magnolia

I read that Robert Glesson of the Lygon Arms has left, without explanation (to the public, anyway), fewer than two months after replacing his previous number Adrian Jones. I stayed & ate there two years ago - I can't remember who the chef was but it was lovely. Anyone been there more recently?

from the grapevine...the latest is that Gallagher ditched his court appearance in Dublin, and that he has married an American (green card, anyone? I should know :-) He claimed that leaving the US would l jeopardise his chances of citizenship (I guess an arrest warrant from another country isn't a serious enough barrier to entry). I thought people on the run from the law moved to South America, I guess it's just America now...? Stay tuned...

The commis probably just couldn't take a joke. What's a little branding between friends?

One of the reasons it rarely comes up is that there was some major to-do over the previous chef (whose name I can't recall, but he was very talented and much lauded) and the circumstances under which he left - I don't remember the details but I'm sure s/o will pipe up ! I went there about four years ago (?)- under that chef - and it was indeed wonderful, I was with a group and we had an off-menu meal to complement wine that we brought (Tonyfinch, were you there?). Anyway it sounds like you're the most recent visitor by a long way, and it might be that it has indeed impoved a great deal. Perhaps worth a revisit? What can you tell us about the prices - and the value for money factor? I know you went for lunch - any sense of what the dinner menu might have been like?

Loufood beat me to it ! Yes, it's Le Beau Violet. Good place but as mentioned, by no means 'gourmet' (no stars, just good, hearty food). They take last orders at 23h00 (11PM) 01 45 78 93 44 Stephane Martin is a bit more 'upmarket' - more refined. 67 rue des Entrepreneurs, 01 45 79 03 31. They take last orders between 22h30-23h00 (10h30 - 11PM) And yes - Maggie's my 'offscreen' name. Magnolia is my 'nom de keyboard', I guess. A nickname from a long-ago employer.

Wow, you've stumped me. I haven't flown to Paris since they launched the the Eurostar, so I wouldn't have even guessed the 14th was near Orly. Still as you may know, Regalade is especially good late at night ! I will ask around and see if anyone knows le Severo. You know. you are not SO far from the 15th, a handful of good places there...I'm thinking of Stephane Martin on rue des Entrepreneurs and a Corsican place - not particularly 'gourmet' but very convivial and always packed - the facade is purple but the name escapes me, but I am sure I have their card somewhere...Will tomorrow be too late for this info?

Zeb A - This is fantastic and really helpful. I'm trying to plan well in advance (thanks Mogsob!) for a trip to Venice next year, so doing the research now. Last time I was in Venice I was a poor but molto impressionable student, and I was picked up (with not much arm-twisting)by an Older Italian Guy (he was probably 25!) named Duccio (sp?) who took me to a place called Paradiso Perduto (or whatever the translation of Paradise Lost is, my Italian è smarito - or scomparso, whatever..) It was the only "real" meal I had in a week of living on pastries and coffee, so I remember the meal being great - I proceeded to cut the evening short after he walked me back to my hostel ...which led to his being hostile...until the night watchman came out and basically told the guy to get lost. Ah, youth.... Anyway do share other journals with us, we promise not to be shocked... not at the prices anyway.

I was wondering the same thing myself. I really liked Lola's the one and only time I went...they seemed to be onto a good thing. Pharmacy is hardly a restaurant. It's not even a gastric pub. Last time I was there (and it was long ago) the cocktails were the big draw and the menu (a slip of paper stuck in a plastic stand-up display) was an afterthought of unmemorable sandwiches. Anyway I can no longer bring myself to eat at a place where the window display looks like that of Boots (Duane Reade for the Yanks among us). Then again, if they change the display, could they still call it Pharmacy ? Discuss...

Where will you be coming into Paris? You might want to focus on a neighbourhood within a short commute of your entry point... .minimise useless travel time, maximise useful eating time :-) For example I have come into Gare du Nord at around that time and know that Chez Michel on rue de Belzunce serves late. Ditto Chez Catherine which is sort of near Gare St Lazare. Neither is high table but both are very good - and fun. If you are coming into Gare Montparnasse, try Le Ciel de Paris - top of Tour Montparnasse. I was extremely impressed by the food and the view cannot be beat, particularly at night.

So if a group of 24 of us goes in there, they'd do better to waive the bill than have us report them to the Trading Standards Ofice ? Wonderful

In fact we were so wrapped up in conversation that I forgot to ask what "Chiogga" and "sauce Salmis" (which since I ate it, one would think I could have figured it out...) chiogga, salmis, anyone? I loved the squab, but the 'pleasant surprise' dish for me was the papardelle w/chicken livers. It's the kind of thing that can pretty nondescript, and it was done perfectly. I also enjoyed the scallops, I think more than C. did. C's chicken was amazing, too, and I normally don't like US or UK chicken - they don't seem to have any flavour. This one was great - I think C. knows where it comes from. The cheese plate was more 'recreational' than serious, but definitely satsifying and enough to share. As for the wine...it was a California Marsanne from Berkmann (sp?) I didn't note the year, but it was probably a 1999 or 2000. I *love* Marsanne, and it's not often on wine lists, and when it is, it's pretty expensive. This one was a treat at $35. Very smooth, peachy-honey flavour, not cloying. Overall a lovely meal. And I now have a thing for chef-owned restaurants, I hope to start a separate thread on this when I have a moment...

I lived in S. Ken on and off for a year in 1996 before I moved to London full-time, and then headed down the road to riverside. In the course of six years, the S. Ken retail scene has become distinctly un-posh. Perhaps a handful of high end stores like Amanda Wakely, Divertimenti (if it's still there?), Theo Fennell, - but the main drags of S Ken are almost indistinguishable from those of any neighbourhood in London - very,very bland. In fact King's Road is like a Flintstone's cartoon in which Fred's car drives past an endlessly repeating background of coffee chains, Gaps, Hobbs, Boots, Knickerbox, La Senza and teen-oriented clothing shops. The only places I'd consider eating are Al-Dar on King's Road, perhaps English Garden if I were splurging. Maybe one of the "gastro-pubs" (Cross Keys, Builders Arms, Altas, Admiral Codrington, Ifield) - though some of these are rather closer to Earl's Court. Yes, the housing is very expensive and exclusive, but that doesn't seem to have any bearing on the shops or restaurants. We already know that money does not equal good taste or high standards for food. My layperson's take is that the inflated real estate prices lead to an actual 'de-poshification' of an area, as only shops with very deep pockets - i.e. chains - can afford to take over the large spaces of the banks as they close. Same thing is happening in all the upper crusty neighbourhoods in London. St John's Wood is fast heading that way, and look at Hamstead, Starbucks Starbucks everywhere, and not a place to eat. The French people I know who live in London don't have any kind words for the restaurants...they tend to cook at home or eat wherever their friends go, they make periodic trips to France to shop - or receive care packages from home. I don't see any big mystery here - as we've discussed a zillion times on these boards, the vast majority of people in London (present company excluded of course!!) - even those in expensive neighbourhoods, with lots of disposable income - don't give a darn about food and this is reflected in the relatively slim restaurant pickings for a city of such vast, cosmopolitan proportions. Sorry if I sound like I'm engaging in a bit of London-bashing, but I've had more good meals in New York in fewer than two weeks than I have had in a year in London. No mistake, I adore London - but I moved there for work, and have stayed for love. And I so hope to be able to change my mind about the food some day!

Well they are defnitely not closed now, I had lunch there last Thursday and loved it. I didn't post a review because it's mentioned all the time on food boards and in the press, and not much seems to have change. It's like an 'old reliable'. Our Simon doesn't like the bread there, I didn't see anything wrong with it though. Perfectly fresh and tasty, if not sock-knocking... Their current 'literature' refers to Claudia Fleming as if she were still there.

Makes sense then. Other good Armagnaquerie (have I just coined a phrase) is Hélène Darroze, her father is/was a producer. I think she sells retail at her restaurant as well though probably much of what she has is not available to the publique.

Is that the Moulins de Mougins guy? He must be hitting his 70's...how involved is he meant to be ?

Hmmm...Simon hated la Regalade so I don't think he would have mentioned their wine supplier. My personal fave is Caves Augé, who happen to have a large Armagnac collection - so does La Regalade - so perhaps they know each other but I've no specific info on that. Also OK for atmosphere and friendliness (but not great on price) is...I want to say Legrand Filles? something like that - just near if not on rue Richelieu...

I'm glad your friend told GR where to put that contract. That is pathetic, and can't imagine such a policy will last long.... Maybe I just don't go to the right places - - but I've only ever been to one restaurant in London that tried to pull a 'we need our table back' on me, it was Bamboo (sp?) a pseudo-Vietnamese place on Charlotte Street. I'm pretty sure they didn't say anything when I made the res, but when we were being seated, the maitre d' sheepishly muttered something about this. So I said 'Well since nobody told us, I can't promise anything but we'll do our best'. As it turns out, they didn't enforce it, nobody asked for the table back so I think there was probably a panic of some kind for too many bookings at a certain hour. I have to say I'm shocked that GR@C, with the prices they charge and the kind of clients they seem to want, would do that. Maybe I'm naive, but I can't imagine they'd ask the likes of Madonna to sign a faxed contract ! and surely a restaurant like that can't survive on Madonnas alone..

This is excellent ! Thanks to all of you. I may do this yet... JD - is your source in London? I can't find anything about Manz or 'Omans Krautfass' on the 'net, and I know *no* German so I'm not sure how to re-jig the name to get what I want.. '

If memory serves, many of the complaints about La Regalade have been about the service, which diners have lamented as rushed, indifferent, scattered, etc. I can't say I've had the same experience - I've always been happy there - with the food and the service. Simon didn't like the food, either, but his review led with comments about appalling service. To what extent are La R., Chez Georges, and others of that ilk victims of their own success, perhaps? To what extent is this excusable? Or is there a lot of that irksome reverse snobbery going on here - Americans/Brits complaining that there are too many 'tourists'? It would be interesting to hear a French diner's point of view, and I'm going to start querying my sources...In the last year I've eaten at La R, Chez Georges, Chez Paul and Bofinger - and there have always been more French than other. But they are certainly still firmly on the guide-book circuit. Meanwhile.. the 'what's wrong with French cooking' debate - Lander and Broughton and non-pros herewith - seems to be mixing two concepts - one about cooking, and one about service. This seems to be debate that focuses on France, though I haven't figured out whether it's just that we travel to France more than Spain or Italy etc. so our critical faculties are tuned accordingly. Is it the food that does not live up to expectation/memory, or is it the perception of shoddy treatment of foreigners that leaves a bad taste? And can these two concepts even be separated - the question of whether you'd return to a restaurant where the food was fab but the service was off, or whether excellent service compensates for food that disappoints in some way? Plotnicki subtitles his post 'stodgy, boring' etc. He walked into Chez Georges not expecting anything revolutionary, predisposed to having a good time, and not having to stretch his palate. A lot of people seem to walk into a French restaurant anticipating bad treatment and a disdainful attitude on the part of the staff, which certainly colors their experience with the food. Another poster described the staff at Chez Georges as always smiling. So the food's stodgy and boring, but it's done right and served with alacrity, and this seems to make up for food that disappoints in some way - NB: I deliberately repeat this 'disappoints in some way' because I don't wish to judge someone's expectations of what they will be served, but I am always curious about where those expectations come from. You don't go into Chez Georges, Denise, Pied de Cochon, Bofinger, Lipp, Paul. et al - or even newcomer La Regalade - looking for something new or cutting-edge. Chez Georges, at least, has been serving the same food, in the same way, by the same people for a zillion years. So if that's what you expect going in, if you are greeted with a smile and treated well, there's almost no way to be disappointed.

We're thinking of doing goose for T-giving or Christmas, which means I have to start the research now Last year we bought a duck within a chicken within a goose (or something like that) - it was fab but outrageously expensive, and as our coffers have a distinctive echo this year, it's a good time for a DIY effort, and I think I can only handle one bird. I consider myself a late bloomer with respect to cooking...but I am improving steadily and gaining confidence with each new recipe...so recipes/techniques in the easy-to-medium range are much appreciated. I've done a quick search on the boards, and have found several references to goose - braising by Bux, various uses for the fat, etc. .. but nothing focusing specifically on whys & wherefores of the bird itself ! If someone remembers a good thread on this, please point me in the right direction - if not - please share your experiences and cooking suggestions.

Have you been to a place called Fat's, and is that anywhere near you Miss J? A friend who came over for dinner last night highly recommended it - it's cajun, creole, caribbean... 178 Shirland Road W9 7266 7878

I think this happened before the summer? My sources tell me GA has moved to Japan to start something there, so stay tuned. Someone on CH said that the current issue of Pariscope lists business as usual at the restaurant; I haven't read the entry myself, but my take on the CH poster's translation is that the restaurant is being a bit cheeky, leaving it open to interpretation as to whether the words refer to the chef or the restaurant that bears (bore?) her name...

But on what basis do you, or Nick Lander on the other thread,assume that it wasn't ever thus? Was there really a time when everyone would have got the juicy slab of foie and no-one would have been palmed off with off cuts? I can't answer for sure but I seriously doubt it. Maybe people are now much more aware of what they can and should expect for the megabucks they're paying and less willing to be fooled by smoke and mirrors. Tony's right. Furriners have been complaining for years and years that they have been treated shabbily in one way or another, so sadly I don't think anything's changed - except now restaurants, particularly at the high level, should know better - that their clients are no longer just hoi polloi and rich & famous, but also an average joe or josephine who happens to have made a bit of dosh and is spending it in different ways, i.e. on food and wine, than he / she might have done in latter years. Said clients are now more sophisticated, well-traveled, and expect more, and if the quality of a dish served to a non-French person at the ne plus ultra of restaurants that LC believes it is, is so noticeably different from that which the 'native' receives, that's a scandale. But it's not a new scandale.

Any idea what the hours are? I'll be in Bromley next Saturday but probably not until late in the day...

I love oxtail ! I order it any time I see it. As Plotnicki says, it's all in the 'branding...' It is way underrated. Now if only I could cook oxtail... it's in the plan for my winter repertoire.