John Talbott

I gotta say WOW; Laidback, we were there too, if today is Monday the 10th for lunch, and I agree 100%. I had been there a bit back, see here, and liked it but never found the time to return. Only difference we had a 21E St Chinian and 20 E Le Nine as wines. By the way, we were the loud, roudy foursome three tables in from the door.

The Week of October 3rd, 2005 Monday in “A Nous Paris,” Philippe Toinard gave 3/5 blocks to Citrus, coordinates given already, and his only real complaint was a lack of coherence to the menu; meanwhile, his colleague, Jerome Berger, awarded 3/5 blocks to the Italian cantine Ante Prima in the 8th with an 18 E lunch menu. Wednesday in Zurban, Sebastien Demorand devoted his main space to Gaya Rive Gauche, coordinates given previously, which he liked despite the strange dessert (chantilly-pistachio-rocket-Izarra-Granny Smiths); {my views are here}. His “Casserole” restaurants were the fish bistrot Le Bis de Severo, 16, rue des Plantes in the 14th, 01.40.44.73.09, closed Saturday night, Sundays and Monday lunch, costing about 30-35E, an offshoot of Severo in the 14th, a largely meat place, where he raves about the wine and some dishes (eg the tartare) but disparages others; the café-concert-bistro-winebar-you name it - Vin Chai Moi, 33, rue de la Chine in the 20th, 01.40.33.48.01, with lunch formulas at 10 and 12.80 E, Sunday brunch at 17 E and a la carte 25 E, serving everything from terrines to a nice entrecote with “world” wines; and the Italian resto of the week that “comes and goes” - Sole Caffe e Cucina in the 9th. Figaroscope’s Emmanuel Rubin, in “C’est nouveau,” gave the picture, written opening and 3 hearts to Alain Senderens’ renamed Senderens, 9 place de la Madeleine in the 8th, 01.42.65.22.90, open everyday, running one about 70-90 E for cepes prepared three ways, sole, a pink macaron, etc; but also gave 3 hearts to Kodo, 29, rue du Bourg-Tibourg in the 4th, 01.42.74.45.25, closed Mondays, which he describes as a real revelation, serving a tartare of haricots verts, lamb and poached peach for about 45 E; 2 hearts to Bound, (one of the Barfly offshoots), 49-51 ave George V in the 8th, 01.53.67.84.67, open everyday serving shrimp cocktail, chili peppers and lemon tart for about 60E; and one heart each to the fastfood place in the 2nd - Eatme and Chez Corto, 47, rue Rodier in the 9th, 01.49.95.96.80, closed Sundays serving black sausage, veal stew and crème brulee for 35-40E. Due to computer problems, I did not relate last week’s “C’est nouveau” fully and while I noted that Ruben et al featured Fogon, awarding it 3 hearts, they also gave two hearts to three places: l’Ascot, 66 rue Pierre-Charron in the 8th, 01.43.59.28.15, open everyday, a “steak-house” running one about 35-40 E; a “pop concept-store cantine,” the Café Ventilo and a Chinese place, Chez Ly-Palace de Chine; plus one one-hearter – the Pavillion Baltard, 9, rue Coquilliere in the 1st, 01.42.36.22.00, open everyday, with a lunch formula at 15 and a la carte 35 E for hot sausage, cod and good andouillette. In the “Dossier” of Figaroscope, they list a bunch of unusual places to eat: In a school - Restaurant d’Application In a cellar - Musee du Vin In a garage - Pro Car + Auto Passion Café In a kitchen - l’Atelier des Chefs Without light - Dans le Noir In a dispensary - La Pharmacie In a private residence - Cristal Room Baccarat In a jai-lai court - Le Trinquet In a train - Wagon bleu In a church - Le Foyer de la Madeleine In a squat - La Generale and also: Footsie, Nodaiwa, Conservatoire Serge-Rachmaninov, Le Coin de Verre, Ken Club, Institut Vatel, Jules Verne, + Drole d’endroit pour une rencontre. In the world of bizarre restos, Francois Simon chose to go to the Aviation Club de France, 104, Ave des Champs-Elysees in the 8th, 01.45.62.26.88, where it was very reasonably priced (37 E) for the “banal” food and two glasses of red wine. The food of the moment per Figaroscope, is mushrooms. Thursday, in l’Express, Jean-Luc Petitrenaud wrote up the Château de Codignat in Lezoux and an Italian restaurant Carpaccio in the 8th. Thursday, as well, in Le Point, Gilles Pudlowski write his usual brief reviews, including: L'Océanide in Nantes, the Bis de Severo see above, chef’d by Makoto Shigeno, ex of the Crillon, who serves up fish straight from the Mother House; a bar-resto – Mathi’s, 3, rue de Ponthieu, in the 8th, 01.53.76.39.55, a la carte about 55 E with smoked salmon, bar and roast chicken; the best Indian resto in Paris Yugaraj in the 6th; J'Go, 4, rue Drouot in the 9th, 01.40.22.09.09, with menus at 15 (lunch) and 28 E, a la carte 40 mainly known for its Quercy lamb {J’Go = Gigot, right?}; and the man of the hour – Senderens, 8, place de la Madeleine in the 8th, 01.45.65.22.90, a la carte 80-120 E, serving a host of new and old dishes from Lucas-Carton, Archestrate + Apicius. Thursday, Gerard Besson, per Figaro, declared that the game season was open, offering up partridge, deer and wild boar in a 145 E menu. Friday in Les Echos, Jean Louis Galesne wrote of three places in Meudon (11 km from Paris) that he thinks deserve the trip: l’Escarbille, Chez Pierrot + le Relais des Gardes. Saturday/Sunday in Le Figaro {which has tried to revamp its image and is now publishing almost four sections a day, in imitating the New York Times, I assume,} there is not only the “Croque Notes” of Francois Simon, that talks of the ability in Paris to find the resto of one’s memory – in this case {in my neighborhood of all places} the Paris Boheme, 181, rue Ordener in the 18th, 01.57.08.55.19 where he enjoyed the confit de canard, entrecote, tomatoes and lettuce and wines by the carafe, but also one of their number numbers – this the 10 chefs delivering the most spine-tingling food right now {my rough trans}: they are: Jean-Marc Boyer's le Puits du Tresor in Lastours, Fabien Lefebre and Olivier Bontemps' Octopus in Beziers, Olivier Bellin's l’Auberge des Glaziks in Plomodiern, Jacques Decoret in Vichy, Alexandre Gauthier's La Grenouillere in La Madeleine-sous-Montreuil, Alain Senderens, Pierre Gagnaire, Yves Camdeborde's Le Comptoir and Thierry Schwartz's le Bistrot des Saveurs in Obernai. In addition, I reported incorrectly two weeks ago (Sept 17-18) that “François Simon, Alexandra Michot and Emmanuelle Maisonneuve had an article in Madame Figaro called ‘Brasseries, why so lazy ?’” but indeed it was in the Saturday/Sunday regular Figaro and also it listed the top five of 32 brasseries as: Chez Flottes, Closerie des Lilas, Alcazar, Rotonde + Select and Le Boeuf Couronne as another where the price-quality ratio was good. Finally, that week’s numbers game, the “Thermostat,” gave a 7/10 to the Clos des Sens in Annecy. Also, M. Simon’s “Croque Notes” complained about the “parade” of unrequested “freebies” nouvelle cuisine has encouraged, eg amuse-buches, mignardises, sashimis, etc, etc. He said one goes to eat the food one orders not those little plates placed in front of you unwanted. Last week (Sept 25-26), Figaro not only published an article on croissants I mentioned in last week’s Digest, but rated 32 bakeries; tops were Julien, Pierre Herme, Paul, Laurent Duchene + Boulanger de Monge. In addition, they gave the 4 best places to sit and savor a coffee and croissant in Paris: Le Calife, Le Café Marly, Le Cannibale Café + Le Café de Flore as well as Florida in Toulouse, le Chene Vert in Nantes, le Cote du Sud in Pyla-sur-Mer and Payard Patisserie & Bistroin NYC {I just threw that OT one in to see who’s reading this far}. Also their top 5 restos of the moth were: Le Comptoir du Relais, + L’Astrance in Paris, Nicolas le Bec in Lyon, Jacques Decoret in Vichy and Maison Baron Lefevre in Nantes. Finally, Francois Simon’s “Croque Notes” was headed “Alain Senderens en Nike” wherein he discusses his “brilliant” menu (in the American sense), including the 16 E sardines and 56 E (for two) pigeon with crab and tea as well as the punch-drunk savarin: his bill was 178 for two. He also touts the publication of “Le Carnet de route Omnivore 2006,” a guidebook published by l’Epure (24 E) by Dubranchet, Demorand & Petrini, featuring 150 young new chefs, 300 wine growers and 150 producers. {My views on it will be posted as part of my resto guidebook series, soon.} Over the weekend, eg October 1-2, Figaro also published the “Top 5” Fashionista restos – Anahi, Hotel Costes, l’Avnue, Colette + Market and in that week’s “Thermostat” they gave a 7/10 to a new bistrot La Ferrandaise, 8, rue de Vaugirard in the 6th, 01.43.26.36.36 with an “impeccable menu” at 28 E as well as 6/10 to Fogon and 5/10 to Cristina’s Tapas for tapas. Finally, F. Simon’s “Croque Notes” talked of several issues: restos that say they serve food like at home, the new book by Bruno Verjus Tous en cuisine published by Agnes Vienot, tapas and good products at Vino’s and the harm or lack of it of pouring a second wine into the glass of the first. Sunday in the JDD, Jean-Luc Rabanel of La Chassagnette in Arles picked his favorite restaurants: Jacquot de Bayonne in the 12th and Le Clou in the 17th. Sunday, as well, Margaret Kemp of Bonjour Paris wrote an article called “Cocoa Buzz” about the Salon du Chocolat and recommended several chocolate places: Godiva, Pierre Herme, Jean-Paul Hevin, Patrick Roger and Pierre Marcolini. Please post comments here and not in the Digest thread.

Far be it to me to tell you how to research these areas, but you may find Calvin (Bud) Trillin's article in Gourmet recently about RW (Johnnie) Apple Jr's 70th Birthday party at l'Ami Louis to be of some aid. In addition, the first English version of Gault-Millau (1964) published by Julliard tells a bit of M and Mme Antoine and the second, if I'm correct, published in 1969 by Random House (while M Magnin was still alive and kicking) has some info of interest, as is the 1982 edition (Crown/Knapp) when he was 82 years old - ergo born in 1900. Otherwise I'm afraid, it's off to the library.

Let me try to answer. I think one reason you don't see up-to-date reviews is that she got plenty of good press (deservedly) after opening in in the summer and staying open throughout August (bold move!). As the reviews piled up, she began to 1. bump her prices up and 2. reduce the number of choices on the "menu" - neither of which is a sin, but some of us stopped going when we realized that for a party of four or six, many of us would be eating the same thing if we stuck to the still fairly reasonably priced "menu." In any case, back to your queries; I have not eaten there since last summer when it was still fine; the carte outside recently looked like there were more choices on the "menu;" but is it worth 40E? I think so - but price-quality ratios are very individual. Francois Simon recently commented that one place was a bad ratio because he hated the food even at a cheap price and another place was a good ratio because the food was so banal [to justify it] and presuming Pierre45's story is another Simon account, he felt that l'Ami Louis was a bargain compared with a RT ticket to NYC to eat among Americans.

Per Le Figaro, Saturday/Sunday, the week of Fooding will occur 28 Nov to 5 December in "secret places," such as the heart of the Marais, the 30th, with folk from the hotels/restaurants Bristol, Meurice + Crillon and the man of the hour (except for Alain Senderens and Pierre Gagnaire) - Yves Camdeborde. Check it out here.

Thursday, Gerard Besson, per Figaro, declared that the game season was open, offering up partridge, deer and wild boar in a 145 E menu.

I hate to be a spoil-sport, but I agree with fresh_a - bottom line - why?

I regret to say that I too heard in Paris today that reservations are now very backed up. With no disrespect to M. Camdeborde, I think he's entered the star status and David, as you said including what Bruno Doucet is now doing at Le Regalade.

The Week of September 26th, 2005 In an article in Figaro Madame entitled “A la recherche du croissant perdu,” Alexandra Michot and François Simon with Alexandra Bardini and Emmanuelle Maisonneuve tested forty boulangeries in Paris, coming up with a long list of good ones. The authors criticize the number of croissants they tried that were under or uncooked which their consultants, Yves Camdeborde and Christophe Felder, respectively, attributed to the ovens used and quality and use of products. An accompanying piece by Emmanuelle Maisonneuve suggested how to tell the difference and is of such length that I’ll let you read it. Margaret Kemp, in this Sunday/Monday’s Bonjour Paris,wrote about two hot new restaurants; Gaya par Pierre Gagnaire, 44 rue du Bac in the 7th, 01.45.44.73.73, closed Sundays, with a plat du jour = 23€ and fresh fish of all sorts; and Senderens, 9, place de la Madeleine in the 8th, 01.42.65.22.90, with reduced prices but interesting sounding food. Monday in “A Nous Paris,” courtesy of eGullet member Felice, a whole lot of wine bars were listed and their food and wine offerings discussed but no blocks were awarded. They were: Vino’s in a “private club setting, La Cremerie – Caves Miard natural wines in a 1880 Cremerie, Le Calmont with coldcuts and cheese from Aveyron as well as many other dishes, Le Griffonnier with the usual platters plus a salad of pot au feu, Le J’Go known for its lamb in many fashions, which is a hangout for the Drouot folk who want some wine between courses, Melac which features beef with carrots - and then they simply list with coordinates, four more wine bars in the “A Suivre” right column: Le Vin Sabre, Couleurs de Vigne, Le Sancerre + Le Baratin. In addition, they announce the opening of À l’Ecole, {at school, got it?}, 21 rue Brochant in the 17th, 01.53.11.02.25, closed Saturday lunch and Sundays with a formula at 18.50, menu 22.10 and a la carte about 35€, which they {Ed Note: alone I might add} herald as a “good return to Paris” but don’t rate (eg they give no blocks). Wednesday in Zurban Sebastien Demorand devoted his main space to the ever-popular Spanish place, Fogon, which has just moved to new quarters at 45, quai des Grands-Augustins in the 6th, 01.43.54.31.33. His “Casseroles” section comprised: a new, nice, neighborhood bistro Le Polichinelle, 66, rue de Charonne in the 11th, 01.58.30.63.52, open everyday, with a carte running 28-32€ and serving crisp crab wonton, a complicated japanesey-sounding vegetable dish, place fish and an apricot/pink champagne dessert; the renovated, returned, retro-looking and eating bistrot La Boulangerie, 15 rue des Panoyaux in the 20th, 01.43.58.45.45, closed Saturday lunch and Sundays with a lunch formula at 13€ and menus at 16 and 28 €, serving a formidable terrine, magret with a sweet/salt sauce, and a good wine list {for my take see here}; and a bad joke of a restaurant modeled on a school-room, À l’École, coordinates above, serving salmon with potatoes and horseradish, magret with ginger and honey sauce and a pastille of chicken with thyme and sage. And in Figaroscope, {surprise} ”C’est nouveau” featured Fogon, coordinates above. Figaroscope’s “Dossier” listed places for about 30 Euros written by Colette Monsat, Dominique Couvreur, Gilles Dupuis, Francois Simon and Sylvain Verut. It gave them as: Le Café des Musees, Le Comptoir, Cinq Mars, Le Clos des Gourmands, Cafew Panique, Les Bombis, l’Alchimiste, l’Ourcine, l’Entredgeu + La Boulangerie. In this vein, Francois Simon chose to go to Louvre Ripaille, 1, rue Perrault in the 1st, 01.42.97.49.91 where he had an expensive (due to price/quality ratio not the genuine cost) but bad meal for 50 €, plus a 29.50 € wine, although he says there are less pricey ones at the bar. {The photo of his bill shows 28 €, very strange.} Go? “Not except to the bar.” Wednesday in the New York Times, Florence Fabricant revealed that Michel Bras, famously located in Laguiole, was putting his name on a line of Japanese kitchen knives made by Kai. Thursday in l’Express Jean-Luc Petitrenaud reviewed the Restaurant du Trinquet d'Arcangues, in the town of the same name near Biarritz and the now quite long-standing Savoy-offshoot, La Butte Chaillot, 110 bis avenue Kléber in the 16th, 01 47 27 88 88, 32 Euros menu, calling it an enchanted resto. Thursday in Le Point, Gilles Pudlowski write his usual brief reviews of several places: To follow: l’Auberge du Clou, 30, av. Trudaine in the 9th, 01.48.78.22.48, lunch menu = 13, other menu = 29 and a la carte about 40 E where he liked the tuna mi-cuit and lotte with crab sauce; Mémère Paulette, 3, rue Paul-Lelong in the 2nd, 01.40.26.12.36, menus at 13, 15 (lunch) and 18 E where he had the veal kidneys, onglet and bavette with a fine choice of wines; In good shape were two foreign places: the Spanish Fogon and Japanese Taïra and two places in Bordeaux - the New Chapon Fin + La Table de l'épicier , as wel as one in Caen - Le Pet’t B. Friday in Les Echoes, the cyber-editors put together an article on restos that have opened/reopened/changed/etc for the rentrée. The ones that caught their eyes (coordinates if not given here can be found above) were: Gaya, par Pierre Gagnaire, where they liked the creamy white tuna, cuttlefish with ginger, vitello tonnato without veal, haddock & coques and the dessert everyone {including myself} has talked of; Senderens, whose new food has a touch of Asia in things like squid a la plancha, artichokes barigoule, cepes served three ways with a remarkable white Graves, lotte with mussels, lamb with curry or roasted; two bistrots – the Auvergnac La Ferrandaise, 8, rue de Vaugirard in the 6th, 01.43.26.36.36, closed Saturday lunch, Sundays and Mondays, formula at 23, a la carte 30-40 E for milk-fed veal, terrines, roast pigeon, filet of bass and excellent nougat and Le Petit Verdot serving sausage, snails with duxelles, sole meuniere, etc; a wine bar Vin Chai Moi, 33, rue de la Chine in the 20th, 01.40.33.48.01, closed Sunday nights, costing about 25-35 E for tartines, terrines variées, beef tartar with rocket salad, raviolis of beef cheeks in wine; and several foreign places – two Italian, Tre + Il Giramondo, two Spanish Cristina’s Tapas + Fogon, and one Japanese Aida. Jean-Louis Galesne in Les Echos last week, wrote a nice article on where to eat eel. He named the following in Paris: Elysées du Vernet, Pavillon Ledoyen, Nodaiwa, La Petite Sirène. Sunday/Monday, Margaret Kemp of Bonjour Paris wrote up L’Atelier des Chefs, 10 rue Penthièvre in the 8th, 01.53.30.05.82, already featured in prior eGullet threads, which offers courses in cooking from 15 E. In the October Paris Notes, Rosa Jackson revisited five of her favorites that still feature cheese courses in Paris Bites. They were: Astier, Les Fernandises, Graingorge, Chez Michel + Le Timbre. I try to keep my eye on the site EatinParis and check their top 10 restos from time to time. If I’m not mistaken La Boulangerie see coordinates above, has just gotten on the list. Writing in Figaro Madame, Francois Simon tells one how NOT to eat during fashion week(s) : to whit: arrive without a reservation, eat very early with the “tourists,” ignore the maitre d’, make like you’re a regular, and take any table. Please post comments here and not in the Digest thread.

There is a place not too far and not too cher, that I noted in the Digest last November and ate at twice (once great; second time less great) that given we're entering game season, might fit the bill You're staying in an area that's not known for its inexpensive places. but I'll see if I can come up with more.

The last time I went tickets were available there and it was full but not jammed on the weekend (kids are off after all). I guess I'd go Monday if there were a choice.

Have you looked at threads present and past and if so, what sort of place, price range, location and type of food interests you two? There are just too many choices to answer your query without narrowing it down. Pudlo lists 2000 addresses in Paris, Lebey over 600, and the Michelin has over 80 starred places. Plus 5 new places open every week, reviewed in Figaroscope and Zurban.

Since I can be of no help regarding restos in Millau (we ate in Carcassone when last thru there) let me just say that the Viaduc at Millau is something people drive hours to see and is quite wonderful. Also Jose Bove of trashing McDo/transgenic veggies/etc fame is a native of Millau and a Roquefort producer there.

Senderens indeed reopened 19 September and my Digest of Vincent Noce's review in Libe is here. Edited by John Talbott to correct Noce's affiliation.

My views are here. I've been four times since he opened, once stunningly seated at the "bar" 2 feet from db and I think it holds up very well.

The Week of September 19th, 2005 Margaret Kemp, in this Sunday/Monday’s Bonjour Paris, talks of the Auberge de Noves 2 km outside the city of the same name in Provence, 04.90.24.28.28, which she reveals has fallen from three stars in 1959-68 to one star now which she insists should be reinstated; they have six, four and three course meals, no prices given, but their website has a special offer of lunch or dinner at 99 E per person. Wednesday, Colette Monsat and Emmanuel Rubin in Figaroscope’s Dossier entitled “Rentree” discuss “Suggestions for Autumn and Winter.” Top right is a picture of Ducasse, Senderens and Gagnaire and a lengthy blurb about the rentree being sweet and sour with good and bad new places. They say we’re between two generations of creators. And then comes a series of unrelated pieces {Ed Note: I’m not giving coordinates for many because they have or will be reviewed extensively}, to whit: (1) an interview with Ducasse on his reopening with Thierry de la Brosse of Benoit, 20 rue St-Martin in the 4th, 01.42.72.25.76, and why he did it, his unchanged prices (lunch menu = 38 E) there, his far-flung empire, his feelings about this intergenerational gap (old star holders vs young bistrotiers) or lack of it, the importance of preserving haute cuisine to France (like haute couture), having a price range from 20 to 350 Euros and importing ideas from Asia, Senderens reduction from 400 to 100 Euros but equally going from turbot to sardines, what he’d answer folks who call him Citizen Kane, the Big Brother of Gastronomy – that he’s got a lot going on, and finally his favorite bookstores, cave Auge, and bistrots: l’Entredgeu, Beurre Noisette, l’Ami Jean, Ze Kitchen Galerie + le Soliel in St-Ouen reprised by a talented young chef, (2) the opening of several branché branches: Le Bound, by the Group George V (e.g. Buddha Bar) Charlie Birdy, by the Group Bertrand (e.g. Impala) Culture Biere, by Heineken K1ze, by the Bodega team La Gazzetta, by the China Club/Fumoir team, (3) changes at la Table, le Bistrot, Le Café des Musees, La Gourmandine, l’Eugene, l’Entre-Nous, Cote 9e, la Boulangerie, (4) a change in chefs at the Park Hyatt Vendome, (5) changes in décor at Ventilo, La Villa Coloniale, Risi & Bisi, Royal Monceau, Cap Vernet, Caius, + Dalloyau at the Bastille, (6) several “gadgets,” a tea salon in Galeries Lafayette run by Inaki, ex-La Famille, a 3 in 1(cantine/café/selfserve) at BHV, an Asiatic “dinette” run by Shanghai Tang at the Maison de la Chine, and an elegant cocktail bar called Aperitivo in Armani, (7) the “death” of the Cafe des Delices, Safran, le Beige, R’Aliment, Tante Jeanne + Café Seraphin, (8) the opening/reopening of three high class bistrots: Benoit, Gaya Rive-Gauche + Lucas-Carton, (9) the opening/reopening of six “gastronomically correct” restos: Citrus Etoile, Café R, l’Auberge de la Ferrandaise, Pavillion des Prices, Maxan + Gaboriau, (10) the Japanese influence at: Vino’s, Petit Verdot, Culinary Culture Club, Aida, (11) the soon to happen opening/reopening of le Pavillion Baltard, La Table d’Hote respectively by Stephane Collaro and Caroll Sinclair, (12) the much later opening/reopening of Le 123 + Steack & Lobster, (13) the rumors of openings of a new trattoria by the team at les Cailloux, a second Taste Monde, del Burgo’s move to Jamin, Choukroun’s opening a Krug Room, (14) and murmurs about restos in the two newest hotels: Fouguet’s (No); Un Amour (Yes; Westermann consultant). (15) the return of the classroom style of décor at le Refrectoire + A l’Ecole, (16) the emphasis on beef at: Meating, Titi Parisien, Boucherie Rouliere, Galvacher, Apicius, le Café du Commerce, Sebillon Elysees, (17) the appearance of Korean places: Samiin + Ossek Garden, (18) new places in the NE burbs: La Cave est Restaurant, Plate’s + Indigo Square, (19) a big surprise during the December “Fooding Week,” (20) and finally, changes/openings of several cosmopolitan, e.g. foreign places: Fogon, Ante Prima, Amici Miei + Marmite Bazar. Francois Simon, picking up on the news of the opening of Gaya par Pierre Gagnaire, 44, rue du Bac in the 7th, 01.45.44.73.73, went there. His Hache Menu mentions his having enjoyed the 25 Euro pressed crab and the chantilly-pistache-roquette-Izarra-green apple structured dessert, but he didn’t think the “marriage” of ingredients in the 23 E plat de jour of ray, tuna and girolles worked, and the review, despite his “Should you go,” “Surely,” was not 100% ecstatic. His total was 154.70 E for two {EN: my bill was considerably less and I was considerably more enthusiastic}. Wednesday, Sebastien Demorand of Zurban, gave his big review to the Japanese restaurant Aida in the 7th. His “Casseroles” covered the Heineken beer palace Culture Bière, 65, avenue des Champs-Elysées in the 8th, 01.42.56.88.88, open everyday, lunch formula = 24, a la carte 20-30 E, but for quite awful food {for my “view” of the place check it out here;} a “trendy-healthy” (that is, if you’re under the spell of the nutritionist-endocrinologist bunch) take-away snack place run by the chefs at Dauphin, with the unfortunate name of Eatme, 38, rue Léopold-Bellan in the 2nd, 01.42.36.18.28, closed Saturdays and Sundays, open only til 7 PM, formula at 12.50 E, a la carte 15-20 E; and the Japanese-French wine bar-resto, Le Petit Verdot, 75, rue du Cherche-Midi in the 6th, 01.42.22.38.27, closed Sundays and Mondays, where he spotted one wine for 500 E and the food cost 20-25 E (menus at lunch) and 38 E al la carte for classic stuff like the duck terrine, thick Lyon sausage, rabbit kidneys and crème brulee which he really liked; for my take see here. Thursday, in the IHT, Jacqueline Friedrich wrote an article entitled “Paris wine bars thinking ‘petit’” in which she discusses (1) how Marcel Richaud, who brought Southern Rhone (Cote du Rhone) wine to Paris wine bars’ name is all over, (2) how bistrots have changed their wine ordering in twenty years from the big houses to little ones, (3) where to sample these wines: Lavinia, Le Verre Vole, Les Papilles, le Café de la Nouvelle Mairie + Les Enfants Rouges, (4) the popularity of wine made from “weird” grapes, sweet white, Muscadet, Cheverny and unfiltered “natural” bio wines, and (5) much too much else to summarize. Thursday/Friday, Jean-Claude Ribaut in Le Monde’s “Toques en Pointe,” covers only two bistrots: l’Oenotheque, 420, rue Saint-Lazare in the 9th, 01.48.78.08.76, closed Saturdays and Sundays, which has a new lunch formula at 20 E (for a tomato and goat cheese salad and pork ribs), a la carte 35 E (for things like terrines, crayfish, lightly smoked salmon, veal kidneys, cutlet and veggies, chocolate and fruit; and le Bistrot de l’Etoile, 475, avenue Niel in the 17th, 01.42.27.88.44, closed Saturday lunch and Sundays, lunch formula = 26, dinner menu-carte = 39, for terrines, little snails with potatoes, and different daily specials (M-S = parmentier of duck, veal kidneys, ray with capers, farm chicken, sole, lamb shoulder) and always their famous fondant of chocolate. Friday, Vincent Noce of Libe in an article entitled “The sacred sardines of Senderens,” reviewed Alain Senderens reopened, revised, reduced resto (not a bistrot) now called Senderens, 9, place de la Madeleine in the 8th, 01.42.65.22.90, open 7/7, count on 50-100 E a la carte (he suggests 65 E plus wine) for everything from extravagant sushi at the bar from noon til 2 AM, to sardines with the taste of gazpacho, salmon with Thai spices and curried lamb. He says Senderens won his gamble and it’s a great success; mixing the exotic with fine cooking, and jeans with three stars. Catching up on a review I missed in early September, Noce also went to Yves Cambdeborde’s Le Comptoir, coordinates given before. He relates his 40E dinner of iced crustaceans, foie gras with ratte potato, Salers’ tournedos and baba. He went back for lunch and also liked his braised beef cheeks. Friday’s IHT had an article by Mary Blume entitled “The French Table: Theater of the absurd,” for a discussion of which I’ll refer you to this thread. François Simon, Alexandra Michot and Emmanuelle Maisonneuve have an article in Madame Figaro called “Brasseries, why so lazy ?” They critique the sorry state of french fries at Vaudeville, the disappointing dishes at la Lorraine, the grumpy service at Lipp, the mummified chicken at Balzar and the lifeless food at Zeyer. They state that brasseries “ain’t what they used to be,” but can produce poetic dishes, such as the roast chicken at Lipp, peppy polite waiters at Vagenende, Balzar, la Rotonde Montparnasse, + l'Alcazar, the amazing dishes and true wine list at Chez Flottes. But, for the most part, they’re just reheating frozen dishes rather than serving simple good stuff like spreads of crustaceans, choucroute and generous desserts. Until they rejuvenate, the authors say, we’ll take refuge in the bistrots. The coordinates for the above-mentioned as well as others, such as the Closerie des Lilas, Rotonde, Select, Au Bœuf Couronné, Grand Colbert, Fermette Marbeuf 1900, Coupole, Flo, Lutetia, Terminus Nord, Rotonde de la Muette, Arbuci, Grandes Marches, Bœuf sur le toit,. Jenny, Bofinger, Julien, Poste, Wepler +Européen can be found here. Sunday in the NYT there were two articles of interest to us. The first by Alice Feiring was entitled A “Bevy of Wine Bars Go au Naturel” and mentions several wine bars in Paris serving natural, organic, bio, unfiltered, etc., wines. The food discussed includes saucisson at La Cremerie Caves Miard, 9, rue des Quatre-Vents in the 6th, 01.43.54.99.30; “comfort-style food” like cod steak with peppercorns plus another course for $15 at noon and $19 at night at Autour d'un Verre, 21, rue de Trévise in the 9th, 01.48.24.43.74; and marinated sardines at Le Baratin, 3, rue Jouye-Rouve in the 20th, 01.43.49.39.70. La Muse Vin, 101, rue de Charonne, in the 11th, 01.40.09.93.05, gets the photo op but no description of the food. The second article by Bill Pennington, concerns Courchevel, and mentions three places: Le Petit Savoyard, Le Cap Horn + Le Chabichou. I also missed reporting the article in the September 4th New York Times on Nice by Seth Sherwood in which he mentioned the following restaurants : Parcours Live, Kei's Passion, + Jouni. Expatica had an article by Joel Ray on gastro-bistrots, defined as “Michelin star-worthy food at affordable prices and in a warm bistro,” that gives the history of places such as Le Regalade, Chez Michel, Le Beurre Noisette and L'Os à Moelle, even stretching the definition to include the upscale but toned down Alain Senderens. Gilles Pudlowski in this week’s Le Point has several reviews of places others covered this or last week, in several categories. “To follow” he lists Le Petit Verdot, 75, rue du Cherche-Midi in the 6th, 01.42.22.38.27, lunch menu = 20 E, dinner 30, where he had a terrine maison, warm sausage, the rabbit stew and a steak au poivre. “In good shape,” he mentions Gaya par Gagnaire, coordinates above, where he too mentions the pressed crab, jelly of crustaceans, and ray. He also says Citrus Etoile, 6, rue Arsène-Houssaye in the 8th, 01.42.89.15.51, a la carte about 60 E for thick salmon like herring, eel stuffed with tabouli, veal liver a la vapeur and eggs in snow. “In trouble,” however, is the Lebanese place – Liza. I just stumbled on the most amusing “Duel” in VSD magazine, undated but in 2005, on the subject “Does a restaurant critic have to finish his food?” between top critics Jean-Luc Petitrenaud and Gilles Pudlowski – J-L P saying “Yes, but not if you’re testing/tasting 25 plates;” GP saying “You have to save room in your brain to judge stuff.” Their styles are different too: GP describes himself as a food critic not a food chronicler; J-L P says he’s not a soldier headed for war, he’ll let others risk their teeth on the new restaurants (both clearly comparing themselves to each other). When asked by the arbitrator to compare Robuchon, Ducasse and Veyrat; GP said “Robuchon is the Academie Francaise, Ducasse the King of Marketing and Veyrat the Comedie Francaise.” The service RestoaParis has listed several new places recommended by its readers, some of which are foreign and most of which have not been reviewed by the usual critics (except La Boulangerie), so I will not certify to their newness nor goodness. They were : Les Associes, Pascaline, Envies d’Ici et d’Ailleurs, L’Essentiel, Houara Lounge, Le Coupe-Chou, La Boulangerie, La Spezia + Le Mandarin des Pyrenees. Please post comments here and not in the Digest thread.

To all: I have merged the thread begun by Melissa into this one since both threads were discussing the same Blume article.

Well well, Amazon.fr lists that "Elles sont chefs" and "Great women chefs of Europe" by Gilles Pudlowski were to have been released 16 septembre 2005 by Relié. I've never heard of dual publications like that but......there's always a first time. Amazon.com, however says the English title will not appear til October 25th and will mention: Héléne Darroze and Anne-Sophie Pic as well as Olympe.

Certainly Gaya and then two from the top - if the next three days means Sat and Sunday it may mean places like Tokyo Eat but if it's a nice day, it'd be fine. Guifeli is open Saturdays and also good. As I said, none of these, except Gaya, is a blockbuster but each has its merits.

So as to better define the topic of this thread and not mislead readers and/or searchers, I've renamed it "French Food, Fat and Big Meals: Cultural differences, impressions & stereotypes." No offense meant; just clarity sought.

Well, we take the opposite approach; what might be called the "way my French parents ate in 1953." True we start as we started then with bread or a croissant and coffee and fruit at breakfast, but eat our big meal at lunch, including foie gras once every two weeks I figure and only sup at supper: salad, a bit of protein, fruit, cheese, etc. This old way of eating makes lunch leisurely and digestable and supper simple. It's sad to see folks ripping thru lunch now, eating sandwiches on the Metro and getting back to the office in under 55 minutes. When F. Simon times business lunches for Figaro Entreprises I weep.

There is pretty good evidence that with road-blocks, radar guns, speed cameras, breatholizers (their level is much less than ours) and careful observation the French have really cut down on driving while under the influence. I reported a while back on the introduction of wine "doggy bags;" it's a practical solution to feeling one must finish the bottle.

My feeble attempt at geography/humor. The longest street in Paris is the Rue de Vaugirard, thus they called their Restaurant La Grande Rue and it is at 117 Rue de Vaugirard. As for Auguste, but of course, see here.

The Week of September 12th, 2005 Monday in Bonjour Paris, Margaret Kemp had two reviews of restaurants chef’d by two persons who’ve been recognized by the prestigious award “best workers in France;” one very established and one very new. The former was of Pre Catalan in the Bois de Boulogne (coordinates given last week), chef’d by Fréderic Anton, which is open for lunch on Sundays from May to October and closed Sunday night and Mondays, with a seasonal menu at 135, the house one at 175 and business lunch at 60 E. She had the same langoustine amuse-bouche as was described last week, and describes the extensive menu from the Os à moelle to the fish and meat as well as the brie and desserts. The second place is Maxan, 37 rue de Miromesnil in the 8th, 01.42.65.78.60, daily menu 30E, chef’d by Laurent Zajac (ex-Carré des Feuillants, Maison Blanche + Gilles Epié as well as the Trois Marches in Versailles); again she gives all the variety of dishes on the menu without specifying what she had. Monday/Tuesday, Jerome Berger of A Nous Paris featured two places it seems everyone is hitting this month. The first, which got 4/5 blocks, is Maxan, in the former space of La Poele d’Or, named for the two children, Maxime and Andrea, of talented ex-Les Trois Marches in Versailles chef Laurent Zajac is at 37, rue de Miromesnil in the 8th, 01.42.65.78.60, closed Saturday lunch and Sundays, formula = 30, a la carte 42-61 E for a tartare of lisettes in curry, shoulder of lamb and an “extra-bitter” [sic] chocolate cake. He loved it and went twice since the rentree. The second place is the 3/5 blocks, Japanese-run wine bar/resto Vino’s, 29, rue d’Argenteuil in the 1st, 01.42.97.52.43, closed at lunch and dinner starting at 6:30 PM with a 30 E menu and 7-20 E a la carte, offering a wine list of 200 wines with a range of 38-6500 Euros {not francs my friends}, to go with your platter of ham, cold-cuts, anchovies, etc. I couldn’t read the notices called “A suivre” on the left of the page but my colleague Felice sent me this dispatch - “the first….is about the fooding event at Andy Wahloo…tonight {September 19th}.….tapas a l'agneau prepared by Mon Vieil Ami, with a cabernet-d'anjou as the wine….info on www.lefooding.com......the second bit is about a new collection of cookies and macaroons at…Bon Marché designed by various designers including Marc Jacobs with a pair of madarine and ginger blue escarpin…cookies and a "passion/safran" bag designed by Vanessa Bruno.” Wednesday, Sebastien Demorand of Zurban, gave his big review to a neighborhood but upscale troquet/bistrot, Marmite Bazar, 14, rue Bochart de Saron in the 9th, 01.48.78.51.47, closed Sunday nights and Monday, formula at lunch 15, a la carte 30 E, where the food is good despite a banal-looking menu, he liked, in addition to the wide range of wines, the big fricassee of mussels with tumeric, “cigarettes” of farm goat cheese, magret with onion compote and a prune clafoutis. His other three reviews were not mainstream French: a banal Italian place, Romain in the 9th; a Polish resto Green Point in the 20th; and an overpriced French wine bar, with OK but equally pricey French food run by a Japanese crew, called Vino’s, 29, rue d’Argenteuil in the 1st, 01.42.97.52.43, dinner only, closed Sundays, menus running 35-55 E. Once again Emmanuel Rubin’s “C’est Nouveau” in Figaroscope gives the photo and header to a lesser-rated place than one that is listed below. {Ed Note: I suspect it’s because it’s more interesting than the other two or the three hearter.} It is Le Petit Verdot, 75, rue du Cherche-Midi in the 6th, 01.42.22.38.27, closed Sundays and Mondays, run by the ex maitre d’ at Hiramatsu, serving 1970’s cuisine like escargots, rabbit kidneys and iced Grand Marnier soufflé, for about 35 E. {For my take on it see here.} Three-hearts went to a quite pricey (80-100E, menu 60) Japanese place AiDA in the 7th; two hearts to the Savoy-relinquished, redone, rechef’d Cap Vernet, 82, ave Marceau in the 8th, 01.47.20.20.40, closed Saturday lunch and Sunday, serving carpaccio of wild bar, sole and line caught bar, for about 50-60E; two hearts to the Chinese-Japanese Ebis in the 1st; and one heart to the Corsican-influenced La Casa, 23, rue de Poitou in the 3rd, 01.42.72.16.37, closed Sundays, costing 20 E, formula at 14E. This week’s “Dossier” is a bit strange: 15 dishes that are yucky to some (eg sour, gelatinous, chemical) and that the Brussels folks might object to. They include: Raw steak tartare at Au Galvach Acidic tamarin shrimp at Cielito Lindo Fatty country bacon at La Bastide Odeon Crackling molting crab atl’Imperial Choisy Buttery kouign-amman at Chez Michel Sour n’dole at le Balafon Gelatinous veal’s head at le Vaudeville Spicy papaya salad at Paradais Thai Sweet oriental pastries at La Bague de Kenza Chemical Malabar ice-cream at le Spoon And also: Too black squid in ink at l’Ami Jean Too boney pig’s feet at Pied de Cochon Too slimy gumbo at le Balafon + le Village Too bland veal’s foot at Cartet Too salty cod at le Vasco de Gama Too smelly Northern cheeses at Montparnasse 25 at the Meridien Francois Simon, not to be outyucked in his “Hache Menu,”, although he was part of the tasting team for the “Dossier,” went to Green Point, coordinates given above by Demorand, which because of my rule on foreign restos, I’ll not digest, but will rather encourage Simon-fans to amuse themselves with the Simonisms within. Thursday/Friday, Jean-Claude Ribaut in Le Monde revealed that the Hotel Westminster converted one of the Celadon’s alcoves and made it into the “so british” [sic] Duke’s Bar, 123, rue de la Paix in the 2nd, 01.42.61.55.11 open every day with seasonal starters such as rillettes of rabbit, soups of veggies and onion, grilled tuna, bar, sole, lamb and beef; formula at lunch = 32 E with wine and coffee included, 50 E a la carte. His second review was of Gaya, 44, rue du Bac in the 7th, 01.45.44.73.73, closed Sundays, with classic seafood such as grilled sole as well as Herve This-influenced ones, such as his oyster recipe, plat du jour = 23, a la carte 55. The third review is of Joel Robuchon’s post-rentree “Club” menu (starter, fish or meat, cheese, dessert, coffee and a ½ bottle of wine for 55E) at La Table de…., 16, avenue Bugeaud in the 16th, 01.56.28.16.16, open everyday – the choices are quite interesting sounding, e.g., sautéed girolles with apricot jam and slices of ham, calamari with tastes of paella, and a “pseudo-bouillabaisse” (whose ingredients sound like the real thing to me). Jean-Luc Petitrenaud, in this week’s L’Express reviewed Citrus Etoile, coordinates given above, calling him melodious and talented, serving classics like thickly-sliced smoked salmon on potatoes like herring, shrimp and mushrooms with herbs and a chocolate soufflé. Gilles Pudlowski is back in Le Point, which for the petty-minded, is now hitting the stands on Thursdays rather than Tuesdays. The Paris restos he covered this week were: Anacreon, 53, bd Saint-Marcel in the 13th, 01.43.31.71.18, where Christophe Accai has taken over from André Le Letty, with menus at 20 (lunch) and 32 E, featuring snails with parsley mousse, oysters in a seawater jelly and pink pigeon; the R Café, 6, rue Chauveau-Lagarde in the 8th, 01.44.71.20.85, menu = 38 E serving artichoke hearts with goat cheese, cod-stuffed (actually brandade) peppers and cod (actually cabillaud) with asparagus; Au Vieux Chêne, 7, rue du Dahomey in the 11th {a favorite of mine}, 01.43.71.67.69 with menus at 13 for lunch and 29 E at dinner, serving mushroom soup, poached egg on a bed of spinach and cod in a soy sauce; Les Racines, 22, rue Monsieur-le-Prince in the 6th, 01.43.26.03.86, where Jean-François Debert, ex-Maître Paul has created a “true neighborhood corner bistrot” next door, serving a flan of cepes, a terrine of wild boar and veal’s head for about 35 E. Then comes what can only be called a very, very long love letter {Ed Note: and in my opinion, totally off base for a critic who while accepting free meals and going cognito, is so astute} to the seductive {a word he uses three times} Princesse Hélène Darroze, coordinates in the guidebooks. I’ll let you read it and the prior reviews in their full version. Time Out Paris this week/month is featuring Auguste + Senso, both amply covered in past Digests, calling the former “well-behaved cuisine” and the latter “refreshing” and “summery.” Alexander Lobrano wrote an article entitled “New Recipes” in the travel magazine FranceGuide2005 with a section sub-titled “Paris’s Buzzing Bistros” in which he highlights l’Ourcine + Les Ormes, as well as places outside Paris, including: Le Chapon Fin in Bordeaux, Restaurant Jean-Luc Arnaud in Gers, La Chamade in Morzine and Les Plantagenets in Angers. Colman Andrews wrote an appreciation of Chantal Chagny’s one-star l’Auberge du Cep in Fleurie {not to be confused with the three-star Lameloise in the town of Chagny} in the October US Saveur (always posted later on their site), calling it real Beaujolian French country cooking and noting that her talk with the pooh-bah’s at the Michelin about her move from haute cuisine to country cooking preceded Senderens et al’s by many years. Please post comments here and not in the Digest thread.

Ah, as usual, Bux has put his finger on the only problem with C'Amelot, one has to pick between two choices, so if you're four, as we often are, it's not as much fun as elsewhere. As for La Grande Rue, of course, it's on the longest street in Paris, the rue de Vaugirard, 117 to be precise, 01.47.34.96.12, and like Temps Au Temps is run by a charming husband & wife team and a helper, Aurelian, age about 5.