Paris-Chez Denise, Fauchon, Le Comptoir, Atelier

[molto e]

CHEZ DENISE, 5 rue Prouvaires, First:

Our first night in Paris was at Chez Denise, which was featured on Bourdain's "No Reservations" and it is a great place to get rolling in Paris. This is a place that by the end of the evening you are passing plates and bottles of wine around to the tables next to you because you are so close to each other that you become part of your neighbors meal. As soon as you open the door and walk in, you are taken back in time and get the feel of Paris of old and you LOVE it.

The charcuterie was delicious and served at room temperature which made it melt in your mouth.

The table next to us became our translators as one of the diners taught elementary school English and they brought a friend with

That is definitely one thing I wish we could do in the US

Foie Gras de Canard Maison

Pate de Champagne

Steak Tartare is usually served as a entree in Paris so the portions were huge

Brains

Our neighbors food which we all tried, but I can not remeber-too much wine

Cote de Boeuf Grille for 2

Frites-I think they use duck fat to fry them

Pied de Porc Pan

Our waiter was really nice and was trying to stop us from ordering so much food, but we just could not. He just thought we were crazy, but we told him we just wanted to taste-first night in Paris

Escargots

Our little friend left with a Bucket of bones from the kitchen and he ate kidneys, brains and whatever else might have fallen his way throughout dinner. Chez Denise was a great dining experience and a great deal of fun.

FAUCHON-Gourmet Store,FAUCHON vous accueille dans ses magasins 24-26-30 place de la Madeleine, Paris 8ème

This was the most amazing gourmet store and I will post a few shots of it

Foie Gras anyone?

You could get lost in that store for a while

LE COMPTOIR,9 carrefour de l'Odeon 75006 Paris

Hotel Relais St. Germain

This is Chef Yves Camdeborde new restaurant and hotel. He worked with Chef Christian Constant at the Hotel Crillon and then was Chef at La Regalade, where he achieved much acclaim. Le Comptoir during lunch service serves bistro food and at night serves a 7 course set menu for 40 euros that is a steal.

Jus glace de crustaces, caviar de hareng hostie de vieux comte

I really liked the presentation of this course

Fine gelee de ped de veau, emiette de pinces de tourreaux releve pequillos et pomme fruit

Tranche de quasi de veau, beurre persille, et artichaut cremeux, petites olives nicoises

Plateau de fromages affines par P.Boursault

The cheese tray is placed on the table and you serve yourself.

Cremeux cafe arabica, mousse de Mascarpone et ganache de chocolat Valhrona

Le bonbon du fondeur en chocolat Jacques Genin. Le Cinq uses caramels from Genin also, they are oh so good.

If you have a picture of the kitchen in your mind right now, I am sure it is a lot larger than the real thing

I liked Le Comptoir for dinner, but the lunch menu with all bistro fare is awesome.

Daniel Boulud's nephew was running the restaurant and he will be opening a hotel in Valencia in the near future.

ATELIER MAITRE ALBERT-1, Rue Maître-Albert Paris 5

Guy Savoy has revamped this bistro and made the food revolve around the Rotisserie.

Duck carpaccio/ This dish was not really to my taste

Soup of the day

spit roasted leg of lamb/ This was really good

Gratin of potatoes

Spit roasted chicken-This was very good and the star of the meal

Spit roasted sirloin steak

Artichoke and mushroom gratin

Jar of chocolate mousse and creme caramel

Tiramisu

Black chocolate fondant, crispy praline, sorbet cacao, custard cream

grapefruit terrine

This was a reasonably priced meal and it was very good. Atelier Maitre Albert is a good place to go for comfort food.

Pierre Herme:

I had been waiting to try Pierre Herme's creations for a long time and he did not disappoint.

This was like walking into Cartier not a pastry shop

Oh those macaroons-the sea salt caramel was great

Had to try these thanks to Pim

I left with about 6 macaroons and some chocolate and somehow they disappeared sooner than expected

L'AMI LOUIS-32, rue du Vert-Bois / 75003

L'Ami Louis is definitely one of those restaurants that makes some people react passionately good or bad. I will say on the basis of the food that it was good not great, but for bistro fare incredibly overpriced.

The Foie Gras is a well known dish here, but I thought it was served too cold.

I did like the plates of toasted bread that accompanied the Foie

Jambon Pata Negra

Frog's legs-good dish

Escargots

Cote de veau a la creme

Roasted chicken-very, very good in fact as good as it comes

Entrecote poelee-very good

The pommes anna were as good as advertised, but the confit of duck was just ok

Talk about an old school kitchen-very cool

I enjoyed L'Ami Louis, but I my recommendation is somewhat muted because as I said the tab for what was served is way out of line. If the Entrecote was Wagyu or if the Foie Gras did not have so much oxidation, if the chicken was Bresse then you can justify such a tariff, but this is just good honest bistro fare.

I can not fit the rest of my post in this one so Paris Part 2 soon to follow

Molto E

Edited October 14, 2005 by molto e (log)

[muichoi]

Fantastic pictures! I've always wondered whether I wanted to go there(l'Ami Louis)-it's a favourite of Robert Parker, the famous wine commentator, and while I deplore his taste in wine , he really understands what good food is-so I'll go soon . Thanks.

[Jmahl]

Ah, La Belle France. You just have to love it. I swear I could smell the .......... Now just because of you, I have to move up my return date.

Merci beaucoup.

[Carlsbad]

Great Photos and commentary. Thank you.

[jgould]

molto,

i doubt that u need another kudo, & at the risk of being moderator-whipped, your photos & coments were fucking awesome!

questions:

1. how long were u in paris?

2. how much wt did u gain?

[molto e]

I am glad you enjoyed the photos-obviously the meals were memorable and works of art in their own way. I was in Paris a week, but we did lunch-rest-dinner everyday we were there and only after a huge lunch at L'Ami Louis did I not have dinner that night. I did eat Pierre Herme and some awesome stuff that we got at the grocery store for dinner that night late. I wish our grocery stores carried the same quality as I saw over there. We shopped at an Atac(I think) and I took it as an average grocery store is that true?(ie non-gourmet). I went to Spain after Paris so with all the fish I ate in Spain-the weight issue evened out.

Good Eating,

Molto E

[Juanito]

Well done. The memories came flooding back.

Actually, in looking at the carte (thanks so much for including that) for L'ami Louis, it is more reasonable than I had imagined. Everyone always says how expensive it is, but it seems as if one can dine for $125 pp or so. Not so out of line, IMO.

[molto e]

Well done. The memories came flooding back.

Actually, in looking at the carte (thanks so much for including that) for L'ami Louis, it is more reasonable than I had imagined. Everyone always says how expensive it is, but it seems as if one can dine for $125 pp or so. Not so out of line, IMO.

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Juanito,

Now don't get me wrong I liked L'Ami, but if you are going to spend that for a meal let it be at Le Bristol or some where of that kind. I do think that kind of level for good not great bistro food is out of line and there are other bistros in town that are just as good for half the money. If you wish to see a little Paris nostalgia than L'Ami would have to be on your list and you will get a good meal in the process.

Molto E

p.s. something has to be said for a restaurant that can spark this much conversation

[jgould]

Well done. The memories came flooding back.

Actually, in looking at the carte (thanks so much for including that) for L'ami Louis, it is more reasonable than I had imagined. Everyone always says how expensive it is, but it seems as if one can dine for $125 pp or so. Not so out of line, IMO.

←

Juanito,

Now don't get me wrong I liked L'Ami, but if you are going to spend that for a meal let it be at Le Bristol or some where of that kind. I do think that kind of level for good not great bistro food is out of line and there are other bistros in town that are just as good for half the money. If you wish to see a little Paris nostalgia than L'Ami would have to be on your list and you will get a good meal in the process.

Molto E

p.s. something has to be said for a restaurant that can spark this much conversation

←

merci beaucoup molto!

[Juanito]

I do think that kind of level for good not great bistro food is out of line and there are other bistros in town that are just as good for half the money.

Point taken. It's just that from what I'd always heard, I was expecting the prices to be even more obscene.

Thanks again for your terrific post. The pictures were wonderful, and had my mouth watering.

J

[docsconz]

Molto, more great stuff, especially since you hit a few places I wanted to, but couldn't get to. Of those, I most regret not getting to Chez Denize. I guess I'll have to make a return visit!