John Talbott

Olive oil This is one of a series of compendia that seeks to provide information available in prior topics on eGullet forums. Please feel free to add links to additional threads or posts or to add suggestions. Olive oil Report on 2007 tasting Sources in the South

Host's Note There were several etiquette topics running and I've merged them into one here that in time I'll merge with this one as well. In addition, there's a new book on etiquette that Pti is reviewing for us. Also, there were several topics running on tipping and I've merged them into this one.

The reason I said was while they exist in the US, one sees/eats more of them here. On more reflection, is another difference that in the US items are more regionally available (andouille/andouillette in the bayou, mountain/prairie oysters the West, horsemeat in Cambridge, goosefat around D'Artagnan, etc) while in France they're universally available?

Hoo boy, we're going into deep water and perilous terrain here. Everybody keep cool. Yes No 5% if you get good service and/or are coming back and wanted to be recognized. No, see Francois Simon, above. Three cheese pieces each person, live it up! Hummm, what's the issue here? Absolutely, a week ago I asked for something (gazpacho) not on the lunch but on the dinner menu and no problem, at the Cafe des Musees an Asian woman clutching Figaroscope asked (in English) for what Rubin described and they provided it. How else would you know if it's downstairs, behind the bar or upstairs? Ahhh, wait til February for that. To quote myself, are you a recognizable rock star, footballer, screen idol? Black tee. A citizen? nice dress. A banker? Grey suit, white shirt, tie. Yes, relax, indulge, enjoy. At a three star you're paying; they're the entertainment. eGullet members, tear me apart!

Since no one has mentioned this reason for not taking/posting photos I'll chime in. Many years ago, laden with two PX-purchased Nikons and a lot of lenses and filters, etc, I found myself spending all my time travelling tripoding, setting up, taking and repeating shots; so much that Colette said why didn't I just look at things and remember them. And so, I got rid of almost all my eqpt, started looking, and now it's Colette who takes the digital shots, posts them, distributes them, prints them and I have the memories. Have I lost anything? I don't think so. A word can substitute, I think, for a thousand pictures.

Thanks all; I'll give one more try to the supercleaning, anticalcification, effort Then call in a guy who "can do it" (who I trust) Then go shopping. Many thanks.

There has been little mention here of the Sept 3/10 New Yorker Food Issue but John McPhee’s article, unavailable except in hard copy or abstract, on his Life List (of eccentric foods to try) started me thinking; aside from the occasional oddity in Asian places & markets, what are the most eccentric foods we’ve encountered over the years in France? (Nothing like fried Mexican bugs in Chicago or prairie oysters in the West or squirrel in the South, not to mention dog in Viet Nam or fish eyes, or the stuff of Tony Boudain’s shows.) Tripes, pied de porc? nah; tete de veau? OK; frogs’ legs, escargots? old hat; abats, andouille, horse meat, goose fat? more of; but I strain to think of anything really eccentric like McPhee comes up with (e.g., bee spit, muskrat, white pine-needle tea.)

Another place is the cafe/restaurant (light stuff) in the courtyard of the Monde Arabe.

Radio France etc announced the opening of the first restaurant in Paris dedicated to Georgian (exUSSR not Atlanta) resto in Paris located in the space of the old Pub Picadilly on the rue du Sabot in the 6th.

The Week of September 10th, 2007 Monday in Le Fooding Elvira Masson wrote about Coco & Co, {cute name for an egg place, huh?}, 11 rue Bernard Palissy in the 6th, 01.45.44.02.52, open only for lunch and closed Mondays, costing about 12 E for various preparations of eggs. Wednesday, Emmanuel Rubin, in Figaroscope gave three hearts in “What’s New” to: La Marlotte, 55, rue du Cherche-Midi in the 6th, 01.45.08.86.79, closed Sundays, with 40-50 a la carte and a 23 € lunch menu, revived by Gilles Ajuelos of the Bastide Odeon; serving a macedonia of veggies and haddock, squid risotto and an apricot gratin; the new "œuféria" Coco & Co, see above, but giving a different cost - 25-35 €; and the resto-bar La Nouvelle Athenes, 9, place Pigalle in the 9th, 01.49.70.03.99, open 7/7, serving foie gras with onion confit, ray with chips, veal steak and pistachio ice cream for 40-60 and a menu at 35 €. He gave one heart to the Italian charcuterie/cheese Roberta in the basement of FNAC Montparnasse, non-stop service (10 AM-7 PM) and a busted heart to La Cotte Roti in the 12th serving leaden, fatigued food. The “scope’s” “Dossier” this week was all about beautiful settings: Medieval l’Auberge Nicolas Napoleón III La Café de la Paix IIIrd Republic Escargot Montogueil + Willi’s Wine Bar Art Nouveau Pharamond, Julien, Bouillon Racine, Le Train Bleu, Lipp, Chardenoux, Chartier, Vagenende, Mollard, Montparnasse 1900, Fermette Marbeuf 1900 + Restaurant du Musee d’Orsay Art Deco Maison Prunier + Relais Plaza And Francois Simon trashed Maxim’s saying it is between woeful and pitiful and cost him 356 € for a meal in one of the most beautiful places in Paris that is alas dead; an abandoned Titanic. Wednesday GoGoParis reviewed Le Look on the rue des Martyrs, “a bright London-style café serving delicious, healthy food” and Thursday, Adrian Moore visited l’Ami Jean, which except for the service, he found good and the 32 E lunch came with a great pigeon. Wednesday as well, Heidi Ellison in Paris Update reviewed Le Severo + le Bis de Severo the twin beef places in the 14th, coordinates well-known. Wednesday-Thursday, in Le Monde, Jean Claude Ribaut wrote about some pleasant surprises of the Rentrée that included: the return of Michel Del Burgo from his restaurant Le Duc in Moscow to L'Orangerie where he’s turning out astonishing mushroom raviolis; Gilles Epie’s renovation of his Citrus Etoile this summer, where he’s serving an entire 250 gram cepe and a Passardian duck from the Vendee cooked in its blood with stuffed macaroni; Alain Dutournier of le Carré des Feuillants’ opening of the Sydrerie de l'Etoile, with Basque/Southwestern cuisine and tapas at a long bar; the introduction at the fish resto Port Alma of a Catalonian tapas room, 14 pieces for 20 € ; and the reopening of the Marlotte, also noted elsewhere here, but helpfully noting that the 23 € menu includes a main, dessert and a glass of wine. Thursday in l’Express François-Régis Gaudry reviewed the “cult bistro” Le Chateaubriand and its new 40 € dinner menu (the lunch one remains 14 €) serving food from all over {I wonder give examples because Gaudry says it changes all the time) and for his “Under 30 E” category – Les Corniches du liouquet in La Ciotat (Bouches-du-Rhônes). Saturday, Francois Simon’s “Croque Notes” in Figaro wrote about a dinner he called “Far From Boring” at Ze Kitchen Galerie in which he notes that Ledeuil acts rather than talks and delivers new exciting food, exemplary service and good wine. He contrasts it to some extent with l’Angl’Opera’s upside-down explanation of dishes. Saturday-Sunday in Figaro Madame there was an article by Alexandra Michot and Francois Simon in which they also sort of review Alain Dutournier’s latest venture, Sydr where one can both watch rugby and eat expensively and not particularly well {see as well Ptipois’s review}: suggestion, better to go to the Carré des Feuillants. One day, Veronique Andre reviewed three places in Lyon: le Bistrot de Lyon, l’Auberge de l’Ile + Nicolas le Bec. In the weekend FT there is a fascinating article by Rowley Leigh about the differences between the grey English partridge (low in fat, high in flavor, rich, gamy, endangered) and the red-leg French one (1/2-1/3 cheaper, bigger, plumper, tender flesh, if hung properly can be gamy). Two articles in Travel & Leisure in September are of interest; the first by MarcelleClements giving restos in museums: Les Ombres, Restaurant du Musee d’Orsay, Tokyo Eat, Le Georges + Le Grand Louvre, the second giving hotel restos in the Aveyron: Grand Hotel de la Muse et du Rozier, l’Hostellerie de Frontages, Hotel-Restaurant Chateau de Cressels, Hotel-Restaurant Bras, Hotel-Restaurant du Vieux Pont, Le Comptoir d’Aubrac + Les Demeures de Longcol. Rosa Jackson in “Paris Bites in Paris Notes writes glowingly about La Gazzetta in the 12th, coordinates {and my review} given before. Sunday, in Bonjour Paris, Margaret Kemp had an article about the year-old new team (exMiss Betsey/Bastide Odeon) at the Buisson Ardent. Please post comments here and not in the Digest thread.

Yes. this summer

Saturday-Sunday in Figaro Madame there was an article by Alexandra Michot and Francois Simon about “What’s New in the Restaurants” that mentioned: that in the battle for more stars, Yannick Alléno’s Meurice became more glamorous because of a redo by Philippe Starck, that Le Pré Catelan, short-listed for three macaroons unveils its new look in October, that L’hôtel Scribe will soon open a chic tea house, that le Bristol is opening a deluxe brasserie and that Jean-François Piège’s le Crillon has or is undergoing a rejuvenation along with a high class sushi bar.

In the weekend FT there is a fascinating article by Rowley Leigh about the differences between the grey English partridge (low in fat, high in flavor, rich, gamy, endangered) and the red-leg French one (1/2-1/3 cheaper, bigger, plumper, tender flesh, if hung properly can be gamy).

And, yesterday in the NYT there was a mouth-watering 2-page article by Evan Rail on "haute Czech" that recommended: La Degustation, U Petrske veze, CzecHouse + Cerny Kohout.

Yesterday's NYT had another of those "36 Hours in" Geneva, articles with oddly, few meals eaten. However, Finn-Olaf Jones did recommend the Restaurant des Armures for fondue, La Caravane Passe for couscous and Faim for a "modernist brunch."

Ah - should I admit that my real, genuine Amurican breakfast consists of my starting out by frying my cheapo Monoprix bacon in a tad pad of President butter and a splash of (oh gosh, Puget) olive oil - then the eggs. most unsnobby.

President is what I buy at Monoprix for frying eggs say but I'll have to check at Quatrehomme (ex-Fromagerie de Montmartre) to ascertain where the salted and demi I buy for putting on bread from are from Pti.

This is a very valuable addition to the topics already running on vocabulary, restaurants and season, etc. Thanks all. I would merely add that my local (general) butcher La Bucherie Nouvelle at 13 Rue du Poteau in the 18th has ample game of the winged, hopping and leaping variety in season.

Well I don't know whether to be sad or grateful; you're whittling down my September-October list fast. But Dutournier by my lights was never a consistently good chef anyway and as for Darroze, don't get me riled up again.

Thank you so much Pti for sacrificing your body for the rest of us. I'm one of those who thinks HD is one of the most over-rated chefs on the planet and I vowed not to go to Toustem despite the inquiries of one of my critic friends every month if I've been yet.Great review; very helpful; better eating next place.

SwissChef or anyone else: do you know this place? Colette and I chanced upon a place between Asti and Bra that was a reconstructed hotel/restaurant complex, perhaps called Borgonuovo, and had superb food. I can find no website and our archives are temporarily unavailable. So maybe this is/was it but we're headed back and want to stay/eat.Does that ring a bell with anyone? Thanks, John Edited by JT to indicate that the archives have been unlocked and we are sure it is La Corte Albertina - Via Amedeo di Savoia, 8 - 12060 - FRAZIONE POLLENZO - BRA (CN). Sorry for the false alarm. Pace

From lesrestos.com the news that the restaurant Claudio, 2 rue de Sontay in the 16th is being replaced by the Jardin d’Hugo, 01.40.67.19.62, still an Italian place and that the Cap Vernet, 82, avenue Marceau in the 8th is being replaced by an Italian place run by the owner of Le Cou de la Girafe. And from Web Radio du Gout the news already given in the Digest about the opening of the Cotte Roti and that the Japanese chef Nao Sasaki, after five years with Jean Pierre Vigato at Apicius is going to Au Bon Accueil taking the place of Chef Iroyoshi, who has left for le Meurice. In addition, the China Club, cult bar in the 12th, has shut but will reopen under the owners of le Fumoir + la Gazetta in 2008.

Paris Voice states that this year’s Montmartre wine festival will be held October 11-12 starting with a parade which leaves Place Jules Joffrin at 3.30 PM ending at the square Willette.

Host's Note Instead of quoting myself from the topic Gagit initiated a while back on the same subject, I'll merge all.

10Best.com (undated) says it's still 60€.