Three more new/changed restaurants

[John Talbott]

Three New/Changed Restaurants

Le Bistrot du 6e, 116 Blvd Raspail, 01.45.48.72.16. Four of us ate at this restaurant which had received a nice review by Francois Simon in Le Figaro on June 20th. Our firsts were all bad: the sautéed encornets tasted or indeed were pig ears, my pal’s shrimp were dry & small and the ladies' salads were so-so. Our seconds, especially the fish dishes – daurade prepared two ways: one crisp, the other whole, and a bar - were better, as was my pastilla with pigeon. Our bill was 150E for four.

Sumai’s Café, 33 rue de Vaugirard, 6th, 01.42.22.39.00, was reviewed somewhat ambivalently June 28th by Francois Simon in Le Figaro; e.g. he criticized the slowness of the service, the limpness of the dishes, the noise and the smoke. Four of us agreed that the entrees (gaspacho and sautéed morilles) were fantastic but Colette and I thought the fish (sandre and bar) was lacking character; our French friends, however, loved their pork. The bill was 188E for four but I’m willing to try it again.

Le Cigale Récamier 4 rue Récamier, 7th, 01.45.48.86.58, is the reborn Le Cigale transported from the rue Chomel to the space previously occupied by Le Récamier. This is one of the few restaurants that devote a sizeable portion of their carte to soufflés (as does the self-evidently named Le Soufflé on Mont Thabor a few feet from L’Ardoise.) Le Cigale Récamier has retained its specialty soufflés – salés (for mains) and sucrés (for desserts) – along with a full menu of regular dishes plus specials on the blackboard, but now served in this elegant old space in the dead-ended street/alley near Le Bon Marché. Five of us ate well; four had a rocket salad with artichoke hearts and parmesan but the other who had a purée of eggplant was equally happy; two had soufflés (one made with and also having a small pot of wonderful morilles; the other a chicken Henri IVth), two lottes (which our hosts found OK but not exciting) and one had rougets with spinach leaves that she loved; we shared two soufflés for dessert (pistachios with peach marmalade and vanilla with caramel sauce). A definite repeat.

Warning about L’Ourcine: On July 1st Gourmet Magazine had a stringer taking photos, so I think we’ve got until October or so before the world invades what remains a charming and superb neighborhood resto.

[Poppy Quince]

Thanks for the report on Le Cigale Recamier. I've been wondering about it ever since I heard the lovely old Recamier had been replaced in that space. I'll put it on the short list for next fall. Oh, and thanks for the digest--makes the trip research a lot easier (although the list gets longer).