John Talbott

Ohhhh, Pti, more. What are the connections between lovers, pinning poissons and the resurrection or is it all about the vernal equinox as Channukah/Christmas is all about the winter soltice?I was thinking why this topic was food oriented (or as our cousins would say orientated) and it occurred to me that we/us/civilization/whatever have made eating central to every fete. Except for Ramadan, Lent and colonoscopies.

As I indicated to Pein, you might also look here and here and here.

You might also look here and here and here.

Hi Pein, I would encourage you to look at the past few pages on the Forum and then do a search for say Marais and favorites. I'll see if I can put a topic together for you and Frege that has some topics on current favorites. Good eating. John

The week’s Figaroscope's Dossier concerned itself with St Valentine’s day places: From 100 €: La Marlotte, Bistrot de la Muette, Chez Karl & Erick, Le Maxan, Bayan, Black Calvados + Au Gourmand Under 150 €: l’Arome, Bon, Café Faubourg, Les Saveurs de Flora, Le Murano Urban Resort + Les Ombres 150 €+: Mori Venice Bar. La Table Lancaster, le Dali, l’Hotel, Le Celadon, La Maison Blanche + Laurent And Francois Simon went to La Table de Fabrice for 149 € for two.

For 6 bucks, instead DARTY will send me one free.

I know you all are dying to know how it all turned out; well, the new (German) oven is installed and once I figure out what the various interior items: grille, plaque, lechefrite, do (the Instruction Guide that came, was not in English as requested, but in Russian, of which mine is a bit rusty) life will be beautiful.

Interesting addendum. I just retasted the rilettes and they're not that great. Hummmm, maybe my friends are decent judges.

The Week of January 28th, 2008 Monday-Tuesday in A Nous Paris, Philippe Toinard awarded 3/5 blocks to the established place, the Pré Salé, coordinates given in the food guides and his colleague, Jerome Berger gave 3/5 to Alfred, 47, rue de Montpensier and 52, rue de Richelieu in the 1st, 01.42.97.54.40, formulas at 25 and 31 € {but it sounds like the items available on the formulas, marked with an asterisk, are pretty boring and one must order} a la carte about 55 €, closed Sunday and Monday, where despite OK braised veal and chocolate mousse the critic criticizes the bill. Sometime, François-Régis Gaudry reviewed the Atelier du Sommelier, in Niederbronn-les-Bains. Gogo Paris’s Francesca Unsworth reviewed the new bar food place next to Poilane, 8, rue du Cherche Midi in the 6th, 01.45.48.45.69, open 8.30am-7.30pm Tuesday-Saturday with a formula at lunch for 12.50 €). Richard Hesse in Paris Update this Wednesday, reviewed that old favorite the Grand Colbert which he termed “vintage Paris, a tour operator’s dream,” providing “tandard bistro fare,…. very workaday, …..comfort-food.” Wednesday, in Figaroscope’s “C’est nouveau” Emmanuel Rubin does one of his confusing things, featuring a one-heart restaurant first and with photo and intro text and putting a two-hearter in second position. The two-heart place is the Bistrot de Robert, 81, ave Bosquet in the 7th, 01.47.05.36.15, closed Monday and Tuesday, with menus at 19 and 24 €, where he sampled the terrine, brandade and rice pudding. His one heart places were: Marguerite, 50, rue de Clignancourt in the 17th, 01.42.51.66.18, closed Satrurday lunch and Sundays, with a 15 € formula at lunch, a la carte about 35 €, for sandre quenelles, scallops and an absinthe soufflé; the Italian Al Ristorante in the 7th; the bio-bo-naturo Soya, described last week in Le Fooding; and the Nepalese-tibetian Budha in the 6th. This week, their “Dossier” was all about the new wave of Korean food: New places Guiibinre, Hangari, l’Arbre de sel, Samlin, Song Sang + Gong’s Dining Store Ace Mart Classics Woo Jung + Samo And also Ging Go Gae, Chez Maman, Kimchi, Han-Lin + Hyang-Ly Of course Francois Simon helped out by going to Bibimbap in the 5th. Thursday, Philippe Couderc of NouvelObs also reviewed La Méditerranée, coordinates well-known and awarded it 12-13/20 for food and 13/20 for price quality as well as Le 144 Petrossian, without a rating. Saturday-Sunday, Francois Simon‘s “Croque Notes” was entitled “Return [letter] to sender” and discussed two places he revisited because of angry letters he got about prior reviews: the American touristy Chez Allard where he found his chicken massacred by a chain saw at his last meal and this time describes it was depressed and undercooked. His second was Cigale Recamier the soufflé place where again he found the soufflés bizarrely homogeneous albeit tasty and the service alternatively haughty and nice. He recommends angry readers instead of writing him, write the chefs. And, Alexandra Michot et al rated prepared dishes bearing great chefs’ names sold in the supermarkets that ranged from J. Robuchon’s duck with mashed potatoes (14,5/20) to B. Loiseau’s duck leg with three pepper sauce (5). (Both articles are available on via hard copy or PDF until mid week when they’ll be posted on the web site.) Saturday-Sunday, in Bonjour Paris, Margaret wrote an article on Ghislaine Arabian + Garnier and John Talbott an essay on “Average meals.” Aurelie Chaigneau reported in JDD that the two favorite restos in Paris under 35 E for Christian Tetedoie are: Au Petit Riche + Le Grand Colbert. In addition, in the magazine supplement Version Femina Astrid T’Serclaes got Claude Lebey to give his favorite restos from Monday to Sunday as follows: Ze Kitchen Galerie, l’Epigramme, Pre Catalan, Cristal de sel, Auguste, Breizh Café + La Maree Denfert. Please post comments here and not in the Digest thread.

Results of the consumption of my hunting/gathering for 7 persons (6 American, 1 French): Provence Olives from Les Galeries Lafayette - almost all gone. Foie gras from my street guy (that my French guest wanted to know the origin of) with Eric Kayser bread - ditto. Mini-Vacherin Mont D'or from Galeries Lafayette with Lu crackers and apple slices - 2/3's left (apple gone) Caviar d'Aubergines (Mavrommatis) and blinis (traiteur on my street) - enough for one more "cocktail" left Rilettes d'oie (with Poilane bread) from the Rue Mouffetard - hardly touched Apericubes - 80% left This is my second "failure" with apericubes. Thanks all for your advice - BTW they were invited for a "cocktail" 18h30-19h30 - but the last person departed at 22h00.

Largely at Margaret Pilgrim's urging I went to Lena et Mimile today; I'll submit a lengthy report end of the week, but the bottom line is that it was spectacular (I had all Herve This items).

Hi, Welcome, I presume you've searched the site for the new hot stuff. After reading it all, do you have any specific questions? We'd love to help.

Well I'll let Pti speak for herself, but I'm not sure that's what happened. To continue the train metaphor, I think Ego's food represented the last car through the switch, Madame A. sat down to engage him (as well she should), and she was largely oblivious to the train wreck behind her in the kitchen (as well she should not have been), perhaps caused by a loss of gas or perhaps inexperience or who knows? After reading about the brilliance and failure of American generals in WWII, it is clear that whichever, the leadership was clear and you were in or out based on as little as one battle. I do not think we've heard the last of this woman.

In Sunday’s NYT, Evan Rail wrote about Prague on a rainy day and mentioned the following: Gordon Ramsey’s Maze, Angel + Corner Bar & Bistro for lighter fare.

Nick Lauder, writing in this weekend’s FT wrote about two mixed experiences in Munich; very good food after a one-hour wait at Tantris and a good first but disappointing mains at Ederer.

Colette's are both seasoned (mild mustard and herbs) and barely hold together.

I'll let John provide his answers, Rashomon-style. Here are mine: 1) God forbid! (I'm not much of a tipper anyway but in this case, hell no.) 2) I was hungry, it was very cold outside, and we had to wait for the main courses to realize that the place was really hopeless. 3) In the particular situation of visiting a restaurant with the purpose of writing a review, you have to drink the cup to the dregs, however bitter they are. If by some miracle things take off at the end, that doesn't make it allright but it has to be mentioned. I was not there precisely for that purpose, but once you begin witnessing such an interesting little story, you feel compelled to stay until the end credits. Saying something might disturb the natural process. 4) We did skip dessert. ← My answers are the same except I'd add that Pti did complain, but when the entire kitchen operation has ground to a halt and no one (except Ego) is eating food - complaining isn't going to magically jumpstart the kitchen. A friend of mine calls this sort of situation a "train wreck" where one must just repair the damage and get the train back on the tracks as soon as possible. This wasn't a situation where'd they'd run out of bread or couldn't find the fish in the frig, the engine had seized up, to toss in another metaphor.

In these instances, there is often the additional consideration of your (or our) being comped champagne or digestives or extra desserts, etc. that influence the tip. ← Ah Margaret, the apertif/digestif/dessert things do indeed register. Full marks.

True, I've never seen anyone sneer when I didn't tip, but sometimes they seem disproportionately happy and almost amazed when I do, leading me to believe that perhaps they didn't expect it. This is particularly true with pizza delivery guys, but it seems I can't break the tipping habit, even though I was once roundly scolded for it by a friend of mine in London when we were teenagers and could scarcely afford it... ← For some reason I'm reminded that persons like my wife and Felice, who have worked as waitfolk, as I have not, are much more generous.

I'm treading on very thin ice here (to mix a metaphor) but I was talking to my trusted food-finder who had a similar experience chez GA two weeks ago and he posited that Jean-Paul was the ideal foil for Ghislaine, in that she needs a frontroom person to deal with the folk while she deals with the food. It seems that she has reversed the ideal; she's out front and unknowns are at the pianos.

Well, underpayment was the point that my cohost Felice was raised upthread.

I'll let Felice (who has been active in the field) answer about whether waitfolk here "expect" different tips.I will say though that I've never been regarded or treated any differently here whether or not I tipped. No one snears at you as you exit as they do in the lower 48. (I know, I'm so famous that they know I won't.) I will also add that Antoine Ego a few days ago, not only didn't pay, he didn't tip or give a yellow piece for his coat. I do think one should drop 5% and I do in cafes for a coffee, for instance, but 20% shows you're from Chicago and 25% New York. I don't know about LA.

Bistro food, like what women want puzzling Freud, has puzzled us on this forum in its definition. Not to be too coy or witholding, I'll be posting a report on what many of us who frequented it the 1960's thought was "the" quintessential bistro - Le Petit Marguery - in a while, but a premature leak - it's been restored to its Brothers Cousin or Cousin Brothers' days. So, a piece of advice - Go! Right now there are no auslanders.

Pti your review is priceless, including the pix of Ego, and no one should wait for mine which will not be posted for another week (me grouping stuff together) because you've perfectly captured it all.

The best crab cakes I've had in my 23 years commuting in and out of Baltimore (since Faidley's + Angelina's are I agree things of the past) are my wife Colette's made with a secret formula (hers) and Eddie's (Roland Park site) crab meat from non-Chesapeake places usually. PS I'm delighted to see such discussions of Baltimore and Maryland items which Miss Cindy tried to boost but seem to be dwarfed by the DC topics.