John Talbott

But it wasn't the staff, it was the food that was wildly inconsistent; even the same dishes (fish cocotte, gaspacho & tongue). And enough folks have experienced it that I am not returning til I hear some very good new reports.

I think you'll like; we've been twice on Sundays, just fine.

The WSJ had an article June 27th, 2008, on Pristina Kosovo in which Stan Sesser recommended the following eateries: Il Passatore + Renaissance II

A friend whose food judgment I trust just added this: and I thought about my last meal, a couple of days ago. We had loads of great wine, but food was more than more than more than so so... Maybe a good (and huge) entrecôte, but the veal tongue was not generous at all (and over cooked), the gaspacho as gaspacho as it could have been (but I really prefer the gaspachos at Fogon), the cocotte of mulet (instead of the lotte, cooked differently and this time with a 10€ supplément!) with vegetables was non interesting (vegetables OK but fish not tasty, or maybe it tasted like mud?). Most of all, the place was packed and really, really, way too noisy... Really nice, though: the charcuterie platter with amazing andouille and spanish ham and chorizo. Oh, and everyone loved the purée you once had. Oh, and the rabbit I had was as dry as a desert (and that, I cannot forgive: I mean,….,râble de lapin is supposed to be juicy and tender, right?!) the celeriac and vanilla purée served with the rabbit was purely amazing. I felt terrible, because it's always been good so far... And I wonder when I'll go back — surely not tomorrow!

Well, aside from this being an interesting topic from long ago, I brought it up again rather than start a new one on merguez. It must be a slow news week because again on the FR 2 20h00 news last night there was another food item; this one about merguez made from pork contrasted with packages they filmed from a supermarket clearly stating that the meat is beef and lamb.In a Google search, I turned up half a dozen porkfilled merguez responses, all on sites in English. But using French in Google there are also hits from Yahoo.fr, boursorama and 750 grammes not to mention what I thought was an oxymoron - "Des merguez halal au porc." The website of the MINEFE, dated yesterday, says merguez must be beef and/or lamb but merguez de.... can be pork. No quotes yet from the Muslim community.

For trivia trend watchers this news - August's Gourmet has six different recipes and four photos of salads in jars in an article (pps 46-49) entitled "Picnic in a Glass."

The Week of July 14th, 2008 In Tuesday's Le Fooding Julia Sammut wrote up La Boite a Sardines in Marseille. Wednesday, in Paris Update, Richard Hesse reviewed La Cagouille, noting that he liked and would recommend the food but found the service “over-brisk.” Wednesday-Thursday, Jean Claude Ribault in Le Monde wrote about places in Provence interieure that included: Balthazar + Jeroboam in Montélimar, Le Prieuré in Villeneuve-lès-Avignon, La Bonne Etape in Chateau-Arnoux-Saint-Auban, Auberge du Teillon in La Garde, Hostellerie des Gorges de Pennafort in Callas, Lou Cigalon in Valbonne and La Cave + La Table du Chef in Cannes. In Saturday/Sunday’s Figaro Francois Simon wrote a piece on preparing spider crabs and their serving at Laurent available only in pdf. Saturday/Sunday, in Bonjour Paris, Margaret Kemp had a piece on the Summer Garden at the Bristol. Sunday Seth Sherwood in the NYT recommended the following in Toulouse: Le Colombier, Bicoq’ + Le Genty Magre. Please post comments here and not in the Digest thread.

Last Tuesday the Guardian had an article by John Brunton on his “Top 10 Paris bistrots on a budget.” They included: l’Ebauchoir 14 € lunch La Boulangerie 17 € lunch Les Dingues 15 € lunch Les Racines 12 € plat du jour Le Pre Verre 13.50 € lunch Chez Gladines 8 € for the plat de jour Chez Germaine 16.50 € lunch Georgette 15-18 € plat du jour Vins des Pyrenees 13.50 € lunch Un zebra a Montmartre 15 € lunch. I can vouch for l’Ebauchoir, Boulangerie, Racines, Pre Verre + Georgette.

The July 17th Guardian had an article on 10 Paris bistrots on a budget with the following on the Left Bank: Les Racines 12 E for the plat de jour Le Pre Verre as noted above Chez Gladines 8 E for the plat de jour Chez Germaine 16.50 E

What I hadn't realized until I read les.restos.com today was that Alice Bardet had sold the Point Bar and opened Le Boudoir, 25, rue du Colisée in the 8th, July 15th, T: 01 43 59 25 29 where the old Bouchon Gourmand stood. In this brasserie/restaurant, she's serving: a classic œuf mayo, fois gras de canard, entrecôte with frites, sole, a classic Baba and a crème renversée.

I took my wonderful 12 yo grand-daughter to the Golden West in Hampden yesterday (where I'd had a passable meal years ago in the evening) and it was horrid. She didn't complain about her breakfast burrito but for me the guacamole which had huge inedible chunks of unripe avocado in a puree of tasteless and unspiced product, the substitution of tiny broken Doritos instead of chips and the tasteless (until smothered with hot sauce) organic sausage patties was a deal breaker. Never again.

Wednesday, Matt Gross’s Frugal Traveler in the NYT went to Vilnius where he recommends; the Vilnius Teachers’ House + Busi Trecias.

Sunday Seth Sherwood in the NYT recommends the following in Toulouse: Le Colombier, Bicoq’ + Le Genty Magre.

I'm afraid my writing may have led to some misunderstanding. This was a French TV news at 8 report by French journalists using the words scandal and fraudulent, about tiny road side farm stands in rural France (I think Provence) with just a few products advertised on chalkboards without their provenence, but when the camera went in back and filmed the boxes they came out of, they were clearly from other countries and, in the case of tomatoes, hothouse in origin.

We've talked before and Ptipois has reminded us that markets albeit looking like "farmer's markets" do not necessarily have their own produce, but it was shocking even to FR 2 tonight to discover that roadside stands in the country were selling produce from other countries. I haven't seen this in the print press so I have no link to the story.

In addition: 5th Marty 20, av des Gobelins, 5th (Metro: Gobelins) T: 01 43 31 39 51 Open daily Menu 30 €, 40-55 € a la carte Christophe 8 rue Descartes, 5th, (Metro: Mauberg Mutualite T:01.43.26.72.49 Open lunch and dinner 7/7 Formulas at 12, 16 and 19 €, a la carte about 33 €. L’Equitable 47 bis, rue Poliveau, 5th (Metro : St Marcel) T : 01.43.31.69.20 Closed Mondays Menus : 21 €, dinner 28 €. 6th La Ferrandaise 8, rue de Vaugirard, 6th (RER: Luxembourg, Metro : St Michel) T : 01.43.26.36.36 Closed Saturday lunch, Sunday and Monday Menu at dinner or 3 courses at lunch = 30 €, plus wine running 14-63 €. Josephine aka Chez Dumonet 117, rue du Cherche-Midi, 6th (Metro : Duroc) T : 01.45.48.52.40 Closed Sundays and Mondays Menus 25, 70, 75 €, a la carte 50-75 €. Le Timbre 3 rue Saint Beuve, 6th (Metro : Notre Dame des Champs) T : 01.45.49.10.40 Closed Sundays Lunch menu 22 & 26 €. Maison du Jardin 22 Rue de Vaugirard, 6th (Metro : Rennes, St Placide) T: 01.45.48.22.31 Closed Saturday lunch and Sundays Menus 22 & 27 €. Fish la Boissonnerie 69, rue de Seine, 6th T: 01.43.54.34.69 Closed Sunday and Monday Lunch Menus 10.50 + 21.50 €; dinner 28.50 + 32.50 €. L’Epigramme 9, rue de L’Eperon, 6th (Metro: Odeon) T: 01 44 41 00 09 Closed Sunday nights and Mondays, Menu-carte: 28 € 7th Cinq Mars 51 rue de Verneuil, 7th (Metro : Rue du Bac) T : 01.45.44.69.13, Metro Rue du Bac Closed Saturday lunch and Sundays Lunch menu 21,50 €., a la carte 35-50 €. l’Agassin 8, rue Malar in the 7th, (Metro: Alma Marceau) T: 01.47.05.18.18 Closed Sundays and Mondays Lunch menu at 25 and menu carte at dinner for 34 €. Le Telegraphe 41, rue de Lille, 7th, (Metro: Rue du Bac) T:01.58.62.10.08 Open everyday for lunch only Menus at 24.50 and 29.50, a la carte about 50-60 €. La Folle Avoine 91, rue de Grenelle, 7th, (Metro: Solferino) T: 01.45.51.02.59 Closed Sundays Menus: one dish plus 2 drinks for 20; 2 dishes plus one drink for 25; and 3 plus a drink 30 €

My daughter informs me she's been calling this lunner for years. As with the NYT/hamburger thing, I think we're into the "slow news season."

I'm interested if anyone has any new observations. Thanks John

No but I'd advise caution with Floors in the 18th where I ate in March that specializes in American music and food such as "Jewish chicken soup, Annie Hall pastrami, bagels and lox and Boston clam chowder [as well as]....hamburgers....made out of beef, chicken, fish and duck, with all sorts of sauces from aioli to satay or BBQ. " Not horrid but not up to US standards.

Interesting that Web Radio would specifically say it was not AngloSaxon.

The Connaught in London only opened today 14 July - I would have thought Darroze would have still been in London until it bedded down? ← Like everyone else, I mispoke; indeed, it/they does/do open today and Figaro's authors say she's been shuttling back and forth on the Eurostar so I interpreted that to mean she would (unfortunately) be returning to Paris. I was so hoping she'd like London so much she'd stay.

I must say I really wasn't paying attention during Matt Gross' early postings on his Frugal Traveler series in the NYT but he has a nice description of wwoofing in Southern France here.

April 2, 2002, Marlena Spieler said that she had the Not withstanding that, Matt Gross in his Frugal traveler series in the NYT recommended: Sunny Bar & Restaurant, Ta’ Vestru, Gesther’s + Rubino.

The Summer issue of the US France has Julia Sammut's recs on restos as: Le Petit Nice, l'Eau a la Bouche, La Cantinetta, Ca Blanca, Les Akolytes, Le Cafe des Epices, Les Buvards + Pizzaria Sauveur.

Sunday July 6th's NYT Alex Crevar had an article on Zadar, Croatia that suggested:Konoba Skoblar, Seafood Restaurant Fosa, Brazil bar, The Garden, The Arsenal + Maya Pub.