boston

I was there in Feb with my wife and with my son who was visitng on business from Hong Kong where he lives. It is a a very small unassuming space. The service is lovely. The meal was excellent. The food is indeed aisian influenced with a Hong Kong style according to my son. My son spoke in mandarin with the gentleman behind the bar. There is a wide selection of teas. As mentioned the chef has spent considerable time cooking in Hong Kong. If you would enjoy a fine meal of french products fusion with Chinese Hong Kong sytle beautifully served you should go. The resto is so small and so popular suggest asking for a reservation well in advance. Boston

I know I should respond with resto suggestions but I take my lead from John. I am surprised no one mentioned the Jardin d'Acclamation in the Bois de Boulogne. Metro Sablons or take the "little" train from/to Porte Maillot. This is a great amusement park with nostalgic rides, pony rides and a little zoo too! Great for kids. There are other interesting things in the Bois as well.

So, Sandy, am I correct that it's your sense that what makes Bigarrade creative is its pricing not its food? If so, that would then open up a whole new bunch of places. ← Hi John Thanks for forcing me to be more exact. What I am trying to say is one view of creativity involves " what you make out of what you have to work with" compared to others. It is always about the food, but the food is created from the ingredients. On one hand creativity will express itself independently at all levels of available resources(ingredients). However given two creative chefs the one with the most resources will always out since more resources will provide more options. I appreciate both but respect more the creativity of a creative chef who inspires my taste having 10E worth of ingredients to cook with versus a creative chef who has 100E worth of ingredients with which to cook. I think I feel this way because with unlimited budget there is the danger that the ingredient itself will be considered what is creative in the dish as opposed to the creative use of the ingredient in the dish compared to how others have used it. Sandy

I"ll add one: Bigarrade Christophe Pele. I would include the variable of price along with food when thinking of creativity. What he is trying to do for the price he is charging is for me very creative. Cameleon I enjoy , especially the calves liver dish. It is a fine resto experience. But I do not think of it in the creative category. sandy

Kinugawa 9 rue du Mont Thabor. There is another on Rue St Phillipe du Roule It is expensive however. Boston

Jacques Genin has opened a shop at 133 Rue de Turenne. 0145772901. He is still keeping the old one going I believe. I do not know if he will still allow others into the factory with a call now that he has a shop. That was a great experience ala Wille Wonka! Does anyone know? Thanks. Boston

I will add a new one. Bigarrade 106 Rue Nollet. Christophe Pele offers his own modern style at a price incredible compared to Le Cinq. It will be interesting for you to speculate on how much of the price differential between the two is in the food versus everything else. And if you want a traditional solid wonderful meal experience I would suggest Le 153 Grenelle. Jean Jacques Jouteux really provides an incredible price quality value here that is really fun with his sister out front. Boston

← Merry and I were in Paris last week. Report to follow but I would like to add to the comments without appearing to " pile on ". We ate at L'Amboise last year with a "regular". In winter with black truffle season. The food was in the "to be expected excellent". The truffle dishes were the only outstanding dishes. I would only say that my wife had similar feelings to Robyn. The service was condecending, the atmosphere was so dark and dreary and serious. That environment seemed to stiffle what I would call the holistic pleasureable participation of the diners with the food, the staff and the restuarant. Unlike Guy Savoy( since it is mentioned above) which has a bright playful beautiful dining space designed for intimacy and an attentive staff that share their pride in the food they serve with the guests. The price quality ratio, experience and difficulty of reservation will not get us back compared to others in a similar category. "Every system is designed to achieve the results it gets" so as Julot says it is more of a club. Sandy

Any advice on eating during nuit blanche. merci. Sanford

I know we are moving off the original subject. I will add a vote for Table de Fes for Morrocan coucous. Bosotn

We recently called for a reservation in October. There seems to be a new approach now. No reservations taken. Instead show up at a time of your choosing and wait to be seated. This is actually a more straight forward approach than a reservation system that goes out so far in the future it does not work and creates ill will in the process. Boston

Just to add some more open sunday discussed in the past: L'Ardoise rue Mont-Tabor 1st Les Fines Gueules 2 Rue de la Vrilliere et 43 rue croix de petete s champs 1st Le Bistral 80 rue Lemercier 17th Le Balzac 3-5 rue balzac Ripaille 69 rue des dames 17th sandy

I would add Market on Ave Matignon and Drouant in the 2nd. have fun.

The Boston Globe today had an interview with Guy Martin. It seems he will open a Sensing on the water front in Boston. The connection is his french friend who managed a hotel in Boston and now is an advisor to this deveoplment project. Merry and I ate at Sensing approx a year ago. To be brief: the food was average, the atmospheric light show was a major distraction and the front room is considerably less warm and conducive to a dining experience than the back. We decided we would probably not return and have not. Is this too harsh? Have things become better? Sandy

Having been in Paris the past week, I absolutely agree. I can also say we know where all the smokers have gone. They have "stormed" the side walks. In front of every store. at the service entrance of every hotel, there are the staff in there beautiful costumes smoking away. Late night Merry and I have waded through the desparate smokers just out side the bar or restuarant having a smoke. I suspect policy will eventually have to deal with this as well just as in the states. sandy

I have enjoyed the elegant and straight forward descriptions of "Bistrot food". How would you all add to the description the "restaurant tweek" versus "home cooking" to the definition. Is it the cooking style applied to ingredients ie techniques that define bistrot? Not all of us have family that select ingredients and combinations and present food as many of the bistrots mentioned in the forum. On the other hand there are many places that still provide food closer or identical to its original form for our working class brothers in Paris and of course rural areas.

for food, service and scale: The Bristol San

We were in Paris in early November and went to make a reservation. We wanted it in February 08. To arm myself because of the expected difficulty, I brought a mango carmel from a visit to Jacques Jenin as a funny " bribe" if needed( they give them to the guests at night). We could not get a dinner reservation. All booked until June 08 if we wanted one then!!!!!!!

21 at 21 Rue Mazarine. Paul Minchelli's resto. Somewhat limited menu but fresh fish done well. Worth it if you are in the neighborhood . Boston

Let the games begin: Classic Brasserie Lipp Classic bistrot La maison du Jardin Bustling fun place Cinq Mars neo bistrot Le Cameleon gastro-bistrot Le Violon D'Ingres Fish Gaya meat Unico oyster Le Bar a Huitres Post Modern Ze Kitchen

another possibility but I am not sure of the hours of operation L'Orenoc in the Hotel Meridien Etoile 81 Bd Gouvion Saint Cyre good and wide selection, reasonable and child friendly. Sandy

maybe a different approach based on our roles; "friends": some restaurants provide comfort food and comfortable relationships like our friends. Sometimes we get reacquainted and spend periods of time together. Sometimes we don't see each other for awhile but when we do we take off right where we left off and... we are willing to over look some transgressions because they are our fiends but like our friends this has a limit. for me la maison du jardin is such a place. the critic: sometimes we are the critic and we are judging the restaurant and sometimes we say we are judging the restaurant but we are actually judging the "critic" that sent us there. Here we have strict standards and little leeway. both the critic and the friend: sometimes we find a restaurant that is both on the trendy edge and our friend like Ze for me or Violin D'Ingres ( pick a Constant). Our critical expectations are always present and because it is a "friend" we are that much more delighted where they are realized. However consistency can change our relationship. We are all entitlted to play any of these roles. Sandy

My thoughts having done the "journey" in a past life. For first timers to come back for more. Lasserre- still the best overall show in town for my money Ducasse Plaza Athenee- the street walk, the place, the food L'Arpege- always an experience to talk about Le Meurice- just elegant Le Bristol- the same Pre Catelan- its June Baccarat Musee and restuarant - beautiful Le Violon D' Ingres- real and exciting

This is my first response as a member. If I valued discretion, I certainly would not make this my first foray into culinary quick sand. Nor can I claim the sensibility to comment on Michelin stars. This is a wonderful restaurant and a pleasure to eat at in every way. By way of comparison however, my wife and I have eaten at Taillevent, L'Arpege, Ducasse at the Plaza Athenee and L'Ambroise over the past 18 months. I do not feel the food at Taillevent measured up to the inventiveness and presentataion of these others. In the spirit of full disclousure I also prefer the "show" and stylized service at Lasserre to that of Taillevent . Finally I much prefer the food available in the recent wave of wonderful restuarants that John keeps us up to date with than any of these. That is where the value and much of the creatvivty is today, literally for my money. Boston