John Talbott

Well, not surprisingly I'd steer you to our Index that lists threads about the following in the 6th:Camdeborde’s Snack Take Out Bouquinistes Cameleon Cameleon Chaumette Chaumette Les Cocottes de Christian Constant Le Comptoir Ferrandaise Ferrandaise Fish Fogon La Maison du Jardin Roger la Grenouille Sensing Sensing For myself I don't think you can go wrong at Le Baratin, Les Papilles, Chez Michel, L'Os a Moelle, Le Troquet, L'Ami Jean, Mon Viel Ami, + L'Ourcine but La Cremerie has just been taken over by a new team and we've had no comments on eGullet yet. I'd add Cameleon, Fish, Maison du Jardin + Sensing too, so many choices, so little time! Good luck.

OK I'm game; I live in the: 18th Because it's close: 2 Pieces Cuisine Because it's really good: Spring Because it's a novelty: Ze Kitchen Galerie Because it's different/exciting: Ah, what's the distinction? Ze Kitchen Galerie Because it's a good value/cheap: Dix Vins Because it's fun: Le Truc Because it's easier to eat out than cook some nights Any place - but why eat out when we can have BBQ chicken from Maitre Mathieu. Because places can make stuff better than I can (eg pizza, sushi, complicated dishes). 139 Rue Ordener, 145 rue Ordener, all over, respectively.

No but their offshoot, Les Symples de l..... does and it's a hoot. ← Tell me more about Les Simples, I'm intrigued.... ← OK this from April 2006 -

The MA of eGullet, which we all signed, says we're not supposed to get into political areas, but it doesn't stipulate food issues in France which are, by their very nature, important to our mission, even when political. So, here goes folks. I just took the Le Monde 19 question, self-determination questionnaire, at the suggestion of Felice/Phyllis who, in all good faith, wanted to educate me, and it spit out the name of Frederic Nihous as the person I would/should vote for. Never heard of him? Me neither, but it appears that he'll be our new President of the Republic, if I have anything to say about it. As I got the results, I realized I'm in favor of a guy who represents the Hunting, Fishing, Nature, Tradition party that brings us what we eat to the table each day. So Votez Nihous!!!!! even though he stands tied third to last in the polling at 2%; our eating future is at stake.

No but their offshoot, Les Symples de l..... does and it's a hoot.

Ah, folks, I love caves that document our origin as well as the next person and I'm well aware that this section is called "Restaurants, Cuisine, and Travel" but we're supposed to be talking food, so can we switch to foie gras, truffles, Cahors, etc.?

Well, not trusting my palate alone, I invited Phyllis/Felice to break the bread of the winning baguette from Arnaud Delmontel in the 18th. When I picked it up at 4:20 PM it was delightfully warm and the crust really crusty; when we tasted it at 8 PM it was OK, the crust a bit less impressive but the interior was not knock your socks off. In fact, the bread at Les Jumeaux, which recently underwent a change in management and cuisine, was infinitely superior, but more about that later. However, to judge it fairly, I think a further test is necessary putting Delmontel up against the four other bakers and an anchor like Banette.

Darn, this morning I took Love off my list because I'd been reading such bizarre reviews and someone, maybe Margaret Kemp, confirmed that folks had mixed experiences. And then I forgot to drop by and scope the menu after my haircut. OK, it'll go back on the list at least until I see the menu. Thanks Shaya, and thanks much for all your reviews.

Because it's easier to eat out than cook some nights Because places can make stuff better than I can (eg pizza, sushi, complicated dishes).

Is there an article about Amsterdam in F&W? I'll need to check that out! ← No, it's a huge article on places all over the world to eat and stay in. These were just the Amsterdam recommendations with a paragraph descripton of each. Sorry if I misled you. The print copy arrived in the mail in the US this week but it takes quite a while for them to post stuff on their website if memory serves me.Edited to correct spelling.

I don't know the history, a French-French person should answer, but a lot of places are closed Saturday at lunch and open in the evening due to experience and traffic.

Hilarious, terrific, boffo review. We need more of this sort of review. Thanks Ptitpois. John

In the May 2007 Food & Wie they mention: Bieberbau, Carmens Restaurant in Eichwalde, HH Muller, Leo Bettini, Ottenthal + Shiro I Shiro.

May 2007's Food & Wine lists: Noma, MR Restaurant, The Paul + Restaurant Paustian.

From the May 2007 Food & Wine these recommendations: Bakfickan, Champenoise, Esperanto, Grand Hotel + Wedholms Fisk.

From the May 2007 Food & Wine these suggestions: Balthazar's Keuken, The College Hotel, De Kas, Hotel de Goudfazant, Proef + Umoja.

As usual, Phyllis is right and more precise. Augé doesn't have a wine bar or a lot of tastings, but if you wish to buy a good Calva or Cognac, somehow they find a few bottles and glasses. Very sympa.

So as not to double post, I'll refer you to this thread but it's also discussed in Paris Update. The key word here I believe is Partners.A week should suffice I'd guess.

Well, it's good if not necessary to make them everywhere but except for Astier, Cerisaie + Les Fables de la Fontaine I think you can make them when you're there, eg 3-4 days in advance so long as you don't care in what order you eat. I make them the morning of the meal (for lunch) and have had problems once or twice in 10 years; but I thinks it's better for dinner to be safe. However, I eat out so rarely for dinner and then usually locally, I'll let other give their opinions.

The Week of April 2nd, 2007 Alexandre Cammas in this Monday’s Le Fooding reviewed a new wine bar in Nancy called Fragile. Adrian Moore in GoGo Paris reviewed Pharamond, coordinates given before, where his photo of the cote de boeuf is mouthwatering and the vol au vent sounds great. Tuesday, l’Express printed its usual three reviews: François-Régis Gaudry reviewed Le Mirazur in Menton, Yves Nespoulous covered Momoka in the 9th and Pierrick Jégu wrote up the Breizh Café, coordinates given before, as the restaurant under 30 €, mentioning the 20 ciders, andouille, cuttlefish, oysters and cheese. Tuesday also, in A Nous Paris, courtesy of Felice, Jerome Berger reviewed Cheri Bibi, coordinates given already, and gave it 3/5 blocks for lightly anise flavored lentil salad, pork with prune sauce and rice pudding; while Philippe Toinard reviewed Pouilly Reuilly, in Le Pre St Gervais, coordinates in the guides, a place that pops up every few years in reviews and gets a 3/5 now for pistachio flavored sausage, minced veal kidneys and chocolate éclair (real old school, old style cuisine.) Wednesday, Richard Hesse in Paris Update reviewed La Gazzetta, coordinates given before, where despite poor lighting and loud noise he declared it a “find” liking the 32 € dinner menu (only 14 at lunch) containing a soup of Jerusalem artichokes, sardines and haricots, monkfish, duck, St Nectaire and Valrhona ice cream. Wednesday in Figaroscope, Emmanuel Rubin awarded two hearts to two places, the “baba bobo retropop” bistro Cheribibi, 15, rue Andre del Sarto in the 18th, 01.42.54.88.96, every night except Sundays, costing 30-40 € for pate de tete, steak-frites, chocolate mousse and the folklorically decorated creperie the Breizh Café, coordinates given before, costing 20-30 for an all pork plate and various crepes and galettes. One heart each went to Le Carre de Marguerite, 87, rue d’Assas in the 6th, 0143.26.33.61, closed lunch on Saturday, Sundays and Mondays, costing about 35-45 € for vaguely Thai minced lamb, rilettes of lieu and clafoutis; l’Ami Marcel, same old coordinates, new team (trying to hold onto this bistro lost in the deepest 15th) replacing the team that decamped for l’Arome serving simple but edible goat cheese with curry, beef filet and pot de chocolate for about 30-40 € (lunch menus are 19 and 25 €) and A Cote, 14, rue de l’Amiral Mouchez in the 14th, 01.53.80.02.45, closed Sundays and Mondays, an offshoot of the nearby cave-epicerie, serving St Felicien, Lyon sausage and Fontainebleau creamy cheese with honey for 15-20 €. Figaroscope’s “Dossier” this week rated the “new” brunch places as follows: 9/10 Le Kube 8.5/10 Hotel Amour 8/10 Restaurant d’Orsay La Ferme 7.5/10 Kiwi Corner 7/10 Bwyty Carmine 6.5/10 Mosca Libre And Francois Simon, in his Haché menu went to Mariage Freres in the 6th where he spent 64 € for two persons for eggs, salmon and fruit juice. He says to go with an angel. An article in last Wednesday/Thursday’s Le Monde by Jean Claude Ribaut noted that a decree currently being considered by the Conseil d'Etat will create a title of "maître restaurateur", like the one that artisinal bakers now have. {The only requirement it mentions is that one must use fresh, eg not precooked, products, but I suspect that like the “slow food” rules, there must be other requirements.} A second article by the same critic talked about “left wing and right wing” (politically speaking) food and suggests that if you are eclectic and like uncomplicated and unchichi bio or sushi, burgers or fooding, you’re a lefty versus those who admire right-wing traditional food such as poule au pot, blanquette or le pot-au-feu. Extreme righties go for palace banquets, extreme lefties exotic and foreign cuisine. He quotes Edouard Herriot (1872-1957) who said that politics is like andouillette, it smells a bit like feces but not too much. And he gives the restos and the dishes they like there: Valéry Giscard d'Estaing - Trois Marches, François Mitterrand at La Cagouille for oysters and fried céteaux and L'Assiette Chez Lulu, Michel Charasse, at the Ritz for lamb testicles, Edouard Balladur - wine by the carafe, Jacques Chirac - tête de veau and Le Père Claude. And more contemporaneously, Ségolène Royal drinks cognac-soda, Nicolas Sarkozy is abstinent, Dominique Voynet and José Bové drink wine, François Bayrou uses it for his stammering and Arlette Laguiller loves braised endives. Rosa Jackson in her “Paris Bites” in Paris Notes pegs her article on the Omnivore Food Festival and its featuring of exciting chefs from outside Paris but reviews two places in town; Le Comptoir du Relais St Germain, coordinates given before, where she found the crowd lined up awesome, the soup pallid and better opportunities at Ribouldingue, l’Ami Jean, Le Pre Verre, l’Ourcine + Le Troquet; and Le Sensing, ditto, where she found the “cold from the fridge” starters, punchless truffles and hefty bill (176 € for 2) to be off-putting. In the May British France magazine, Philip Faiers suggests the following in Burgundy: Bernard Morillon in Beaune, Bernard Loiseau in Saulieu, + l’Auberge de l’Atre in Les Levaults; Regine Godfrey lists the following in Boulogne: l’Atlantic/La Liegoise, La Poivriere + Aux Pecheurs d’Etapes to eat and Philippe Olivier, Hediard/Espace Rouge Delicatessen, l’Atelier du Gout Philippe Gwizdziel, Le Chais + the Wine Society for shopping; Steve Melia covers Aubusson eating at the Hotel du Lissier; Stephanie Jenkins suggests La Martille in Salers; and Patricia Stoughton gives Krampouez Breizh in Huelgoat and Ar Chupen in Guimiliau. In a “Market Guide” in Bon Appetit, eG member Dorie Greenspan wrote about the Sunday organic Marché Raspail, suggesting that one munch on a potato galette from Les Gustalins, buy fish from the Poissonerie Diget, eat at Fish La Boissonerie and stay at the Lutetia. Saturday-Sunday, Francois Simon’s “Croque Notes” in Le Figaro concerns the decision on the part of Lactalis and Isigny-Sainte-Mer, who make 80% of French camembert to give up the AOC designation while they convert from raw milk to pasteurized production. In the weekend Figaro Madame Sandie Meusnier wrote both about Jean Paul Hevin’s chocolate eggs as well as Mariage Freres' tea blend for Easter and Véronique André and Marie-Christine Delacroix wrote up three hotel restaurants - the Palme d’Or, in Nice, and the Hôtel Regina and Le restaurant de L’Hôtel in Paris. Every once in a while it’s interesting to see what certain sites’ best list is. This week’s heart throbs for RestoAParis are Le S, Le Bistrot Montsouris, Le Niv's, Fontaine Fiacre, Le Djoon, L'Art Home, Chez Cécile, Pdg Rive Gauche, Le Selen, Shah Jahan + Le Serpent qui danse. Saturday/Sunday, BP published an article by Margaret Kemp on the Cantine de Quentin and one by John Talbott on “It’s the Wrong Place.” Please post comments here and not in the Digest thread. Edited to correct location of Momoka.

For lunch or dinner?

There are a ton of places.Lavinia certainly has stuff no one else does, Auge is interesting but especially for Calvados, etc, LeGrand has wine tastings and places like the Cremerie Caves Miard have lots of new bio, unfiltered stuff. Anyone looking for wine bars should check out the compendium too.

If you're interested in newer places, l'Express had a big list of 30 € and under places the first week of December of which I can heartily recommend Ripaille, Troquet, Bistral, Papilles, Astier, Cerisaie, Cafe Constant, Cave est Restaurant + Les Symples de l'Os a Moelle; all coordinates can be found in the Digest or our Index of Restos by Arrondissement. Other pubs have had similar lists in days gone by: A Nous Paris (again I'll include only the ones I like) listed La Ferrandaise, Ripaille, le Bis de Severo, La Table de Claire and Les Symples de l’Os a Moelle, Figaroscope: Le Bis du Severo, Les Symples de l’Os a Moelle, La Ferrandaise, Carte Blanche, Les Fils de la Ferme, Beurre Noisette, Le Bistral + Fish La Boissonnerie and the now defunct Zurban: Les Enfants Rouges, Les Papilles, Le Pre Verre, Le Villaret, Louis Vins, Le Timbre, Le Bistrot Paul Bert, l’Avant Gout, La Cerisaie, Le Temps Au Temps, La Ferrandaise, La Cave de l’Os a Moelle, La Boulangerie, Le Baratin + La Cave est Restaurant. I assume you've also checked out our compendium on cheap eats. As for some of the places recommended by others above, Le Pre Verre remains fun, Spring is a delight but you'll find Le Sensing very much pricier than 30 and while I've eaten well there, many others have had bad experiences; one friend will never go back. Also, as has been confirmed by Laidback, Les Fables de la Fontaine is now co-owned by two ex-Violin chefs Sébastien Gravé and David Bottreau, but I suspect as with the Savoy, Ducasse, etc empires, purchasing continues though the Constant apparatus, ensuring quality.

PS. I assume you've visited our compendium on Picnics, etc. If not, as they say at 42nd St, check it out.

As usual, I agree with Ptitpois. Day in and day out, Monoprix does just fine. Often my street market has outrageous prices for stuff imported from Kenya (haricots verts), Israel (avocado) or Chile (grapes) while Franprix and Monoprix have just the same for less and sometimes better quality/shelf life.