John Talbott

Well I guess as the oldest living Civil War veteran here, or at least as a pretty memory-burdened geezer, I do have to note that my recall is, as with Margaret's post, that outside Paris one had a wonderful range of local wines offered intelligently by sommeliers in the most humble of auberges - you'll note that I used the past tense. I do think that the subspecialization of tasks in French restros has decreased over the past 50 years, at least - to the advantage of the diner for the most part - but resulted in decreasing numbers of average/humble places having sommeliers. But the interesting stuff is still out there and the days of watery Loires and crank-oil Cahors, gone. One of our most interesting trips of the last decade was a round trip Barcelona-Geneva-Barcelona where we spent the majority of time in the Languedoc/etc. - superb!

Guilty as charged. But those are the eve's of Christmas and New Years which are usually bigger deals than the days thereof or they are in the US I posit. If oyster stores are open, why not caviar, foie gras, etc., ones which are equally consumed these days? Yes oysters must be opened and eaten immediately but fish will last overnight and yet our neighborhood fish stores are always open.

The Week of January 1st, 2008 Monday, Le Fooding’s Elvira Masson reviewed Quai Quai, 74 quai des Orfèvres in the 1st, 01 46 33 69 75, not far from the Balland-Cohen group’s other places, eg Cinq Mars, l’Altro, Lei serving an “impeccable” lentil salad, very good filet of beef, risotto with spinach and sorel and French toast. Wednesday-Thursday, Jean Claude Ribaut wrote an article on vegetarian restaurants, many of which are ethnic. They included: Guen Maï Le Grenier de Notre-Dame Aquarius Dietetic Shop Chen-Soleil d'Est Ratn Mavrommatis. Thursday, Philippe Couderc in Nouvel Obs wrote a review of Oscar, 1, place du Maréchal-de-Lattre-de-Tassigny, Levallois-Perret, 5 minutes from the ports of Champerret et Maillot, 01-47-59-00-82 offers “good vibrations” and bistro food such as parsleyed pork, terrines, rouget, veal’s foot, scallops, prunes with wine and soon pot au feu and confited porc cheeks; menus at lunch 19-29, dinner for 32 and a la carte 36-42 €. Saturday-Sunday in Le Figaro, Francois Simon’s “Croque-Notes” dealt two places out of town: la Madeleine in Sens and le Neuvieme Art near Saint-Étienne. Saturday/Sunday, in Bonjour Paris, Margaret Kemp a review of the Petit Marguery and John Talbott had an essay on “Creativity.” Sunday, JDD ran its usual where great chefs like to eat in Paris. This week it was Didier Elena of Les Crayeres in Reims who chose l’Arome + Fogon. And Astrid T’Serlaes lists 6 “secret” restos {that are hardly secret to us}: Racines Le Salon - Cinema de Pantheon Il Vino Le Grand Pan Spring Chez Jeannette. Since it’s the New Year, it might be time to publish a few lists: this of “hot restaurants” from Gayot.com that includes: Alain Senderens Apicius L’Astrrance Citrus Etoile Diane Lasserre Les Ombres Michel Rostang Spoon Toustem. And along the same lines, here are the favorites of restoaparis, a site that features places for locals that are often not featured by the big boys: L'Escapade Mère Grand New Mitonne Doudingue L'Oie Cendrée Casa Del Fox C'est Mon Plaisir L'Impasse Casa de Espana La Cuisine Le Baxo Finally, Eat in Paris has its list: Guy Savoy Lasserre Apicius Taillevent Le Bamboche Ledoyen Les Ambassadeurs Le Jules Verne Chez Catherine Ginger. Please post comments here and not in the Digest thread.

The weekend the FT’s wine expert, Jancis Robinson, wrote an article about another American in Paris, this Jaime Araujo, who is “telling the French what to do” regarding marketing, branding, etc. of French small family wines. I thought the article was worth passing on to you.

Outstanding and logical; Thanks.

Cave and others, a question. I've been passing the Institute Vatel on the Rue Nollet in the 17th (I even entered the resto one day to find out their hours etc) and had the impression these were young, clean-cut and eager French "kids" and I've also been to the Chambre de Commerce School's restaurant (I think on l'Abbe Gregoire in the 6th) which also seemed to focus on young French citizens. Do you have any info on these two schools?

OK, how about horsemeat on Mondays?

January the 1st was the puzzler for me.

Ms. Wells and Paris Pas Cher say it's only closed Sundays (1999 editions; Pudlo is silent).

I’ve figured out that flower shops are open Sundays and holidays to permit one to take a bouquet to Granny or whoever, but why are fish and oyster places open holidays (eg New Year’s Day) when other purveyors of protein are not and why are horsemeat stores open on Mondays when regular butchers are closed (or have I answered the question)?

Today's Figaro had several features by Alexandra Michot on galettes des rois: how to identify good ones and where to buy them, in Paris, at: Pain et Passion le Boulanger de Monge Stephane Vandermeersh Du pain et des idees l'autre Boulanger Des Gateaux et du pain

Host’s Note: On another topic titled “Do eGullet members in FR ever have a mediocre meal or are they either great or horrid?” Julot said that I found that an interesting point that might generate further discussion, hence this new topic.By chance, after reading Julot’s post, I was reading a New Yorker movie review of “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly” in which I found myself going to the punch line “The birth of Bauby’s soul feels like nothing less than the rebirth of the cinema,” and realized – ah ha – I’m guilty of Julot’s plaint. I want to know “Go/No Go.” When it comes to reading French restaurant critics, I think that broadly speaking they break down into three groups: those that say Go/No go, those that rate and clearly imply Go/No go and those where the text has to be parsed and lines read between to figure it out (and just to confuse things, some critics, eg F. Simon, do one in one format and another in another.) The only person I know who says “Should one Go?” at the end of each review is Francois Simon in his “Hache Menu” in Figaroscope, although truth be told, the answer is often not so clear – for example “yes, if 500 € is burning a hole in your pocket.” And indeed, I look to the punch-line first. Those that rate – eg Rubin et al in Figaroscope weekly and biannually, Toinard and Berger in ANP and Couderc in NouvelObs give some indication of Go/No go, but will we American readers really go to a sandwicherie or brunch place even if it gets two hearts? The twice a year Figaroscope supplements that have numbers from 0-10 (really 4.5-8.5) are probably most helpful as one can identify and pick off the top ones easily. And then there are those who neither rate nor say Go/No go, such as Ribault in Le Monde, Galesne in Les Echos and again Simon, but this time in his “Croque Notes,” where it’s hard to see what is wheat and what chaff easily. So, what think ye? Do you read every review of a new French place beginning to end or "cheat" and go to the punch-line?

Er, and I say this with a , one of our favorite things about Spring, besides Daniel's inspired plates, is that the customers are close to invisible, for the most part contained, sound level is moderate. One, verily, two or three can have a good conversation at table, something that is getting almost as rare in Paris as it is in the US. ← Perhaps my sentence structure was imprecise. I did not mean to say that customers are disruptive, but that often Spring welcomes journalists and others (eg buying Daniel's labelled champagne) before and after meals, and that at least three times, people at adjacent tables have struck up discrete conversations.

Wow and thanks (to both of you). Julien, when you say it's 15 min walk from the center I assume you mean the Cathedral and thus the train station would be about the same? Am I correct?

I was about to say that both are just fine, indeed great, but then it occurred to me, is there any starred place (excepting Helene Darroze, that we wouldn't recommend?

I'm not sure if it'll help but we have a topic running on galettes etc and I expect Ptipois to come online shortly and help out.

What would you recommend as the best way to get a reservation for dinner at Spring in early May? I know they've been booked months in advance and if they're closing in March/April should I call at the end of February to try to book for May? ← Wow, I don't know. I usually call a few weeks ahead FOR LUNCH (except for one night when I booked the place for 16 of us) and negotiate dates. He's a terrific guy, a genius as a chef, as I said to him today he's "the son I never had," but, he's only got 16 seats (17 if he cheats) and that's it; no bar, no terrace, no back-yard (well, he does, but you wouldn't want to sit out on the ground out there), no expandable tables. So call frequently and see. TMK, he's not booking now beyond March. I could be wrong. But you simply cannot go wrong here; our Jerusalem artichoke soup/puree with Colvert bits on top (with a true piece of shot inside - don't tell my dentist), half-cooked dorade with was it three accompaniments?, and dense chocolate et al; was/were incredible. Plus the customers, at least one of whom were eG members, and journalists, who flock in between services, apparently, regularly, add a lot of excitement to the scene. Try, try, try. Disclosure a la the rules: We got 2 glasses of Chardonnay "offert". But the rest was paid in full and oy*, does it hurt. *Edited to add that the oy was for the dollar/Euro exchange rate that day not the price of the meal.

Robyn: great! While I've eaten at all the stars, some when their chefs were but children, no more, for a lotta reasons, I've moved on, so I cannot contribute to that solution. However, 40-60 minutes outside Paris is a one star that is IMHO terrific - Les Magnolias, for a bit see here. And please report back.

Head's up: Spring will be closed March, maybe til mid-April while Daniel takes a well-deserved break.

Wednesday-Thursday, Jean Claude Ribaut wrote an article on vegetarian restaurants in Paris, most of which are ethnic. They included: Guen Maï Le Grenier de Notre-Dame Aquarius Dietetic Shop Chen-Soleil d'Est Ratn Mavrommatis.

This month's WHERE has another page of brunch suggestions (one must assume that it was compiled by Alexander Lobrano), that consists of: Les Princes, Kong, Asian, Breakfast in America, Justine, Lancaster, Murano Urban Resort, Le Nomad's + Le Diapason.

An interesting article by Mathilde Visseyrias in today's Figaro discussed the "disappearance" of small epiceries, butchers and hardware stores. Here are just the facts M'am: The first supermarket appeared in 1957 The first hypermarche in 1963 Now there are 10,000 grandes surfaces From 1966-1998: The number of epiceries reduced to 1/6th The number of butchers 1/3rd In 2006-7 the number of charcuteries reduced by 5.5%.

Hi, Host's note Let's discuss this, but it has the scent of a possible unpleasant cross-cultural food fight. So let's discuss it with civility.

Well, what I'm suggesting is that it might me more helpful for members intending to eat somewhere to get a truly representative sampling of members' meals rather than the litany of rave reviews and the occasional clinker.

The Week of December 24th, 2007 Wednesday, GoGo Paris had an article on Alexandre Cammas’ (Le Fooding etc.), favorite “hangouts: Le Comptoir Du Relais, L’avant Gout, Le Verre Vole, Hotel Crillon + Refectoire. Jean Claude Ribault, in this week’s Le Monde wrote two articles about truffles and Red label oysters in preparation for New Year’s eve. Friday, Stéphanie Platat wrote an article in Liberation on champagnes; covering everything from glasses in which to serve it to taste. Saturday-Sunday in Le Figaro, Francois Simon’s Christmas tale dealt with a film – “La Graine et le Mullet” which is along the lines of Tampopo and Babette’s Feast and is about the creation of a restaurant. He also suggested for New Year’s Eve Au Bascou at 100 €. Elsewhere, Alexandra Michot had an article on the 50th anniversary of Lenotre which now has 58 outposts. The weekend FT had an article by Nicholas Lauder in which he states two of his best meals of the year were at Le Meurice + Rech. Saturday/Sunday, John Talbott had an essay on “Rudeness Defined” and Margaret Kemp one on le Bristol + La Cantine de Faubourg. Alexander Lobrano in WHERE reviewed several places not much mentioned before: a wine bar Le Gorge Rouge, 8, rue St Paul in the 4th, 01.48.04.75.89; a “corking good bistro”, e.g., lotsa wines, Le Taste Monde, 8, rue de Surenne in the 8th, 01.42.66.19.89; the romantic l’Aiguiere, 37bis, rue de Montreuil in the 11th, 01.43.72.42.32, and the “worth the detour” traditional French cuisine serving l’Escapade La Grand Mere, coordinates given and two hearts awarded before, but ignored by the rest of the world and l’Empire du 8eme, coordinates given before. Please post comments here and not in the Digest thread.