julot-les-pinceaux

They do fresh stuff. We have had good truffle as late as late March this year.

Went to Sormani yesterday, and the way Pascal Fayet responded to the crisis is by creating a Robuchon-like all included 60€ lunch menu (ie with wine, water, coffee -- 60€ is the bill). Now this may not sound like a great deal (given as it is, after all, mostly pasta) but keep in mind that this was always a ridiculously expensive restaurant and that they are spectacularly generous (they typically offer at least one extra course if you'd like, would serve off-menu items in the menu, almost always adds some drinks). I always thought that this was a place I'd love if only it wasn't that expensive. Sometimes, dream come true, and sometimes there's some upside to tough economic times. Some pics here: http://picasaweb.google.fr/ZeJulot/Sormani#

I think you're spot on. Unfortunately, it's not last year you should have visited to enjoy Fréchon's undiluted talent without the stupid texture plays -- it's ten years ago. And yes, the lunch menu is seriously subpar.

When you say Easter day, do you mean Easter sunday? It's like any other sunday, except, like any holiday in France, it's worth foodwise as open restaurants overcharge, undercook, and are packed with noisy families.

I hear that a lot about l'Ami Louis, and I have no opinion as I haven't been yet. But those prices are only absurd if you can have the same food for less. So mu question is: can you have the same for less? Quite frankly, 78e for a quality whole roast chicken looks like a pretty fair price to me. The coucou de Rennes itself would already cost almot half of that, retail price.

You forgot to mention how snutty and unpleasant the service was at Le 21 -- I almost walked out immediately as I was greeted to "no tourist here!" followed by "Well it's no pleasure to see you" -- but the company made up for it. That said, I'll catch any chance to publicly say something nasty and detrimental about the place. Some pictures of that dinner are there, btw: http://picasaweb.google.fr/ZeJulot/Le21#

Bras' Gargouillou was never an actual dish. In fact, I think it is emblematic of Bras' cooking in that it brings the emphasis not on the garden or nature as it speaks, but on the cooks' gesture, act. In fact, this is why I consider Bras to be one of the chefs de file of the narcissistic school of cooking No one can say how the Gargouillou tastes since it is made of so many distinct flavours (between 30 and 40) and its composition changes depending on the market+harvest. Sometimes it has sauces and sometimes it doesn't. Of course depending on the season you have more flowers or more root vegetables. The same vegetables are sometimes cooked, sometimes raw, sometimes in -between. I think as Bras style evolved, it became even more brainiac, and maybe that's what you see changed from your early experiences, when he was still making food with the extraordinary ingredients he uses.

I don't consider 39 E to be "cheap." I think it's a good value like Clocher's 30 E. It's cheap compared to their ALC prices. Smart boy.

Thanks for the update about the website. Your chances on a saturday are less good than any other day, including for lunch because this is one of the only three star restaurants open saturday for lunch (actually it was the only one until Le Bristol got the third star, I think). But as Robert suggest, in those recessive times, people tend to fight less to spend 400+€ on a meal. I must say that the place seems dead to me, except apparently for its fortunate regulars and long-time diners. But I do have orgasmic memories.

Robert, wasn't your visit before the Nomicos days? The last few visits I made to Lasserre were always flawless and very pleasant, with some dishes quite great. Also, there's something more festive about Lasserre when compared to Ledoyen, which is old and somewhat solemn, I find (not that they don't have the best food in town, mind you). Yossi, to your initial question: the lunch at Robuchon will cost you 55€. The one at Lasserre closer to 100€. Both are excellent value. Lasserre is better and more exciting. Approximately twice so.

It's on the dalle des Olympiades, which means that you have to take the stairs up from rue Tolbiac (métro Olympiades) or from avenue de Vitry (say at the Paris store). There you have a kind of open air mall with pagod-like little houses, all of which are hosting a Chinese or Vietnamese restaurant, but one -- this is Pasta e Basta, the only place in Chinatown where you can have a good expresso. Menus range, off the top of my head, from 35 to 70 app. and are all more or less tasting-like, including an apéritif and a digestif. The bottom line is, you just tell the boss what you like and he takes care of your meal. The food is excellent, one of the best Italian I know in Paris, with excellent light fried stuff, an amazing choice of different hams, etc. But what puts it over the top is the wine choice, which is truly great. If you don't care about wine... well you should go too because that is the kind of place that will convert you. edited to add; rue du Javelot is the correct address to send mail. But it won't help you find the restaurant.

Right. Better not to have too good meals. One gets ruined.

Host's Note: I split this off the topic of Ze Kitchen Galerie: A Revisit because I thought it merited a separate topic. Pierre 45's original post said It's good to know that there are restaurants where the cheap lunch menu is the way to go. My ALC dinner sucked and was expensive.

I have been meaning to go here ever since I read about it in Zurban, years ago and somehow never made it so, thanks Julot, I will definitely put it back to the top of my list for places to try. ← Call me then. If you need further encouragement, check my photo gallery -- http://picasaweb.google.fr/ZeJulot/PastaEBasta# By the way, why did I not list Le Pétrelle? Plafield needs to go to le Pétrelle! This is not for everyone, but those who like it, love it -- http://picasaweb.google.fr/ZeJulot/LePTrelle# Also, tried l'Auberge le Quincy last week and was really impressed. This one too is not for everyone, with its colourful owner and scary food (tete de veau, escargots, pieds paquest, mousse au chocolat à volonté --best I ever had) but I found it worth one star.

I don't know all the places in Paris -- not even all the ones discussed on this board. Actually, it's safe to say that anyone who says they know all about food in Paris is probably lying. In my opinion, this is a bigger obstacle to an objective "top ten" than difference in tastes, which I think are greatly exaggerated. And in my response to this thread, three restaurants are places I went to for the first time over the last two weeks. Anyway, I'll bite too. Le Cinq when Briffard is in the house Chez l'Ami Jean for lunch when I can hang out and be relaxed -- for their foie gras and cote de veau for two Au Bon Accueil -- maybe for their roast chicken (but everything is delicious) Le Bistral (just back from there -- wow, so joyful and good) Lasserre (for the Paris post card feeling, and excellent food) Pasta e Basta (for truly delicious Italian food and wines) Wally le saharien (too unique to miss) Fish (for great wines and fresh food, a feeling of civilization in the middle of a nastily touristy neighbourhood) Au Dernier Métro for a true bistrot experience, cheap and hearty and good Le Sévero (or le Bis) for a frickin' cote de boeuf But I'd still add some quintessential auberge like Le Quincy (just went too, wow too), Parisian bistrot like La Fontaine de Mars or Joséphine.

You're right. One of the wrongest ideas about France is that average, everyday food is good. That would be Italy, maybe, but not France. French gastronomy and good food is fundamentally associated with the idea of privilege. So the standard low price options are just not good, and you need to be very picky there. Actually, you need to be very picky everywhere, hence the guides and the blogs... We have excellent Vietnamese restaurants, but they're not the norm. For high end though, I don't think I agree with you because in my experience, NY high end does not really compete with the best France has to offer. I agree that mid-range in France can be quite good, but I think that the best value is actually found in fine dining, especially at lunch.

What is defined as destination depends on who you are talking about. It's not that everyone's tastes are different (they really aren't that much), but that people have different expectations and interests. In particular there is a question of how much one values simply excellent food (I think this discussion started about Jadis) as opposed to unusual one. For purely excellent food (knowing that you are one focused on it), and following your criteria, I would list Chez l'Ami Jean, la Régalade, Chez Christophe, Ledoyen, le Cinq, Wally le saharien, Au Bon Accueil, le Sévero (and le Bis du Sévero), Likafo, l'Arpège, La Grande Cascade, Pasta e Basta, le Pétrelle. There are also textbook places like La Fontaine de Mars, Lasserre, Joséphine chez Dumonnet, Jadis, l'Auberge Bressane, Gérard Besson, La Table de JR (for lunch), l'AOC, that are like a dream of France. Food there is very good but not "the best", unlike, in my opinion, the ones on my first list. But the overall experience is very perfect and has to do with French gastronomy as part of a lifestyle, a culture, not just an art of cooking. In the "usual" sense of destination dining (unusual experience that feels new and unique), I can't think of any destination dining in Paris save Gagnaire and, maybe, l'Arpège.

I agree. Maybe also this is the tiny little part of the truth in the old NYT controversy about Spain taking over France. It seems that Spain, but moreover those days, Denmark and Germany, are the places where stuff unheard of happens, exciting new things that sophisticated diners will jump on a plane just to taste and be "in". Meanwhile, back at the farm (meaning in France), all we have to offer is the best (and the less good too, alas) of our view of food as part of culture, not fashion.

I loved my meal at Jadis. But seeing at a destination restaurant is a mistake. The guy just cooks. I did not find him "inventive" or "creative". he's just doing good food. My menu, I think, says it all -- oeuf cocotte, rognons and cheese. I strongly recommend the place for very good food at very nice price. But not as destination. I can't think of many bistrots that I would recommend as destination dining, actually. CAJ maybe. I also started practicing with my new photo gear: http://picasaweb.google.fr/ZeJulot/Jadis#

Robert, this is as I wrote: I found that many fine and less fine dining institutions have been seriously lacking seriousness those days, like they were not trying to create an exceptional, or even merely excellent experience. I don't want to point fingers, but the precision of cooking or the quality of juices at Guy Savoy, to name but one, was unworthy of any serious restaurant. The main reason I see is that the model for fine dining is economically and humanly problematic. In times when fortunes are made in a couple of years, why would anyone devote his time and energy to creating a top restaurant, an extraordinary food experience? In that sense, I feel that fine dining has become a form of craft that can only survive on subsidies or crazy devotion, like theatre or opera. Another factor, in my opinion, is the ridiculous emphasis on novelty and fashion from food critics and others, at the detriment of taste and actual quality. In that sense, I found the recent Omnivore food festival quite telling, dominated as it was by good-looking, likeable young men with unimpressive culinary skills. Only the old institutions (Ceruti mostly) and the wonderful Danes saved some room for great food, in my impression (OK, along with some discreet French chefs too).

I am not skeptical about the reason they give. The physical demand of the chef's job are unreasonable by today's standard. It does not matter how passionate, talented and robust you are, at some point there is no good reason to put up with that kind of life. Roellinger was never a very strong person to start with. Veyrat was never reasonable at all, sleeping four hours a night. And the ski accident was very real, as was his inability to walk and his need to go to bed at midnight for the first time in his life. Now both those guys have opportunities to walk out of the job, and still make a good living thanks to book and industry deals. Why wouldn't they? And not only are physical demands extreme -- so are economical ones. If you try cooking a three star meals at home, forget about the skills, it will still cost you as much as getting that meal in a restaurant. For these reasons, traditional fine dining is finding shelter where it is subsidized, meaning mainly in palaces. And independent restaurants either close like Roellinger or get mediocre like l'Ambroisie or l'Arpège. At the same time, young cooks are more drawed to cooking seen as more "modern", which definitely do not have the same demand as traditional gastronomy. As for the Moulin, it's like with les Elysées: maybe there still is a restaurant running by that name at the same location. But the restaurant that had two stars just does not exist anymore. This cannot be seen as a demotion.

Les Elysées is a restaurant that has nothing to do with what it used to be -- just because it's the same name doesn't mean it's the same restaurant. See pics of the new restaurant there: http://picasaweb.google.fr/ZeJulot/LesElysEsPostBriffard02#, Robert, can't remember where I read it, and maybe I'm wrong, but I think le Moulin closed this year.

To clarify, are these deletions or demotions? The difference that I'm drawing focuses primarily on the total absence of stars and the loss of one or two. Am I to understand that the former 2-starred restaurants listed above (I know the fate of the two 3-stars listed) now have no stars? ← All these restaurants closed.

I don't think there can ever be a gurantee that a meal at l'Arpège (or anywhere) will be memorable. My last meal there a couple of weeks ago was pretty mediocre, despite its eighteen courses. But it's always good, and indeed often wonderful. That said, the lunch menu is often as wonderful as the 340e tasting menu. And yes, prices of wines are ridiculous and I would recommend to those who are not offended by the idea to drink water. See pics of that meal there: picasaweb.google.fr/zejulot

That's a long list. I regularly shop at Carrefour, to my satisfaction. Monoprix also has a lot of gret stuff. Here's a first list: - Bernard Loiseau dishes - Rana fresh pasta - Monoprix Gourmet andouillette - Petit pot au chocolat carrefour - Organic cereals and oils Carrefour bio - Agneau de lait Carrefour agir (really good) - Lait de Montagne Carrefour - Beurre bio Carrefour - Pain bio Carrefour