John Talbott

I am delighted to report that Ze is even better today* than it was when it opened, can it be five years ago?, indeed, as I said to the chef today, things have changed since he/they got the macaroon/star, it's even better. I took notes madly during the meal until my good food pal, Atar, said "Just say it was all good, can't be replicated in NYC and has spices one cannot pin down." We spanned the food groups: scallops and bulots, escargots, squid and monkfish to spring lamb and herb croquettes. I must say I thought my fried crab was as good as one could ever get on the Chesapeake and the chocolate dessert just fine. Our bill was 90.30 E per couple, with wine, coffee and only one dessert and no bottled water. If they can serve such one star food and hold costs down like this, M. Ledeuil et Co. have the restaurant of the decade. * Our last meal was March 14th. FD: We were each comp'd a bouillion of raviolis of chopped lamb with (I think) lemongrass.

Host's Note: I have taken the liberty of merging these topics since it is clear reading them since 2004 that many folks have had "mixed results." On a personal note, I keep going back, retrying it every year or so because someone (once two chef/relatives from the US) tells me it is the place to go, recommended by their friends/executive chefs/etc. Sometimes it's OK, more often than not, it's off and the waitfolk range from fine to awful. Read the above and caveat emptor!

Sorry, this was at Lena & Mimile. My density altogether.

For which I apologize. So how about a place that say, specializes in Virginia ham, like we have in Pomze, Rouge Tomate, Coco & Co, JGo + Meating which respectively focus on Apples, Tomatoes, Eggs, Lamb and Beef? Not all great but not bad either.

Today four of us ate again here and the others were not as impressed as I was my first visit. Two started with the mushroom soup and I had a crème brulee of ham (really a quiche); then one had scallops, one a huge piece of bar, one the beef I had last time, and I had the tete de veau special with "English potatoes," the latter of which I thought were incredible. We ended up sharing an ice cream with a mélange of ingredients. My invitees thought the meal was: - disappointing, - OK, - so-so; I still would go back. The bill = 63.25 E a couple. Edited to add that this was at Lena & Mimile.

A new wine bar Le Living Room, 5, rue Crillon in the 4th was reported by l’Internaute to have opened and looks very swank. In addition, they announced a nifty exchange - Jean-François Piège, from Les Ambassadeurs will cook at Chateaubriand March 12th and Inaki Aizpitarte will cook at the Crillon March 18th.

I don’t think it would be worth a special trip. I actually have never even been to any of the Semaine de Gout events but many of the events revolve around activities for students. I know they have special lunches at elementary schools. Restaurants do offer special menus but I haven’t seen much else. ← Yah, I agree, I probably shouldn't have implied it was worth a trip.On the other hand, if one is looking for an excuse to come, why not? And October is a fabulous time of year.

OK, here's a challenge. Every year I take my French colleagues out to lunch during our professional meeting and then they treat me in France the whole rest of the year (not a bad deal, eh?) I try to show them food they cannot get in the hexagon and that is typical of the region - Cajun in New Orleans, Crabs in Baltimore, Mexican in San Diego, Soul in Atlanta, hot dogs in Chicago, etc. However, I'm stumped when it comes to thinking about a cuisine that is DC's own; reading several topics and my own preferences (Cafe Atlantico, Les Halles, Red Sage, Lebanese Taverna, etc., reveals that DC is really international, but they can get all that back home, except maybe great Mexican and Peruvian chicken. So what is DC cuisine and where do we get it (reasonably)? Thanks.

I have a similar question to Melissa's years later but with a change: I'm looking for places within walking distance of the CC but for 2-3 persons rather than a dozen. Would the same ones be recommended? Thanks.

The Week of March 3rd, 2008 Monday, in Le Fooding, Chloé Aeberhardt reviewed a pizza place La Briciola, 64 rue Charlot in the 3rd, 01 42 77 34 10. Monday and Tuesday, Francois Simon’s blog in French and Adrian Moore’s posting on Gridskipper in English have detailed the Michelin 2008’s decisions and provided the link to their site, pretty accurately reflecting speculation on our topic on the subject. Monday-Tuesday, in ANP, (courtesy of Felice/Phyllis,) Jerome Berger awarded 3/5 blocks to Temps au Temps, coordinates in the guidebooks, where he liked the cappuccino of escargots, Pyrenees lamb and rice pudding on their 30 € menu-carte; meanwhile, Philippe Toinard only gave 2/5 to La Cantine du 10e, coordinates given before, where he had raviolis, a blanquette of veal and oranges in syrup. Wednesday, in Figaroscope, Emmanuel Rubin gave the lead and photo but only one heart in C’est nouveau to the jazz-resto Le Duc des Lombards, coordinates already given, where for 40 € one can get crab soup with quenelles, vapeured anglefin and carp brandade. However, he awarded two hearts to the place replacing Les Ormes/Bellecoeur, new name Le Petit Bordelais, costing 40-60 € for crab and guacamole, blanquette, scallops and roast pear. Other one hearts went to Bistrot Poulbot, 39 rue Lamarck in the 18th, 01.46.06.86.00, closed Sundays and Mondays, serving a carpaccio of beets and chicken livers, pot au feu, risotto of scallops and a whiskey-mandarine soufflé for 30-40 € (lunch menu = 17; dinner 29 & 34) and two Italian places: La Cantinella + La Briciola in the 7th and 3rd respectively. This week, Figaroscope’s Dossier dealt with duck in all its forms: Foie gras mi-cuit at La Maison Courtine Confit at Le Domaine de Lintillac and Le Bistrot de l’Oulette. Laquered duck at Chez Vong Crème brulee au foie gras at the Salon d’Helene Magret at the Petit Canard Chichons at Afaria A petit sale at l’Assiette Hearts at the J’Go St-Germain Tongues at the Imperial Choisy And Francois Simon in his Hache Menu had a wicked rotisseried duck at La Rôtisserie du Beaujolais for 134 € which he says is the only reason to go. Wednesday-Thursday, Jean Claude Ribaut in Le Monde talked of the inequalities of the just-released Michelin, mentioning the first (expected) elevation to three stars of a resto in Marseille (Le Petit Nice), the demotion of Guy Martin’s Grand Véfour, the restoration of Marc Meneau’s stars at L'Espérance and the unjust omission of la Grande Cascade + Laurent, two delicate and remarkable places in Paris. His second article talks of the Petit Nice and chef Gérald Passédat (47 years old), grandson of the founder of the same name, trained with/at Troisgros, Michel Guérard, le Bristol, + Ferran Adria, and his concept(s) of cooking. Wednesday as well, Caroline Mignot this week reviewed Opus Vins, 72 rue Vasco de Gama in the 15th, 01 42 50 14 91, lunch menu costs 20 € for three courses or 17,50 € for two; evening for four = 30 € for celery soup, deconstructed andouillette de chez Bobosse and a clementine millefeuille. Thursday, in the Nouvel’Obs, Philippe Couderc also reviewed the Petit Bordelais, 22, rue Surcouf in the 7th (the ex-Les Ormes space) 01-45-51-46-93, where menus are 28-33 €, a la carte 40-57 and the cuisine and price-quality rated 16/20; where the Bordeaux chef serves up a Sémillon jelly with foie gras, crab with guacamole, parmesan risotto and scallops, an entrecote and a feuilleté with vanilla cream. In Saturday’s Figaro Francois Simon “Croque Notes,” raved about a 89 Euro meal for two served up by the Japanese-born but Jean Bardet-trained Naoto Kitamura at Grannie, 27, rue Pierre Leroux in the 7th, 01.47.34.94.14 with few seats but five starters, five mains and five desserts; traditional stuff with interesting flavors such as: ecrevisses risotto, foie gras, salmon with red wine sauce, mashed potatoes with an herbed veal knuckle and duck breast with a sweet-sour teriyaki sauce. Saturday/Sunday, in Bonjour Paris, Margaret Kemp had articles on the Michelin and Pierre Herme. March’s Paris Notes featured a review by Rosa Jackson in her “Paris Bites” of Il Vino. March’s Gourmet had an article by Colman Andrews on Cannes, reviewing La Plage l’Ondine and one on the Jura by Jack Turner recommending: Le Bon Acceuil, Jean-Paul Jeunet + La Comedie. Please post comments here and not in the Digest thread.

Courtesy of Felice/Phyllis, last week's A Nous Paris indicated that Giuseppe NLN, expizzaman of the Cantina Clandestina had opened a modern pizzeria in plain Boboland (Abbesses) called Pomodoro, costing 20 E (but advises readers not to stray from the pizzas).

For those who plan way ahead, Web Radio du Gout announced the next Semaine du Goût, now 18 years old, will be held October 13-19 2008 - for more info contact here.

You're absolutely right, Pierre, I completely forgot. Will do. Tx.

1. Same question, four years later. I'll be at a wedding in Le Lavandou, so dinner Saturday and brunch Sunday are covered but other meals Friday and Saturday are wide open. I have only eaten at the one star Le Sud in Le L. 2. My thought is to stay in the Hyeres Port area where it is said there are ample bars and restos but I get little info from the food guides. Anyone familiar with the food scene there? Thanks, John

My infamous sources only indicate that he will be cooking in March at Les Etangs de Corot, the Relais & Chateau in the Ville d’Avray, between here and Versailles. They have a beautiful website but it doesn't say whether his gig will be extended.

I would love to read this, French or American Saveur? ← The US one, I'll get it to you.

I was puzzled as were you. The only review I recall and in the "Digest" is that ironically from exactly a year ago from Pudlo - the Week of March 5th, 2007 -"Thursday, Gilles Pudlowski, in Le Point provided his assortment of food and restaurant likings: he states that he is following Le Restaurant, at/in L'Hôtel, 13, rue des Beaux-Arts in the 6th, 01.44.41.99.01, menu = 50 €, recently taken over by Philippe Bélissent, a young ex-Ledoyenist serving farm eggs with truffles, bar with chestnuts and Bresse chicken" Correct: this is from my Google search: at http://www.toptable.co.uk/venues/restaurants/?id=6912 "Le Restaurant de L'Hôtel has been awarded one star in the 2008 Michelin guide. Located in the chic L'Hôtel in the heart of Paris's famously bohemian Left Bank, Le Restaurant is a sophisticated establishment headed by accomplished Head Chef Philippe Bélissent. Previously a sous chef at three Michelin starred restaurants, Bélissent took over the kitchen at Le Restaurant in 2005. Renowned for his seasonal menu – favourite dishes at Le Restaurant include duck foie gras cooked with sangria and Mirabelle plums; pigeon casserole with grated beets and mash; and roasted figs served with banyuls, pistachio ice cream..."

The Week of February 25th, 2008 A bit back, our members Adrian Moore and Meg Zimbeck, in Gridskipper provided a year end review of Paris cuisine that included: for last year (first listed); and this (next listed): The Most Buzz: Spring, Le Chateaubriand + Hidden Kitchen; Afaria, Racines + Il Vino; Most Overrated: Jules Verne, La Tour d'Argent + Buddha-Bar; Apicius, Le Voltaire + Brasserie Lipp; Best Dining Neighborhood: rue Paul Bert (Bistrot Paul Bert, L'Ecailler du Bistrot, le Temps au Temps, Unico, rue des Martyrs (Spring, Rose Bakery, Les Papilles Gourmands, + Hotel Amour; the 15th arrondissement (Le Troquet, Le Grand Pan, La Beurre Noisette, L'Os à Moelle),; and the rue Rébeval (Chapeau Melon, Mon Oncle Vigneron, Sushiya, Chez Valentin + Le Baratin). Best Expensive Dinner Over €100: Le Meurice, Taillevent + Michel Rostang; le Pré Catelan, Ledoyen + Les Magnolias. Best Three-Course Meal Around €40: Relais du Comptoir, L'Ami Jean, Les Papilles + Le Baratin; Afaria, L'Arome, La Gazetta + Chapeau Melon. Best Cheap Meal Under €15: L'As du Fallafel, Bar à Soupes + Le Cambodge; Breizh Café, Bob's Juice Bar + Maria Luisa. Best Vegetarian: Arpège, Les Allobroges; Mon Vieil Ami, Maceo. Best Local Food & Dining Website: the eGullet France Forum, Chocolate & Zucchini, Dorie Greenspan, and David Lebowitz; Le Fooding, Chrisoscope, Simon Says! and Ms. Glaze. Monday-Tuesday, in ANP, Jerome Berger, in conjunction with the Salon d’Agriculture, presented a compendium of restaurants that serve “terroir” food: Little garden vegetables: Racines, Au Gourmand + Vapeur Gourmande Veal Liver Le Cameleon, La Ferrandaise + Le Grand Pan Beef Severo, l’Evasion + Devez Fish and Shellfish 21, Maree Denfert + La Cabane a Hiuitres. Wednesday, in Figaroscope, Emmanuel Rubin had a tough week for C’est nouveau – awarding one heart each to 5 places: the Japanese Kaiseki in the 8th; Chez Gustave, 56, rue de la Federation in the 15th, 01.45.66.09.01, open everyday, menus at 12 and 25, a la carte 25-35 €, for oeufs mayo, bavette and fresh pineapple; Gustave & Jules, coordinates given before but Rubin says its open everyday and says it costs 20 € for charcuteries, cheese and one plat du jour; Le Petit Nicois, coordinates well-known but under the hands of a new team, with menus at 25 and 31, a la carte 45-50 € for fatally out of season stuffed tomatoes and zucchinis, not bad raviolis of confited rabbit and onions and an acceptable apple tart; and Rival Deluxe, 3, ave Matignon in the 8th, 01.42.89.64.72, open everyday costing 30-45 € for a tuna tartare and avocado, cappuccino of chestnuts, shrimp with salt and pepper and an OK cheeseburger. Figaroscope’s Dossier this week was all about cocktails: 17/20 A juanito at the Meurice 16.5 A Bombay-New York at Hotel Fouquet’s Barriere 16 A benderitter at the Hotel Ritz 16 A chancy cocktail at the Renaissance Paris Vendome 15.5 A born wild at the Murano Urban Resort 15.5 A George fizz at the Four Seasons Hotel George V 14.5 An innovation at the Hotel Plaza Athenee 14 A janick at the Hotel Westminster 13 A cocktail du jour at the Hotel Park Hyatt Vendome 13 A mojito at the Hotel Raphael 12 A cypress at the Hotel Bristol 12 Two Saint-Valentin glasses of champagne at the Hotel Lutetia which was also Francois Simon’s Hache Menu – for 36 €. 9 Regular champagne at the Hotel Montalembert. Wednesday as well, Richard Hesse in Paris Update went to Vintage, 46, rue d’Argout in the 2nd, 01 40 26 57 54 open every day with a menu at 15, a la carte 25-30 € where he says they take both their natural wines and cooking seriously and he liked the fish firsts and meat mains. Wednesday-Thursday, in Le Monde, Jean Claude Ribaut wrote an article on olive oil from around the world (France, Chili, Italy, Corsica, etc), some of the chefs who use it and some places to buy it. Saturday’s Figaro contained a full page on Taste with Francois Simon “Croque Notes,” devoted to the death of Georges Paineau, chef of the Relais et Chateau Le Bretagne. Alongside, Alexandra Michot wrote of good eating in ski resorts: Le Chabichou, Le Bateau Ivre, Il Vino + Pierre Gagnaire (and soon Alain Ducasse) at Courcheval and Les Enfants Terribles, Les Flacons de Sel + Le Bistrot de Megeve at Megeve, Marc Veyrat having departed. Saturday/Sunday, in Bonjour Paris, John Talbott had an essay on “Back to Boboville” and Margaret Kemp one on the Bizan. That same weekend, in FT, Nicholas Lander wrote about his last meals at Taillevent + Le Relais, both most warmly. March’s Saveur featured an article by our own Clotilde Dusoulier on butter as used by Benoit Bordier, written while he was still at Jean. Please post comments here and not in the Digest thread.

Firstly, American milk, as you might recall, is pasteurized (Louis Pasteur, ironically, the man not the boulevard) at a lower temperature (71.7 °C), as I understand it - to better preserve the flavor, than sterilization (140-150 °C). And my last one was half full as well and opened for several days. In the US, skim milk does not "last/keep" as long as that with more fat.

As I was leaving my apartment for ten days in the States, I realized that I had a half carton of sterilized skim milk in the frigo left and was wondering if it would last. Note: Last time I left for ten days it did fine. So I read the label (ah) that it would keep fresh unrefrigerated but if opened and refrigerated, should be consumed soon. Questions: Was my last experience aberrant; does French sterilized milk, even if skim milk, keep longer than American pasteurized skim milk; and how long is that?

Friday, Jean Louis Galesne in Les Echos (Paris) wrote up five restaurants in Brussels: Sea Grill, Chalet de la Foret, Brasserie de la Paix, Museumbrasserie, Bocconi, Gaudron + Be Bella.

In this weekend's Figaro Jacques Pessis announced that Jean Bardet cooked his final meal, shuttering his restaurant after forty years.

Mar 08 l’Idee, Bouchons, Quai-Quai, Le Cercle du 17e, Chateau Poivre, Lao Lane Xang 2, Bistrot de Robert, Temps au Temps, Poulbot Gourmet, Le Relais des Buttes, Dix Sept, Floors, Alfred, l’Escapade Mere Grand Nice, very nice, and good too 7.5 l’Idee, 52, ave de la Porte de Villiers in Levallois-Perret, 01.41.05.05.35, closed Sunday lunch and Mondays, has a three course lunch menu at 30 and two for 24 € (including a glass of wine or water and an Illy coffee), altho’ a la carte at night can climb to 145 € if you want caviar. The idea of the chalkboard is to only offer things that are straight from the market and I went with a guy who’s an expert in this; plus we realized a few more meters up the street (Villiers) is a market that’s open incredibly long hours and has bio and kosher produce. In any case, we were happy to be outside the city limits with food like this. I started with a wonderfully full and tasty and spicy terrine de campagne with confited onions and he had a very fresh-produce tasting caviar d’aubergines. Then, he had the cocotte of fish with sliced carrots and celery (I think) whose broth was heavenly and I had a great piece of toasty crusted rascasse atop equally nice spinach (the third choice today was Thai beef, which looked good on a neighbor’s plate.) We ended up eating two little Philly cheesecakes that were really good. With two pots of acceptable Bordeaux, the bill was 76 €. Oh and among the bathrooms downstairs were two doors marked Spa and Sauna – so the old Mauvais Garcons boys have a sense of humor. Go? A friend of mine (the RFC) acted like I was going to the moon when I said I was going 90 meters outside Paris to it, but you’re not afraid or that snobby are you? How about this for great but reasonably-priced food? 7.0 Les Bouchons ex-Francois Clerc, now Le Restaurant de Philippe et Jean Pierre, 7, rue du Boccador in the 8th, 01.47.23.57.80, closed Saturday lunch and Sundays, serves an outstanding, while forced-choice 3 course menu for 28 Euros, which with 1 glass of wine, bottled water and coffee = 33 Euros. I’d read about its passing hands from Francois to Jean Pierre and Philippe, we’re all on first names here, who also run the P’tit Bouchon, a take-out and sit-down place nearby (the Rue de la Tremoille to be specific) two weeks ago and didn’t realize that while Figaroscope treated it as a “new” place, the team has been in place for 5 years. My Anglo-American friend wanted to eat “downtown” and after some negotiation, we settled on Les Bouchons – well, settled is hardly the proper wording; it should be “luckily fell into.” I got there a tad early and was quizzed (quite nicely) about my reservation (indeed, the place was packed half-way through lunch). A la carte was 48.50 Euros for three courses plus 19 Euros for the cheapest wine, for instance, resulting in damages exceeding our planned budget so we opted for the menu, thinking that we might really go astray and would be stuck with 6 losers. But immediately we sensed things would work out OK - our olives and glasses of wine were good and the warm bread super. We each had a half-dozen superb-product Breton oysters that were crisp and tasty, then perfectly cooked cod with a puree (they said was) made with some fennel and finished with a light chocolate millefeuille stuffed with cream and accompanied by vanilla ice cream and latticed caramel. With a bottle of very drinkable Fitou, coffee and unbottled water, our bill was 85 €. Go? You bet, the only regrets were a soggy hand-towel in the bathroom, a miscalculated bill and a Visa machine that refused my no-exchange-fee card. A wonderful, fresh, new place in a dazzling setting. 6.5 Quai-Quai, 74, quai des Orfevres in the 1st, 01.46.33.69.75, closed Sundays and Mondays, managed by the Cinq Mars, Lei, Cailloux, l’Altro gang, has gotten rather good press. I say I’m not influenced by the décor, only the food, but the raw wood (butcher-block-type) tables and walls lined with old largely stripped doors is quite cool. Two of us went on a rather drizzly day but it was warm inside and the food was great. She started with oeufs mayo that I would never have ordered – they were superb; while I had a salad (on the 17 € menu) with microtomed strips of seasonal veggies that I thought was splendid too. Then she had two perfectly cooked rare lamb (not mutton) chops with curried beans and I the cod with a light lemony taste a top and fresh spinach with which the lemony sauce also was perfect. Neither of us wanted to try the apple bum-style, but she had broche perdu with a honey sauce she thought was too heavy but I liked very much. Our true bill should have been 83 € but they overcharged us and I didn’t pick it up til I got home. Go? Yes, but double check your bill – I intend to get a free glass of wine next time. This place is serious and affordable; a pleasant surprise. 5.5 Le Cercle du 17e, 5, rue Labie in the 17th, 01.45.74.22.98, closed weekends, was mentioned to me by the RFC, after much prodding for him to come up with someplace for my last open slot this week. Wow am I grateful to him. I entered and despite the host’s greeting me in English, I didn’t take offense as I usually do, he was so nice about it. Madame was equally warm in French and immediately brought (as she did to all tables) a cool bottle of Chat. Delanoye. The chalkboard is limited but really affordable, 3 courses for 23 € and I quickly settled on a spinach, cheese and ham quiche that was quite, quite good with a small balsamic dressed salad alongside. Then I had the grilled squid with two spicy sauces coming from opposite sides of the plate - green (parsley) and red (sesame), sitting atop a ratatouille and smashed potatoes – also very good. Finally I had a financiere with orange and orange peel inside that was a good conclusion. The Illy coffee was ristretto, the wine a drinkable Rhone from a classic barrel and the bill = 36 €. The crowd were all locals despite its proximity to the Palais des Congres and several of the tables seating 32 folk turned over. BTW the mousse of beets, rocket, and sliced carrots etc looked great too. Go? Indeed, there was not one misstep, this is more than a routine bistro of the quartier. The un-Passard approach to vegetables. 5.4 Chateau Poivre, 145, rue du Chateau in the 14th, 01.43.22.03.68, closed Sunday, has really crept under the radar screen, except for Philippe Toinarde’s blog and a friend of mine who lives across the square, whose wife told my wife about it in the gym where they are “partners.” Backstory: I knew I’d probably eat (true) and drink (untrue) some at the Salon d’Agriculture, this morning because one of our members (Ptipois) was dishing up some mighty fine cheese delights at the Auvergne booth, so I made a rez at a place that if it failed to measure up, would not be a total loss for the day. Much has been made about the hot food areas in town these days (Rue Paul Bert, the Marche des Batignolles, the 15th, etc.) but in this forgotten part of town things keep moving (first, M. Lapin, then Guelfeli, then (I think) the Gallo Nero, now this place.) Just as 7Up was advertised as the UnCola, the Chateau Poivre should claim it’s the un-Passard. I’ll tell you why in a minute. I entered after a brief walk from the Metro and realized I was staring at a familial face; we established we knew each other from Le Troquet, where ironically, Pierre 45, Colette and I had an over-salted meal at our last visit (but more on that in a second). I was seated (I was alone in the place, with only another party of five – hummm.) The choices are ample: on a 19 € lunch menu 3 firsts, 4 mains and 3 desserts; on the all day 26 € menu, 9 firsts, 14 mains and 7 desserts; and the firsts were mostly hot not just the usual cold terrines, etc. They provided all with a light broth of winter veggies which you could taste every bit of because it wasn’t drowned in salt. I then had a fricassee of calamari advertised as made with basil but if I hadn’t known that I would have guessed jalapeno, parsley and light vinegar – very spicy and good. At that point I should have recalled that the chef “Papa” Alioune Gako, was Senegalese/VietNamese because this was greatly influenced stuff. My main was rabbit bits wrapped first in green cabbage, then in pastry with a huge half cabbage in the middle of the pot. Again one could taste everything because it was neither salted nor oversalted. I ended with a fine tarteline of apples with a caramel and cream. With coffee, wine but no bottled water = 41.40 €. Go? For sure, despite the schlep and 2 € error in addition (in the house’s favor of course), the genuine vegetable-tasting veggies alone are worth the price of admission. A lot of fun 5.0HS Lao Lane Xang 2, 102 Ave d’Ivry in the 13th, 01 58 89 00 00, closed Wednesdays, is a new place across the street from its mothership where the three folks I ate with have eaten at and loved for quite some time. It hit the radar screens of both Le Fooding + Figaroscope this week big time, and despite my prejudice against doing ethnic food in France, it sounded too good to be true. But the reports were not exaggerated. We had 8 dishes, each more delicious than the next: spicy dried beef, pork nems, Laotian rice salad, Laotian chopped beef, Laotian pork sausage, Laotian steak, Thai coco duck, Gai lam with salted fish and then a coco flan and coco gelatin before their café au lait (terrific too). It was a wonderful meal and if you’re looking for a break from French cooking, especially on a weekend, think of this place. Certainly the price was right, with wine, other drinks, sticky rice and all that = 60.30 € a couple. Go? Reserve now! The RFC said it was a boring month….. 4.9 Le Bistrot de Robert, 81, ave Bosquet in the 7th, 01.47.05.36.15, closed Sundays and Mondays but open Tuesdays (as opposed to what Figaroscope said/says). The RFC said it was a boring month, and it’s true, I’m scraping the bottom of the barrel, but while Rubin gave it only two hearts, that was what he gave l’Idee too, where we had a great meal yesterday - so, one hopes. The place is the old Italian place Carmine and still bears its name on their credit card receipts, and Zagat lists it in the 07/08 edition, so…..how new can it be? In any case, it’s new-looking, the awning says wine bar/restaurant exactly as the one across the street says, and it’s huge and welcoming – to the extent that everyone yells/greats you like sushi chefs in an Aspen resto – BONJOUR! They have a great deal; 3 courses are 24 €, 2 courses = 19 - plus there are plates of charcuterie and 2 specials (today they were a daurade royale and a filet of duck). I went for the three course “menu.” First, I had the terrine of Robert himself, a la Camdeborde at Le Regalade, which was not half bad, with standard cornichons and pickled onions but over-the-top caramelized confited onions with a taste of - could it have been figs? – terrific and with Camdeborde-type bread. Next I had the rognons of veal with a so-so wine sauce and awful horrible mac-n-cheese, when will the French chefs give up the notion they can “do” Italian? To top it off, I had a petit pot de chocolat with orange zests (it was actually almost a moelleux) and a side ramekin of baby orange slices in real orange juice. Delicious! This brought the meal back up into the “return” range. The wines, right - the selection is formidable, one chooses from a double-sided rack and pays from 6 € up plus 7 € corkage, carefully explained in French and English on a card on each table (it’s two blocks from the American University – OK?). The bill, oh yah, 39.50 € with coffee but no bottled water, not bad, eh? Go? Hummmmhh.....but it was better than expected. You were right in 1939 Thomas Wolfe. 3.5 Le Temps au Temps, coordinates in the guidebooks. As was reported in Figaroscope last week and in this forum a few days ago, the young couple who used to run Le Temps au Temps, has sold it to another young guy from the Sofitel le Faubourg and I went today with the RFC. First a confession. The Rue Paul Bert, featured in the same Figaroscope article, has temptations, like the book-etc-boutique La Cocotte that has fascinating aprons, books et cetera, so of course that merited a detour. Then enticingly across and up the street a bit is the Ecailler du Bistrot where R.W. (Johnnie) Apple’s spirit was calling me – “John, a few oysters and a coup de vin at the zinc, perhaps?” “Mais, oui,” how could I resist. So I had six #2 Utah Beach’s with some Muscadet – what a way to start! Then, I encountered my buddy and we entered Le Temps au Temps, which looked pretty much as it had before the change in equipe, except that the clock was no longer on the left wall entering and most of the customers spoke anglais, even as a second or common language and one was a familiar eG face. The new Madame is just as welcoming and warm as her predecessor bantering with my friend throughout the meal and the menu and prices (as advertised) do indeed look much the same. I wish I could say the meal was as good as I remember those under l’ancien regime though. He and I split what looked like the best stuff on the 30 € menu (but - by the way, the American couple to our right had the 3-course set menu of grilled sardines with greens, rascasse with seaweed (I think) and a dessert of agrumes, that looked pretty good). In any case, he started with what was called raviolis of veggies and tartare of veal, which was essentially one ravioli on the bottom, and one atop a pile of minced veal and vegetables, not bad but after he noted that my “cappuccino” of escargots merited a bit more salt, which he was spot-on about, I saw him add some to his pile too. OK. Then he had the lamb shoulder with runny polenta; to me the lamb was over-the-hill mutton and the polenta not what a French chef should attempt. Me, I had a quite nice producty portion of paleron of beef a la mode de pot au feu, but again it lacked something – horseradish or mustard – the latter of which saved the day. Finally he had the St Nectaire, cold, as if straight from the Craig Claiborne frigo, not bad, but not the way it should/could have been presented; I, the iconographic riz au lait caramel au beurre sale, which even I, a committed rice pudding doubter, thought was nickel but he thought was over-cooked. Two 30 € menus + one supplement of 4 € + wine + coffee = 92 €. But of course, that hardly reflects all the dough we dropped on that street today. Go? If nearby, not as a destination. New stuff in the nabe? 4.5 Bistro Poulbot, 39, rue Lamarck in the 18th, 01 46 06 86 00, closed Sundays and Monday lunch, lunch menu is 17 € and dinner runs from 29-34 €. This is the old Poulbot Gourmet space, which you won’t recall, but I do, since we four musketeers treated our downstairs neighbor to a rather good meal here after a condo meeting several years ago. Its frosted glass with a caricature of the “poulbot” is still there, but this is a totally new place, since Véronique Melloul, called the best chef in Polynesia, took over recently (my waitress said two days, but that can’t be true). The chalkboards are a bit complicated – there’s a menu derived from Mamie Louise with classic dishes (5-9 € for firsts, 18-22 € for mains and 7 € for the dessert) and a menu of market items with other stuff (29 for 2; 34 € for 3); wines are 4+ per glass and 15-28 € a bottle – but caution, the owner was negotiating with a wine middleman at the next table and these prices may be bumped up. As for food; I chose two classics; the pied de cochon bourguignone (standard for Paris, best for the 18th/Montmartre) and the pot au feu (where the beef was of a despicable quality, the l’os a moelle and horseradish OK but the broth and veggies were spectacular). The bill = 34.50 €. Go? If in Montmartre, see if I was right; I’ll try to convince Colette to come next week to try the cod or scallops. Au Relais des Buttes – “A boring week?” 2.7 Le Relais des Buttes, 86, rue Compans in the 19th, 01.42.08.24.70, closed Saturday lunch and Sundays. Another backstory here: I awoke this morning with a craving for beef and thought seriously about going to UNICO which I had scoped out several times, but then looked at my bank account and Pudlo’s estimate and Les Echos – et voila, a new chef and owner installed at a place I (and you) have passed many times negotiating around the Buttes Chaumont and Eric Frechon’s eponymous resto. It’s sort of near the top of the real butte and looks big. But when you enter, it’s as if you’re going into a country auberge – fancy drapery, Villeroy & Boch plates, lotsa room, playing (too loudly) best hits from the Magic Flute, with tasteless art on the wall – cats, pelicans and flowers. According to Jean Louis Galesne, the new owneresse, Eléonore Descordes, brought in an unnamed chef with experience at Villaret + le Soleil {both of which I’ve had mixed experience at/in.} OK. Madame is all alone in the salle and for all I know he is all alone in the cuisine, which for a place that serves 30 covers, is not enough. As you may surmise, I waited (as did others, including a French woman my age, who counted out the minutes to her more decrepit and deaf husband, between courses) - to be ushered in - to get a menu - to order - to get my food - to get the check - to leave. OK. I took a look at the menu and was not impressed, lots of terrines and stuff and no wines by the glass or carafe. I ordered for a first an artichoke heart with spinach on top, then an egg, covered with hollandaise sauce touched with cheese – which, while not hot, was OK. OK. Second, I had a confit of huge, Jimmy Carter sized, rabbit with huge long potatoes and rosemary; the rabbit was dry, the potatoes – so what. OK. What to do now? Have cheese, sounds good. But, I saw the bizarrely dressed Mme Descordes go to what looked like a frigo and pull out cheese wrapped in foil and take it into the kitchen – oh oh. But it turned out not to be Craig Claiborne’s nightmare, but very fine camembert, Pont l’Eveque and Cantal with not totally bad bread. However, after the long waits, I passed on the coffee and paid the check – a menu for 34 and half bottle of wine = 49 €. Go? Sorry, but they are way over their heads. They need more help, better clothes and art and some more imaginative cooking. Oh, and as my friend said "It's been boring in Paris." Tough but tasty is OK. 2.0 Dix Sept, 92, rue Legendre in the 17th, 01.46.27.15.18, closed Sundays and Mondays, with a confusing array of prices for lunch and dinner formulas and menus (from 12-35 E I think) and an even more confusing habit of having only one ardoise with lunch stuff outside (to be schlepped in and out every 10 minutes, opening and closing the door, allowing the outside February air in) but two maybe three dinner ones inside that tout le monde entering immediately gloms onto, getting their hopes up over 5 entrees, 7 plats and 5 desserts, only to realize they have 4 limited choices for firsts - a Caesar or Greek salad, rilettes or a packet of goat cheese with a savory sauce atop (quite OK), and really only 2 plats that sounded interesting - salmon and beef, which while cooked to my order, was both tough and tasteless. My poem goes thusly: “Tough and tasty is fine. Tender and tasty is best. Tender and tasteless can be endured. But tough and tasteless is a sin.” The wines went from 4 E a glass to 53 E a bottle. With two courses and two wines one can depart only having depensed only 23 Euros. (Disclosure: I was confronted with whether I was writing the place up and "fessed up," thus got comp'd for the coffee, maybe more than that.) Go? Ah - But tough and tasteless is a sin. A burger joint near Montmartre, can it be (good?) 1.8 Floors, 100 rue Myrha in the 18th, 01.42.6208.08, never closed, is a place that I’ve been passing on the #85 bus for weeks that suddenly went from a dumpy company building for Myrhamax to a startling 3-story modern cocktail-lounge-looking place. Figaroscope, two weeks ago, ranked it 4th of 17 places in town for a hamburger and since my first choice for a Sunday lunch was closed I went, figuring how bad could it be ? It really is a beautiful place with extremely loudly played American music and has tried to imitate American dishes like Jewish chicken soup, Annie Hall pastrami, bagels and lox and Boston clam chowder. But it’s hamburgers one comes for, made out of beef, chicken, fish and duck, with all sorts of sauces from aioli to satay or BBQ. I first, however, ordered guacamole with genuine chips but which needed a lot of Tobasco to reach the Café Atlantico’s level. The beef burger was good product, cooked to my specifications with the requisite tomato, lettuces and red onion atop and the coleslaw had a piquantly fermented taste, but the aioli sauce was not much of a much and the fried potatoes horrid as they are 99/100 in France. A bonus was watching the entirely French clientele wrestle with eating a hamburger and fries with a knife and fork, never once picking them up. My bill was 34.55 €. Go ? No, but it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. There’s a back story here 1.0 Alfred, 38, ave de Versailles in the 16th, 01.45.25.51.15, closed Sundays and Mondays. Backstory – two Alfred's have opened in the recent past and this is the one that got one-heart from Rubin and listings in Pudlo not a “Best Bistrot” from Lebey. In any case, if that weren’t confusing enough, as one approaches the place, which is by the way, to hell and gone, from the Metro, the sign to the west and above it makes it appear that it’s a tapas place, but then one sees a voturier (whoa, wait a minute) and yet the ardoise says “Restaurant tickets accepted.” Is this place confused or am I? Enter. It’s like a thousand other 1950’s bisto looking places. Nice but Ahhhh, the décor, based on a tilted Eiffel Tower is a bit much. There are two waiters, the eponymous Alfred whose hair is in the style or non-style of Jean Sarkozy and who is super nice and his sidekick who looks like he performing painful community service for some bizarre offense. They had two kinds of very fine bread and ¼ liter (6 €) and ½ liter (12 €) carafes of wine. I started with a carpaccio of scallops with greens, both of very good quality products which were ruined by too heavy a hand on the citrus and red baie. Then I had calves liver, which came not only overcooked but undersized – now maybe it’s unfair to always compare this to the gold standard at the 1960’s Chez Les Anges, but there you have it. The pear puree that came with it, however, was nickel. But Waiter #2 had a pepper grinder under his arm and offered that for every course and mustard for the liver – which did not inspire confidence. Finally I had the dessert special a caramel/chocolate thing that was clever – a chocolate moelleux filled with caramel, topped with ice cream – and the caramel nice. The horrible Segafredo coffee didn’t help matters. And then the bill arrived = 55.50 €. After the way I’ve been eating and the prices, it’s easy to say: Go? Unh, unh, worst price-quality place so far this year. Oh did I want to love this place. 0.8 l’Escapade Mere Grand, 68 bis, Ave Jean Moulin in the 14th, 01.45.42.02.02, closed Saturday lunch and Sundays, got better than OK reviews from Rubin, Toinard and Lobrano last summer and it was a place described as homey and fun with good food. And indeed it is. I entered and was warmly greeted by a man my age, an age when one rarely works in a resto these days. The clients were all locals: 2 women friends, 2 lovers, 6 management folk and 7 of their cadre at separate tables, the chef’s wife and son and maybe his mistress who exited early on - and me. The chalkboard indicated the specials that day, and while I rather liked the prices (22 for 2 courses, 29 € for 3) and the mains (raie and beef tongue), the firsts (scrambled eggs with shrimp and hot goat cheese salad) and desserts (raspberry clafoutis and apple crumble) did not appeal. So off the carte it was with a small slice of super foie gras, barely cooked (good) and warm pear (excellent) atop a slice of grainy bread with a caramel sauce that couldn’t be scraped from where it lay on the plate. The fried rougets were OK but they and the ratatouille badly needed oomph, which a lot of salt sort of supplied (don’t tell my internist.) Digression: What were the big boys thinking?; this is ordinary food, hardly meriting 3 blocks; when I was 18 and didn’t know better I probably would have thought it OK, but now a bit later, unh unh. I had no dessert but did have a pousse-café with an extremely generous pour of Calva from the genial chef alongside a new coffee for me - Giovanni le Baristo. In addition the bathroom gets top marks for having towels in addition to the stupid blower. The bill = 43,60 €. Go? Not even if I lived across the street where sits La Regalade. Scale (subject to fickleness and change): 10 – The best you’ve ever eaten in, eg Giradet in the old days. 9 – The places you went/go to because they’re destinations, eg Pere Bise 8 – The places that did their best in their prime Robuchon, Ducasse, Loiseau 7 – The places today beating the competition Ze Kitchen Galerie, Spring, Constant x3 6 - The old reliables Repaire de Cartouche, Bistro du Dome, Clocher Periere 5 – Fun neighborhood places Le Winch, l’Oxilis, Café qui Parle 4 – Places to go on cook’s night out Terminus Nord 3 – Places if you’re really stuck 2 Pieces Cuisine, Le Truc 2 – A pick-up meal Sale + Pepe 1 – Really hitting bottom le Nord-Sud 0 – Never again Auguste, The Place, Helene Darroze Ø- No kidding, you can’t drag me Iode HS – Outside classification

I stand corrected. I wonder what happened to that huge stock?

Well, when I went she was waiting for the Agricultural Minister to show up to go into full swing, so I just had a bite of cheese and made a tour of Building 7.2 which was huge and afforded me a nice sampling of appetizers. When I returned to her stand, she was finishing the "Crème de Saint-Nectaire fermier, royales à la fourme d’Ambert" and she put a little sprig of Chinese seaweed in my cup and it was divine. Ms. Pti sure knows how to chef.