John Talbott

I give up. But go to the Meurice - but it's hardly a bistro or Savoy groupie.

I'm surprised in all these months on eG I've seen no mention before of Capretz's films, tapes and workbooks. In another life I know/knew about things paedagogical - Capretz combines vocabulary and verbs, oral and written, the esoteric and banal, cultural (and here we go back on topic) and food. He's a treasure. And, you find out how to order, eat and send back badly cooked dishes, as well as where the culinary center of the world is.

As someone who tends to do either take-out (rotisseried fowl, Noura, cheese, etc.) or simple stuff like couscous, choucroute or magret, I, like Pti, use as a resource (as I said upthread) - Picard for their spinach "turds" and Monoprix for their small portions of chicken or beef slices, perfect for woking with asparagus or broccoli.

My cheeserie, Quatre Hommes willingly and easily does it. This works fine.

Are you sure? Drouant's menu of the day = 45 E, menu-carte 67 E. But Casaluna is great. Report back please.

Wow, great news Laidback; it's a few hundred meters from home and was in deep decline for years after a decade of glory. Will try ASAP. Thanks.

Incredible question from a courageous guy.Recall, as Pierre says, you can be anywhere in Paris is a few minutes by Metro. That said, I'd recommend the 11th, Marche St Honore and Marche St Germain areas as places where you can view a lot of restaurants. As for markets, Felice and our market compendium answered that. In truth, if it's great weather, darn near anywhere. Have fun and good luck on R&R.

Off the top of my temporarily Greek head - Drouant, Casaluna, Alice Bardet's place in the Marche St Honore.

To "pile on" here; I've found Picard and Monoprix stuff to be utterly different than that which one has been subjected to in the US. Picard's spinach, for instance, is astonishingly good and for someone batching it, very convenient. As for named stuff, as Fresh_a indicates, caveat emptor, as Olivier Morteau [sic] says, more or less, when chefs brand out they sell out - wines, snacks, frozen, no diff.

Tough to pick 10 Jamie, but here they are

Off the top of my head but not available in the winter holidays - Mediteranee's gigantic artichoke with divine sauce. Second, but not in Paris would be Aspen (Colo) D19's artichoke Roman style. Third, again you gotta take Ryan air is Da Giggetto itself in the ghetto in Rome. But that's not playing fair, is it? OK folks; others?

This just in from Expatica "The Groupe Flo chain of popular eateries recently banned smoking in some establishments and says there has been no effect on business."

OK, we're bordering on the medico-philo-political. I'm not opposed to conducting such discussions on a Public Health site but this is the France Forum of the eGullet Society whose purpose is "to increase awareness and knowledge of the arts of cooking, eating and drinking, as well as the literature of food and drink." John

The Week of October 2nd, 2006 Monday on Le Fooding Sebastien Demorand writes of a feast at Michel Bras in Laguiole, which will close October 29 until April 2007 while the Bras’ open their second place on Hokkaido. Wednesday, Figaroscope’s Emmanuel Rubin, in “C’est Nouveau” this week gave a 3 heart rating to 35° Ouest, 35, rue de Verneuil in the 7th. 01.42.86.98.88 closed Sundays and Mondays, lunch menu 29, a la carte 50 €, for sardines, langoustines and a croustillant of citrus; two hearts to Le Pre Sale, 9, rue d’Argenteuil in the 1st, 01.42.60.56.22, closed weekends, two dishes = 23.50, three for 29.50 €,with a cream of potato soup, andouille, magret and rice pudding; and one heart each to the French place Neuf 7, 97, rue du Cherche Midi in the 6th, 01.42.22.19.18, the Italian Maria Louisa in the 6th and the Japanese Yushi 16 in the 16th. This week’s Dossier had a bunch of places near the flea market in St Ouen that included: La Pericole La Petite Salle a Manger Le Jardin des Puces Le Relais des Brocs Marisqueria O Beirao Le Cafe Loom and also Le Coq de la Maison Blanche, Chez Serge, Cafe Paul Bert + Le Biron And of course, for his ”Hache Menu,” Francois Simon gets to go to the best place near the flea market - Le Soleil, coordinates in the guides, where he enjoyed the ratatouille with poached egg, dorade with zuccini and blanc-manger, all for 99 € (with the menu-carte = 28 Euro) - he says one should go. Jean Claude Ribaut in Wednesday-Thursday’s Le Monde talks of game prepared any which way and suggests the following established places in which to eat such: Yugaraj, Le Jardin - Hôtel Royal Monceau, Auguste, Le Passiflore, Le Jardin des sens, Citrus Etoile, + La Table Lauriston. Thursday in l’Express Jean Luc Petitrenaud wrote of two established places: the Restaurant Garnier in the 8th across from the Gare Saint-Lazare, where the carte is about 31 € and the Grand Hôtel Montespan Talleyrand in Bourbon-l'Archambault where the 1st menu is 24 €. Thursday, as well, Gilles Pudlowski in Le Point reviewed a neat sounding book about what the ancient Gauls ate called La cuisine gauloise continue by Anne Flouest and Jean-Paul Romac (Bibracte et Bleu publishers, 255 pages, 18 E), a specialty store in Calvi (Corsica) called Annie Traiteur, a fruit distillery, the Grandes Distilleries Peureux in Fougerolles and a recipe for foie gras with hibiscus and cherry juice. In addition he talks of following the new Parisian places - Sensing + Ozu and in good form – Le Bristol + Prunier, coordinates given before, as well as L'Imaginaire in Terrasson-la-Villedieu, L'Epicerie in Amboise and Le Bistrot du bord de l'eau in Levernois, near Beaune. Friday, Jean Louis Galesne in Les Echos largely discussed Thai places: Baan Kanya, Thaï Spices, Thabthim Siam + Sukhothai but also wrote about the wait to harvest wine grapes this year. Over the weekend Le Figaro finally posted Francois Simon’s “Croque Notes” – a letter to Helene Darroze {disclosure: I seem to detest her food and place(s) as much as he, so I took great delight in reading this} about the disastrous meal he had there recently that involved: a chilly reception, a demand (illegal) for his credit card to charge (120 E) if he didn’t show and had no “valid excuse,” childish music, long waits for food, nauseating dishes, and a sizzling hot check (220 E for two for “finger food” in her new “Boudoir.”) {If you read French and want to sample Simon at his acidic best; read this!} The publication Expatica has an article on where to buy “home” products in Paris that includes for American stuff: Thanksgiving + The Real McCoy and kosher places Alimentation + Cash Cacher Naouri; British products at: La Grande Epicerie de Paris and the “the Pakistani area on rue du Faubourg St-Denis in the 10th arrondissement where tiny stores stock British staples,” and Irish and Scots goods at Saveurs d'Irlande et d'Ecosse + The Gourmet Shoppe. Adrian Moore, a loyal eGullet member, is back writing for the BMIbaby website and this month wrote an article called “The Temples of Cool” mentioning Black Calvados, Kube, Ozu, Les Ombres + Hotel du Nord. The English language (now on the web only) publication GoGo Paris. Since it restarted publication the following recent reviews are available: La Gazzetta, Ozu, Mme Shawn. In ParlerParis, Adrian Leeds writes of the “Highs and Lows of Paris Dining,” mentioning l’Atelier de JR, Et Dans Mon Coeur Il y a + Pere Claude. David Applefield’s My Mercredi recommends Deliziefollie, 7, rue Montorgueil in the 1st for ice cream. Laura Van Iterson in ParisVoice recommends fall cheese from three cheese stores run by Christian Lelann: La Ferme Saint Aubin, La Cave aux fromages, + La Ferme des Arenes. For completeness sake I should mention a New York Times article on Sept 27th, on both current highly regarded food-wise, no smoking places: Spoon, l’Atelier de JR, l’Epi Dupin, la Table de JR, la Table de Lancaster, l’Artisan de Saveurs, Legrand et Filles et Fils, Fish + Le Beurre Noisette and a website where one can find all of them by arrondissement and region. Finally, in Bonjour Paris Margaret Kemp wrote up Astier + Le Café Moderne and John Talbott had a article on “What happened to the little fellow.” Please post comments here and not in the Digest thread.

I'd like to steer this back to food, French restaurants, etc. I think it's fair to say that everywhere I've heard that smoking bans have been imposed, proprietors insist it will drive away customers and one-two years later, followup articles show no drop in patronage. Second, I ate at Fish two weeks ago at night and at any one time there were 2-6 patrons outside smoking, perfectly contentedly and energetically discussing whatever (now it was a spectacularly warm evening not freezing drizzle, but....) It is my understanding (Phyllis correct me) that it was the wait-staff there plus the sympathetic owners who imposed the ban. Other reasons are small size Cerisaie + Temps au Temps + Lucullus when it existed, and the rule of no smoking where food is prepared Atelier de JR.

This is a very valid point. Observers of the French political scene will recall the fate of the first employment contract, voted into law but miraculously retracted/revoked/whatever after street demos. At least in what I've read and seen on TV, it sounds more like intent and hope than a fait accompli. As for I didn't merge this into the other thread because I thought that was on where to find no smoking places, whatever happens legally and public-health wise and this is on reactions to the new 2007 intention. In my biz there are lumpers and splitters; this time let's leave them split.

There is another thread recently started by raisab on total abolition of smoking that I think is sufficiently different from where to find no smoking places in the immediate future that I didn't merge them. For instance, the relatively recent New York Times article gave another website for a list by arrondissement (and other regions as well) that are currrently no smoking.

Game, Gibiers 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. Buying game Game vocabulary Restaurants for Game Autumn Food, including game

Jean Claude Ribaut in Wednesday-Thursday’s Le Monde talks of game prepared any which way and suggests the following established places in which to eat such: Yugaraj. 14, rue Dauphine 6th, 01-43-26-44-91. Le Jardin. Hôtel Royal Monceau, 37, avenue Hoche 8th, 01-42-99-88-77. Auguste. 54, rue de Bourgogne 7th, 01-45-51-61-09. Le Passiflore. 33, rue de Longchamp 16th, 01-47-04-96-81. Le Jardin des sens. 11, av. Saint-Lazare in Montpellier, 04-99-58-38-38. Citrus Etoile. 6, rue Arsène-Houssaye 8th, 01-42-89-15-51. La Table Lauriston. 129, rue Lauriston 16th, 01-47-27-00-07.

Well I agree about Lassere and walking along the Seine and across the Pont and by the Louvre - say do you think we could interest Elaine Sciolino in doing pix and prose about it? I did that very same route just Thursday ago and it was magical. Much as I love Ze, however, I disagree that it's romantic. Good eats, great chef, smart clients, but romance, hummmm.

Thursday August 10th, Veronique Andre, in Le Figaro had an article on three places on the Ile de Re: Le Richelieu, Le Chat Botte + Le Bistrot de Bernard as well as one on where to get salt, fish and oysters on the island.

But of course as long as you attribute it to Regal and the Almanach du Gastronomie, but that's gratuitous, isn't it. You might always mention eGullet; we're not too shy.

The Week of September 25th, 2006 Monday in Le Fooding Marine Bidaud wrote up La Gazzetta, coordinates given last week, which is getting an incredible amount of buzz. This review has pluses and minuses but concludes quite positively despite the clinkers. Monday in A Nous Paris, Philippe Toinard awarded 3/5 blocks to Astier, coordinates well known by eGullet members, who liked the pressed sweetbreads, veal kidneys and crumble all on 18.50, 23.50 and 28 € formulas and menus {for my review, see my report last week here}; Jerome Berger, meanwhile gave 3/5 to {another place I liked} Et dans mon coeur il y a, coordinates given last week, liking the risotto with mushrooms, cod with orange butter and beef parmentier (formulas at 14 and 20, a la carte 40 €). Wednesday, Emmanuel Rubin ranked his traditional five places in his Figaroscope “C’est Nouveau” as follows: 2 hearts to Jean Paul Arabian’s Le Cameleon, 6, rue de Cheveuse in the 6th, 01.43.27.43.27, open everyday with fried eperlans, duck filet (impeccable) and French toast for 40-50 €, but gives only one heart to two places: C’est mon plaisir, 150, bvd Montparnasse in the 14th, 01.43.21.03.48, open everyday where his adjectives (not bad, classic, too sugary) don’t match with his one heart rating and Boo which also serves bourgeois food whose descriptions don’t sound so bad as to get only a heart; and two broken hearts to Toro a Spanish tapas, etc place in the 1st and Tarmac, in the 12th serving stuff with the taste of the frig, hamburgers and musty fries. {My oh my.} Figaroscope’s Dossier was devoted to places to eat under 30 €: Hier & Aujourd’hui Le Petit Pamphlet Ribouldingue Wadja La Gazzetta Minzingue Le Jardinier Les Zingots and Le Buisson Ardent. They also list another bunch of “sure value” places {I’d title them golden oldies but then…..}: La Ferrandaise l’Ami Jean Chez Michel Bisto Paul Bert Le Temps au Temps l’Ourcine l’Avant Gout La Regalade La Cerisaie Beurre Noisette Le Troquet and l’Entredejeu. And Francois Simon, in his ”Hache Menu” went to the newly renewed Astier in the 11th where he had the 29.50 € menu with creamed veggies with smoked duck, a duo of fish with risotto and oeufs a la neige – that he sums up as honest, good value and getting to the heart of things. Should one go? Silly question, for less that 100 € for two, you bet. Maybe it’s not 100 FF as it was 25 years ago, but life goes on and so does Astier. {Nice review Francois, even I could figure this one out.} And for the second week running, in Le Figaro, there was a box called: Under the Tables, giving the following news, that the Costes (Café Beaubourg, Café Marly, l’Esplanade, etc., are opening up a resto-bar Nirvana open 9 AM to 2 AM; that Bernard Magrez has opened a new wine store at the angle of the ave de l’Opera and 34, rue St Augustin in the 2nd with 30 chateau and domaine wines; that one of the oldest Chinese places in the city Ngo has been replaced by the high class Japanese restaurant Yushi 16; that the Bar du W Hotel in the 8th has a new “menu” for the really pressed – “15 minutes/15 €”; that Drouant is now offering a weekend “French” brunch for 32 € - soft-boiled eggs with smoked salmon, zucchini soup and cucumbers with fresh mint, fromage blanc and ham, fruit salad, along with breads and a glass of Cremant d’Alsace; that at the beginning of October the Aprifel agency will open a new Fraich’Attitude place with workshops etc at 60, rue du Faubourg Poissonniere in the 10th (www.cuisinefraichattitude.fr); that the Cave a Bulles, 45, rue Quincampoix in the 4th has so many things with bubbles that it rivals the Bootlegger in the 14th. Thursday in l’Express Jean Luc Petitrenaud wrote of two places: Gourmandises in Cormeilles and Saudade, a Portuguese resto, in the 1st. Thursday, as well, Gilles Pudlowski in Le Point wrote of La Boulangerie + Le Cameleon in Paris as places to follow and Le Violin d’Ingres + Le Jardinier as being is good form. Outside the walls, he likes the Domaine d'Auriac in Carcassonne, Le Pontarlier in Port-Lesney, L'auberge du Pas de Vent in Pouillon, Bagatelle in Oslo and cooking l'omble chevalier. Friday, Jean Louis Galesne in Les Echos largely discussed Thierry Marx’s restaurant in Pauillac, he covered three other nearby places as well: the Café Lavinal in Bages, the St Julien in Saint-Julien-Beychevelle and the Hôtel-restaurant du Château de Pomys in Leyssac. Finally, in Bonjour Paris John Talbott had a article on “The hot new quarter; the 9th arrondissement.” Please post comments here and not in the Digest thread.

What’s in the markets in October The following are reported by Regal and the Almanach du Gastronomie* to appear in the markets in October, or October-November in the case of Regal: Arriving: scallops, dorade, pumpkin, trumpet of death and hedgehog (pied de mouton) mushrooms, Vacherin cheese, American apples, pears and quince. Leaving: germon tuna, mackerel, lobster, sardines, eggplants, goat cheese, reine des reinette apples, nuts and grapes. In full season: oysters, bouquet prawns, sole, calamari, herring, anchovies, guinea and other game fowl, rabbit, deer, spinach, turnips, carrots, cepes, girolles, fall cheese (bries, camemberts, munster, Epoisses, Maroilles, Abondance, Beaufort, Comte, Cantal, Salers, Laguiole), beurre-hardy and comice pears, nuts, grapes, chestnuts, figs and peche de vigne. Also: black cod, mackerel, pike-perch, venison, wild boar, bilberries, beetroot, white beet, broccoli, carrots, celeriac, fennel, frisee, haricots verts, mache, turnips, sorrel, leeks, chickpeas, pumpkin, and these cheeses (banon, fourme d’Ambert, lavort, morbier, munster, picodon, reblochon, Roquefort, le sable de Wissant, tomme de Savoie.) *Reference: Almanach du Gastronomie by Armelle de Scitivaux (Bottin Goumand, 1998, 133 FF.)

Not since the three stooges sold it; it got too pricey for food better gotten elsewhere. PS Three stoges is a compliment, the brothers were a comedy team.