Jan 08:L’Entêtée, Doudingue, La Maree Denfert

[John Talbott]

Jan 08: L’Entêtée, Le Doudingue, La Maree Denfert, Garance

And a lotta golden oldies.

7.5 L’Entêtée, 4, rue Danville in the 14th, 01.40.47.56.81, closed Sundays and Mondays, has a cool website, a 30 year old chef, Julie Ferrault, who trained with Roland Durans of Passiflore, delivered a baby about two months ago (without stopping work) and presents a 12 € soup a volonté, a 30 € menu-carte at both lunch and dinner and a 20 € menu for 3-courses with no choices - but I ordered it anyway since it sounded superb: a cappuccino (soup) of champetre mushrooms with a creamy greenish garlic sauce on top, nicely undercooked biche with a smoky sauce and a fondant of chocolate that was every bit as good as Colette’s negresse en chemise (the politically-incorrect name given to this recipe by my “French Mother” who made it for me, long ago, when I lived with her family while on the Experiment in International Living) ; and just to keep this run-on sentence running, Colette had a great meal as well – with a “tarte tatin” of endives with goat cheese, farm-chicken tenders with a coriander sauce and rice (ris au lait) made with coconut milk and an apple tart with a “mousse” of caramel of salted butter. Wow. Can I say more; this is 2008’s Spring, Clocher Pereire, l’Epigramme or Afaria – run don’t walk. Cost, 80 €.

Should one go? Definitely

A local, nothing more, nothing less.

2.1 Le Doudingue, 24, rue Durantin in the 18th, 01.42.54.88.08, open everyday for dinner and also Sundays for lunch and dinner, is a place that restoaparis, a quirky web-site speaking to young, middle-class (whoops, there are no classes here), branché folk loves, saying that since its opening in 2002, it’s increasingly gained boosters. Tonight was no exception - it was full to the rafters – for a place with 23 and 25 € menus, a lot with 4 € supplements, it takes reservations like Gagnaire, with good reason, there are only 24 or so covers and many are slouching seats in the bar area (but now, of course, they have to exit to smoke, ahhhhh, no comment.) Anyway, Colette and I went on our traditional send-off for her last night – the rules being – walking-distance, reasonably-reviewed, interesting-sounding, not too pricey and not too heavy, having had a good lunch. She started off with a flavor-less, vegetarian lasagna too heavily covered with cheese and progressed to a so-called risotto with pears, aka, rice pudding, which on her scale of 1-10 (10 being l’Ebauchoir and 1 being Library-paste) was a 5. She loved the PerleNoire Corsican wine though. Me, I had only magret de canard slices (perfectly done; ie, burned on the outside, raw on the inside, as ordered) interspersed with pineapple slices and accompanied by half-nice half-crisp/half-soggy sweet potato “chips.” The bill was 66.50 € (no comps, etc). Welcome, service, etc was impecable. The verdict:

If you’re looking for “the” place in Montmartre, this is it; for geezers, tho’, the din of music and wish for the megots of yesterday are too much.

Not our cup of sea.

2.0 La Maree Denfert, 83 ave Denfert Rochereau in the 14th, 01.43.54.99.86, open 7/7, sister of La Maree Passy, where I’ve eaten well but Colette has not, is red all over and at least on this Sunday had horrific hip-hop music blaring from the apartment above drowning out their sound system. It’s less crowded than La Maree Passy, but has much the same menu. The salmon rillettes amuse-gueule was wonderful as was Colette’s generous portion of roasted langoustines. But from that point it was downhill all the way; our other two firsts were “odd-tasting,” a scallop, celery and chestnut soup and great fried giant gambas marred by a strange tandoori batter; my main, a turbotin, was simply bad product and the crepes suzettes were nul. Two dishes were so hot one could not eat them until a 10 minute wait, the service was amateurish (not clearing the knife with the amuse-gueule, scraping the fish bones and uneaten food from one plate to another at tableside and forgetting our coffee order), plus the paper towel in the toilet was of so cheap a quality that you couldn’t pull out a complete sheet. The bill = 90 €.

Should one go? If you don’t trust me, yes.

Colette has urged me to update Garance, coordinates given in my review, in the 11th, where we had another meal with excellent product (tempura of squid, scallops, veal liver, mesclun and fresh winter veggies), good wine and reasonable prices plus a new digestif (for me) Manzana Verde (green apple). Cost for two = 77 € (no comps etc.)

[pierre45]

Jan 08: L’Entêtée, Le Doudingue, La Maree Denfert, Garance

And a lotta golden oldies.

7.5 L’Entêtée, 4, rue Danville in the 14th, 01.40.47.56.81, closed Sundays and Mondays, has a cool website, a 30 year old chef, Julie Ferrault, who trained with Roland Durans of Passiflore, delivered a baby about two months ago (without stopping work) and presents a 12 € soup a volonté, a 30 € menu-carte at both lunch and dinner and a 20 € menu for 3-courses with no choices - but I ordered it anyway since it sounded superb: a cappuccino (soup) of champetre mushrooms with a creamy greenish garlic sauce on top, nicely undercooked biche with a smoky sauce and a fondant of chocolate that was every bit as good as Colette’s negresse en chemise (the politically-incorrect name given to this recipe by my “French Mother” who made it for me, long ago, when I lived with her family while on the Experiment in International Living) ; and just to keep this run-on sentence running, Colette had a great meal as well – with a “tarte tatin” of endives with goat cheese, farm-chicken tenders with a coriander sauce and rice (ris au lait) made with coconut milk and an apple tart with a “mousse” of caramel of salted butter.  Wow.  Can I say more; this is 2008’s Spring, Clocher Pereire, l’Epigramme or Afaria – run don’t walk.  Cost, 80 €.

Should one go?  Definitely

A local, nothing more, nothing less.

2.1 Le Doudingue, 24, rue Durantin in the 18th, 01.42.54.88.08, open everyday for dinner and also Sundays for lunch and dinner, is a place that restoaparis, a quirky web-site speaking to young, middle-class (whoops, there are no classes here), branché folk loves, saying that since its opening in 2002, it’s increasingly gained boosters.  Tonight was no exception - it was full to the rafters – for a place with 23 and 25 € menus, a lot with 4 € supplements, it takes reservations like Gagnaire, with good reason, there are only 24 or so covers and many are slouching seats in the bar area (but now, of course, they have to exit to smoke, ahhhhh, no comment.)  Anyway, Colette and I went on our traditional send-off for her last night – the rules being – walking-distance, reasonably-reviewed, interesting-sounding, not too pricey and not too heavy, having had a good lunch.  She started off with a flavor-less, vegetarian lasagna too heavily covered with cheese and progressed to a so-called risotto with pears, aka, rice pudding, which on her scale of 1-10 (10 being l’Ebauchoir and 1 being Library-paste) was a 5.  She loved the PerleNoire Corsican wine though.  Me, I had only magret de canard slices (perfectly done; ie, burned on the outside, raw on the inside, as ordered) interspersed with pineapple slices and accompanied by half-nice half-crisp/half-soggy sweet potato “chips.”  The bill was 66.50 € (no comps, etc).  Welcome, service, etc was impecable.  The verdict:

If you’re looking for “the” place in Montmartre, this is it; for geezers, tho’, the din of music and wish for the megots of yesterday are too much.

Not our cup of sea.

2.0 La Maree Denfert, 83 ave Denfert Rochereau in the 14th, 01.43.54.99.86, open 7/7, sister of La Maree Passy, where I’ve eaten well but Colette has not, is red all over and at least on this Sunday had horrific hip-hop music blaring from the apartment above drowning out their sound system.  It’s less crowded than La Maree Passy, but has much the same menu.  The salmon rillettes amuse-gueule was wonderful as was Colette’s generous portion of roasted langoustines.  But from that point it was downhill all the way; our other two firsts were “odd-tasting,” a scallop, celery and chestnut soup and great fried giant gambas marred by a strange tandoori batter; my main, a turbotin, was simply bad product and the crepes suzettes were nul.  Two dishes were so hot one could not eat them until a 10 minute wait, the service was amateurish (not clearing the knife with the amuse-gueule, scraping the fish bones and uneaten food from one plate to another at tableside and forgetting our coffee order), plus the paper towel in the toilet was of so cheap a quality that you couldn’t pull out a complete sheet.  The bill = 90 €.

Should one go?  If you don’t trust me, yes.

Colette has urged me to update Garance, coordinates given in my review,  in the 11th, where we had another meal with excellent product (tempura of squid, scallops, veal liver, mesclun and fresh winter veggies), good wine and reasonable prices plus a new digestif (for me) Manzana Verde (green apple).  Cost for two = 77 € (no comps etc.)

←

I like your recommendation expressed as "Should one go? if you don't trust me ,yes"