Jan-Feb 09 – Le Café Moderne, Monjul

[John Talbott]

Jan-Feb 09 – Le Café Moderne, Monjul, Clou de Fourchette, Glou, Fidelite

5.0 Definitely better but not cured.

Cafe Moderne, 40 rue Notre Dame des Victoires, 2nd,01 53 40 84 10, closed Saturday noon and Sunday, menu at 30 E, a la carte 35-45, has gone through yet another transition, this by the team at Astier, importing a chef from the Crillon from the Dominique Bouchet era. The interior, which always struck me as box-car modern, remains stunning. This remains very much a businessman's place and was full, except for one table for six which I assume they were holding for a group. The menu was not much different in price from the carte and features three starters (rougets, petit-gris, duck and pintade) and one plat (today a tendron of veal). I liked the sound of it. The rougets were just about the best I've ever had, fresh and beautifully sautéed in olive oil and somewhat complemented with sweet peppers and guacamole [true]. I was all set for a great meal, especially when the glass of 7 E St Emilion was so nice. But the tendron of veal, while most ample, somehow wasn't what I wanted/needed; I know that's unfair, it's like criticizing someone for not writing the book you wanted. But this was simply not like I like it - braised with a thick black red wine sauce - but instead sat atop chopped green and red cabbage with baby carrots on top of it. And it didn't really have any kind of knock- out flavor, no matter salt and which accompaniments one used. With another glass of that fine St Emilion (BTW they have about 50 wines selected by 5 folks, running from 25-80 E), a coffee, no bottled water or dessert, my bill was 47.50E. BTW the service was mezzo-mezzo; fantastically friendly, extremely eager but dismayingly disorganized. Oh and the bread was not up to what their standards should be.

Go again? It's a cursed space and I wish him/them well, but with all the other options, I suspect not.

And now for something completely different.

4.5 Monjul, 28, rue des Blancs-Manteaux in the 4th, 01.42.74.40.15, closed Sunday dinner and Monday lunch, with lunch menus at 14 (2 courses) and 18 (3), Sunday brunch at 19 and a la carte 30 €, has been open for a year and a half. It took me this long to go because Emmanuel Rubin gave it a one heart, but over the 18 months it's acquired more and more fans (notably Richard Hesse for whom it seems to be his favorite place) and I keep seeing it everytime I get my hair cut across the street. My downstairs neighbor and I went today and had an interesting meal; we entered and there was one customer, a situation that lasted until practically the end of the meal when two couples came in. There was no amuse bouche as Hesse described but not to worry. My friend ordered the two-course 14 € menu. She seemed to like both the raviolis of potato and something else which came with an incredibly light emulsion of potato mousse as well as her salmon and potatoes two ways. I had the same very crisp raviolis, almost like crispy dim sum, with a bit more cheese and ham than she inside but I also got an onion "soup" which was really more like onions slowly simmered in broth and a side of the same incredibly light emulsion. Then I had several pieces of nicely cooked monkfish with sesame and some sticks of very spicy (hot) stuff. We had no dessert and our bill with a bottle of Corbieres was 72 €. Later, I actually did get my hair cut and and was talking to the barber asking if he'd been there and what he thought of its cuisine. Yes, he said, and it was traditional French cooking. I disagreed, saying it was fusion-esque Asian-oriented, etc., to which the other custumer piped up with - he's right (meaning me), it's not traditional French. My dining partner agreed and posited that the reason it might have been weakly reviewed and empty is that the French "don't get it" (she's French.) And maybe she's got a point; it's certainly closer to Ze Kitchen Galerie and Carte Blanche than Clocher Perriere or l'Epigramme.

Go? As Monty Python used to imply: if you want something completely different.

4.0 Neither wine bar nor resto, but OK for the nabe.

Le Clou de Fourchette, 121, rue de Rome in the 17th, 01.48.88.09.97, a la carte running one from 20-30 € is in a godforsaken part of the 17th, alongside the train tracks and on a cold day, it seemingly takes forever to get there. But the welcome is warm. Like the Café Moderne, it’s a long box-car room but its bar runs nearly the length of the room like Les Cocottes and it’s very brightly decorated and has an open kitchen so (as opposed to La Fidelite yesterday, one can see what comes out of the frigo, and what’s made anew). The menu is simple and as befits a glorified wine bar, heavy on sliced meats and fish. I ordered the “small” starter of smoked tuna from the Ile d’Yeu (my favorite island in the world) and it with the salmon and anchovies and grilled veggies was a dinner by itself and quite good. Unsuspecting, I ordered a magret de canard, assuming it would be the usual. Now I know magret is often tough, even in my skilled hands, but the chef decided to prepare it in brochettes, which even when supposedly rosé came out tough as leather. In retrospect I probably should have gone for the scallops or shrimp. There were lots of wine choices, running from 3 € a glass on up, the bread was decent and the Illy coffee terrific.

Go again? I suspect not, unless stuck in the area.

2.5 “The restaurant of the month?”

Glou, 101, rue Vieille du Temple in the 3rd, 01.42.74.44.32, closed provisionally Tuesdays, lunch formula 17 on weekdays, a la carte 25-48 €, has received rave reviews and been called “The restaurant of the month?” Four of us went on a Sunday and so I have witnesses to the fact that I’m not just a grouch-puss this month; we consisted of one Americo-Franco, one Franco-Brit, one Americo-Brit and myself. The place is nice, but you can’t eat nice, and stark, but not Philippe, and full of French bobo’s with kids. We had two outstanding wines (one a Table Wine from Languedoc, the other a St Nicolas de Bougeuil) that were both good and good price-quality, the water was good, the bread and coffee OK and then, ah, then, the food. Well, I ordered the Utah Beaches which I was really looking forward to – 10 minutes passed (did I say we were on the second floor, far from the waitfolk?) and word came there were none. So I had the much written about sardinillas with nice lettuce, OK, nothing more, and the three others shared two platters of chorizo, good, but obtainable anywhere. Then against my non-verbal discouragement, two (one American, one French) had 22 € hamburgers that whether medium rare or raw rare were dry as a bone and pretty tasteless and an affront to 22 €. My Brit pal and I each had 4 grilled wild shrimp from Madagascar that were OK, I suppose, for 5.50 € each, with a sweet potato puree that was pretty good. As I implied the service was amateurish, slow as possible and uninformed. Our bill was 169.40 € for four.

Go back? No way to this disaster of the month.

0.5 Q. Can this place survive?

La Fidelite, 4, rue de la Fidelite in the 10th, 01.47.70.19.34, closed Sunday and Monday, supposedly with menus of 16-21 €, a la carte easily 45 € before beverages. My food God, Sebastien Demorand wrote it up in December for Le Fooding and raved about the direction, the “inspirational” food, the prices (21 at noon, 32 at night, with a Cahors at 25 and Saveurs Printanières de Binner at 23 €). Something’s happened and it aint good. After getting locked out of Mon Oncle which only yesterday had assured me it would be open at 12h45 my friend and I scrambled to my “Plan B” - La Fidelite; I assured him that like Mon Oncle, it had been scouted and tested by folks better than we. After a brief journey, we arrived at what looked just like Les Zingots, except for a brilliant, wonderful neon sign outside and the traditional Costes (he informed me) mega-priapic pink Mickey Mouse inside. The carte (there was no “menu” or “formule,” we asked) looked exceedingly ordinary, so much so that my pal suggested that we go back to my place and eat all the goodies I’d purchased for dinner and abandon “Plan B.” Smart man this guy. But no, we stuck it out despite the fact that they were out of two items on the carte, had no wine list and the kitchen was closed for desserts. He ordered the one winner, beignets (made with tempura or phyllo dough) of tomato that were tart and simply delicious. I had the mackerel rillettes, which he claimed were frozen but I thought were merely tired and poor product (the bread was good, as was the Illy coffee, give them their due). But then downhill: his entrecote couldn’t be saved by any amount of condiment and my daurade was (this time I agreed) frozen and poor product. Outa there 69 € poorer.

Q. Can this place survive? A. No, not in that area, with those prices, with frigo food and no nothing. If this is what happens when you cross a Costes with a d'Isny, Lord help us.