Margaret Pilgrim
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Posts posted by Margaret Pilgrim
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We walked past Spruce on our regular walk last evening. Normally a construction site, the space was lit up and dressed to the nines, literally abuz with staff. We have watched the work progress for months, waiting for a sign to appear or some kind of promo, but it never happened. I couldn't help but go in and talk to the maitre d' who explained that last night was a preview dinner for investors and that this coming week would be its first open to the public.
Opentable explains their focus. A computer glitch prevented them from supplying me a complete menu, but they happily gave me sheets for mains and desserts.
Seared Albacore, sweet corn fondue and braised chanterelles 28
Turmeric Poached Chicken, summer vegetables and garganelli 22
Grilled Bavette Steak, duck fat potatoes and bordelaise 29
Slow Roasted Beef Short Ribs, grilled peach and horseradish subise 27
Honey Lacquered Duck Breast, cinnamon dusted foie gras and plum gastrique 32
Buttered Maine Lobster, golden potato gnocchi, braised lettuces 36
Broiled Mediterranean Sea Bass, tabouleh, cucumbers and tomatoes 29
Monkfish and Mussels Provencial, tender roasted eggplant 28
Charred Berkshire Pork Tenderloin, crispy pancetta and shelling beans 26
All desserts 9
Chocolate and Caramel Fondant, chocolate sorbet and chocolate paper
Charantais Melon Soup, toasted almond and mission fig ice cream
Stne Fruit Bruschetta, vanilla olive oil, lemon verbena ice cream
White Chocolate Creme, hazelnut cake and coffee ice cream
Warm Semolina Cake, Blckberries, honey, mint and frozen Strauss cream
Brioche Beignets, black plum confiture
Large Warm Palmiers
Perhaps its just my taste, but the desserts all suggest more creativity than mains. I'm sorry not to have seen the starter menu, since that is often the section that provides the most interesting plates.
It will also be interesting to see if this new crew can pull off a restaurant in this large space that in the past failed to house a destination dining room. It's only a 5 minute walk from my house, but in the past it has always seemed odd to go out for white tablecloth dining around the corner.
SPRUCE
Sacramento Streeet at Spruce
415.931.5100
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Can anyone provide us the usual flight range of honey bees? I.E., how far do they wander from their hives? My husband and I have often pondered this as we encounter "orange blosson" honey, "sage" honey", "wild flower honey", even "cherry orchard" and "almond orchard" honey and as in Paris, honey collected by several neighborhood beekeepers who label their honeys "Pacific Heights", "Marina" and "Noe Valley", specific areas in San Francisco. Can one really know so specifically where the bee found his necter?
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Jacques Bazin
85 bis, rue de Charenton Paris (12ème)
Métro : Ledru Rollin
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I think you are totally on base, Dave. I think that the comment about the plateau's being left on the table is more a statement about the restaurant's attitude of trust or generosity than the amount of cheese consumed.
Usually, 3 or even 2 is my limit. There is nothing worse than finding that, regardless of how delicious it is, you have suddenly reached capacity and still have a portion of cheese on your plate.
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I think that Dehillerin belongs to a growing body of businesses, restaurants included, whose importance lies in their place in history rather than their current market relevance. The collective "we" were beguiled by Dehillerin at a time when its gleaming but mysterious vessels with decades if not centuries of proven utility, utensils and gadgets for creating the most exquisite creations, guaranteed that our kitchens could look like a pro's even if we couldn't cook like one. Today, we are probably better cooks and professional grade cookware is available everywhere for those willing to pay the price, but there's still unmistakable caché in the subtle imprint of "Dihillerin, France" on one's copper.
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When we asked our hostess for dinner recommendations in the largely rural (grain fields) area of the Amiens-Beauvais-Neufchatel triangle, she sent us to Gerberoy, telling us it was the most beautiful village in France. It is, in fact, so picturesque that it approaches twee. There is a modest restaurant, a creperie and a tea salon, each with a terrace.
(Actually, we left the visiters and a terribly chic wedding party there and drove back into Grandvilliers and ate steak-frites in a quintessential village bar-restaurant packed with locals, apparently the place to be on a Saturday night!)
I do want to go back to Gerberoy with a planned-ahead picnic. I can't think of a lovelier setting.
And, kerrier, I will definitely hang on to your good address, Le Cheval Noir. Many thanks.
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We were on our way to dinner at Spring when we passed a shop that may as well had magnets in its window. I skidded to a halt, checked my watch, saw that we had several minutes and went shopping! My sweet tooth has been subsiding, and I consider myself fairly inured to ordinary patisseries but this place looked far from ordinary. The cakes were fantasies with decorations that looked like they were spun by fairies. No kidding! But what caught my attention were large 15cm sables in vivid color, perfumed with rose, violette or verveine, or sweet-savory ones scented with rosemary or thyme. And large heart-shaped chocolate sables. I bought one of each across the board. I have never seen the kinds of creations that this tiny storefront offered. Another shopper said that the shop was famous in the quarter. I'll make time to return, and next time I'll take zip-loc baggies so that I can isolate and protect the singular flavors.
Aurore-Capucine
3, rue de Rochechouart 9e
metro: Cadet
01.48.76.16.20
Tuesday through Saturday
11h30 to 20h
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Le Grand Pan is a new takeoff on the all-inclusive bargain entrecote restaurants, offering a cote de beouf, cote de veau, pork tenderloin or half lobster. That's it. The first three are priced for two people and range from 45€ to 47€. Lobster (one-half) is served for one person at 37€. First comes a garnished soup-plate and a good vegetable veloute served from a pitcher, good bread. Then a platter of meat, cooked as you wish, and sliced off the bone, salad and a bowl of garlic frites. Salad and frites seem to be "all you want". Quality (bulk) wines are available by the carafe at 7€ for 50cm to 29€ for 100cm depending on the wine. Dessert are the usual crumbles, chocolate mousse, etc.. We settled for coffee instead. Our tab was 59€ including 50cl wine and coffee.
20, rue Rosenwald, 15e
01 42 50 02 50
Closed Saturday noon and Sunday
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We recently enjoyed three nights at Relais des Abbesses in the beautiful village of Chateau Chalon in the Jura. Chateau Chalon sits on a precipice overlooking the vineyards that produce the grapes for the region's famous Vin Jaune. The Relais is the retirement venture of Agnes and Gerard Vidal, who had previously owned a restaurant in the region. Our large and airy room had a view over western Jura that extended into the Bresse plain.
Breakfasts were vast and varied: the usual baguettes and croissants, cake, both comté and cancoillotte (local soft, fresh white) cheeses, fresh fruit (peaches), stewed prunes, sugar and/or cream tartes, muffins, yogurt, a variety of housemade preserves, juice, coffee and teas, hot milk, all in quantity.
Dinners were equally delicious and generous: starters of salmon tartare with warm lemon sauce; tomato, cheese, basil and pasta tarte served with sliced morteau sausage; an extraordinary foie gras of Bresse chicken with Vin Jaune gelee. (Madame Vidal explained that select Bresse chickens were raised in cages and fed a diet of cornmeal, producing a fat liver almost identical to that of duck or goose. She emphasized that these chickens are not finished by gavage.) Green salad was served after the apetizer, along with tomatos, hard boiled eggs, sometimes grated carrots, sometimes white asparagus. Main courses ranged from roast pork with mushrooms served with green and mangetout beans, trout in Vin Jaune sauce and sauteed potato, veal with morels in cream and Vin Jaune. Cheese plateaus each night included Comté, Morbier, St. Marcelin and Polignaise, a delicious but obscure local cheese. Desserts included chocolate tart with vanilla ice cream, vanilla tart with red fruit, chocolate marquise with banana sorbet and caramel sauce. Wine was a local cuvee in generous quantity.
Other guests were Belgian and French couples and families. Mealtime conversation was varied in language and topic. Regardless of her guest's interests, Mme Vidal had a seemingly endless supply of local recommendations: historical sightseeing, hiking, brocante and, of course, cheese and wine tasting. Towns of Poligny, Arbois, Champagnole, Clairvoux, Lons are all easy drives.
The cost? Our large room was 60€ a night, breakfast for two included. Dinners were 20€ a person, wine included. There was an 8€ supplement for morels one night. Our total tab including all taxes, for three nights and three dinners, was 337€.
This address is a keeper.
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So there we were at our table d'hote in the heart of Bresse, one that prides itself on serving local wine and using local ingredients and what are we served with drinks? Apericubes. That's right, Apericubes. But don't flinch. The Laughing Cow factory was only some 20-30km away in Lons. Local and traditional are in the eyes of the beholder.
Seriously, we found or heard about Apericubes everywhere: at the chambre d'hote, from two of our favorite deskmen in Paris, from French friends. Those addictive cubes are ubiquitous. My husband even hauled home an assortment!
(Me? I like poivre verte best! ) -
Our dinner here week before last was arguably the best of our two week stay in France: carrot soup with foie gras, cabillaude with beets, chorizo, mint, green heirloom tomatoes, superb dressing; spoon tender veal (sous vide?) with potato and almond puree, slivers of grilled eggplant, jus, house potato chip(s), orange marinated dried apricot; peaches, apricots, (strawberries?,) raspberries, cherries in vervane soup, knob of ganache, pistachios and mint, Crement du Bourgogne which we drank throughout the meal. As Daniel explained to us, don't look for a repeat of this menu or even of any single plate. He makes it up as he goes along, guided by market availability and his own daily whims.
His delicious plates are considered and thoughtfully put together, without gratuitous garniture or duplication of ingredients within the meal. As if that weren't enough, Daniel comes across as a genuinely good person. What a lovely address!
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Our experience is tangential to your question. Whenever possible we stay in chambre d'hotes that offer table d'hote in the evening. In the area you mention, we have very much enjoyed several stays at La Tuiliere set in a vineyard on a hill above Cadenet. Clotilde sets a lovely breakfast and provides a delicious evening meal by reservation/request. In good weather, it is served in on a long table in the courtyard. There is also a common room with hospitality facilities. We loved our two room unit (Le Grenier) that consisted of bedroom and little sitting room, with its own outside entrance (see the picture of a flight of steps leading to two red doors on the home page). We loved sitting on our own private terrace, enjoying wine made from the vines we looked out on.
We found Cadenet very central to visiting the western Luberon, driving as far south as Aix, west as Arles and Avignon, north as Sault, east as Riaz. At table, we met people from as far as Switzerland and Isreal as well as from other parts of France, but no English or Americans. There is a pool to welcome you home in the afternoon, and several fine restaurants in Lourmarin, several km north for splurges.
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le lundi de 15h à 19h, du mardi au vendredi de 10h30 à 14h et de 15h à 19h.
Obviously this is a shop that still keeps what we used to call bankers hours.
Those look like standard French openings to me. Except for the grand magazins, you can't go wrong by assuming that your target shop will be closed at least mornings on Mondays, and for lunch on other days that it is open. In fact, you are safe to think a shop closed from 12h30 to 15h. We've gone on many a fruitless goosechase assuming otherwise. -
A friend just called asking me for directions for French wines or digestives made from green almonds. Apparently, she acquired a sack at this morning's farmer's market. And has enough to share, should I come up with a recipe.
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....a proper quincaillerie. We are lucky enough to have one in Caylus, a village near to us, they are amazing. All the good old fashioned canning stuff, great pots, pans and containers for everything. Seemingly every bit & bod of hardware one could ever ask for. It goes on & on as does the shop. I swear that they must have at least 6 caves only 4 of which I've been privileged to visit.
Yes! You said it so much better than I. I think first of the one in Barjac in the Gard.
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Whilst being a fan of Mr Bricolage, for those of you who enjoy buying such diverse objects you must like me make an effort to visit the many 'vide greniers' especially in the small villages....
sorry if a little off topic.
david
Vide greniers and brocantes and food are the triumvirate that bring us to France time after time. And thanks, Lucy, for the vinegar pot heads up. A friend brought us two different mothers this last Friday.
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My favorite couscous places are also the simplest; unfortunately the best of all (La Mitidja, a Kabylian joint on rue Lacépède) is now closed...
I'd read previous praise for La Mitidja, mentally noted that we "really should" go there, but we hadn't done it. There's a lesson to be learned here.
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Every American heading for Paris is told to check out the basement of BHV, arguably the world's more extraordinary hardward department, but equally arguably one of the world's most expensive. The housewares departments of the grand magazines carry just about every kitchen or dining room tool and accessory, again at a price.
We always leave home with a shopping list for whatever country store, droguerie, that might be on our route, and my husband should have a transferable bumper sticker that reads "I brake for Mr. Bricolage".
What do we buy? rubber jar rings for pennies and in all sizes; olive oil soap, including those wonderful oval hollow oval bars that fit on a chrome rod (found in lesser loos, but fun for informal washing stations); shrink-to-fit plastic wine bottle covers, for sealing partial bottles you want to transport in a car as well as for homemade alcohols; the best bottle brushes I've ever found, again for pennies compared to home or BHV prices; Laguiole knives at (more) sensible prices.
The list and the lust goes on.
What are your exurban finds?
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Very good point, and one that many readers might not understand. Americans, for one, tend to think it necessary to add lots of flavors/seasonings to sauces, while in France the cream itself has different nuances depending on its region or breed of cow.Sauces do contain cream, but it goes far beyond that: cream is the sauce.Chicken or pork. An apple. Calvados. Cream. Dinner.
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Thanks, milkman. The Bugey tart had a topping rather than a filling, much like a 14" rich crusted pizza with 1/4" slightly sweetened cream on top. Were I to wing it, I would probably make the "quick" raised crust and top it with sweetened creme fraiche.And if you Google for "galette a la creme" you will find recipes (in French). It rather depends what flavour of galette you want the filling to contain - frangipane, almonds, marron, hazelnut, lemon, coconut.....I don't know what the Perouges version contains. -
To my husband's delight, I have found a recipe for la Galette au Sucre that he has enjoyed at fairs in the Bugey area of eastern France. However, the recipe calles for levure alsacienne. How does this differ from the sachets that are commonly called for? Or is this yeast?
Also, does anyone have instruction for making the other galette proposed in in this region, the Galette au Creme? I think that they both originate in Perouges.
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Perfect, Pti. Will report back.
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After Friday night's dinner guests ravaged my last jar of black cherry preserves lovingly brought home from Pays Basques, I bought several pounds of ripe Bing cherries, our local variety, at an orchard stand yesterday. I plan to put up several jars, following normal preserving methods.
Are there any trucs I should mind?
(FWIW, this preserve is heavenly with ewe and goat cheeses such as Manchego or Petit Basque, also cow's milk cheeses, like comte.)
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I'll be upfront and say that our reaction to LRdV some years ago was less than need-to-return, although we did accompany friends several times. Okay, for the money you get a pleasant little salad, a plate of sliced steak and frites. Could be worse. But I can't understand the enthusiasm over the so-called secret sauce, to say nothing of the willingness to stand in line at opening and before second sitting.
How would you describe the sauce? How would you try to mimic it? Would you bother?
3 star etiquette and what to expect for us virgins
in France: Dining
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