Dec 08 - Bistro 121, Chardenoux, Beaujolais

[John Talbott]

5.8 December is off to a terrific start.

Bistro 121, 121, rue de la Convention in the 15th, 01.45.57.52.90, open 7/7 with an “autumn menu” at 17 (today: a petoncles salad, boudin noir and potatoes and charlotte with framboises {ah an autumn fruit?}), two courses off the menu-carte for 26 and three for 32 €, is a place (as Emmanuel Rubin noted) was an iconographic bistro in the 1960’s and I recall coming here along with the Bistro d’Hubert, Chez les Anges + Aux Lyonnais every time I visited. Its signature dish then was a terrine of veggies (green beans, carrots, leeks, etc) that was beyond description. A few years ago I drifted by and was appalled by the prices and the fact that it had a voiturier (both now rescinded.) When I read that it had reopened under new guidance though, I was drawn back and I’m glad. The amuse bouches were classic cheese sticks that were quite good and the bread for boulangerie-bought was OK. Tempted as I was by the petoncles, I ordered brochettes of shrimp with lemon grass, baby tomatoes, beet greens, mango slices, pine nuts and grape seeds with a perfect peppery dressing. Then I had a beautifully and correctly cooked veal kidney with mushrooms, carrots and {for me} unusually good potatoes. Both dishes sound too busy – Aspen/LA/Los Vegas type busy – but like Daniel Rose does at Spring, the ingredients didn’t fight with each other and they seem simple not busy. Problem(s): for the first 30 minutes there was only one wait-person and he was busting his chops serving 22 covers (of 40 places total.) The Lavazza coffee and canelés were a fine ending to a fine meal. My bill (with ½ of wine, no dessert or bottled water) was 41 €.

Go? Welcome back 121! And it’s open Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays for lunch and dinner too.

4.5 What is Cyril (Lignac) doing with this food?

Chardenoux, 1, rue Jules Valles in the 11th, 01.43.71.49.52, open 7/7 has 2 courses (2+2+2) for 24 on the chalkboard and 29 € for three but I went with the carte. {Backstory: the reviews of this, Cyril Lignac’s second location, have been tough for me to cipher out (Rubin: “pleasant”, Simon, in English yet: “dazzling, charming……but not my cup of tea.”)} So I figured I had to go to decide for myself. I’m glad I did but not sure how glad. The place is its old charming self, up at the butt end of Paul-Bert, with that classic bar and those mirrors, etc, as befits one of Paris’s oldest. Space is jammed but not too bad (l’Ami Jean is bad). The amuse-bouche is a traditional salmon tartare/creamy/thing that was quite good with great bread (as was the second bread served afterwards). I had the charcuterie from his friend in the Ospital (joke, joke) that was also very good and spicy but a bit too much for a 1st. About now the waiter (Lawrence Mentil – we traded cards) primarily paying attention to me had struck up a conversation, quickly outing me with - “So who do you write for?” He and the other two I dealt with were super-professionals, putting to shame those who are not, example: for the first time in a month, I never touched the wine bottle - magically they anticipated every sip. I then had the cassolet and this is where Cyril’s inventiveness, creativity and pushing-the-envelope puzzled me – what was the sauce? what were the cuts of meat? where did that strange but nice taste come from? This is not my, Escoffier’s, Mark Bittman’s, the Auberge Pyrenees-Cevennes’, etc., cassoulet, but the beans were super and the sauce got my attention. For dessert, I had the baba, which was served with two rums (a vintage St Lucia and an unyeared Martinique that I and the wait guy liked best.) At the end, they passed around hot Madeleines straight from the pan; a great touch. With a glass of wine, NB: the glasses of wine start at 7, bottles at 27, no bottled water, 3 courses and coffee the bill = 50 €.

Go? I don’t know what to tell you and my friends’ advice has been mixed: tough call.

2.0 Gosh, once again I rate a place much lower than Emmanuel Rubin and Alain Fusion.

Le Beaujolais d’Auteuil, 99, blvd de Montmorency in the 16th, 01.47.43,03.56, open 7/7, featuring a 29.50 € menu, a la carte 35-45 €, is located (for me) way to hell and gone at the Porte d’Auteuil but it was a lousy day, so what? The bread and butter and water arrived, the bread was super and the butter even better. I liked the sound of the 29.50 € (wine incl) menu with a choice of eggs mayo or mushroom soup; tongue with piquante sauce and unusual vegetables, salmon unilaterale and (huh) moussaka; and a “minestrone” of roasted pineapple. But, but, but. While the mushroom soup was OK the piquante sauce was not piquante at all and tongue being tongue – it needed a boost and mustard didn’t do the trick and the vegetables were hardly unfamiliar, being turnips, parsnips, carrots and potatoes. The pineapple was fine but I’m not sure why it was called a “minestrone.” The topper was I had to wait 20 minutes for a coffee when there were ample staff except that Madame was like the “line cops” at airline counters and immigration checkpoints – she oversaw but didn’t either see or pitch in. My bill was at least easy = 32.30 €.

Go? I can’t think why.

1.1 Boy, at this rate, soon I’ll have no more colleagues=friends=food recommenders.

La Laiterie Sainte Clotilde, 64, rue de Bellechasse in the 7th, 01.45.51.74.61, closed Sundays {Alexander Lobrano’s website says it’s open then; I forgot to ask}, charging 25-35 € has been favorably reviewed by all the folks I respect. So I went with high hopes. It’s just up from the Orsay Museum (thus a great possibility for tourists) but is also nearby all the Ministries (of whose ministers, subalterns and lovely looking women in sub-ministerial posts were all at lunch). (The Ste Clotilde comes from the nearby church, in whose chapel I suffered through a freezing and dismal concert one night at Colette’s request many years ago). In any case, I entered, ready for a good feed. The stuff mentioned in all the reviews was not on the carte (oeufs mayo, raie salad, rabbit in cider, paleron de boeuf, etc) and I ordered the winter salad of endives, blue cheese, pear bits and walnuts rather than the Caesar, mushroom soup (again) or foie gras (again). It was OK. Then, rather than the lamb chop or beef I had the rascasse with black olives and zucchini flan; sounded good, unh unh, no there, there. I had 1/2 of the fish and 1/4th of the flan. To get my 24 € worth, I finished with a chocolate mousse that was fantastic. Is that because I haven’t had one in years, because Colette no longer does it, because I felt cheated/owed/etc? I don’t know but it was a great ending (oh yes, the bread was warm and house made). With two glasses of bio-natural-unfiltered-etc. Cotes de Ventoux, coffee but not bottled water (the Ministers didn’t either) the bill = 34 €.

Go? Apparently the big boys got something I didn’t.

0.0 I couldn’t wait to get out.

Chamarré Montmartre, 52 rue Lamarck in the 18th, 01.42.55.05.42, open 7/7 {it says}, with lunch menus at 29 and 35 (2 and 3 courses respectively, including ½ lt of water and coffee) and 47 and 52 € at night, menu carte-blanche 65 €, is a place about which there’s been a bitofadispute lately. Rubin gave it a busted heart (unfortunately, calling it sad Carribean stuff, mistaking the Caribbean and Indian oceans), Demorand compared it to Vongerichten and Roka’s productions and Brissaud said she’d probably be in the middle. Well, let me state up front that Rubin is spot on. OK, why? (Back story: the place (ex-Beauvilliers is cursed and has been ever since it got rid of its star, flowers and crusty old look and went under the baton for three years of Yohann Paran, ex-De Lagarde and now Antoine Heerah, who, while much beloved by eGullet members, including me, at the old Chamarré, didn’t impress me much at Le Moulin de la Galette which I gave a 2.3 to in September 2007}. But never one to pass up a food fight, especially among Rubin, Demorand and Brissaud, I went. It’s totally different from either of its recent incarnations, with a semi-open kitchen and etched glass partition, fancy-schmancy décor, tables etc., and silverware (almost imitating Ducasse NYC’s pocketbook cushion, knives and pens). They offered four amuse-bouches - two spoons of chopped beef and fish with veggies and spices, a samosa and the best pumpkin soup of the Fall and five house-made breads, the one made with curry totally escaping me. There are three columns on the carte: Indian, Franco-Mauritian and Far East and one can pick and choose. I thought I should stay close to home, i.e., France, so I started with the cuttlefish served three ways – the tempura was horrid, the raw stuff, so what, and the diced one with spices the best of the lot (but in fact the 5 little spicy dollops around the edges of the plate were best of all). Then I had the fancy-schmancy wild Garenne rabbit rollatines (6 € supplement) with foie gras and dozens of other ingredients that I could neither keep track of nor cared to. I didn’t finish it, quickly ordering coffee, finishing my wine and deedeemowing out of there. Anything else annoy you John? Yes, the wines on the short (read easy to find) carte were more expensive than those exposed when digging into the long one. One’s bill, taking two dishes, bottled water, coffee and wine (no dessert) with no supplement could be 50 € but the price-quality is the issue.

Go? To a place that’s confused as to what it is featuring, serves American cocktails and plays Sinatra?

Edited December 6, 2008 by John Talbott (log)

[Ptipois]

About now the waiter (Lawrence Mentil – we traded cards) primarily paying attention to me had struck up a conversation, quickly outing me with - “So who do you write for?” He and the other two I dealt with

I find a bit of a puzzle here. Laurence Mentil is not the waiter and, besides, not a he. She is a tall blonde, and Cyril Lignac's assistant, and in some ways his manager, and she is usually in their office in the Champs-Elysées. Whose card did you really get?

As for Simon, he and Cyril Lignac are both employed by the same TV channel, M6. You have the key to the riddle.

Edited December 6, 2008 by Ptipois (log)

[John Talbott]

About now the waiter (Lawrence Mentil – we traded cards) primarily paying attention to me had struck up a conversation, quickly outing me with - “So who do you write for?” He and the other two I dealt with

I find a bit of a puzzle here. Laurence Mentil is not the waiter and, besides, not a he. She is a tall blonde, and Cyril Lignac's assistant, and in some ways his manager, and she is usually in their office in the Champs-Elysées. Whose card did you really get?

As for Simon, he and Cyril Lignac are both employed by the same TV channel, M6. You have the key to the riddle.

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Interesting; it was definately a man who gave me the card. (But you're right, he wrote it in) Maybe all he wanted was a copy of my report sent to her.

[Ptipois]

Interesting; it was definately a man who gave me the card.  (But you're right, he wrote it in)  Maybe all he wanted was a copy of my report sent to her.

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I find it very interesting that a waiter gave you Laurence's card. I have never seen that sort of thing before. They must be desperate for positive reviews and this is not the first time I've noticed that they are watching anxiously for any journalist that flutters by. Meanwhile they must be having fun at the Bistrot Paul-Bert...

Edited December 6, 2008 by Ptipois (log)

[John Talbott]

Interesting; it was definately a man who gave me the card.  (But you're right, he wrote it in)  Maybe all he wanted was a copy of my report sent to her.

←

I find it very interesting that a waiter gave you Laurence's card. I have never seen that sort of thing before. They must be desperate for positive reviews and this is not the first time I've noticed that they are watching anxiously for any journalist that flutters by. Meanwhile they must be having fun at the Bistrot Paul-Bert...

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I should be specific that it was the Chardenoux generic business card with her name and tele # written in.

And the Bistrot Paul-Bert was jammed that day too, Temps au Temps was so-so; only Unico looked to be struggling.

[Ptipois]

I should be specific that it was the Chardenoux generic business card with her name and tele # written in. 

And the Bistrot Paul-Bert was jammed that day too, Temps au Temps was so-so; only Unico looked to be struggling.

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The fact that it was the restaurant's generic card does not change the bottom line of the story. It all comes clear when you study the Lignac business plan over the years a little bit.

And I do know that Paul-Bert was jammed. If I wrote that they must be having fun, it's because they have never needed, and never will need, to give a business card over the counter hoping for positive reviews.