Back from Paris

[nanuq]

My husband and I were in Paris for about ten days, he was working for about two thirds of the time. We were disorganised this trip, so much of the eating was done at old favourites. Many places were closed in the first part of the visit, it was August after all.

Old faves visited included Willi's Wine Bar and Aux Lyonnais. Both remain good, I think my quenelle at Aux Lyonnais was not quite as good as last year, but I still like the place, it looks to me like the quintessential Paris bistro. Willi's was good also, I have found it very consistent year to year and the wine list is great. This year we ended up on another night at Maceo, same owners, a few doors down.

We ate twice at Bistrot d'A Cote - Flaubert, which was initially recommended by the concierge at the hotel on our first Saturday night. This is one of several owned by Michel Rostang, his restaurant is next door. We had two excellent meals there, and the service was friendly and efficient. The molten chocolate cake is highly recommended, as is the grilled chicken for two, but go hungry.

Undoubted highlight, and a truly memorable meal, was Taillevent - we managed to get cancellations for Thursday night, and had an excellent meal. I neglected to save a menu , so I don't have full descriptions, and these sound so much better in French, but briefly, here is the menu:

Gaspacho with a mustard cream that will have me not eating gaspacho anywhere for years. It was sublime, a thin texture with a few bits of cucumber and a buckwheat straw.

Langoustine ravioli in a deadly creamy seafood sauce

Grilled John Dory with baby veg, inclusing a roasted garlic that was unlike any other I've had.

Foie gras grilled in some kind of leaf. That was the menu, I subbed for lamb, which was fabulous.

Roquefort - that was intensely creamy and salty, very mild flavour

A wonderful pineapple plate - mille feulle layered with a cream that was lemony as well as pineapple-y, pineapple ice cream and a dried piece of pineapple. Wow. Hard to describe, but really good

Then a chococlate dessert - 2 cigars of a chocolate cream in a hard chococlate shell with a cream on the side that had flicks of intense chococalte in it. Excellent

We also had a very fine Sunday dinner at Le Reminet, as recommended elsewhere on this board, that will be a Sunday night staple for us, next time...

Paris remains a wonderful city to eat in.

[Carlsbad]

Can you tell us how much the total was at Taillevent? Thanks.

[nanuq]

It was expensive... I don't have any precise numbers, but we had the 180 euro meal - why not when we may never get there again. Wine prices were varied, from affordable to crazy. Many aged wines, so they were fairly priced, we thought.

Given that gratuity is included, and we got a better bottle of wine than we would have in California for the same price, we thought it comparable to French Laundry pricing.

[Bux]

Given that gratuity is included,

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For what it's worth, as a New Yorker, and with the euro going for $1.22, the price of a meal here is almost the equivalent of the same price in dollars with tax and minimum tip. Thus a 100 € meal in France with tax and service included costs roughly the same as a $100 meal in NYC after tax and tip. What is quite noticeable to us is that it's often a bargain, but many times I've thought I could do better at home.