Rue du Poteau mkt., cafés, the O.J. restaurant

[Laidback]

What is it about market streets with rotisseries that send me in search of a place to eat? The aroma of roasting ribs, sausages, chicken, etc. must be captured and distributed in a joint marketing effort by all the merchants, cafés and restaurants in the area surrounding the Rue Poteau market.

Today I ventured down to replenish my supply of freshly roasted sausages from Maistre Mathieu and was assailed by hunger pangs from the delicious smells. I resisted the urge to eat in the area cafés where I have had minimal satisfaction before except for the Richard coffee at Reinette which was better than Nord-Sud or the place across from Monoprix which at the former was bitter without the off setting rich flavor, and at the latter, just another undistinquished cup which at least gave me the excuse to sit while Ms. L. bought the necessaries for a couple of months stay at Monoprix.

Our search for lunch at 1st looked promising at the absurdly named restaurant TRUC(with the R so cutely turned backwards), but the attitude of the hostess (not so cute as the backward R)negated that, even though we could see a pleasant looking little court in back.

We had previously noticed an attractive, modern looking place just behind the church where we sometimes catch the bus when overladen with groceries.

Saturday lunchtime presents a shortage of choices and the pleasantness of the hostess, here seen waving goodbye(did I mistakenly over tip?) plus a decent looking menu and hunger pangs pulled us right in.

.

I asked the hostess/waitress if she was aware of the double meaning of O.J. in the U.S. and even though this is not tourist central and they have only been open some 9 months, it seems we were not the 1st American patrons as she explained right away that the name O.J. had nothing to do with either orange juice or a former football player/probable wife slayer. It is simply the initials of the chef, Olivier Jegousse (or something similar that starts with J )

I would like to tell you this was a great discovery, but can only say that we found it better than Oxalis and less than Table d'Eugene in the same neighborhood.

Ms. L. had a velouté de homard with herbed cream that was above acceptable, the soup is brought separately in a bottle

and then poured over the herbed cream

My entrée was a feuillté of sardines with the full rich taste of sardines that I like and my refined partner finds unpleasant

The mains were a good quality, generous, nicely cooked(pink as ordered) veal chop which was the best of dish of our meal

and a full flavored onglet of beef which was above acceptable quality, and cooked saignant.

So what keeps us less than enthused about rushing back? The bread was a very poor baquette that had the flavor of paper napkins and the pommes purée was far from Robuchonesque, using an unpleasant olive oil rather than butter and cream which we prefer.

The price and choices were reasonable

and the bottle of Fleurie was properly chilled and added to the enjoyment, but I just can't understand why a restaurant will serve bread that can be bettered at most any industrial bakery.

[John Talbott]

What is it about market streets with rotisseries that send me in search of a place to eat? The aroma of roasting ribs, sausages, chicken, etc. must be captured and distributed  in a joint marketing effort by all the merchants, cafés and restaurants in the area surrounding the Rue Poteau market.

Today I ventured down to replenish my supply of freshly roasted sausages from Maistre Mathieu and was assailed by hunger pangs from the delicious smells........

Our search for lunch at 1st looked promising at the absurdly named restaurant TRUC(with the R so cutely turned backwards), but the attitude of the hostess (not so cute as the backward R)negated that, even though we could see a pleasant looking little court in back.

I asked the hostess/waitress if she was aware of the double meaning of O.J. in the U.S.

As Mr. Rogers said "Welcome to my neighborhood." Not bad eh? The only things you didn't mention were the two or three great wine shops and Quatrehomme's cheeses.

I would only add that after 3 years I've found that Le Tяuc is only good for the three-rib lamb and OJ was quite disappointing on my one visit.