballon et Coquillages Chasse-Maree Ocean Paris Bar L’Ecaille de la Fontaine La Cabane a huitres Bar a huitres Gare de l’Est La Cabane F. Landeau And also l’Ecaillier du Bistrot, Uitr, l’Huitrier, l’Ecume Saint-Honore + Gildas de la Mer And, in addition, they listed the great brasseries where one can also get oysters, etc. 7/7: Lorraine, Lutetia, Le Congres, Le Boeuf sur le Toit, Le Dome, Le Stella, Le Wepler + Le Zeyer. In that vein, as usual, in his “Hache Menu”, Francois Simon went to one of them, l’Huitrerie: Chez Regis, 3, rue Monfaucon in the 6th, 01.44.41.10.07, closed Sundays and Mondays, where he had a “degustation” formula of a dozen number 3’s, a glass of Muscadet and coffee; “Should one go? Sure, if you’re in the area.” Thursday, Gilles Pudlowski in Le Point has another of his mixed offerings, mentioning Lyon sausages and a recipe for sausage and potatoes, La Tour d’Argent in Lyon, Le Temps des Copains in Rennes, l’Escarbille in Meudon, the successfully-moved Fogon and newly-opened Cristina’s Tapas (coordinates above) in Paris as well as the following Parisian places that are holding up: the Tunisian Jewish resto La Boule Rouge + Dessirier. Meanwhile, in L’Express, Jean-Luc Petitrenaud has two reviews: of Claude Sainlouis in the 6th and Chez Alphonse in Limoges. Thursday/Friday, in an article in Le Monde, entitled “Beaujolais Spleen,” Jean-Claude Ribaut says that this year’s wine is better than those of preceding years. Friday in Les Echos, Jean-Louis Galesne writes up four places in Monaco: Joël Robuchon Monte-Carlo Hôtel Métropole, Blue Bay Monte Carlo Bay Hôtel & Resort, Le Grill Hôtel de Paris + Beef Bar & Capitano. In the weekend FT, Jancis Robinson suggests that we drink Pinot Noirs and other wines from the Rhone with roasts and game. Margaret Kemp had a piece Sunday in Bonjour Paris on the ”Fooding” event going on next week as well as a review of Carte Blanche, coordinates given before. Please post comments here and not in the Digest thread.

I asked for no smoking, not sure I saw any anywhere.Upstairs has less of the old wood details but identical chairs & tables. I guess downstairs is best for decor but frankly, it's so modern it's almost fungable (I'm sure I'll get in trouble for that.) I liked it better back in the good old days ('68-70) when it seemed to my aging brain to have been more old style, dark and warm.

Correct - it is open 7 days a week, lunch and dinner. As for your concern about a while back I started a thread called the Sophomore Jinx about just such a thing.

One must have them - as I noted upthread, a few weeks ago, we couldn't get in downstairs or get them to serve us the regular menu at the Bar (which has identical furniture, go figure!). But Sunday 4 days ago there was no one upstairs so clearly (clear to me) they don't book as many tables and staff Sundays.

At the risk of “double-posting,” but since the Digest will not be up until later this week, I wanted to suggest that if you're interested in Beaujolais Nouveau and are in Paris now or in the immediate future you buy today’s Zurban which has an article on all the places serving it. Sebastien Demorand gives his advice where to go, specifically: Les Enfants Rouges, Les Coteaux, Jacques Mélac, La Cloche des Halles, Le Gavroche, Le Rubis, Vin chez moi, Le Comptoir du Relais, + Le Verre Volé, 67, rue de Lancry in the 10th, 01.48.03.17.34, that I’m singling out because it has a fantastic bargain – with a bottle of Beaujolais, costing 15 E, one can dine at the buffet à volonté, having everything from ham on the bone to cheese(s). As he says in the words of their English marketing slogan – “It’s beaujolais nouveau time.” Also Figaroscope's Gilles Dupuis does an article and a tasting and says BN is like nothing else you know and since this year's taste is "classic," the wine will taste better after a few more months maturing.

Bux, as usual, you're correct, it was truly a full restaurant not a wine (& cheese) bar; but it had a great cheese shop at the front. All sadly gone after the Epie-ian blitz.

November 2005 – Le Meurice, Senderens, Benoit, Carte Blanche, Maxan, Chapeau Melon, Tяuc, Diapason, Fils de la Ferme, Kodo, Gorille Blanc, ParisBoheme Caution to readers – I’ve decided to affiliate myself with those folks who give ratings and prices to meals, eg and cf Michelin1-3, Figaroscope –1-+4, Gault-Millau 0-20, and Parker 0-100. I tried to find a clever prime number like 181, but settled on 10, but I’ll try to use the whole range rather than chicken out, as say Gault-Millau does between 11.5 and 19.5. For my idea of this scale, see the end of this post. By the way, I only rate the food, no points for welcome, décor, flowers, voiturier, etc. Le Meurice - see downthread dated November 6, 2007 8 - Alain Senderens, 9, place de la Madeleine in the 8th, 01.42.65.22.90, open lunch and dinner everyday, is a place my wife Colette and I tried to crash one Sunday a bit back, but they wouldn’t serve the regular (downstairs) stuff in the upstairs bar and we didn’t want Senderens’ idea of tapas and sushi, being fans of his since we first ate at l'Archestrate during the last great riots in 1968. So I returned Sunday. The décor is startlingly different; while the wood trim and light fixtures are pure Lucas-Carton, the tables and chairs are pure modern. My companion this time had the lightly-smoked warm salmon with cucumber and a sauce made from eau d’Ecosse (eg Scotch whiskey); I had the chipirons a la plancha with confited tomatoes – both were quite nice. Then she ordered the (never-seen-before-at-least-by-me) tartare of veal and langoustines on a bed of rice vermicelli and I had the red perdreau with a huge stuffed cabbage wedge – again both were flawless. The surprise of the meal was the price range of the wines, from 23 E up, despite the firsts and mains running in the 20’s and 30’s respectively. Our bill = 148 E for two. Oh yes, the mignardises with the coffees were terrific, including two chocolate divinities. 7.5 - Wow, Carte Blanche, 6, rue Lamartine in the 9th, 01.48.78.12.20, closed Saturday lunch and Sundays, far exceeded my expectations even after Demorand, Simon and Rubin had elevated them (the front man is ex-Gagnaire; the cook ex-Beauvilliers). It’s one more terrific destination (along with Chez Jean + Georgette) in this former culinary waste-land north east of Notre Dame de Lorette.) It looks ordinary enough, but the ardoise suggests a bit of talent and some “stretch.” It has about six firsts, mains and desserts and 20 wines (running 21-60 E). You get two dishes for 25 and three for 31 E. My French companion and I went for three and three, despite her reluctance to do dessert (she didn’t leave a smidgen). The firsts we chose were unlike anything I’d seen before; a ring (called a declinasion) of slightly warmed celery stuff and chips of what (apple maybe) and microtomed raw scallops set on a bed of granny smiths and mangoes; followed by two spectacular dishes; confited pork, almost sausage-like, in a casserole of fall veggies and a rollatine of veal with veal kidney inside and “smoked” mashed potatoes; finished by a “moelleux” of caramel on top of chocolate and huge “bonbons” of rolled chocolate in a crusty wrap. And the coffee was terrific. If you go, ignore the names, it’s a bit like l’Angl Opera, the names are just there to confuse you. I will give this place until Christmas until the dreaded “tourists” discover it and there it goes, prices, reservations and language – but until the guidebooks appear – enjoy it! Oh yah, the bill, how does 86 E for two sound to you? (Boy, I’m going to get in trouble for this, but my meal the day before at the Meurice, while scoring at 8, of a langoustine/mussel soup a la Detourbe, an extra dish of scallops/shrimp with a fluffy mousse, St Pierre with lentils and a dessert of mango three ways, was fine, but nowhere near as interesting, imaginative, or challenging as here; and compared to 112 E for one at le M., the difference in the price/quality ratio of these two places is astounding). 6.25 - Maxan, 37, rue de Miromesnil in the 8th, (in the old Poele d’Or space, where I had a pretty good meal, less than a year ago, under a new chef, (?what’s going on here?)), 01.42.65.78.60, closed Saturday lunch, Sundays and Monday dinner, is even better now. It’s bright, with a stunning Morris Louis type wall (shown only in the A Nous Paris pix and the serving men are incredibly hustle-bustle (like outdoor café garcons of yore). It’s had mixed reviews (4/5 in A Nous Paris, only 2/4 in Figaroscope, but the enthusiasm of Philippe Toinard (talented chef with inventive ideas) and Sebastien Demorand (“serious” cooking going on here) convinced me. And it’s not my usual bourgeois, dark and dirty place; everyone but me and four “blondes” had ties and Wall Street suits; all were there for business and most everyone was in and out in 55 minutes – hey, it’s the 8th after all. There is now a menu du jour for 30 E (there was not before, despite Francois Simon’s article) and everyone was having it (it included a nice looking salad and a terrific looking chuck of beef with huge fries as well as a fish of the day which looked pretty good). The “amuse-gueule” was a puree/soup of Jerusalem artichoke. I, like 90% of the clientele, first had the tourte of wild rabbit, which was rich, like the lievre a la royale at the late lamented Caille et Plume, but did not leave your head spinning with fat globules; really gamey (buck shot and all); and had a poivrade sauce that was as dark as they get. Then I had veal kidneys piled in a tower on top of spinach and artichoke slices; yum. I was tempted by the macaron “all coffee” but because I was set for another meal in a few hours, I finished with OK Richard coffee but gold standard mignardises. I also had a naturel Bourgueil from a couple (Breton) whom we visited a few years ago that was very easy on the wallet. Oh yes, the bread was like that at la Regalade, crisp outside, moist inside. My bill was 53 E. (NB if one had the foie gras starter and beef main it would have run 46 E not 30 E for two courses). Only one couple smoked, only two folks spoke, but very quietly, on their portables, and I only heard French spoken. Problem? Really none, except for some Minchelli-type cutesy-poo stuff on the menu; e.g. a dessert labeled the “return of the wine harvest” and the fish of the day unidentified. 6 - Chapeau Melon, 92, rue Rebeval in the 19th, 01.42.02.68.60, open for dinner Wednesday and Saturday nights only, was well-described by Felice two weeks ago (and highly-rated by Demorand in Zurban & Rubin et al in Figaroscope Sept 29th). I went with a group of seven and we had a set meal for 25 E much like she had; the oysters (which the chef schlepped in just before serving) were a la japonaise; eg with sake and spices; the mackerel was as fine a sashimi-quality product as I’ve ever had (indeed all their products were super); the crab-filled raviolis surrounded an incredibly tasty (unfrozen) shrimp with a divine sauce; the lentils with foie gras were identical to her description and we finished with several slices of just right Conte. Much wine was had, all of it “unfiltered, natural, bio” etc. Everything was first rate: the only downside – its size (18 covers) means that it fills fast but that’s OK because everyone must be seated before they serve any one. 6 – Oh Boy! Le Tяuc, (that’s right, the R is reversed) - 58, rue du Poteau in the 18th, 01.42.52.64.09, opened a few days ago, but just a few weeks ago it was all plaster dust, however, as of now, it is a wonderful “secret find.” Why do I tell you about my “secret find?,” because you’ll never go – you’ll look at the map and say – “You want me to go where?” Well - silly you. It’s raw (the walls are bricks, beton and plaster); the tables are “Spoonish,” but the cooking is worthy of the 6th or 16th. I started with a rocket salad with parmesan, safe eh? Well, it had sun-dried tomatoes and fresh rocket and despite the “French solution,” eg salt, was OK. But the main, a huuuuugge portion of lamb, almost raw, sitting behind three ribs, with an incredible ratatouille (big chucky bits of perfectly fresh veggies) was spectacular. Illy coffee too. But trust me, you don’t want to schlep way out here – stay home – leave us alone. Bill (no, I cannot) = 29E. 5.5 - Le Diapason (in the Terrass Hotel), 12/14 rue Joseph de Maistre in the 18th, 01.44.92.34.00, is a space long misused. Often, my best food-buddy called to ask about eating on the roof of the Terrass Hotel overlooking all Paris, esp. over the cemetery of Montmartre; the answer inevitably was: it’s too hot, too cool, too uncertain, too xxx, etc. But now, with the consultation of Alain Ducasse (what would we do without him?), it’s a totally new thing. Ok, let’s start with the negatives: it’s on the edge of the tourist center of the world, the hill/mountain Montmartre; triangulated between the tee-shirt shops of the Place des Tertre, the sex-shops/cabines/etc of the Place de Clichy and the bourgeois neighborhoods to the north (disclosure: where I live). But despite all that, it’s really a great place that has been totally renovated with bright lights, bilingual wait-staff, marbled-tables and not-at-all-bad food. Two of us shared the amuse-gueules of toasted bread with purees of broccoli and eggplant and then moved on to shredded rabbit with a mesclan salad (super) and snails on a bed of warm, crushed tomatoes (pas mal); then frogs legs, prepared like fried calamari and a magret de canard – he hated it, I loved it; and ending with some great Basque cheese (which my exigent French pal noted was straight outta the frig). The bill, for dinner, in tourist-central, for one would be 50 E or less (plus they have a great wine list). Moral: not everything is as it appears; sometimes home is beat. 5 - Le Fils de la Ferme, 5, rue Mouton-Duvernet in the 15th, 01.45.39.39.61, was recommended to me by my eGullet friend and Paris Bistrot expert John Whiting, who really liked it. And I can see why; it’s inviting, nicely-priced and out-of-the-way (except for those pesky women seeking outlet shops near the rue Alesia). Two of us shared our six dishes and the hit rate was pretty high. The waiter neglected to bring us the amuse-bouches that looked like the tiered Les Magnolias-type things, which was a slightly annoying, but since my companion is French, this gaffe can’t be chalked up to anti-touristism. The starters: the tomatoes with cagouilles (land snails) were too heavily weighted in favor of the tomatoes (in November), but the pate de campagne was simply fabulous (I would never have ordered it, but my buddy fell back on the old Bocuse dictum- eg when testing a restaurant, try a sliced vegetable). Seconds were scallops (for only 3 E extra) with endives and an incredible chestnut puree and chicken a la Americain (eg Southern fried chicken) with a dipping sauce of something and spinach, which I liked and he didn’t. Then a dessert of crème brulee with caramel and cinnamon which we disagreed about (I thought the top was insufficiently browned/burned; he thought the underpinnings were too bland) and we topped it off with a terrific munster, not too young, not too old, just right. The bill?; for normal folks count on 80 E for two. 3.5 - Kodo, 29, rue du Bourg-Tibourg in the 4th, 01.42.74.45.25, open everyday except Monday, is one of those restaurants you really want to love; it’s one of the places Zurban says is very branché; and it’s cool, with modern tables but old plastered walls and loud modern music. The chef looks 12 years old, cares what you think, is inventive - although not too much so, and the place is in a location that needs a good place, passers-by are about ¼ Hassidim, ¼ weirdly-dressed tattooed “artistes” and ½ bobo’s. And, it is good: no menu unfortunately, but lots of interesting stuff. I started with what was called a samosa of salmon but was really sliced salmon wrapped around couscous with a wonderful orange sauce (I almost had the tartare of haricots verts with pommes a la Maxim’s because that sounded pretty good too). Then I had the biche which was the best so far of this game season, perfectly (almost raw) cooked, sitting on polenta - which normally I ignore, but this was made with figs, making it terrific. (Again, I almost went with the ris de veau which sounded equally good). I finished with a Lavazza coffee and some sort of nut in a not-too-sugary caramel – perfect! So why do I only give is a 3.5? Well, it’s very expensive and while it’s not fair to rate a place on its fullness, the place was empty until 1:30, when two suits showed up and had one dish. I don’t think they’ve figured out how to do “it” yet, despite getting 3 hearts in Figaroscope the same week they gave Senderens three too. They need Jean-Pierre Coffe or Ducasse Consultants SA, to help them. If they asked me; I’d go for two different crowds; I’d keep the same food at lunch, it’s fine for the suits but they’d have to turn down the music and offer a formula and menu more reasonably priced (say 20 E for the formula and 28 for a menu); and then appeal to the kids at dinner-time, which would involve doubling the size of the bar and adding some less adventuresome dishes (tapas, pasta, etc.). My bill = 60 E (no surprise since I’d been warned that Figaroscope’s estimate of 45 E was very deceptive). 3 - Le Gorille Blanc, 11 bis, rue Chomel in the 7th, 01.45.49.04.54, closed weekends occupies the old Cigale space and despite being reviewed positively by several critics was only 1/3rd full. I started with a feuillete of wood mushrooms that were disappointing in the dryness of both the pastry and mushrooms. Then I had biche with a thin sauce that was not spicy enough for my taste. (They had plenty of game too – terrine of gibiers, perdreau, etc.) I passed up a dessert for a wonderful poire William and coffee. Bill = 47.50 E. 2.5 - Benoit, 20, rue St-Martin in the 4th, 01.42.72.25.76 is open every day and one can easily dispense 80-90 E a la carte without wine, but it also has a multi-choiced 39 E lunch menu. However, as one might expect of a place like l’Ami Louis, i.e., which is much beloved by Americans, it serves portion sizes way outside the French bell-curve – hello “Super Size Me.” Lordy, it’s been a long time since I’ve graced its space, but it hasn’t changed a bit; oh sure, it’s pricier, the staff are less brusque and more friendly indeed terrific, the drapes are cleaner and there is clear evidence that Alain Ducasse, the St Jude of culinary lost causes, has placed his gentle hand on it. “Ok, Ok, get to the point Dad.” Is there a point? Not really. If you loved it 5, 10, 20, 30 years ago, you’ll love it now. If you’ve moved your vision on to other horizons, it will not cause you much great distress either. The good news: it looks exactly the same; the bad news: it is pretty much the same except it’s pricier. For numerous reasons, basic French/Scots’ genes, primordial principles and a challenge from a French food buddy that I couldn’t manage more than one dish, I ordered the 39 E menu rather than the 20+ entrees and 40+ mains; hey, if Ducasse can’t do ordinary stuff, why stretch to sample the rest? Surprises and deceptions, bien sur. The amuse(s) bouches were very good, freshly prepared and warm, a nice start. I chose an entrée of queue of beef, which paled in comparison with yesterday’s more bourgeois pate de campagne (they also offered a jambon sur l’os and a veggie dish) and it was much, much, too much to eat even if it were good (which it was not, having the taste of a too old dish towel). Then I had a very successfully prepared pheasant hen, moist and well seasoned (e.g. not too much of anything, including salt) with wonderful cabbage. (They also had morue and black sausages.) Finally, forced to choose between crepes Suzettes and chocky mousse, I went with the calories and the orange was wonderfully intense but the crepes pretty ordinary (the late lamented Bistro Cote Mer did’em better). Oh - the clients – 1/3 were “tourists,” now don’t get your back up just yet, they were in from Marne la Vallee or such; 1/3 were local habituees/convivs and 1/3 were Amuricans, speaking flawless English (nasty aren’t I?). What else, oh yes, the madeleine was warm & yummy and the bill for the “menu” and two glasses of basic red wine runs to only 52 E, (but no bottled water or coffee - mind you). Go back? Sorry, you - not me. 0.1 – I really thought this idea of rating places was kooky or at least goofy, but tonight I found the anchor point on the south side and have new confidence. My friend and superb sniffer-out of new places in New York and Paris cut out an article in Pariscope recently about Paris Boheme, 181, rue Ordener in the 18th, 01.46.06.64.20, open everyday, that said the new chef was trained (in part) in my current US zip code, Baltimore. So I had to go, even though he warned me not to. I hadn’t been there, a few hundred meters from my flat, in 15 years. Enter, same old bar and smoking center, traverse the corridor to the two huge rooms in the back, ask for “no smoking,” huh, they were the two tables to the East in the bar, ah no. So OK. Sit besides lobster tank, can’t be bad eh? Wrong, worst meal of the century, no I already used that. Small carte, big wine list. Ordered defensively: the shucker’s plate – 3 nice fresh gambas, 3 nasty clams and 3 tired oysters; then (what could go wrong) confit de canard with potatoes; tasteless, inedible, but nicely cooked mushrooms. What’d’ya’do now? Plead “grippe.” I’m a coward. The part that really grates me is that a couple blocks away I had a great meal at Le Tяuc, above, for 4 Euros less. Go figure! Scale (subject to fickleness and change): 10 - Giradet in the old days. 9 - Ducasse, Bocuse, Loiseau at their prime 8 - Bon Acceuil, Ze Kitchen Galerie, Cerisaie, Constant x3 now 7- Bistro Cote Mer at its flowering best 6 - Cinq Mars 5 - Terminus Nord 4 - 2 Pieces Cuisine 3 - Le Bouclard 2 - Sale + Pepe 1 - le Nord-Sud 0 - Auguste, The Place Ø- Iode

I'm not sure about the Ferme Saint Hurbert, the yellow pages still shows it there but gives the name as the Terre des Truffes. ← Well, the Ferme Saint Hurbert is gone and as I suspected a new place the Terre des Truffes has opened and was reviewed (3/5) today in A Nous Paris. Sorry.

Auguste High ambitions, poor execution in my experience. And adding to the comments about Aux Lyonnais + l'Astrance, I went a few days/weeks after they opened, liked them, went back with Colette and our best food friends of 45 years eating experience in France and both were very very disappointing to be kind.

But Mon Viel Ami isn't a Ducasse place. ← I assume Carlsbad is alluding to the fairness/unfairness of Ducasse's stars influencing the elevation of Aux Lyonnais to stardom; where to be fair Michelin might be tempted to have Westerman's three stars at Buereheisel influence Mon Viel Ami's fate. This is not very well written but do I make the point?; what's good for the goose is good for the gander.

During a very, very nice meal at Maxan today (that I'll post about soon) where I did not talk to but watched the chef watch us, I had another thought. The big guys, you know who they are, serving their 500th serving of salmon, don't really want to know what you think, come-on, will it really change what they do? But a young guy in his first chef-owned (well - with the bank and investors and such) place would probably sincerely like your reaction. Paradoxically, though the biggies have brigades of staff they can easily leave for a few minutes while the new guy just has a plongeur whom I'm not sure he'd trust with what's on the stove.

Ah too bad; about the service I'd agree, but the food for me/us was good old Senderens stuff, I'll be posting November orgy summary soon.

Very astute and reasonable calculation. I'd predict as well that Senderens holds on to some star(s); Gaya + Dominique Bouchet, the latter, despite his statements au contraire, will be rewarded and maybe, just maybe (despite my strong thought waves) Benoit + Auguste will, respectively, hold on or get one for differing reasons. But to play the grouch, who cares?, except their investors; I would hope our habits will not change. Also we've got 4 more months if it's released as it usually is in March, unless of course some unthinking stockperson puts copies out in Corsica a week early as happend last year. Much can happen before then. On verra.

This may be misinformation as Fresh_a warned even farther upthread, but lesRestos.com says del Burgo will take over at the beginning of December.

The Week of November 7th, 2005 Monday, in A Nous Paris, Jerome Berger gave 3/5 blocks to La Boulangerie, coordinates given before, speaking especially warmly about the large portion of the side of pork but less enthusiastically about the promptness of delivery of the food {Ed Note: my reaction can be found here}; while in the next column, his colleague Philippe Toinard awarded 3/5 to Carte Blanche, 6, rue Lamartine in the 9th, 01.48.78.12.20, closed Saturday lunch and Sundays, menus 23-31 E where he loved the individual barbequed chicken but regretted that the firemen had to help a patron who’d passed out {my review will be posted next week}. Wednesday, Sebastien Demorand in Zurban devoted his major space to Kai a good but Japanese place and thus outside my scope of digesting. His “Casseroles” though covered the French “neogastro” Carte Blanche, coordinates above, where he liked the carpaccio of scallops, duck and famous bar-b-q’d chicken; a nice neighborhood bistrot with OK food - Le 20e Art, 46, rue des Vignoles in the 20th, 01.43.67.22.29, closed Sundays, lunch formula = 12.50 E, a la carte 28-30E for the tartare of tuna, lamb with cumin, good cod and small but good wines; and a Spanish place serving a gazillion inexpensive tapas – Lizarran in the 8th. Not surprisingly, the same day’s Figaroscope’s Emmanuel Rubin’s “C’est nouveau” also featured Kai with three hearts, the photo and essay and gave a weak one heart to Lizarran – see just above. However three French places merited 2 hearts each: Le Gorille Blanc, 11 bis, rue Chomel in the 7th, 01.45.49.04.54, closed weekends (in the old Cigale space) costing 30-40 E for a tarte of snails, herring, sautéed girolles, biche, and fig tart {again, you’ll get my take on it next week}; Cote 9e, 5, rue Henri-Monnier in the 9th, 01.45.26.26.30, closed Saturday lunch and Sundays where for 30-35 E one gets country pate, pork and apple tarte; and La Cave est Restaurant, 45, rue de Paris in Montreuil, 01.42.87.09.48, closed Saturday lunch and Sundays, with menus at 12.5-14.5 E at lunch and a la carte 30 E for Spanish cold cuts, beef and crepes well-made {for my review see here}. Figaroscope’s “Dossier” covered exotic/rare restaurants featuring food from non-typical countries, that is: Bulgaria La Thrace Columbia Mi Ranchito Paisa Reunion Restaurant de la Reunion Malasia Chez Fung Mali Les Trois Caimans Manchuria Jardins de Mandchourie Polynesia Fare Tahiti Seychelles Au Coco de Mer Syria-Palestine Om’zaki Yugoslavia Il etait une fois la Yougoslavie Belgium Graindorge Austria Le Stubli Argentina Anahi Ireland Carr’s Quebec l’Envoi Quebecois Indonesia Djakarta Bali Chile Santa Sed Peru El Picaflor And, as usual, Francois Simon goes to one in his “Hache Menu” – the Iranian place Mazeh in the 15th which if you live nearby, you should go to. Thursday, this week, Gilles Pudlowski in Le Point has his usual mix of stuff, He discusses la Taverne de Safranier in Antibes; La Place in Maussane; and the Maison Parret in Sens. He has a long piece on the successful revival of L'Oustau de Baumanière in Les Baux-de-Provence. Then he gets to Paris and reviews a new place, the Boucherie Rouliere, 24, rue des Canettes in the 6th, 01.43.26.25.70, a la carte about 50 E, chef’d by Jean-Jacques Roulière ex of la Brasserie Fernand, who serves beef from Ireland, Spain, etc; then says two places remain in good shape – Romain + Alcazar, coordinates well-known; and ends by noting that there is one place in trouble – Le Wepler. He also gives a recipe for bar au sel and tells where to get Sel de Guerande there. This Thursday’s Paris Vendu had a two-page piece on new addresses that included: Citrus, La Lilote, BHV, Flora, Carte Blanche, Vin Chai Moi, Café Ventilo, Le Montecristo Orient, Eugene, Kiwi Corner, Vinos, Le Diaspason, Bon, Charlie Birdy + Naked, a long piece on le Sot l’y laisse and a recommendation for cooking classes at Classe Cuisine, more info here. The one place unreviewed by others and whose coordinates are not to be found above is Le Diaspason which opened in the Terrass Hotel in the 18th recently. Friday, Patricia Wells returned to the IHT with a glowing review of Chez Les Anges, coordinates given already, where she was impressed by the incredibly fresh product and the quality of everything she ordered. Saturday, Francois Simon’s “Croque Notes” details his meal at le Grand Vefour, where he had what sounds like a magical experience; save for a “surprising” dessert (?) of veggies, celery, carrots and artichokes which disconcerted his companion; however, the bill was not surprising = 436 E. In addition, he and Alexandra Bardini wrote a piece on “destination” restos in the rest of Europe: The Fat Duck in Bray, UK, Amaya in London, Gambero Rosso in San Vincenzo, Italy, El Bulli in Roses, Spain, El Celler de Can Rosa in Gerona, Spain, Le Hof van Cleve in Waregem, Belgium and La Pinte des Mosettes in Cerniat, Switzerland. Sunday, in their ongoing series of where great chefs eat at affordable prices in Paris, the JDD published Regis Marcon’s two: La Beurre Noisette + l’Ambassade d’Auvergne. In the Version Femina magazine, Astrid de T’Serclaes reviewed two places already covered; Meating + Gaya. This week’s Time Out Paris has a piece on l’Angl’Opera. And this month’s Where’s Alexander Lobrano touts Benoit, Senderens + l’Atelier des Chefs – more on it can be found here. Speaking of A.L., he also had an article in the print version of France Guide on “New Recipes” mentioning “Paris’s Buzzing Bistros” - l’Ourcine + Les Ormes, Southwest places Chapon Fin + Restaurant Jean-Luc Arnaud, one in the Rhone-Alps La Chamade and one in the Western Loire Les Plantagenets. This month’s En Ville has some favorite shopping places of Bruno Doucet of La Regalade; plus those restaurants favored by five photographers, specifically Le Wepler, Le Hangar, Natacha, Ma Bougogne + Le 58 , 58, rue de Saintonge in the 3rd, 01.48.04.03.44, described as a true neighborhood bistot charging 12 E per person. Please post comments here and not in the Digest thread.

← Yes. They give Eiffel towers instead of stars, so it is a Coup de Coeur plus it has 1, 2 or 3 Eiffel towers.

There are several comments scattered about but one thread is devoted to le Meurice. As for the Metro, my sainted wife Colette favors taking the 244 bus from the Porte Maillol to get a bit closer, but it is only 2.5 km or so as Mayur points out. I too think that the Bois restaurants are better in the summer but we had a wonderful meal on a bright sunny day in January at the Pavillion des Princes where the view overlooking the lake and fields was stunning.

Two thoughts: There do seem to be three types: (1) the frontroom guys like Passard who spends a lot of (what he must judge useful) time out front, chatting, inquiring, schmoozing; (2) the painfully shy, busy or reluctant chefs, like the most amiable but hardworking Cyril Lalanne whose charming wife Maryse is definately the more comfortable one at public relations or those who, as Margaret and others have pointed out, work the front only after the mains have been served; and (3) a third type, the inbetween folks like Bouchet who stands at the front of his "California" kitchen finishing off each dish while watching the salle intensely and knowing somehow when to come a few feet out to greet, talk, thank or say goodbye. As for: Another, offtopic apocryphal story told about Ferrari (parodied by Peter Ustinoff) is his reply to why his cars' brakes always gave out a few km from the finish of Grand Prix events - it was something like "Any idiot can make a car stop but it takes a genius to make them go fast." On second thought, maybe it does applying to cooking too.

Easy, cab if raining or metro and walk if it's nice weather. As for your choice, after hearing Felice talk of her meal there last week and my experience with Eric Frechon, I'd support le Bristol.

So what exactly is the release date all about? A bunch of us were dining Wednesday night with Specialist first class Felice and what should be lining the walls but about 40 cases of BN. Now, we didn't ask for any, but if we had????

I have taken the liberty, it being a long weekend here and such, to start a new thread asking folks to respond to the question that getxo asked elsewhere, specifically: My answer is of course, why not? But recall the old saw attributed to Ducasse, maybe apocryphal, "Who cooks when you're not here?" Ans: "The same guy as when I am here."

This could be a whole new thread. In NY if the NYT favorably or even mildly-favorably reviews a place - faggedaboudit for a year. Here, I routinely go the day of a great review in le Figaro, no problem.

While today's Le Figaro's article by Francois Simon and Alexandra Bardini dealt with places French folk would see as “destination” restos in the rest of Europe, they are probably best detailed on this thread since there's no "Europe" or Europe thread yet. They are: The Fat Duck in Bray, UK, Amaya in London, Gambero Rosso in San Vincenzo, Italy, El Bulli in Roses, Spain, El Celler de Can Rosa in Gerona, Spain, Le Hof van Cleve in Waregem, Belgium and La Pinte des Mosettes in Cerniat, Switzerland.

When you said you'd read and reread the threads it didn't occur to me that there was a big article by François Simon, Alexandra Michot and Emmanuelle Maisonneuve on brasseries in Figaro that I summarized in September in the the Digest. It had a side-bar list of places with ratings from 6.5-13/20 and of the food from 1.5-3.5/5. Since September, I've seen several other positive references to Chez Flottes, the top-ranked one, so you may want to put it on your list.

French Food Guides 2006 Part 2: The big Lebey Lebey’s 2006 Guide des Restaurants de Paris includes 658 places of which 77 or 78 (depending on whether you trust the back cover or the Preface) are new and about 30 are “coups de coeur,” abbreviated here as “C du C,” that is, their favorites. Another new feature is a list of brunch places. The authors (CL and Sylvain Verut) also single out in their Preface Senderens, Pre Catalan, Le Comptoir + Meating. New restaurants meriting an Eiffel tower(s) (eg star(s)): Silk and Spice Benoit Fogon (also gets a C de C) Le Comptoir (also gets a C de C) Aida Auguste Gaya Citrus Etoile Le Jardin des Cygnes Maxan Dominique Bouchet Romain La Grille (also gets a C de C) Harumi L’Acajou Le Pavillion Noura Le Pergolese L’Ampere Le Beauvilliers Krung Thep Mandalay Restaurant Mogador Aux Saveurs du Marche Coups de Coeur meriting an Eiffel tower(s) (eg star(s)): Le Meurice Apicius Laurent Senderens Astrance Pre Catalan Enoteca Isami Sardegna a Tavola Angl’Opera Spoon La Famille Josephine Chez Ramalaud Repaire de Cartouche Villaret Cerisaie Table Lauriston Caves Petrissans Pre Verre Ze Kitchen Galerie Avant Gout Plain old Coups de Coeur: Hotel Costes Le Meurice Mathi’s La Muse Vin Chez Ramalaud Temps Au Temps La Rotonde de la Muette