John Talbott

As most readers of the Baltimore Sun and Baltimore magazine know, Sonnie and Melanie Sweetman sold Abacrombie, opposite the Meyerhoff, in February to move to Velden, Austria, but that's another story. They had only been there since March 2003 but it was definitely a choice place. In any event, their sous chef, Michael Putnam, has taken over the piano and after having had two meals there in the past week, I'm impressed. The salads are wonderful (greens as well as wilted spinach), chicken crisp and the various fish preparations were thought by my guests to be superb. The only hitch is the pricey wine list which starts with a Chinon at $40. My bills were $244 and $294 for four persons each time, the difference being that the latter bunch ordered dessert.

March 10th, Francois Simon said the Eiffel Tower restaurants will be under Ducasse's control September 2007. Quote "Et sinon, Ducasse poursuit son invasion. En attendant sa Tour Eiffel (septembre),...."

The Week of March 12th, 2007 Monday, l’Express had its usual three reviews: in Uzes, François-Régis Gaudry covered Le Tracteur and in Paris, an Italian place called the Cantina Clandestina; while Anne-Laure Quilleriet wrote up l’Oriental, 47, avenue Trudaine in the 9th, 01-42-64-39-80, open every day, with a formula at lunch for 14,50 and at night 30 € (this is the old l’Oriental {we knew and loved} from the Rue des Martyrs in a much bigger space and after an apparently successful move.) Tuesday, Sandie Meusnier in Le Figaro wrote about a neat British cake decorated by Londoner Fiona Cairns with a bird on top sold at Bon Marche for 11 € and 39 € – You’ve gotta see it to believe it. Tuesday also, in A Nous Paris, courtesy of Felice, there were two reviews of out-of-the-way places meriting 3/5 blocks; Philippe Toinard reviewed l’Escargot in Puteaux with menus at 22 and 29 €, closed Saturday lunch and Sunday night, serving traditional food such as a fricassee of mushrooms, duck with mashed potatoes and poached pear; Jerome Berger reviewed l’Ambre d’Or in Saint Mande, costing one 25 at lunch and 32 € at dinner (he thinks the entrees cost too much), closed Sundays and Mondays, serving such fare as tournedos of monkfish, scallop and fennel tatin and a savarin of dried fruits. Their sidebar also mentioned Fiona Cairns’ cakes, a 15 € special edition of a magazine called Intramuros that features interviews with {Alexandre Cammas and} Alain Ducasse and an ephemeral jam shop – Autour du Pot, 44, rue Lepic in the 18th. Wednesday in Figaroscope, Emmanuel Rubin awarded two hearts each to the newly renovated by the Ducasse-group Rech, 62, ave des Ternes in the 17th, 01.45.72.29.47, closed Saturday lunch and Sundays, which, for 60-90 €, serves abalone and bulot bouillion, gratin of crab and skate wing {sounds good, albeit pricey, why not three hearts?} and a Creole restaurant, l’Heureux Pere in Saint Cloud. One heart each went to the resto-cabaret La Cave des Cordeliers, 9, rue de l’Ecole de Medecine in the 6th, 01.43.29.39.00 closed Mondays, running one 35 at lunch and 70 € at dinner for frogs’ legs and pepper steak; an Italianate bistro-epicerie Mosca Libre in the 9th and another Italian pasta/pizza place Al Dente[ in the 7th. Figaroscope’s “Dossier” this week explored airy food, that is mousses, emulsions, soufflés, etc, listing: Classics Vol au vent at Drouant Chocolate Souffle at Citrus Etoile Meringues at Les Vivres Modern ones Swordfish with pepper emulsion at Sens Foamed oyster at Caius Bar with rocket emulsion at l’Orenoc Tapas treats at Sensing Tuna and pineapple at Jean Cauliflower soup at Music Hall. Francois Simon, going along with the joke in his Haché menu went to the Cigale Recamier in the 7th where he groused that he spent 54 € on air (he had their specialty – soufflés {they have both savory and sweet ones}) and two anemic, miniscule salads (he’d rather nibble on the grass in the Luxembourg harrumphs he). Thursday, Gilles Pudlowski in Le Point says he is following Sushi West, thinks Sormani + Grande Cascade are in good shape but that the Brasserie Lipp is in trouble having served him burned pig’s feet with a tasteless puree. Outside Paris, he liked Kaya in Les Menuires and Le Plan des mains in Meribel. His product of the week is/are grey shrimp, which he calls democratic shrimp, contrasting them with rose or bouquet shrimp, however his recipe is for wild turbot roasted in the oven and his store of the week the pastry-shop Jean-Charles Lemoy in Metz. Finally he mentions a new book - “Tout Robuchon” - published by Perrin, 768 pages, costing 25,90 €. Two articles appeared in Le Figaro: the first dated Thursday by Régis Arnaud on the appearance in November of the Japanese Michelin Red Guide; the second in which Francois Simon says Ducasse, Gagnaire, Robuchon and Troisgros may be included. Thursday, Lucile Escourrou also discussed the trend towards risotto made with pasta not rice and names one Paris place to get it – la Casa d’Arno in the 11th. Friday in an article in Les Echos, Jean Louis Galesne reviews restaurants in Nantes, including: the Maison Baron Lefèvre, La Civelle, VinDivin + La Gavotte. In this week’s Gogo Paris, JB {who I guess is Jemma Birrell} reviewed the “chic and left-of-center” Le Chateaubriand. Saturday-Sunday in Le Figaro, Alexandra Michot wrote about the nine chefs (of 33), among them the first woman, who were awarded the Meilleurs Ouvriers in France (MOF) medals March 14-15th after their three dishes were judged by Alain Ducasse, Michel Roth and Jacques Maximin. They were: Olivier Nasti (Le Chambard), Vincent Arnould (Le Vieux Logis), Jean- Luc Rocha Serralheiro (Château Cordeillan- Bages) , François Adamski (Abbaye de Saint- Ambroix), Jean Rieubland (Domaine de Terre Blanche), Johan Leclerre (Maison des Mouettes), Sébastien Chambru (La Plage), Christophe Roure (Le Neuvième Art) et Andrée Rosier, (Hôtel du Palais). Francois Simon’s “Croque Notes” was entitled “Chickens, your papers please!” and largely discussed the effort in Japan to declare restaurants genuinely Japanese, the necessity to have fresh good products and his list of “bistrots gourmands” that includes: le Comptoir de l’Odéon, Villaret, Paul Bert, Baratin + Bascou, less enthusiastically l’Atelier de Maître Albert, but most enthusiastically – Chez Michel. In the Style section there were three articles on wine: (1) An article written by Christian Flaceliere about the growing popularity of wine in some areas/countries, predicting huge increases between 2005-2010, for example: 80% in Taiwan, 50% in China, 25% in South Korea and 21% in Singapore; (2) An article about vineyards and wine interest in Brasil; and (3) The push for rosé wines during April of vintners from Provence . Saturday/Sunday, BP published an article by Margaret Kemp on the new Pudlo Bistro and Brasserie book and one by John Talbott on “Where we really want to eat.” Sunday in the JDD, there was an article by Marie Nicot about the opening April 12th of a “Flower Bar” at the Galeries Lafayette-Haussmann and she pegged this to an old book by Alice Caron-Lambert entitled La cuisine des fleurs, eg Cooking with Flowers, ACR Edition, 1995, 192 p., 49 euros. Please post comments here and not in the Digest thread.

If you're coming from France there are some good places not far from Geneva too.

While a bit different, let's not forget Lucy's thread on Expat substitutions.

I'm not sure we should be taking up all this time & space discussing it but it shows the difference between searching by town only vs asking for stars or Bibs. I guess it's valuable for the future.

That's very interesting because the website only listed those in town. The print version must make the suburban ones easier to find.

I've edited the title of this thread to reflect its concentration on the Islands, hoping it'll collect more traffic that way. John

Klary As always your reports are so enticing. Thanks so much. John

Mark The closest I can think of for street food would be a chunk of gruyere cheese and roasted chestnuts from the outdoor market on the left bank. Next would be fondue that is described above. However, I can also recommend both the Brasserie de l'Hôtel de Ville on the left bank which is really near where you'll be staying and you can get in and out of quickly and Chez Jacky on the right bank but walking distance - the former for great frites and the latter for kind of funky dishes. Both are one knife/fork in the Michelin. John

I feel badly all my compendium activity has driven your thread way down, so hopefully this will resurrect it and generate some responses. A quick look at the Michelin site reveals 3 one star places an one smiley face Bibendum which is good news indeed. They are: Zirbelstube 4 knives/forks one star, mentioned by ameiden Olivo 3 knife/forks one star Délice 2 knife/forks one star Wörtz zur Weinsteige 2 knife/forks and a smiley face Bibendum

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