John Talbott

This is one of a series of compendia that seeks to provide information available in prior topics on eGullet. Please feel free to add links to additional topics or posts or to add suggestions. Sunday dinner Sunday lunch Sunday dining Parc aux Cerfs Mon Viel Ami Brunch in Paris Breakfast in Paris Stars Saturday Sunday lunch Sunday Solo August Sunday in the country Sunday Paris and Strasbourg Dinnner Sunday and Monday

This is one of a series of compendia that seeks to provide information available in prior threads on eGullet. Please feel free to add links to additional threads or posts or to add suggestions. Patisseries open in August Wine shops open in August What’s in the markets

This is one of a series of compendia that seeks to provide information available in prior topics on eGullet. Please feel free to add links to additional topics or posts or to add suggestions. Solo Sunday August Monday lunch in August Where to eat in Paris in August Paris when it sizzles Two weeks in August outside Paris

The Week of July 28th, 2008 In Monday's Le Fooding, Marie Grézard said you should run to the Blue Cargo in Bidart. Wednesday, in Paris Update, Richard Hesse reviewed l’Absinthe, saying that he liked the setting but thought the food and Anglo crowd didn’t match it. Wednesday-Thursday, Jean Claude Ribault in Le Monde wrote about new tables in the Basque country {only available pay per view.} And, in L’Express two articles concern out-of-town places: one by Thierry Dupont on places in the Basque country: Les Rosiers, Bistrot Ahizpak, Auberge du Lausset, Hotel-restaurant Arcé, La Ferme Lizarraga + Le Bellevue as well as Olivier Le Naire's suggestions in Corsica: Le Lido, Ferme-auberge Campo di Monte, L'Endroit, L'Ariadne Plage + A Pignata. Saturday/Sunday, in Bonjour Paris, John Talbott had an essay called “What to do when you are unsure where to eat?” This summer’s bmibaby has an article by Adrian Moore on good meals for under 40 € that lists: Afaria, La Bulle, l’Arome, Beurre Noisette, Cave Gourmand + Spring. Please post comments here and not in the Digest thread.

Web Radio du Gout announced that 22 talented young chefs had been selected by Gault Millau and Idéal Gourmet, a reservation service. Apparently they will be named in this year’s (35th) G/M edition. In addition they say that due to less wine being consumed in restaurants, more were using “bag in boxes.” Also, Serge Burckel of Serge and Co in Schiltigheim, near Strasbourg, has turned in his star {shades of Senderens}and is doing risotto etc Mediterranean cooking. Finally, l’Internaute announced that the venerable (1947) ice cream place Raimo in the 12th will reopen.

I just read that Girondine + Le Winch are open in August; I can vouch for the latter as can several other members with whom I've eaten there. My report is here. Not a destination but if you're nearby......

While in May I said the end of June I went by and it was uncovered.

Thanks Violet. Our hosts' call is the Gramercy Bistro (and next noon the Cafe Latino which we liked last year). Any advice?

Figaro Madame had an article recently on Anne Fontaine’s recipes that she makes in her Normandy home - Pti, except for the last, are they Normand?Cubes de saumon à l’aneth, Carré d’agneau et courgettes farcies, Délice au lait de coco, Délice au lait normand.

Aspen July-August 08 New blood The owner of the two Buenos Aires restaurants in Denver opened the Buenos Aires (Fusion) Restaurant in the old Blue Maize space 1 ½ weeks ago and it is now open for lunch and dinner. I thought this place was super, just what the doctor ordered, but Colette found the mound of meat too much. I started out with crispy grilled sweetbreads with chimichurri sauce (there are two here, the classic and the Denver-revisionist with tomato) which must have been the best dish I had this week. Then she had risotto with seafood (shrimp, scallops, clams and calamari) and veggies (green onions, spinach and tomatoes) and I a rack of lamb (musta been 10 of the mothers) dusted with dry chimichurri sauce and cooked the way I asked (nigh-raw) with tender big green asparagus stalks. Dessert was a super flan. With a bottle of wine, no bottled water and no coffee before the tip = $109.69. 39 Degrees in the Sky Hotel (a Kimpton property) is not new but was new to us. Although I go by it every morning on my limpies in Aspen, I’ve never noticed the menu until today. We had a more than alright lunch there. Colette had what they called a menage a trois: OK gazpacho, fine mixed salad and a terrific grilled cheese panini with pesto while I had fried calamari with nice aioli sauce and salad greens with pickled lengthwise sliced carrots that were divine. Our bill with just tap water, before tip = $26.06 Sabra’s Deli, where the old Bagel Bites at Clark’s market used to be, is really misnamed. It’s really a pan-Middle Eastern schwarma/gyros/couscous/salad and pita shop, hardly a deli. It was described as “new, and….real good” by Stewart Oksenhorn, fine food finder for the Aspen Times, and I have to agree. For a hole-in-the-wall place, it has a large menu, three chefs, almost as many front-room folks, and an atmosphere of quiet competence. Colette had the Israeli salad of chopped cukes, lettuce, tomatoes, onion, etc with pita and Baba ghanoush and I the gyros plate (instead of the schwarma) with fries that had an intriguing tang. Our bill was $20.90 without dessert or drinks or coffee. Tang, which is in the ex-ChinaThai space, which took over Little Ollie’s, changed its sign this summer but has the same crew and food so is not really new. It’s fine Thai and Chinese chow though; a cucumber salad, beer, Pad Thai and a Thai chicken ran us $35.24. Social, next door and upstairs from Elevation, calls itself an Asian-influenced tapas bar. We wanted to sit outdoors and they have two areas, one on the street, the other upstairs, which are quite nice. The menu is eclectic and interesting sounding. Colette ordered 6 brochettas, 3 of pesto and tomato, 3 of fava with peccarino – all OK. I had as my first course some piquillo peppers stuffed with artichoke mousse – a great idea but its taste was undistinguished. Then she had two double soft tacos with bits of snapper – quite so-so and I had shredded duck confit quesadillas which were barely OK and unfinishable. At this point I had written in my notes: “Alright, no home runs, no need to go back.” Getting the check was dicey since one of the two well-clevaged wait-dames was busily chatting up two friends and the other was d’hors combat. When it arrived I had one of those head-snap-back moments – the wine we’d ordered a bottle of, was $38 a bottle, while it was listed by the carafe (I assume 1 L.) as $34; so by my calculations, I figure it was 50¢ a cl by the bottle, but 34¢ a cl by the carafe – a huge difference - thus here, it pays to order the same wine by carafe. The waitress had the chutzpah to tell me I’d gotten the bargain. Oldies Lulu Wilson, which I described last year as an Aspen Ze Kitchen Galerie, wasn’t quite that on this visit; but it was very good. Two local old friends we ran into at the Music Festival asked what was my current resto fave and I said “I think Lulu, we’ll see” and he said “I think so too.” We had 2 appetizers and 2 small plates and there was food left over, so no need to go hungry here. Colette had burrata mozzarella with local peaches, fried capers (that’s right fried), and arugula which we both agreed was superb; I had a Colorado mixed salad with the usual veggies plus shaved turnips, equally good. Then she had gnudi (ricotta gnocchi) with a tomato and artichoke sauce and greens and I had Hickory smoked BBQ short ribs, spicy and scrumptious with a bit of slaw atop and three giant friend curried onion rings. The bread had a super crisp crust, the butter was properly herbed, the wine guy knew how to pour just enough to breathe and be appreciated (a first in Aspen in 60 years) and the welcome was most warm, especially in contrast to last night’s F***You at Social. Our check with one bottle of wine, no desserts or coffee and certainly no big plates = $102.10 before tip. Plato’s space at the Aspen Institute has been, in one incarnation or another, an acceptable safe harbor when seeking a good meal between events at the Music Tent and Movie Festival. The relatively new chef, who revived the place a year plus ago, seems to have lost interest. Things started out a bit roughly; the music (jazz) in this center of intellectual fervor was blasting, the amuse-bouche of oyster with veggies and parmesan was a nice try but both bad product and execution and the lettuce in my Colorado green salad had browned stalk cuts (no charge after I conspicuously cut them further off and pointed them out to our waitstaff) Since the chef was in the salle chatting up one table of notables while my salad was being prepared, it is possible the salad guy just got lax and he (the chef) did not pass on the final plating, but one of the waiters should have caught it. However, once the chef returned to the piano, things picked up: Colette’s Colorado peach/champagne soup was pretty good, I loved her lamb (short) riblets with mint BBQ rub and tolerated my angel hair pasta with nice pancetta on a bed of “parsley pesto.” Our bill with wine before tip with no coffee or dessert was $66.25. Takah Sushi has gone very upscale very fast in prices and come down very much in generosity in just 12 months. We’ve been coming since the turn of the century and what a change. Edamame and a bowl of rice are now $4 each, miso soup is $6 and the sashimi combo for $20+ provides only a few miserable slices. I realize that their clients are all rich these days but what happened to the old price-value ratio? For one dish of edamame, a bottle of Muscadet, a sashimi combo and a crab Viet lettuce wrap, no miso, pickles, salad, dessert, coffee, tea or tip, our bill was $105.38. Nice, cross-table-working waitstaff though. DishAspen is supposed to rest its reputation on fresh product, well prepared, (Slow Food take that!) and has just opened for lunch. Colette had a cup of (good) gazpacho and a salad with 4 ingredients (goat cheese, tomatoes, cukes and fava beans) which came with several possible dressings (none of which she took a cotton to) and I had a chiabata sandwich with blackened fish and a tasteless “tartare” but great chips. Our bill with one glass of wine, no desserts or coffee or tip was $44.95.

My opinion: skip it and be sure to get to the Mont early or late or it's like Grand Central.For other opinions see here.

It is interesting. I haven't been myself in a decade even though I get to the Annecy/Geneva area almost every year and indeed when I go next Feb I'll go to the Ferme de Lormay (if open, Albert Bonamy has a bizarre schedule) up the road 33 km in Le Grand-Bornand or the Maison de Filippo in Courmayeur on the other side of the Mont Blanc tunnel instead.There is a Merged Topic, however, that does have one long report and several short comments on Veyrat.

Those of us consulting today's (Aug 3) hard-copy of the NYT Mag will note that it appeared in its print version on Sunday although it was posted on the Internet on Saturday. Also FYI: the restos mentioned are: the low-calorie, no-wine Sofitel Diététique and the Villa Margot + Les Mouettes as well as the Maison Riguidel + Maison d’Armorine.

A friend who visits Paris every three months and routinely shops at the Poncelet market(s) for seafood and fruit said to me recently: "Boy, what sticker shock." I think that like noticing kids' heights, when you're living in a place, you don't really see the gradual price creep, but coming back after 90 days (March-June) away, it's more apparent.

Thank you. I will be recreating/updating the various compendia over the next few months and if anyone notes busted or duplicate links please let me know, preferably by PM. John

L’Astrance, Gagnaire, Hiramatsu, Savoy Comparisons Between and Among This is one of a series of compendia that seeks to provide information available in prior topics on the eGullet France Forum. Please feel free to add links to additional topics or posts or to add suggestions. Gagnaire or Savoy Hiramatsu or l’Astrance l’Astrance or Gagnaire Gagnaire substitute

Wow, Steven, that is a great question. I cannot recall myself seeing it since the 1950's.

Heather Stimmler-Hall in Secrets of Paris notes that La Dernière Goutte, 6, rue de Bourbon Le Château in the 6th is open everyday in August and has a bilingual staff and daily tastings. She lists their times as: “Tue-Sat 10am-8:30pm, Sun 11am-7pm, Mon 4pm-8:30pm.”

Matt Gross’s Frugal Traveler in the NYT mentioned the following in Gdansk Poland: Jadalnia Pod Zielonym Smokiem + Bar Mleczny Turystyczny.

No problem: I went as a fully consenting adult and it did look really authentic.

The Week of July 21st, 2008 In Monday's Le Fooding Andrea Petrini wrote up Espace Le Bec a 200 seat brasserie at the St Exupery airport near Lyon. Wednesday, in Paris Update, Richard Hesse reviewed Agapé, noting that Francois Simon thot it hubritic and unadventuresome {and I agreed} but that he liked the named products and wine as well as the food despite the steep prices. Wednesday-Thursday, Jean Claude Ribault in Le Monde wrote about oysters and places in Brittany noting that good tables are rare but mentioning le Moulin de Rosmadec, Sur le Pont + L'Amphitryon. Saturday/Sunday, in Bonjour Paris, Margaret Kemp had a piece on the Italianate Bellagio & Clipper, the yacht, and John Talbott one on “Why I could never be a real food critic.” Please post comments here and not in the Digest thread.

Roberto Passon is a place Colette and I first ate at shortly after it opened and we’d wanted to go back. Our meal was altogether good with two hitches; first, I am simply not used to regular American-sized portions and both our starters – sautéed spinach and a beet salad, as well as our two mains – bass and osso bucco were huge an unfinishable. We could have easily gotten by with one shared starter and one shared ½ pasta portion. Second, the osso bucco special was almost double ($32) the price of the osso bucco pasta which came as an unwelcome shock since we had not been forewarned about its and other specials' prices. Our bill, with wine, no bottled water, coffee or dessert was $110 before tip. (In retrospect, our luncheon meal at Jean-Georges was better in quality, portion size and price-quality, excepting the wine exploitation, and for almost the same final bill per couple, we left happier.)

Nice reviews Phil and Sasha; but prices were what? And Sasha, which resto did you eat in?

Well, of course he ran the Mom and Pop sized Temps au Temps and before that a tapas place Le Gusto that should with his Grand Prix for the Ile de France of the Trophée Champagne Jacquart de l'Etoile Montante de la Gastronomie, indicate some talent.

Sorry, thought you meant exterior staff, sure kitchen staff could be the problem.