John Talbott

Bloody maddening, luckily when Ptit and I went it was either not functioning or we (by the window) didn't see it - Today it was awful... and if you're prone to epileptic episodes from visual jangling, oh la la. This did not happen today - I think because of the crits (they read eGullet after all,) they've beefed up the staff, who desperately wanted to speak English with us, and we were over-indulgently treated, I would rate the staff/service today at the top. Well, indeed, it's perhaps over-priced (but then I've never met a restaurant that's underpriced or movie too short), but they are definately serving one-star stuff, quite well done. ←

My recs for one star Michelin Red Guide restos, in rank order, are: Les Magnolias, Le Violin d'Ingres, Table de Lancaster, Gaya Rive Gauche....etc...., + l'Atelier de JR if you don't want to talk. Not yet one stars but probably will be or should be in March - Dominique Bouchet, Ze Kitchen Galerie, Sensing + Spring.

Trip Planning to France A compendium of existing threads 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. 2 days in Paris at Spring break 2 week driving trip 9 days in Paris 3 days over a weekend, January 2007 Feb 2007 trip December 2006 trip Another first trip First trip in ages First trip: 3 stars October visit Upcoming Trip in 2005 Son’s first visit Second trip; what region 2004 visit 40th Birthday trip Business trip Two day trip out of Paris Planning a trip Urgent advice; 2 week trip Trip 2001

I suspect you've already checked our compendia which have links to everything from picnics to romantic restos. There are also several threads on visiting the city, the most recent here.I have a hunch folks may suffer from advice fatigue and not give you much after they're contributed to another thread. So do do a search and I'll try to put together these similar threads. Finally, visiting a gym is on topic if you're doing it to work off the calories acquired in fine eating. There are lots in the city, two within 4 blocks of me, for instance but I'd think you'd not want to schlep out to the 18th. Club Med alone has 22 all over; Paris Anglo has a big list too. Edited by John Talbott to correct spelling and indicate I have posted a compendium on existing threads on trip planning since 2001.

Thanks so much Hugh, that's a great piece, esp the tip to throw away the 'first water" and let the oyster produce the more succulent later liquid. We'll try it Friday.

Sorry for the lateness of this answer which is no, I haven't been in a year.

Not a lot OK in quality, but why not buy it fresh at say Petrossian or their stand at the Galeries Lafayette? At home, as suggested. At restos, as a first course. Toasted brioche.

The Week of December 25th, 2006 Monday, Elvira Masson talked about staying at home for New Year’s Eve, except she also touted, with some reservations: l’Hôtel Amour, Unico, Le Chateaubriand, Le Transversal + L’Orénoc in Paris and Youpala Bistrot, in Saint-Brieuc, Sa Qua Na, in Honfleur and La Cour de Rémi, in Bermicourt. Monday as well, Stéphanie O'Brien in Le Figaro suggests where to go for New Year’s Eve stuff : Monoprix for Petroff wild salmon, Acquitaine caviar and a variety of taramas for blinis; LeClerc for Repere smoked salmon ; Fauchon for southwestern products such as duck foie gras made with citrus fruit and tea; Comtesse du Barry for mi-cuit duck foie gras with pink champagne ; and Jean Larnaudie for a trilogy of terrines of aromatised foie gras. Wednesday, Jean-Claude Ribaut in Le Monde wrote about the Savoie, especially staying/dining at the Cairn. Wednesday, in Le Figaro, Stephanie O’Brien, again thinking of New Year’s Eve, promoted a sea urchin stuffed with a scallop and ringed with black and red caviar, obtainable at Le Notre. Friday, Stéphanie O'Brien, yet again, in Le Figaro suggested how to improvise a New Year’s Eve dinner for four with : a stuffed canette from Picard, two sachets of chestnut-cepes sauce from Monoprix and an assortment of conserves of veggies from Albert Menes. Saturday, Francois Simon in his Figaro “Croque Notes” talked of eating at the Beurre Noisette with its 22 € lunch menu with a “professional” companion who was hardly “professional” in simply loving the first two courses (black sausage and Landes chicken) but held back praise for the chocolate dessert; his point being (I think) that sometimes a food lover is a better judge than a professional critic. I missed “digesting” the prior two “Croque Notes,” which concerned very pricey places outside the city: to whit - December 16-17th, the three star La Cote Saint Jacques in Joigny, where his meal was good but the price {even with his expense account} was so high – 549 €/2 (with the added torture of his buddy and he ordering two extra glasses of wine from an open bottle that were 50 € each,) that he mentioned it both this week and next; and December 23-24th, Anne-Sophie Pic’s restaurant in Valence which has a menu at 115 € and which ran him 377 € for two - he thinks Michelin is correct in sizing her up for a third star. Saturday/Sunday, BP published an essay by John Talbott on “Eating on Sundays” and one by Margaret Kemp on the trendy Hotel Marignan. Please post comments here and not in the Digest thread.

We taste-tested the Labeyrie against the Monoprix industrial and found both wanting (IMHO, Petrossian's Galerie Lafayette stand's foie gras still rules). However, GOOD NEWS, the Labeyrie sauces for smoked salmon (with anis and lemon zest) were terrific with the Shetland Island and Scots salmon of course. The champagne we had from Lavinia at 26 E - Billecart-Salmon - was a terrific accompaniment as were the tartes from Gérard Mulot. So what did we miss - caviar and truffles? Nope.Happy New Year folks!

Ferran Adria, from an article in Madame Figaro, March 2006, roughly and quickly translated: ← Luckily or unluckily, I'm not the first person to misspell his name, which is given as Ferran Adrià or Adrian Ferrà or Adrian Ferran; equally I mess up Inaki Aziparte. It's interesting that it took Jean-Claude Ribaut in Le Monde, six months after Ptit's reference in Le Figaro to report on his statement, of 23 November in Saint-Sébastien "Agacé par les récupérations et les imitateurs en tout genre, le chef catalan récuse toute relation avec la cuisine moléculaire," very amateurly translated in the Digest as "Ferran Adria renounced the movement because of who was attracted to it."

Great question Paul. We’ll see how much heat gets generated on this one. Like all answers on the bac or elsewhere I must answer in several parts. Is Paris lagging other cities? Well if you mean Seattle, South of Torino in Alba/Albi and around Rosas, I’d say yes. But compared to Baltimore, Venice and Valencia, I’d say no. But the ingredients here are of higher quality and greater consistency (except for West Coast places and hugely expensive NYC ones). The meanest of Parisian Thai or Viet Namese restos have great product. First off, I think that's slamming the French critics unfairly; as Simon and Pudlowski have said in their respective books, they largely call them as they see them and if anything I find them and other critics not critical enough. But, like JFK, I’ll answer the original question I want to answer, “has French food changed?” Sure, from my early visits, when admittedly I was on a bike and thought La Vache Qui Rit, boiled eggs and tinned paté were the tops, through nouvelle cuisine, ingredients and pairings of the month (kiwis and catsup, purées and millefeuilles to pumpkin soup amuse-bouches,) onto the sons and grandsons of Point, Bise, Bocuse, Giradet and the Troisgros, things are different. Well, there’s been a great effort to import foreign (read Asian) spices and newer (read El Bulli and Japanese) methods; Francois Simon just last week lambasted the French for their rejection of “Slow Food;” and Sebastian Demorand, ex-Zurban, Alexandre Cammas, Le Fooding, and Luc Dubanchet, Omnivore have tried to promote change. But to go OT for a sec, when I made a valiant but vain effort to learn to speak French 17 years ago, my teacher in the “cultural issues” section asked the class about the “modern” “improvements” to the city such as IM Pei’s pyramid at the Louvre and Johann Otto von Spreckelsen’s Grande Arche at La Defense and I said I thought they were an abomination. His query “Do you want Paris to remain a museum?” Well, yes. And so it is with food. If I want cutting edge American, I’ll go to Seattle/Portland; if I want Adria I’ll go to Catalonia – but if I want cassolet, pied de porc, foie gras sautéed, tripes, huge tranches of veal liver, sweetbreads, etc, etc., even plain old duck, pigeon and wild boar, one cannot do better than the hexagon. One more point. You take Daniel Rose, ex-Chicago, (to me not Broadway Danny but downhill Montmartre Danny) and with stages at Constant, Alléno and Aizpitarte you’ve got great classical stuff done with a new flair. Is French food dead; no; is French food getting edgier; yes; should they (here) be moving, indeed. But is there a better place if you're not rich to live, love and eat? Nope. Once again, great question Paul. Thanks. PS Ferrà has rejected molecular cuisine.

I'd like to add something to my review of 28 Sept, that I don't think has been commented on above. On the 45 E menu-carte today were I think 5 desserts and 3 specials. Four of us had four different ones and each was superb. Colette's hot vanilla souffle with caramel sauce may have been the best; the tarte tatin was superb; the chocolate (Constant) tarte was splendid and my "Paris-Brest" while revisionist, was terrific. Himself was not there, but the pastry chef sure was. Edited by John Talbott 1 Jan 2007 to link review.

I trust you did see this.

At the risk of wandering Off Topic, I'll simply say that the "old" franc depreciated for a long time against the greenback, for instance, in 1945 it was 119 FF to the USD, reaching almost 500 in 1958; then was devalued so 100 old francs (OF) = 1 new franc (NF); but it again weakened vs the dollar, reaching 5.48 NF in 1968 and if memory serves me, reached its high in 1984-5 of 10.6 NF to 1 USD; since then though it's strengthened vs the $ and at the time of conversion to the Euro was 6.55957 NF for 1 USD. In any case, to get back on topic, places like Taillevent were not astronomically expensive in the old days and we went to Pere Bise in 1984 where our bill for breakfast, dinner and room was less than $200. Pere was failing in those days and no longer at the piano, but the food and lodging was still top drawer. In the Gault-Millau 1969 English edition, Taillevent's prices were given at 12-15 $ (60-75 Francs) with carafes of "good little wines" at $2 (granted Chateau d'Yquem was $250). Reading someone like AJ Liebling who lists a garlic sausage or a carafe of wine in 1926-7 at 50 centimes one must Google the conversion rate to know how much of a bargain this was (about 23 centimes to 1 $). A footnote; I still know folks, who seeing things in Euros, convert first to NF and then to OF. And I have my own method of conversion - I assume 1 Euro = 1 $ and Colette handles the Visa statements, so I'm happy.

Since we've crossed the nostalgia/"Can you beat this" time border, in "homage" to our founding French Forum host Bux, I offer this remembrance - I first set foot in Taillevent with America's recently departed greatest eater and America's current greatest gourmet, some 32.5 years ago when I was minus 10 years old (that's the only joke). I remember three things - (1) It was very reasonable, yes, reasonable, recall that once the franc was 10-1, the pound at par, (2) I was not up to snuff that night and (3) the wine list (not the real/huge carte) on the 4th page was awesome (and was mounted for years on one of our living room tables). A great cathedral to French Cooking. Long live it!

Ahhhhh, at the risk of being overly defensive, I gotta stand up for the place I may be partially responsible for hyping in the Digest, review and Best of 2006's; vide I've only been three times but I never had a problem with the service. It may be because of my charisma, charm and beauty, but à part ça, I've had no problem. I'm not saying that restaurants here don't hire novices but sometimes that's charming - I fondly recall a lunch when the owner was short-staffed and brought down her South American femme de menage to serve and she was a "natural." I've also been to 3-stars where despite the staff/client ratio, things moved incredibly slowly. And I could write a book about not being served the amuse-bouches everyone else got, not being given the carte for 20 minutes and waiting forever for the check. However,....

Well, this is true, but on this Eve (the first of two revillions) we can all wish each other a Merry Christmas Eve meal and even a Merry Christmas meal, non?And I too, wanna know about deconstructing a turkey; I assume, before, not after, it's cooked.

I've got it, I think I've got it - Meilleur canaille = Most gutsy (and the pun or double meaning is intended).

Hmm, what do they mean by "rabble" here? Is Ribouldingue mobbed now? ← That was probably an infelicitous translation of canaille; maybe more appropriate figuratively if not literally would be something like "rough and ready" or "down and dirty" or rapscallion/Rabelesian/roguish/devilish. Somebody French or French-speaking can help me out of this hole.In any case, I assumed it referred to the food (offal-oriented) rather than clientele.

Restaurants of the Year 2006 The famous John Talbott list : Best of the best, Find of the Year, Nicest guy, Best one man band Spring Best bistro Le Bistral Best repeat experiences Ze Kitchen Galerie Best October Surprise Autodidactes Best December surprise La Tradition Best resuscitation Le Caméléon Best try by an old master Sensing Best out where no one will go l’Escarbille Greatest recovery (by Caroline Rostang) Jarrasse Nicest fast shuffle between places Antoine Westerman and Anthony Clement at Drouant Best Island Home Chez Nicolas Vagnon on the Ile d’Yeu Best repricing of the Year Le Violin d’Ingres Best old place revived Astier Most surprising reprise albeit very expensive Pharamond Best foreign Fogon + Mori Venice Bar Best meat Ferrandaises

Restaurants of the Year 2006 In Le Fooding: Best Latin Resto Unico Best correct table Le Chateaubriand + Sa Qua Na in Honfleur Best lunch Youpala Bistrot in Saint-Brieuc Best place to see and be seen Hôtel Amour Best country place La Cour de Rémi in Bermicourt Honors Le Transversal Culinary merit Claude Colliot at L'Orénoc Best street La rue Paul Bert 75011 In A Nous Paris : Best World Food Fogon Best of the Top Places L’Orangerie + Prunier New Bistrots Au Pere Lapin, Chateaubriand, Ribouldinge, l’Escarbille, Sensi + Taeko Bars to Eat At Seafood Bar, Oh Bigre + Atelier des Comperes Young chefs on the brink L’Acajou + Jean In Figaroscope Best surprise Et dans mon Coeur il y a… Best business meal Pétrus Best rabble Ribouldingue Best sailor 35° Ouest Best Italian Mori Vence Bar Best night Black Calavados Best grand style La Grande Cascade Best annex of a great chef Sensing Best curiosity Ozu Best bistro Le Chateaubriand Best hotel table l’Orenoc Best couscous Gourbi Palace Best pizza San Best terroir Le Bascou Best comeback Le Caméléon Best renaissance Drouant Best do-over La Gazetta Best trendy one Hôtel Amour Best museum resto Les Ombres Most improbable Spring

The Week of December 18th, 2006 Saturday in Figaro Francois Simon talked about the French paradox, this time involving “slow food” at the Taste Salon the 26-30 October in Turin. He says that folks from 150 countries from Peru to Tibet came to show their regional products and dishes ranging from Mauritian dried pressed tuna roe to Bolivian nuts. However despite some French chefs’ participation (Alain Senderens, Régis Marcon, Jacques Maximin, Alain Ducasse, Franck Cerutti), French cuisine still goes its own way like a neurasthenic old lady. He pleads for the French to open themselves to the outside world for culinary enrichment as New York, Sydney and Tokyo do. Monday, Alexandra Michot wrote in Le Figaro about (1) serving traditional dishes for Christmas or New Year’s Eves and where to get them, (2) with some new twist or (3) alternatives. They are: Oysters from Cancale, Prat-ar-Coum, etc – Twist = sink them in gelatin - Alternatively = get escargots from L’Escargot Montorgueil. Foie gras (duck from the SouthWest from say at Le Repaire de Cartouche) – Twist = balls of foie gras with a stick like a lollipop from Lenôtre – Alt = a terrine but of pork, fish, scallops, veggies, etc. Caviar from Pétrossian, Prunier, Byzance + Caviar Kaspia – Twist = serve on crème fraîche – Alt = salmon, herring eggs. Smoked salmon from Safa – Twist = sauces (sweet-sour, anis, honey) or as smorebrod – Alt = smoked eel, herring, trout, halibut, sturgeon. Turkey – Alt = capon Buche – Alt = a soup of exotic fruits Chocolates with coffee – Alt = guimauves (marshmallow-stuff). In another Figaro article Stéphanie O'Brien says that holiday time is the idea time for tea and accompaniments and suggests: teas of China and Ceylon from Hédiard in a Christmas mix of vanilla, cinnamon, caramel and orange with cloves; a metal box celebrating 120 years from Fauchon with {tea with}the aromas of caramel, pineapples, orange and maraschino; Christmas cakes {that sound suspiciously like dreaded American fruit cake} from Bertrand in the 9th; English tea, scones (Friday) and biscuits with double cream and marmalade from The English Shop; Carla’s home-made jams reflecting either London or Provence ingredients for sale at the Grande Épicerie at Bon Marché; and a gingerbread house for the kids to build from IKEA. Monday in Le Fooding Alexandre Cammas recomended Le Moulin de la Galette, 89 Rue Lepic in the 18th, 01.46.06.84.77 open everyday, recently taken over by Antoine Heerah, ex-Chamarré, where he did a lot of fusion stuff. She liked the milk fed pig (24 €), shrimp salad (“thank you Chamarré”), and endives and ham gratinée (15 €). The lunch formula of two courses is 17 €, menu carte with five courses is 60 €. Tuesday, in A Nous Paris, the team gave awards out for the best tables of 2006, for and to: Best World Food Fogon Best of the Top Places L’Orangerie + Prunier New Bistrots Au Pere Lapin, Chateaubriand, Ribouldinge, l’Escarbille, Sensi + Taeko Bars to Eat At Seafood Bar, Oh Bigre + Atelier des Comperes Young chefs on the brink L’Acajou + Jean. Wednesday in Le Figaro, Stephanie O’Brien had an article with spectacular photos of réveillons desserts from Dalloyau, La Maison du Chocolat + Picard ; respectively - seven bûchissimes in seven different colors, a Bûche Chocolat-Mandarine and a « gâteau matelassé au look très couture ». Wednesday as well, Figaroscope gave out its Year-end awards: Best surprise Et dans mon Coeur il y a… Best business meal Pétrus Best rabble Ribouldingue Best sailor 35° Ouest Best Italian Mori Vence Bar Best night Black Calavados Best grand style La Grande Cascade Best annex of a great chef Sensing Best curiosity Ozu Best bistro Le Chateaubriand Best hotel table l’Orenoc Best couscous Gourbi Palace Best pizza San Best terroir Le Bascou Best comeback Le Caméléon Best renaissance Drouant Best do-over La Gazetta Best trendy one Hôtel Amour Best museum resto Les Ombres Most improbable Spring In an article in Expatica, the author expounds on typical Christmas eve dinner fare, giving links to recipes, that can include: champagne or kir royal, fancy cocktails, amuse-gueules, artichoke with foie gras canapés, blinis and caviar with 'Crème Sure,' foie gras with sweet wine, escargots, oysters (recipe with caviar and sabayon of champagne), goose (Alsace) and turkey (Burgundy) with chestnut stuffing, duck, ham and fish, lobster, crab, or game meats such as venison or boar, cranberries (recipe: a duck breast with them), and desserts such as a bûche de Noël but also regional specialties, such as the 13 desserts of Provence mentioned on the dessert thread) and pain d'épice, kougelhopf and springerle of Alsace. Wednesday in Paris Updates Richard Hess tried the Fables of Fontaine and liked it very much. Wednesday as well, in Parisist, Robyn posted about gyros and desserts at the Maison du Gyros, Istanbul 2000, Pozzetto and Boulangerie-Pâtisserie Stéphane Secco. In this week’s France Amerique, {a Figaro offshoot,} Sohini Gogel reviews several books, two of which deal with food: Paris by Pastry: Stalking the Sweet Life on the Streets of Paris by Joyce Slayton Mitchell, Jones Books, 200 pps, $16.95 and The Food Lover’s Guide to the Gourmet Secrets of Paris by Kate Whitman, Universe, 208 pps, $60. An alert reader, as Dave Barry would say, brought two book reviews to my attention from the December 3rd NYT Book Review; “Thomas Jefferson on Wine” by John Hailman, 457 pps, Univ Press of Mississippi, $38 that covers his journeys through the wine regions of France and “French Women For All Seasons” by Mirielle Guilano, 359 pps, Alfred A Knopf, $24.95 that discusses such things as the presence of lithium (the mood stabilizing ion) in champagne as well as its pairing with items such as pizza. Wednesday-Thursday, Jean Claude Ribaut had an article on seasonal poultry. Saturday in Le Fiagro’s Business Section, there was an article date line Washington, on the “attack” on foie gras in the US. Saturday-Sunday, Bonjour Paris had an essay on the chef at and restaurant itself – the Astor by Margaret Kemp and an essay by John Talbott on “The Hot New Quarters – the 12th.” Finally, Sunday in the New York Times, as Dave Hatfield has already pointed out, Seth Sherwood wrote about what to do and where to eat in Paris in 36 hours and mentioned: Le Comptoir du Relais, Gerard Mulot, Café de Flore, Le Souk + l’Atelier de Joel Robuchon. And then in a nod to food, the Week in Review had an article on “A Buzz Saw of Buzzwords,” which even though written by Frank Bruni, only had one of the 26 buzzwords related to food – that being “sous vide.” Please post comments here and not in the Digest thread.

You know there's another way of looking at it; start with what a first-time visit should include, then fill in the possibilities. For instance:A grand brasserie - such as Bofinger A modern gastro bistro - such as Cerisaie A very good resto - such as Violin d'Ingres One at the edge - such as Ze Kitchen Galerie One that's trendy - such as Drouant A luxe place - such as le Meurice, Bristol, Table de Lancaster An old master in a new place, such as Dominique Bouchet A new master at a new place Spring Which would leave you with something like: Friday Dominique Bouchet lunch Spring dinner Saturday Violin d’Ingres lunch le Meurice dinner Sunday Bofinger lunch Drouant dinner Monday Ze lunch Cerisaie dinner

Well, I don't know the couscous place and will no longer return to l'Atelier because when I eat I desire to talk with folks vis a vis. But I had a great dinner at Comptoir and mixed results at lunch and I like Mulot's patisserie. So I guess while all of us would disagree on details of where to spend 36 hours, they got it pretty much right.

There is a recipe for an "escalope cordon-bleu" by Inaki Aizpitarte of Transversal + Chateaubriand and ex-La Famille in a book called "Cantines : Recettes cultes corrigées par les chefs" published this year by Perrin and Agnès Viénot, authored by Sebastien Demorand and Emmanuel Rubin and Sophie Brissaud. The recipe can be found here. By the bye, the book features other cantine food favorites executed by famous folk - eg David Zuddas (skate with spinach), Pierre Gagnaire (celery remoulade), Pierre-Olivier Petit (a Petit Poisson pané à la brioche, tagliatelles de salsifis à la Granny Smith), Thierry Marx (Bob's chicken) and Pierre Hermé (a tranche napolitaine), etc. Edited twice by John Talbott for clarification and accuracy (publisher).