hughw

I don't think we have enough "votes" to say who is majority and minority but I'm with you Phil. ← All this brings up a somewhat related subject. Assuming that this was "a really great and (relatively) undiscovered" Paris Bistro and it was in the news like it has been. Could it remain "a really great and (relatively) undiscovered" Paris Bistro?" Or would it be ruined by the hordes of AMerican tourists that will descend. And don't sites like this in some ways bring about the destruction of what they value? By posting a report on an out of the way place, are we not risking the that too many of us will find the place. Is all this perhaps a giant restaurant "Ponzi" scheme where we seek out the new before the rest of us get there and ruin it?

I'm suprised that no one has yet posted anything about this restaurant. I know nothing about it, but Barack and Michelle Obama dined there last night to the delight of the other customers. So, is this a good bistro? Do the people at the Ambassador's House know what they're doing in setting this up?

We really liked Mirazur when we ate there a year agp, Subsequently, our friends who went with us and live in Villefrance sur Mer have eaten there several times, the latest last week, and say it has become formalistic, overly relying on foam and colorful flowers and less on taste. However, they reported a fantastic meak at Paris/Rome in Menton. The chef there is considered one of the next rising stars. We also enjoyed a marvelous lunch at Lou Fassum, a one star, outside of Grasse. I posted photos and a description of the lunch in another thread earlier this year. http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showto...21247&hl=fassum

The English SLow Food 2007 edition if Osterie & Locande d'Italia is available on Amazon for $19.14, all 1152 pages of it so it is hard to figure what might be in the Italian version and not this one. http://www.amazon.com/Osterie-Locande-dIta...40079296&sr=8-1 I've also gotten some terrific recommendations on restaurants, hotels, and touring tips, on the Slow Travel site (no relation to SLow Foods. www.slowtrav.com

At The Modern at least there are two separate kitchens and separate staff for the Dining Room and the Bar Room. ← The Bar Room is a restaurant in its own right with numerous tables and a less expensive menu then the "Dining Room". There is no bar menu as such, The al la carte dinner menu can be had either at the bar or at any of the numerous tables.

It might be The Hidden Kitchen. See: http://www.hkmenus.com/english.htm

John, Pizza Chic, corner of Rue Mézières and Rue Cassette in the 6th. It's very pleasant with a wide variety of "gourmet" thin crust pizzas, salads, and decent wines by the glass. Hugh

what could be more romantic than a dinner for two at Le Timbre.

And if anyone is interested, here is Clocher Perire's menu from Thursday evening, February 19th: (Note: I can't figure out how to display the image within the post. Can someone help?) http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?act=mo...d=si&img=138463

Next time........................Thanks

Hi. We're visiting Paris in February and Felice's write up of La Gazzetta definitely makes it sound worth visiting. However, after doing a search, I found several less than flattering reports (some using words like "inedible" about certain dishes). Obviously, I take everything I read with a grain of salt, but I would love to hear any other recent comments from other gulleteers. ← Hugh, in case your trip is not yet complete, Francois Simon raves about La Gazetta in today's Figaro and calls it "sans-faute". You can read the full review (at least for now) here ← So now I'm really in a quandry. We're going to be in Paris for three evenings next week: Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. We have reservations at La Mère Agitée, Clocher Pereire, and l'Ami Jean. So maybe we'll do La Gazzetta instead of La Mère Agitée. We've also been to l'Ami Jean once and loved it and I kinda want to go back (that rice pudding is calling me). Or we could go to La Gazzetta. What do you think? There's a decent write-up with some nice pictures here http://www.hotels-paris-rive-gauche.com/bl...estaurant-paris ← So our report. On Thursday evening we opted for La Mère Agitée over La Regalade. It was a scene from a comedy and kind of a hoot but definitely disapointng regarding the food. La Mère greeted us along with her large dog (a griffon, I think) and offered us a choice of a mushroom or duck pate (no printed menu) as a starter and Bordeux or Rhone wine. The pates were served warmed on a piece of toast over a salad and were quite tasty, The wine was brought to the table in an already open unlabled bottle. For a main course, we shared some kind of a cross between a charcuterie and a cassolet. It was quite unattractive, but flavorful for what it was. Meanwhile La Mère is constantly letting the dog (who was quite friendly) in and out of the restaurant to the street. Eventually, she walked into the dining room from the kitchen with a large bone for the dog. After the dog tired of the bone, she picked it up off the floor and laid it on my wife's dinner plate as she was clearing it. I can't remember the dessert, but whatever it was, it was not memorable. The cost was 65 euro for the two of us. Oh, how I wished we had gone to la Regalade but my wife wanted to try somewhere new -- she was sorry. On Friday evening, we had a delightful meal at Clocher Pereire After a celery soup amuse bouche, my wife started with the Risotto du Jour (escargot) and I had a veloute de chataignes (chestnut soup); both were terrific. For our mains, my wife opted for filet de barbue poche, jus de coquillages et d'artichauts, and I had the Filet de Canette with polenta. Both were wonderful. And for dessert, my wife had Ossau Iraty cheese with a black cherry confiture and I, the Moelleux au chocolat Guanaja avec sorbet coco. The cheese was good but my wife fought me for the moelleux. The bill for both of us for the menu (30 euro) along with a decent Cote Luberon and a bottle of mineral water was 95 euro. All in all, a wonderful dinner at a modest cost. John, thanks for the recommendation. Last night, we decided on La Gazzetta over l'Ami Jean . Big mistake, despite Francois Simon's glowing review. Novelty for the sake of novelty without regard to taste. They offer a menu at 37 euros for 4 plats and at 49 for two additional plats. Unless you order from their extremely limited a la carte menu, there are no choices on the menu. You get what they are serving that evening which means you are not only forced to eat dishes that you probably woudn't order given a choice, you also lose the fun of sharing your partner's food. The entre was a wierd onion soup with three slices of less-than-sushi-grade raw fish floating in it. Next came some kind of langoustine on a bed of fennel. The fennel was OK, the langoustine tasteless and even hard to identify. The main was as the waiter described it "Bambi." Now normally, I would never order venison, but this was actually quite good, served like a fillet mignon, although too rare for my taste. Dessert was two dishes for each of us. One was an uninspired apple tartlet, the other a tasteless ice cream on a bed of butternut squash. Service was perfuntory, too fast, and completely without any personal attention. The waitress's at a Paul's make you feel more wanted. Total was about 110 euro with a bottle of brouilly and a bottle of mineral water. As we returned to our hotel and passed Pizza Chic on the corner next to our hotel and saw the young crowd through the windows enjoying their wine in decent size glasses, their designer pizzas, etc., my wife says "next time you want to drag me into the 12th for a mediocore meal, take me here instead."

They're not chic, not cool, not luxurious, not high on service; but the various Paul's scattered around the city offer a really nice breakfast at a very reasonable cost, whether continental or with eggs, etc. http://www.paul.fr/uk/histoire.php

Well we made it to Lou Fasum and we had a wonderful lunch yesterday. The food was as delicious as it was beautiful. Our reception and the friendliness of the staff was equally good. We had the Menu Plasir du Mois à 38 €. La mise en bouche - this was a tuna tartar under spring flowers La mise en bouche - this was a tuna tartar under spring flowers -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Les truffes en omelette soufflées Crème aux parfums « d’Alba » Où Le saumon bio d’écosse, marinade d’agrume, pétale de fleurs Rémoulade de betterave crue, copeaux de Poutarge de Mulet -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Le carré de porc « Noir de Bigorre » rôti sur un lit d’herbes Petit choux farci de pied de cochon et légumes. Où Le filet de daurade, pommes boulangères à la soupe de roche, Rouille de Piquillos. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Notre sélection de maître « Bedot », salade, fruits secs (Sup. 8 euro) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Le pré dessert du moment -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Les millefeuilles à l’huile d’olive vanillée Où Le sablé banane chocolat. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mignardises

Hi. We're visiting Paris in February and Felice's write up of La Gazzetta definitely makes it sound worth visiting. However, after doing a search, I found several less than flattering reports (some using words like "inedible" about certain dishes). Obviously, I take everything I read with a grain of salt, but I would love to hear any other recent comments from other gulleteers. ← Hugh, in case your trip is not yet complete, Francois Simon raves about La Gazetta in today's Figaro and calls it "sans-faute". You can read the full review (at least for now) here ← So now I'm really in a quandry. We're going to be in Paris for three evenings next week: Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. We have reservations at La Mère Agitée, Clocher Pereire, and l'Ami Jean. So maybe we'll do La Gazzetta instead of La Mère Agitée. We've also been to l'Ami Jean once and loved it and I kinda want to go back (that rice pudding is calling me). Or we could go to La Gazzetta. What do you think? There's a decent write-up with some nice pictures here http://www.hotels-paris-rive-gauche.com/bl...estaurant-paris

John, I noticed your rave review of Chez Lena et Mimile, but lin a later post you mentioned inconsistancies there. So, what do you think worth a visit over Itineraires? Or back to my old standby La Regalade. And was it the molecular menu you were raving about? and if so, do you remember the price?

Perhaps, this topic has already been explored. If that's the case, I would appreciate it if someone can point me to the appropriate thread. Or John, feel free to merge it into another tread. Obviously, a bargain is in the eye of the beholder and a 100 euro lunch menu at a restaurant that charges 250-300 euros at dinner is certainly a bargain. But for the purpose of this thread, I'm curious about whuch two and three star restaurants, if any, in Paris serve a lunch menu at 75 euro or less that gives the diner a memorable meal and more than a glimpse of what they're missing on the more expensive menu. Feel free to chime in even if you want to suggest a resto that exceeds 75 euro by a small amount, or if you have a one star resto at a bargain price that provides a glorious meal. I should say we dined at Benoit (don't laugh) two years ago and had their set lunch menu. As I recall, it was around 36 euros, and we weren't impressed. While it was certainly a pleasant meal, there was nothing memorable about it and was certainly no better than (and less interesting than) the meals we've had at La Cerisaie and l'ami Jean.

Our friends raved (so that's one of a dozen), but I've never trusted them when it comes to food. I found this review and video from the enfant terrible, Francois Simon: http://francoissimon.typepad.fr/simonsays/...sappelle-i.html

John, Some friends of ours ate at Itineraire in October and loved it. Have you had a reports.

And here's another; La Mère Agitée in the 14th, which was mentioned with the following comment on the France slowtrav.com forum: "Every day there a different a la carte menu with 2 choices. Madame speaks halting English and treats you like a guest in her kitchen. Intimate,very traditional country French cooking and a neighborhood institution." So, I've googled around and haven't found too much about it except a blog by John Whiting that commented more on the politics of the deceased patron than the food. Any reports? http://www.lamereagitee.fr/index.html

Sounds so good that we are going to make reservations for February. We will report.

Just after I wrote the above, I encountered the following in an article by Elizabeth Jensen in the NYT of December 28th 2008: "Back in 1993, when Ruth Reichl was a new food critic for The New York Times, she famously reviewed the high-society restaurant Le Cirque from two perspectives: as an insider coddled with foie gras and majestically attentive service, and as “the unknown diner” shunted into the smoking section, treated with indifference bordering on contempt and even given raspberries a third the size of those she was offered when recognized on a later visit." See also the Bill Buford/Mario Batali quote beneath my signature. ← John, You triggered my memory. It was Ruth Reichl with the varied disguises, not Gael Greene. She write a humerously on each disguise and her treatment in the book: Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise

I was fascinated by this article in the NY Times today about François Simon. I don't read French so I'm not directly familar with his reviews, but he seems like an enfant terrible. I'm curious what others think about being known to the chef. Gael Greene in New York took very amusing and extensive steps to disguise herself, not always sucessfully. It seems to me that for all of us, we want to know how we will be treated and fed, not what a chef is capable of when he goes out to please a favorite client or an influential critic. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/14/dining/1...sq=simon&st=cse

Robyn, I think you and Randy are not so far apart. He said 50 euro, not 50 dollars, which translates to about $63 with tax and tip. The way I see this in New York that will buy you $50 of food without tax and tip. That might be a $12 starter, a $28 main, and a $10 dessert. Sure there are plenty of places in the city that are a lot higher than that with most mains in the thirty dollar range. But still, even in this day and age, it should be possible to get a wonderful meal for $130 for two, which with drinks and/or wine will certainly end up at around $200. Do I feel "ripped off" if its more than that? Certainly not, if one, I know going in what the price level of the restaurant is, and two, they deliver on quality and service. Geez, I can feel ripped off if I pay a lot less, and it;s not up to snuff. Coming back to Paris, I think things are not all that different. You can go to a neighborhood place and have a decent 20 euro menu; you can go to a place like La Regalade and have a wonderful 32-40 euro meal; or you can go to a "temple" and pay stratospheric prices for what will hopefully be a transcendent experience. I think food (and wine) are sometimes like automobiles. For $20K you can buy a great little Honda; for $40K a really nice Saab or BMW, and for $100K+ a fantastic Mercedes. Is the Mercedes a rip off? Is it 5 times better than the Honda? Will it last 5 times as long? Will it go 5 times as fast or get 5 times the gas mileage? The answer of course to all of these is "no" but some people can afford (and desire) to pay 5x as much for what is essentially the same amount of food, or same amount of car, to experience and enjoy an experience beyond the ordinary. For that matter, why do I spend a lot of dollars to come to Paris to get what I can probably also get in New York? (And if you think about it, I probably could go to Per Se several times instead of going to Paris and still have saved money) I go to Paris to be in Paris: Paris walks, Paris shops; Paris museums; Paris Food. And when I leave (poorer in dollars for having come), I leave with richness in my heart for once again being privledged to partake in the greatest buffet of life in the western world.

This dates me, but newly married, my wife's grandparents tok us to Grand Colbert in 1967. Sitting at the adjacent table was Rex Harrison, famous at that time for My Fair Lady. No. We didn't ask him to sing, and I don't recall what he was eating,

You're right of course Roybn. But that's NYC. A cocktail or glass of wine at your neighborhood bar bistro (or even diner type place) will be about $12 after 9% tax and 17% tip. I hate to tell you that when we go out to our local "pub" for a hamburger & fries with a drink each and sharing a starter, we're looking at a $70 bill. On the otherhand, we can go to Eleven Madison and get out for $300 for two and have a meal with a modest wine that we would be hardpressed to match in Paris for anything close to it in cost.