John Talbott

Yes to both questions. For the former say French tomatoes prepared by Thai chefs For the latter, say UK lamb prepared by French chefs As for product examples you've stretched my memory to the breaking point.

Actually I was thinking of places that have either used French products cooked by natives of another land or had French chefs cooking the products from another land. For the former, we had a Thai restaurant in the 18th, that used French products and served some of the best Thai food I've had, including in Thailand, and for the latter, the ill-fated Bertie's in the Baltimore Hotel that served English products, including wine from Surrey, cooked by French hands, a great idea (say Brit lamb undercooked by skilled French chefs instead of massacred by Brit chefs) that failed in the execution.Edited by John Talbott to put words in correct order (eg no words changed).

I assume you’ve already checked out our compendia of existing topics on Nice, Cannes, etc and Provence, including Avignon.

Host's Note I split this off from the Vegetarian one because it seemed to have legs of its own. I think this verges on the OT, but Pti, having eating Indian in the Indian subcontinent, the UK, France and the US, what's your take on the differences?My pre-opinion is that because of the products in France, one can cook Thai, Indian, even Japanese food and it's different than it is in the Mother country (But maybe this deserves a new thread).

Pennylane: (well, the song keeps reverberating, doesn't it?) thanks for that suggestion, as a pho lover since press-ganged into service in Viet Nam, I'll try it.But Viet Nam-ese food is not ordinarily laden with fois gras and goose fat and those are two of my essential ingredients each day, so I guess I'm stuck with omnivoratude, omnivorativity, whatever.

Sure, not to get to far off topic, I love spaghetti primavera and eggplant parmesan and white beans with garlic and oil and well, you get the idea.

This is one of a series of compendia that seeks to provide information available in prior threads on eGullet. Please feel free to add links to additional threads or posts or to add suggestions. Long term pastry school Olivier Bajard Lyon, Drome, Arles ESCF Ferrandi vs the others Cordon Bleu vs LeNotre In Bordeaux In Provence Steinbach at the Ritz Schools that serve meals Gastronomy College Best Cooking Schools in Paris A Week in Provence

In the spirit of trying to help those of us who are culinarily challenged and consult this topic for help when visiting France, though, I must point out that her suggestion to look for vegetarian dishes at the numerous "Indian, Italian, and Lebanese restaurants" in town is constructive.

I just came across this article on Vegan Survival in Paris.

If you mean at the L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon, as you'll see on our topic, folks have certainly gotten in, sometimes very easily. I've gone at lunch and stood in line until the magical/imposing doors opened and not fretted.If you'll look upthread on the August opening one, you'll find lots of places open next week that are well-liked by our members: eg: Chez les Anges, Rech, Jarasse, Astier + La Méditerranée are among my favorites any time of year. Citrus Etoile has its enthusiasts and the Moulin de la Galette just reopened under a new team that has a fine reputation. As Felice says, don't worry too much.

Host's noteAs Felice pointed out, there's a lot that been written on this subject, so I've merged most threads on openings/closings. As John Whiting pointed out, however, much upthread, double check; often new places stay open in August to boost their clientele but with the passing of time close. That said, all the 2007 posts should reflect accurate information.

Host's Note I've merged a couple of old threads on the subject of roasted coffee beans themselves since we're discussing coffee elsewhere.

Host's NoteTo make sure all the fascinating info on this subject is available, I've merged prior topics into this.

The Week of July 30th, 2007 Monday, in Le Fooding, Elvira Masson reviewed le Cristal de Sel, coordinates already given, using words such as bistronomique, ultra gourmande and very simple. Radio France announced the publication of the new book by Herve This De la science aux fournaux, editions Belin/Pour la science 25 E; the English version of the Pudlo Paris, Little Bookroom 15.65 E with a thousand restos and 300 bars, tea salons, etc; and the opening of "Ratatouille" in France. Wednesday-Thursday in Le Monde Jean Claude Ribault reviewed two places in Paris open in August: the Café Tournon, 18, rue de Tournon in the 6th, 01-43-26-16-16, closed Sundays but open in August, a la carte 20-35 €, serving Auvergne charcutieries, nicely-seasoned salads, stuffed tomatoes, thick veal liver, steak/frites, duck liver and veal feet as well as good desserts; and Le Moulin de la Galette, coordinates well-known, taken over {when?} by Jérôme Bodereau and Antoine Heerah, exChamarée, serving market produce, pumpkin soup, Jerusalem artichoke, crunchy milk-fed-pork and “amusing” desserts with a 17 € menu at lunch and 25 € at dinner, à la carte count on 45 €, open everyday including in August. Sunday, in the NYT travel section, Sarah Wildman wrote about Nantes and suggested eating at La Petite Epicerie, Tabl’o Gourmand, l’Atlantide + La Cigale. Sunday, in Bonjour Paris, Margaret Kemp had an article entitled Meet me in St Tropez that covers a lot of restaurants there. The September Bon Appetit has a long enthusiastic article on Daniel Rose and Spring by Alan Richman. Please post comments here and not in the Digest thread.

I clearly heard of a move recently, but I don't remember where to and who told me. It will surface back soon I hope. ← Well, it's now on the web in several places and also, Wednesday-Thursday in Le Monde, Jean Claude Ribault reviewed two places in Paris open in August: one of which is the Le Moulin de la Galette, coordinates well-known, taken over by Jérôme Bodereau and Antoine Heerah, exChamaree, serving market produce, pumpkin soup, Jerusalem artichoke, crunchy milk-fed-pork and “amusing” desserts with a 17 € menu at lunch and 25 € at dinner, à la carte count on 45 €, open everyday including in August.

Aspen 07 – Four new places At first, I thought that Aspen had gone back to its horrible pre-post-Modern food era; by this I mean that in the good old days it was steak and fries, then LA/LV-influenced, complicated, fusiony, over-the-top dishes, then back to Alice Waters basics with good simple food, but now has reverted to its twenty years ago, pushing-the-envelope, self. At R Cuisine, (in the old Range space at 304 East Hopkins Avenue), Chef C. Barclay Dodge has returned from his internal exile and from the old defunct El Bulli-inspired and sometimes wonderful Mogador and set up a place that his website says serves ”Casual Elegant Cuisine: Contemporary American, Continental” food, whatever that means. The guy is talented and Stewart Oksenhorn, the most informed of food critics in Aspen, in the Aspen Times quotes Dodge as saying “You're not going to get a better meal in town.” Even if that were true, it’s sad, since the bar is so low. Quoting Oksenhorn/Dodge again about the Mogador, "I was experimenting enormously. Eighty-five percent of it went over with flying colors. But some dishes bombed horribly. But what can I do - I didn't have the time to go home and experiment." I guess. But not on me, please. We tried to test his inventiveness at his new place and see if he’d truly changed his tune by essentially sampling the kitchen, ordering four starters: braised artichoke with olive oil, aioli and toast that was very, very strange-tasting; burned, crusted watermelon with watercress, feta and curried almonds; cold, cold pink trout topped with a couple of old, tough sliced carrots; and crisp-skinned pork with a side of parmesan and celery. While each dish was interesting and very nice looking, the combination of startling temperatures, strange tastes and failed ideas (for instance, the pork skin was like that of a suckling pig cooked for hours over an open spit, but the pork meat underneath was blah-tasting) made me suspect that R Cuisine was going to go the route of his last two places. I know some of the chefs trained at El Bulli, and paraphrasing Senator Lloyd Bentsen, “this is no El Bulli." Finally, another sour note: I ordered the Talmar wine (e.g., cheapest red in sight) and they were out of it (heard that before?); but they scrambled up a decent Grenache at the same-price. Our bill = $90.14 before tip. And then we had lunch at the second new place in town, a taqueria called Sayulita at 415 E. Hyman St in the place that at night is the Club Chelsea. We had good salsa and taco chips followed by a mediocre-to-blah beef burrito and a so-so chicken quesadilla. With two Coronas but without tip it was $25. Go again? Nope. P.S. We were the only gringos there for about 30 minutes - it’s authentic alright. Number three was China Thai in the old Little Ollie’s space at 308 S. Hunter St. About four months ago, the space was renovated, the menus revised and a bunch of 18-month Thai “interns” from the Little Nell hired as incredibly nice servers. This meal was the unexpected positive surprise of the year. We shared a chicken satay, where the fine-quality chicken was both moist and crispy (a great combination) and the peanut sauce full and spicy. Our “main” was beef with ginger sauce and bok choy, again good product, well-prepared, although the chef is too sensitive about Americans’ taste-tolerance (I added some home-made hot sauce until it was spicy enough for my liking.) With a bottle of red plonk and some Chateau Ireland water that had lemon, lime and Thai basil in it, not counting the tip, the bill was $46.93. Go back? You bet. Finally, largely because, in the aforementioned article on Barclay Dodge and R Cuisine, he had stated that "….what goes into [the menu], the final product, is not what you get at Lulu Wilson, D19, The Little Nell" we tried two of these three, one of whose chefs we hadn’t tried before. #4. Lulu Wilson, 316 E. Hopkins St, 970-920-1893, only open PM’s. WOW! Is Barclay Dodge (see above R Cuisine), one sore loser and poor prognosticator. When we went at 5:45 PM to reserve, they said they were fully booked ‘ til 9 PM or so; I said gosh, we really wanted to eat here, since Dodge slammed you guys so much; they said, oh, we do have a table in ½ hour and take a look at whose restaurant a few feet away is empty. We went off to chat with chef Mikey Wexler at the Snake Pit, whoops, the Steak Pit and then returned to Lulu Wilson. This place has a menu that has all sorts of opportunities: bar and patio food, small dishes, regular plates, cheese (what looked to be a glorious assortment for $18), desserts, grappa’s, etc. Once again we tried to test the kitchen with four firsts/small plates/etc. Colette started with halved shrimp, baby pink beets, avocado and ginger, olive oil, lemon, paprika drizzles; I with a huuuuuge leg of confit de canard that was as good as it comes in the Mother country (and having a French waiter didn’t hurt) with goat cheese on toast. Incredible! Then Colette had a tuna duo (tuna and yellow tail) presented as a microtomed collage/montage, sprinkled with lavender and sesame seeds and I the pork belly with kale and an assertive (e.g., good) sauce and splendid beans (did I mention that all the food is “organic”)? There must be something wrong with this picture; yes, the pork was over-salted for me; otherwise, this picture was perfect, save the over-priced wines. We finished with three lovely tiramisu rounds with different toppings. No bottled water or coffee, a bottle of wine and the bill (without tip) was $115.10 - NY/LA/LV prices for sure, but hey, for the best meal of the week, OK. As we left C. said – “reminds me of Ze” (that is, Ze Kitchen Galerie in the 6th in Paris); not bad praise! And then for our last meal we went to a place that has never disappointed us for maybe 50 years (hummm, 1948-2007, about that) – the restaurant at the Little Nell, now called Montegna and now chef’d by Ryan Hardy, who, did I mention upthread, grows some of the food (tomatoes, lettuces) on his nearby farm? The food was spectacular, comme habitude. We started with an amuse bouche of a watermelon “gazpacho,” then I had the “menu” of heirloom tomatoes with balsamic vinaigrette, cheese, etc; fowl with sauce; and a financier of great Colorado peaches infiltrated with almonds and accompanied by crème fraiche – and Colette had pan-fried Caribbean snapper with potato puree. A five-star, if such existed, meal. So, so, so, John, what’s the problem here? The problem was the “service.” First, we were seated upwind of Cubano-cigar-smoking gringos in a supposedly-non-smoking venue; Second, it took forever to take our order; Third, dishes arrived after great gaps; and Fourth, to hail a wait-person one recalled George S. Kaufman’s “Epitaph for a Dead Waiter” “God finally caught his eye.” Were these problems the responsibility of the chef, the kitchen, the server, or the maitre d’ (who offered to recompense us with an extra dessert for Colette, but did not make good on that offer)? Who knows. Conclusion: a very good meal, horridly served. Finally, a note about other “old places” - we continue to like Plato for dinner and Gusto’s for lunch.

Saturday's NYT contained an article by Stephen Castle datelined Perpignan, entitled "A Tide of Wine May Drive European Growers From a Way of Life," that while saying nothing that has not already been published in French, summarizes the situation (overproduction, low prices, "New World" competition, EU/Brussels pressure to destroy vines, French resistance and industrialized wine production) than non-French readers may wish to read.

Nasublanca, 1036 East Fort Ave, 410-962-9890, open for dinner only Tuesday-Saturday, is a relatively new exotic fusion (Japanese-Spanish) place that has gotten good buzz but not much press. Four of us ate there last night (at the end of Restaurant week) and were very impressed. We started with intense/delicious roasted Japanese eggplants with den miso sauce and large portions of Prince Edward mussels with a fine sofrito-sherry broth, that was easily absorbed by the crispy toast. Then we had the panko-crusted walu with sweet potatoes and butter ponzu and paella with chicken, chorizo chunks, mussels and too gummy (a danger with pre-cooked paella) saffron rice. Three of us finished with the white chocolate banana bread pudding with "boozy" caramel and toasted walnuts - while the choco-phobic had a wonderfully dense coconut sorbet. The one sour note was the lack of a second bottle of the best-priced Spanish wine (it happens too often to be happenstance). The bill was $91.50 a couple before tips ($30.07 for three courses in restaurant week). Go back? You bet!

This is interesting...I wondered where these 2 Passard proteges had gone after you mentioned that Le Chamarré closed its doors. Have you paid them a check out visit yet? Nope, but will in 23 days, but who's counting? No news yet, but Pti should report in soon. Stay tuned to Radio-Gullet.

Wednesday-Thursday in Le Monde Jean Claude Ribault reviewed two other places in Paris open in August: the new Café Tournon, 18, rue de Tournon in the 6th, 01-43-26-16-16, closed Sundays but open in August, a la carte 20-35 €, serving Auvergne charcutieries, nicely-seasoned salads, stuffed tomatoes, thick veal liver, steak/frites, duck liver and veal feet as well as good desserts; and Le Moulin de la Galette, coordinates well-known, taken over {when?} by Jérôme Bodereau and Antoine Heerah, serving market produce, pumpkin soup, Jerusalem artichoke, crunchy milk-fed-pork and “amusing” desserts with a 17 € menu at lunch and 25 € at dinner, à la carte count on 45 €, open everyday, including in August.

No kidding news: Le Figaro announced a new oil made with chanvre, that is - hemp=cannabis, used by Boyer at Les Crayères in Reims.

La Taverne du Mont d'Arbois & Le Vieux Megève aint all that bad. There's also a pizza place that's acceptable. For my money, however, I'd recommend going over to Italy (horrors) to La Maison de Filippo in Courmayeur or to the Ferme de Lormay (Chez Albert) in Le Grand-Bornand 33 km from Annecy or to Annecy itself.

Eating, Shopping Staying is another place to routinely check aside from The First Time Visitor's Guide.There, you'll find this compendium, especially this thread on customs/food regs.

I thought Perilla was the best place I've been since back from Paris. the Caffe Falai wasn't shabby either.

Wednesday-Thursday, July 25-26, in Le Monde Jean Claude Ribault gave more places, most of which are open in August, with terraces, including one new one, the Gilles Choukroun-directed Mini Palais in the Grand Palais, erroneously described by him previously as a Cuban restaurant: Au clocher du village Chez les Anges Rech Mavrommatis Pasco La Petite Cour Hôtel Park Hyatt Paris-Vendôme La Cour Jardin Les Ombres La Maison Blanche Sens (La Terrasse) Jarasse Le Coq de la Maison Blanche Bistro & Cie (Willy Dorr) L'Absinthe La Cagouille Mini-Palais