Felice

I would go to any of the so called “bistronomique” (gastronomique bistro) places, most of which are run by chefs who started out in starred kitchens but then choose to go a different route. L’Ami Jean, Chez Michel, Avant Goût, La Regalade, L’Os à Moelle, Le Troquet, Le Beurre Noisette etc. Also the restaurants that broke off from those—Entredgeu, Ourcine, and now Ribouldinge. Most of the above won’t cost more than 50 € per person depending on the wine. Ribouldinge is the biggest bargain at only 25 € for their three-course menu. I second John's recommendation for Magnolia for its amazing, whimsical food. I wouldn't be surprised if they got a second-star. Well worth the trek to the burbs. You might want to take a look at the thread about "Jeune Cuisine"as well.

I did go to the newest one on rue Mahler right near the metro Saint Paul, but it's definitely NOT a place I would recommend for business. It's a cute place to get decent pancakes and bad American coffee though.

I have a book that lists the best charcuteries in Paris as Ville de Rodez, 22 rue vielle du Temple. Specialties include: saucisse seche, boudin aux chataignes Gilles Verot, 3 notre dame des Champs, 6th. Fromage du tete, boudin noir. Vignon, 14 rue Marbeuf. Jambon d' york, terrines de gibier. Joel Meurdesoif, 8 rue Albert-bayet Jambon a l' os, boudin, saucisse Charcuterie de la pompe, 129 avenue Victor Hugo Lapin en gelee, chaud-froid de volaille For Boudin they list Charcuterie Charles, 10 rue dauphine.

BEURK! I'm sure you can do a lot better...

I've been to huge dinners at La Grande Cascade. ← I have too and it was very nice. There's another place in Le Bois called Chalet des Iles that we use after conferences at work that people seem to like. You even take a little boat to get to the island and they definitely do large groups. What about a Guinguette ?

Oops, sorry I missed that somehow. I think one of the problems you are going to run into is that for a group of that size most places would be forced to book the entire restaurant for you, something that a lot of places aren’t willing to do. Even if it were advantageous financially, most restaurants don’t want to turn away their regular clientele. If there was a restaurant who knew you, they might, or might even be willing to do it on a night when they were normally closed. You will also want a place that is used to doing large groups, as it’s not something that every restaurant does well. I recently organised a dinner for 30 guests in a restaurant near my work that everyone really likes and the food was pretty terrible when we were there as a large group. We set the menu ahead of time with no choice, which should have made things much easier. I don’t think they were used to handling large groups and it was just too much for them. Now I know not to use them for a banquet. I’m sorry, I realise this isn’t much help. I will ask around to see if there are other choices you might look into.

My response is that brasseries are not tacky at all, a place; a place like Bofinger or Marty would be classic; although a place like Papilles is more like funky; Goumard elegant; Mediterranee light and bright; Senderens pricey but neat; Grande Cascade rustic; it seems to me you have to settle on the tone you want. And by the way, happy 20! ← Tarte Tatin, you didn't say how many you would be.

You know I wasn't sure what they were, but now I realise they must have been white beets, either barely cooked or even raw. I'm surprised I didn't realise at the time, especially since I have even bought Joel Thibault's white beets; I'm sure that's what they were. I guess the name of the dish should have been a big clue

Phyllis, thanks for the review. From it I presume that things seemed settled and polished (as you know the rumors on the street were that Aizpitarte was uncertain of which way to go - a fixed 30 something dinner, a la Comptoir; lunch more mezze-ish or something more complex at both meals, etc.) Is lunch the same three entrees, three plats or is it different, as he did/does at Transvзrsal? And did you see him; i.e., how's he sharing his time between the two. Thanks again, Rubin's three hearts seems merited. I'll try it next week. ← I think the lunch menu is quite different and is only 13 euros. Yeah, I was worried to go so soon, thinking they might not have gotten all the kinks out, but everything was great. The service was friendly, informed, etc. The food was great, interesting wines. This is by far my favorite of his last few restaurants. The only complaint that some of the people I was with had was that we were seated in between two tables of smokers and there didn't seem to be a separate non-smoking section. Edited to add: Yes, we did see him often. During the service he could be seen cooking behind the line and even helped run out a few plates later in the evening.

I went to Inaki Aizpitarte’s latest venture, le Chateaubriand (discussed here), last night and was very impressed. The space itself is quite nice, with a modern bistro look that doesn’t appear to have changed all that much from its last incarnation, but I could be wrong. The crowd on a Saturday night was mixed, with young, hip bobos from the quartier and well-heeled Parisians. At the end of the evening I even spotted Pierre Hermé. And the food? Delicious. I started with the Thon, Betteraves, seared tuna with what I imagine was a beet foam and pomegranate seeds, with a julienne of raw or barely cooked white beets (I think). A friend had the mini-tartare de boeuf à la cacahouète (peanuts), which I regretfully didn’t manage to try but it looked amazing with cubes of fresh beef topped with a tiny quail’s egg. Another friend had the asperges vertes, sesame-- fresh asparagus with what I imagine was a sesame foam. The main courses were equally good. I had a wonderful saddle of perfectly cooked lamb served with a puree of potato and a delicate sliver of eel. Friends had poitrine de cochon, celery rave, réglisse, and the cabillaud vapeur, sauce bourguignon, laitue, pak choy, which, again, I unfortunately didn’t try, but everyone raved about and there wasn’t a speck left on any of our plates. For dessert we all had the rose ice cream with a boulette de lait caillé and lait ribo, which was my least favorite course, but still good. Next time I would try the pot au chocolat, piment d’espelette instead. They also had a cone de chevre and a crotin de Cavignol. For now the menu is limited to only three entrees and three plats. Prices are 30 € for entrée, plat or plat, dessert, or 36 € for all three. The wine list was great as well, with wines from Puzelat, Dard et Ribo, Foulards Rouges, Domaine du Possible and Villemade to name a few. I tried to take a few photos but I obviously need to re-read my camera manual because they came out quite badly. This was the only one that was salvageable—my entrée of thon, betterave.

I was wondering if that was the one Merci Pitipois, I will definitely go back and to try the banh cuon and the bun cha ha noi.

I’ve been to a few Vietnamese places in the last few months and wanted to update this thread. First I’ve since been twice to Sông Huong (129 avenue de Choisy) that I first came across as mentioned above on a Vietnamese message board somehow while Googling for Vietnamese restaurants in Paris. It’s a pretty non-descript place but the food was great. Great nem, bo bun and gigantic steaming bowls of all sorts of soup. I’ve also been twice to La Tokinoise (20 rue Philibert Lucot). The last time I had a wonderful rare beef salad with lemon and cilantro and grilled shrimp and beef served with generous plates of mint, romaine lettuce and parcels of vermicelli noodles. Just the other night I went to a little place called Bida Saigon in the mall on ave de Choisy. It’s pretty much “a hole in the wall” kind of place and my friends were definitely eyeing me with a lot of suspicion as we followed my directions that I had written down last year after reading about it in Zurban. They looked even more suspect when we saw the place. All was forgiven when we got our food though. Great nems and delicious Pho.

You are absolutely right, it’s meant to be a contraction of “bistro and gastronomique” NOT économique. I had saved the supplement from L’Express titled “ Le Phénomène Bistronomie” from February and they credit the term to Sebastien Demorand and quote him as saying “ …on cherchait une expression pour décrire un restaurant qui alliait la convivialité et la décontraction d’un bistro et le coté “grand restaurant” de la cuisine. A partir de “bistrot gastronomique” je me suis amusé à faire la contraction et ça à donné le néologisme ‘bistronomique’ ” . Unfortunately, I think there are plenty of journalists who write about food that aren’t always very interested in it (I’m not saying this is the case for the New York Mag article though). I had a friend who was freelancing in Paris who often wrote stories about food because it was an easy sell. However, she didn’t know very much about the restaurant scene at all and would ask me for ideas of where to go. She was a great writer, but had little to no interest in food.

Here's New York Magazine's take on Paris's restaurant scene, which I came across earlier today. It's much more up to date... ARTICLE HERE

Just a reminder about the tasting at Cave Augé on Saturday, April 29. I went to the last one a few weeks ago which featured wines from Languedoc Roussillon and it was amazing. There were about 15 different wine makers present, each serving several wines. This time it's wine makers from the Loire. More details here

Has anyone mentionned Jouni, Atelier du goût in Nice on this thread yet? I glanced through and didn't see it. I know that I've read at least two articles on it recently, but can't remember where. Jouni, Atelier du Gout

I was in France less than a month ago. As a Chinese with a not-so-big appetite, it seemed the most natural thing to share the food. This was greeted with mild amusement at best to downright disapproval by the French restauranteurs. Interestingly enough a Frenchman I know was asked in Hong Kong if he would like to share his food, and he was utterly amazed at the prospect. I think its time we learn to accept different cultures and customs. ← I think one of the reasons that French restaurateurs frown on sharing is purely from an economic standpoint. Since most French restaurants won’t rush you to give up your table (although this isn’t as true as it once was) and probably only have one or two seatings per service at most, they must count on the fact that customers are there to dine—which in France often means three-courses plus wine. Labor costs are very high in France as are the taxes, so I think it’s pretty hard to make a lot of money in the restaurant business. This might be an interesting question to ask restaurant owners, as suggested by Phrederic in the thread Tourists make restos touristy ?

I'm so happy to hear that you enjoyed your meal at Chez Michel. I have been many times and it was always one of my favorites. Your post certainly makes me want to go back soon. And I'm glad to see you were able to post your photos

There was an article about him a few months ago on the Fooding site which says he now sells wholesale to restaurants, etc. Here's the article http://www.lefooding.com/actualite-13.htm

I just got back from the Boucherie Nouvelle with my gigot de Paulliac. I was told to preheat the oven to 250 and then once it is hot enough to put the lamb in and lower the temperature to 220 and cook for 43 minutes. She said to season with oil, a bit of sel de guerande, and garlic if I like. I will let you know how it turns out tomorrow. Unfortunately I'm not really sure how many kilos it is as it's not marked and I have yet to buy a kitchen scale . My bet is that it's about 2 1/2 kilos.

You're welcome Here's the thread about the Chapeau Melon Chapeau Melon

Nope, I just called and their machine says they are open Tue-Sat, but closed Saturday lunch. Then they tell you to call back a bit later because they don't take reservations on the answering machine. So, call back a little later. You might luck out with the holidays. Daniel, you might also like Chapeau Melon, which may even meet your description of a "hidden place". I wrote up a review somewhere. And I'm sure you would love the Verre Volé.

Wow, that sounds great. I'm going!

Vivre Manger, you never told us how the lamb turned out. I'm hoping it was worth the trip because I just ordered a Gigot to be made for lunch on Monday. I told him him what I wanted to do and he suggested the Pauillac lamb.

People have mentioned this concern before, but at the better restaurants, I’m not so sure that you have to worry about this. In France, the customer isn’t always king as they are in the US, so I think a good restaurant would be much less inclined to alter their menu to suit American or any other nationalities’ tastes. It is not uncommon for a waiter to tell you that you can’t have something a particular way, if it’s not what the chef intended. If you don’t like the sauce on the salmon, you very well might be told to order something else. I remember when I first arrived I was looking for a certain herb and couldn’t remember the name in French, I told the man in the market that it was to be used in a lentil dish and then remembered suddenly that it was tarragon. “Impossible” he chided me, “you can not put tarragon in lentils”. He truly seemed outraged at the very idea. Needless to say, I left with the “appropriate” herbs for lentils—not tarragon--and never mind what my American recipe said, I wasn’t going to argue with a Frenchmen about how to cook lentils.