olivier

Wow, awesome post julot-les-pinceaux, that was exactly the kind of advice I was expecting! I understand your criticism of Herme. Still, I guess there are things I'll always like at his place. The advice about Kayser is particularly valuable, as a new shop of his opened recently near where I work. Never bothered buying anything else than sandwiches there!

I like their baba very much, however, I was a little bit underwhelmed by some other cakes... only tried it once, though. Tried it once, too, and I think I prefer Secco. Couldn't really say why exactly, as I don't remember anything else than the mille-feuilles (which is my benchmark for pastry shops). When there yesterday. There were almost only "verrines" (how does one say that in English?), it was close to 7.30PM, though. Result: didn't bother entering the shop and went home somewhat frustrated. Not really my area, but should I be in this part of town, I'll try to go there.

Thank you for these links. I already checked the compendium, but did not have the idea to look in the "Pastry&Baking" forum... I tend to only visit the "Restaurants..." forums, I guess it's time for me to discover some other sides of eGullet!

I am surprised there is no general topic about Parisian "pâtisseries" yet... if I'm mistaken, do not hesitate to delete/move my post! Anyway, I am a regular customers of pastry shops like Aoki and Herme because they are on my way back home from work, but if I like their simpler pastries, the original ones don't necessarily "do it" for me. All in all, I am really getting tired of the more or less conceptual pastry you see in a lot of shops in Paris. That's why I like Secco so much: there is not much choice, but he keeps it simple and excellent. Recently, I was craving for a simple "tarte aux fruits". I thought Gerard Mulot had some good ones, so I went to his shop, but alas, it is closed for holidays, the "boulanger-pâtissier" right under my appartment is only so-so and overall too pricey for the quality, and I didn't feel like trying a new shop and be disappointed. Of course, I could still bake mine, and that's just what I am going to do, but that's not always an option (even when you have much free time, like me). So, two questions: what are you favorite Parisian pastry shops in general, and what are those that offer very good traditional and simple pastry? (my answer: Secco, Constant when I need my chocolate fix, Aoki for his mille-feuilles)

So, that raises another question: who is gonna take over Les Elysées' kitchen?

In France, "levure" can mean either yeast or baking powder. More precisely, "levure chimique" is baking powder, and "levure de boulanger" would be yeast. I never used "farine avec levure", but, as far as I know, I'm pretty sure that it's flour with baking powder. Just look at the ingredients, if you see "levure chimique" or "bicarbonate de soude", you'll know it's baking powder. Just checked on the Francine website, it definately is baking powder: http://www.francine.com/gamme1.php and click on "farine à gâteaux".

Maybe I'm a little bit too much down-to-earth, but that's exactly what I thought when I read your post about Briffard going to Le Cinq. Or, more precisely "time to pick up the phone and have dinner at les Elysées ASAP!". I had a reservation at les Elysées last year that was cancelled at the last minute (it was when they renovated the dining room, it took longer than planned, apparently), and haven't tried to go there ever since, as I thought I would have plenty of time to do so. Looks like I was wrong, and I still want to taste Briffard's cuisine. Any idea of the timing? I mean, if he indeed goes to Le Cinq, would it be in the next few weeks, or in a few months? I guess it's the former, but I don't know anything about this kind of job...

This sums up my take on ZKG pretty well! Granted, the food is very good on most dishes (thanks to good products and cooking), but I couldn't help being a little bit disappointed. Probably because I had high expectations, and it seemed like what I thought would be "innovative" summed up to a quasi-systematic use of lemongrass, actually. I'm quite used to eating excellent south-eastern Asian food, so I wasn't impressed by anything else than the "good products, good cooking" part and, in my opinion, there are restaurants that offer products/cooking that are at least as good (maybe even better!) at a lower price range, albeit without the exotic influences (ie. I'd rather go to La Régalade than ZKG, even if it were the same price). Don't get me wrong, though, I would recommend it to people who I know like that kind of food, but haven't got the chance to taste those flavors very often.

I ate the very same menu you had last week and thought it was excellent. Two things that might explain our difference in point of views: - Gagnaire was actually there (however, you'd expect his second to perform well when the chef isn't here, wouldn't you?) - although i ate at several 2* and 1* restaurant it was my first three-star experience, and the food quality was just one of the many things that contributed to the overall quality of the meal this evening. I agree with you that the John Dory was absolutely fabulous. Asparagus ice cream + cucumber, I thought it was OK, kind of a savory "trou normand", but the marine overload of the red mullet+oyster+seashells was maybe a little bit too much, especially at that point of the meal. The veal, however, I found really excellent: very good meat, perfect cooking, a simple yet very good red pepper sauce... I couldn't ask for anything else. Cheeses: the camembert "brioche" (more like a "mousse", actually) was quite surprising, as it really retained all the camembert taste with a very different texture. This course also made me discover the "Bleu de Termignon", which I didn't know and really liked a lot. By the way, anyone knows where one can find Bleu de Termignon in Paris? I went to Quatrehomme and they had some, but I guess it wasn't ripe enough, as it wasn't blue at all, and had nowhere near the power of the one we ate at Gagnaire. Well, those were just my two cents ; I'm not as experienced as most of the people who post there, so it is very likely I'm a little bit "too" enthusiastic about Gagnaire. On the contrary, I was kind of disappointed by Ze Kitchen Galerie last month... I hope you won't!

I have not but a March 22nd article in the Times Online titled “French reviewers give Gordon Ramsay a taste of his own medicine” quotes everyone from Simon to Pudlo and the press is rather bad. ← It omits the slightly better review given by Ribault in Le Monde yesterday: http://www.lemonde.fr/aujourd-hui/article/...30060_3238.html Still, not enough to make me want to try it!

exactly, I believe he is the only one to offer vintage Comté like the 2003' we had yesterday. ← That's what I thought until a few weeks ago. Unless I've been lied to, I am pretty confident that I bought some '03 Comté at Fromagerie Quatrehomme about a month ago. It was excellent, but I've never tasted the one offered by Mr. Antony, so I can't compare. Last time I went to Quatrehomme (ie. last Saturday), they only had the 2005 vintage, though. Edit: just to say that although I've been lurking there for a few months, I'm new on the eG forums, so hello all.