DIGEST: 2004-6 Paris Restaurant News + Reviews

[John Talbott]

The Week of May 22nd, 2006

Saturday-Sunday, in his “Croque Notes,” Francois Simon, in an article called “The narcissism of chicken” says he ate at Le Procope, a place where Pudlo, Lebey +GaultMillau salute its audacity and quality every year although his experience is that you wait a year to order, the chicken is miserable and the food doesn’t like itself and we don’t like it either. But the contrary is the case at l’Epi Dupin where the dishes (like a tatin of caramelized endives and half-cooked tuna or roast duck) are narcissistic, tender and pleasant and the menu carte is but 31 €. And finally, while everyone else is staying by their ovens as the seasons change, the peripatetic Michel del Burgo (ex-Carcassonne, Taillevent, Gordes, Negresco, Moscow, Jamin) is taking over l'Orangeraie de l'Île Saint-Louis in September, by golly!

Also, over the weekend, the FT published an article by Sue Style on an American chili that has been thriving in Basque country for 400 years - the Piment d'Espelette that one often sees on Parisian menus, that probably was originally brought back by a Bayonne navigator and now has AOC status {see you can learn something everyday.}

Monday on the Le Fooding website Elvira Masson wrote a piece entitled roughly “ You don’t need to finish it all” about the Italian place Tramezzino in the 9th.

Tuesday, A Nous Paris’s Jerome Berger gave 4 of 5 blocks to Ribouldingue, coordinates above, which he obviously loved, mentioning in particular the 25 € “menu,” the starter of artichoke and the dessert that was better than his companion’s grandmother made. Philippe Toinard, meanwhile, got stuck with 2/5 Black Calvados, 40 ave Pierre 1iere de Serbie in the 8th, 01.47.20.77.77 running one from 45 to 101 € for veggies (19 €), bass (34 €) and a California red blend (27 €). The regret is obvious – the prices.

Sebastien Demorand in this week’s Zurban also sings the praises of Ribouldingue and their tripes, pork snout, cow teats and lamb’s tongue. He is less enthusiastic but not really negative about Dalva except for the prices. {For my views of these please see here}. His other reviews covered the Thai place Thai Spices in the 4th, which was spicy and the Italian place Piccola Brescia in the 20th, which he did not take a shine to.

Wednesday, in Le Figaroscope, Emmanuel Rubin in “C’est nouveau,” gave two hearts each to the revived classic bistrot Astier, 44, rue Jean Pierre Timbaud in the 11th , 01.43.57.16.35, closed weekends with a menu at 23.50, a la carte 30-35 €, for classic herrings, roast monkfish and crème caramel and the inventive l’Acajou, 35 bis, rue La Fontaine in the 16th, 01.42.88.04.47, closed Sundays with menus at 28 and 35 €, a la carte 50-60 for langoustines,m St Pierre and super chocolate soufflé named after Michael Jackson (MJ 23) that is chef’d by an ex of both Bocuse + Robuchon. One heart each went to Le Charlain, 23 rue Clauzel in the 9th and Christophe in the 5th, see my reviews for coordinates, food, etc., and Tramezzino in the 9th (mentioned above.)

Le Figaroscope’s “Dossier,” {courtesy of Felice, since it was never posted on their website,} was devoted to “the New Language of Gastronomy” and featured the following words and their practitioners:

Agar-agar Salon de The Toraya

Bars Zood Juice Bar

Bellota Bellota- Bellota

Bento Boxes Kai

Box wines Aux Crus de Soleil

Bio Rose Bakery

Biodynamism Taillevent

Bistronomie Le Comptoir, le Troquet, les Papilles + Chateaubriand

Eating with wine Le Verre Vole

Destructured Food Spoon

Equitable, as products from Max Havelaar, for more see here

Finger food, such as Ethiopian, tapas and burgers

Fooding {gives the usual derivation and practice}

Grains Cojean + Pousse-Pousse

Molecular Pierre Gagnaire

Culinary Performances, such as at Bon Marche, Fraich’attitude + Fooding week

Cooking on the plank Ze Kitchen Galerie

Quinoa Maceo

Rooibos tea Mariage Freres

Slow food, see here

Smoothies Cojean, Bert’s + Biotifull Place

Snacking Be, Cojean + Bert’s

Soba Yen

Street food, such as proposed by Yves Camdeborde + Thierry Marx more here June 7 Take away Avant-Gout Cote Cellier

Tapas Chateaubriand at night

Tempura Bizan

Texture Angl’Opera

Terrines Velly

Green as in fashionable design and dishes

Wasabi, such as at the Grand Epicerie, Salon d’Helene + Gaya

Wraps as an alternative to a sandwich

Zen, as in minimalist dishes

In addition, Emmanuel Rubin says several words/concepts are “out” (“has been”) such as Fusion food, World food, lounge and terroir.

Francois Simon’s “Hache Menu” added to the chorus hailing Ribouldingue and he answers his own traditional question of whether one should go by saying “Yes” especially for the innards at 79 € for two.

L’Express Thursday had an article entitled ”The French chefs take off (again) in New York” recounting the history of the importation or transportation of French cooking to NY going back to Henri Soulé in 1939 and Alain Ducasse in 2000, specifically mentioning the three “Frenchies” [sic] - Alain Ducasse, Jean Georges and Thomas Keller (well, they say while American, he’s French-inspired) plus the three BLT restaurants and the Brasserie Ruhlmann of Laurent Tourondel (that it calls a sort of little Coupole in the heart of Gramercy) as well as the French Culinary Institute.

Thursday-Friday’s Le Monde had an article by Jean Claude Ribaut on flavored vinegars that one can either buy via the web here or at Martin-Pouret. Jean-François Martin, 236, Faubourg Bannier, 45400 Fleury les Aubrais, 02.38.88.78.49. For some reason, the two articles published last week were not posted until late: one is on garlic from Arleux (midway between Arras and Cambrai) smoked in hay, sawdust and peat. It was a preparation of frogs with such powerful garlic made by Escoffier for the Prince of Wales a hundred years ago or so, that Jean Claude Ribaut says led to the English calling the French "frogs" or "froggies" [sic]; the second article is about two chefs of Artois (Pas de Calais) who are using local ingredients in ancient bourgeois dishes at Le Château de Beaulieu in Busnes and the Auberge de la Grenouillère in Montreuil sur Mer, whose signature dish is indeed frogs’ legs.

Friday, Patricia Well had an article in the IHT on Thierry Marx of the Château Cordeillan-Bages in Pauillac saying he both shocks and satisfies as well as Philippe Etchebest, chef at the Hostellerie de Plaisance in Saint-Emilion.

Linda Thalman’s Paris In Sites had a review of Le Kiosque in the 16th, coordinates in the guidebooks, where the service was slow but the food was good.

Paris Voices had an article by Laura Van Iterson on aperitifs explaning the differences between: Dubonnet, Vermouth, Campari, Pineau des Charentes, Lillet, Byrrh, Suze, Ricard, Pastis a l’ancienne and Get 27 or Get 31.

Two events on lesrestos.com website deserve mention : (1) Paul Minchelli is back, since April at Vingt et Un, 21, rue Mazarine in the 6th, 01.46.33.76.90 and (2) the bouillabaisse palace Le Quinson has been transformed into an Auvergnat terroir place called Le Minzingue, 5, place Etienne-Pernet in the 15th, 01.45.32.48.54, since May 15th.

Sunday’s New York Times Book Review had a review of Julia Child’s “My Life in France” by Alan Riding that while it has been reviewed before, should be noted in the Digest, having appeared in the newspaper of record.

Finally Sunday, Bonjour Paris had an article by John Talbott entitled “Do you tell? (e.g. the chef it stank?)” and one by Margaret Kemp entitled “Daily Bread Buzz” about a “super” sandwich made by Alain Ducasse at the Cafe “be” at Printemps as well as an update on db called “Dominique Bouchet Buzz Extra.”

Please post comments here and not in the Digest thread.

Edited June 3, 2006 by John Talbott (log)

[John Talbott]

The Week of May 29th, 2006

Saturday-Sunday, in his “Croque Notes,” Francois Simon, wrote about the splendidly mediocre cooking at the Automobile Club, on the place de la Concorde, where ties are required and women aren’t allowed at lunch, one of several clubs in Paris costing one vertiginous fees – 10,000 € for admission and 2,000 € a year, about which he gives the old Groucho Marx quote regarding not wanting to join any club that would have him. He goes on and on about the snooker’s table(s), swimming pool designed by Eiffel, theater, barbershop, etc. He contrasts this with the good food and gentle prices (21 € menu) at le Marsanguy for an avocado and shrimp millefeuille, roast Saint Marcellin, sweetbread fricassée with chanterelles, roast bar with pesto and oxtail salad.

Monday, Le Fooding’s events announced that the next Grand Fooding would be in Lyon commencing June 4th at Subsistances in the midst of the “Intranquilles” festival, specific info available June 1st on their website. Their favorites appearing will include: Sonia Ezgulian of L'Oxalis, Nicolas Le Bec himself [sic], Thierry Marx of the Cordeillan-Bages, Akaogi Masami of Sushi Kai in Beaune, David Zuddas of the Auberge de la Charme in Prenois and Marion Chatelain and Emanuelle Tardy. Menus are 15-20 €; wine starting at 20 €. Address: 20, grande rue de Vaise in Lyon’s 9th, 04.78.83.32.25 from 12 noon – 1:30 PM and 8-9:30 PM Thursday and Friday.

Monday, in A Nous Paris, copy ramassed by Felice - they cover places to “See and be seen”: Georges, Le Market, Hotel Costes, Cigale Recamier + le Rolland-Garris.

Wednesday, Sebastien Demorand in Zurban primarily reviewed Astier, coordinates well-known, which he called a bistrot with wine, where he dined following its creator’s demise, liking the new guy (Michel Picard)’s prices – 28 € for an entrée, plat, cheeses and dessert. Despite the presence of accented Anglophones ordering “fwâââ grâââ,” he also liked his lamb sweetbreads, bulots and shrimp with aïoli, rabbit liver terrine, kidneys with mustard sauce and pommes Dauphine. His “Casserole” restos were very disappointing: an Italian pizza place, the Maison d'Italie in the 20th and two French ones – Volnay, 8, rue Volney {that’s right – Volnay Volney} in the 2nd, 01.42.61.06.65, closed Saturday, Sunday and Monday nights with a formula at 24 €, menu: 32 € and a la carte: 40-45 € where he loved the enormous wine selection but disliked the food (salmon tartare on toast, loin of lamb with pitiful garnitures and under-cooked langoustines) and the Table Dancourt where he had to salt the duck foie gras on spinach and his beef tartare was made in the chef’s fashion (without capers) and atop shoe-string potatoes but the pig’s feet was simple and not bad – leading him to conclude that this is a “curious” place {for my review and coordinates see here.

Wednesday, in Le Figaroscope, Emmanuel Rubin in “C’est nouveau,” gave two hearts to l’Atelier des Comperes, coordinates given last week, with menus 33 & 40 € for calamari, a millefeuille of confited veggies, veal mignon with morilles and Grand Marnier soufflé and an Italian place San in the 3rd. One heart each went to: In Square in the Little Palace Hôtel. 4, rue Salmon de Caus in the 3rd, 01.42.72.08.15, closed weekends, costing 35-40 € for “company cantine” food such as passable herring filets, breaded veal scallop and an edible entrecote and fries; a New Yorkese neo-café New York Coffee in the 17th; and the Japanese Momiji in the 11th.

Le Figaro's Frank Picard also wrote up a huge list of places to eat with terraces whilst we are awaiting the reopening in September of the Pavillon Puebla in the Buttes Chaumont renamed Villa dell’Arte:

1st – L'Absinthe, Café Marly, L'Espadon Hôtel Ritz, Hôtel Costes + Restaurant du Palais Royal

2nd – La Fontaine Gaillon + Les Orchidées

4th – Georges

5th – Chantairelle + Le Zyriab at the Institut du monde arabe

6th – La Closerie des Lilas

7th – La Maison de l'Amérique Latine {my personal favorite for a great garden}

8th – L'Avenue, Bristol, Café Lenôtre, La Cour Jardin du Plaza Athénée, La Table du Lancaster, Le Cinq, Le Fouquet's, Hôtel Royal Monceau, Laurent, La Maison Blanche, Le Pershing Hall, La Place + SAS Radisson

9th – Hôtel Amour

10th – Chez Prune + Point Éphémère

11th – Khun Akorn + Pause Café

12th – Le Square Trousseau

14th – La Cagouille + Le Pavillon Montsouris

15th – La Plage Parisienne + Le Quinzième

16th – Café de l'Homme, La Gare, La Grande Cascade, Hôtel Raphael, Le Pré Catelan, Le Rolland Garros, La Terrasse du Parc + Le Chalet des Iles du Bois de Boulogne

17th – Bistrot des Dames + Le Jardin d'Ampère

18th – A Beauvilliers + Terrass'Hôtel

19th – Café de la Musique + Le Rendez-vous des Quais

Neuilly – Durant Dupont + Café de la Jatte

Francois Simon’s “Hache Menu” sampled La Terrasse Montaigne entrance in front of 27, avenue Montaigne in the 8th, 01.53.67.66.99, open 12-10 PM without reservations, starting at 35 €. Bottom line- is it expensive? – You bet, too much, 123 € for two. Go by to see the scene (rich folk with Louis Vuitton knock-offs, talking of Ducasse in NYC) but eat instead inside at the Garden Court or at l’Avenue.

Thursday-Friday, Jean Claude Ribaut in Le Monde suggested one and then other rosés for picnics.

Thursday, in the New York Times in an article on Marie Antoinette in the “Versailles Journal,” Elaine Sciolino wrote that the Trois Marches, coordinates well-known, was now offering a $127 five-course Marie-Antoinette menu with 18th century dishes such as “stuffed sweetbreads with mushrooms, slowly boiled beef and St. Pierre….with spinach and herb sauce.”

Thursday, J-L Petitrenaud in l’Express, wrote up Paul Bocuse’s latest venture – a grand brasserie called l’Ouest, 1 quai Commerce in Lyon’s 9th and Ostape in Bidarray.

Meanwhile, in Le Point, Gilles Pudlowski writes of asparagus from Hoerdt and how to fix a carpaccio of it, the under-appreciated Eric Briffard, the Saint of Macaroons – Herme, the secret resto near museums – the Café des Musées, Paris places Vaudeville + Le Daru that he is following, Chez Maitre Paul + Romain that are in good shape and Le Bistrot d'Eygalières in Eygalières.

Rosa Jackson, in “Paris Bites,” in Paris Notes, reviews two relatively new places : Temps Au Temps and La Ferrandaise, coordinates given before. At the former, she had the Basque aperitif Txapa, a Cotes de Nuits Village, mackerel atop too fatty marrow, asparagus soup, too chewy pork belly, great pollack with artichokes and a chewy chocolate dessert. At the latter she had three starters: the best – the raviolis of foie gras with fresh herbs and slivers of beet; then potato stuffed with escargots and camembert and an ordinary seafood salad with marinated lisettes. She liked the meat as well - esp the roast veal - and the cappuccino dessert. She also raves about two finds in Lyon: Nicolas Le Bec and the “friendly bistro” Magali et Martin.

Meanwhile, the UK’s July France wrote up restaurants in Millau, mentioning: Capion + La Mangeoire as well as in Biarritz – Les Plantanes, Aux Alizes, Chez Albert + La Goelette, in Burgundy - Aux Berges de la Grosne in Ameuggny and I’Auberge du Cheval Blanc in Cluny and in Cele – Lou Bolat.

June’s GoGo wrote up Chateaubriand.

On the Paris Insights: Discover Paris site there is an interview with Juan Sánchez, an American who runs both Fish and the wine store, La Dernière Goutte, that has generated a fair amount of commentary on eGullet.

June’s Gourmet has listed, among its Restaurant Roundup, in Paris Le 144 Petrossian, commending chef Dia’s “talent with spices.”

Sunday in the NYT Travel Section, Mark Bittman recommended several places in Nice: Chez Theresa, Chez Palmyre, Acchiardo, l’Escalinda, La Table Alziari + Lou Balico as well as these two for snacks: Rene Socca + Auer.

Finally Sunday, Bonjour Paris had an article by Margaret Kemp entitled “Jouni Tormanen Comes to Town” about the Nice chef’s coming to be Ducasse's young talent this month that also mentions several other restaurants in Nice: Jouni L’Atelier du Gout, Luc Salsedo, Parcours – Jean-Marc Delacourt, Louis XV + La Meranda.

Edited by John Talbott to clear up some errors.

Please post comments here and not in the Digest thread.

Edited July 2, 2006 by John Talbott (log)

[John Talbott]

The Week of June 5th, 2006

Monday the Le Fooding website announced that the next event would be in Montpellier the 11th of June at l’Octopus.

Wednesday, Sebastien Demorand in Zurban wrote his major review around the Italian resto/pizzeria in the 3rd San:. His #1 Casserole was the ephemeral appearance of the Transversal crew at the Grand Palais, during the Force de l'Art exhibit, mentioned by Felice in her Events thread May 15th where until June 25th, one can sample the colored radishes of Joël Thiébault, a true Morteau sausage, pollock ceviche and a jellied blanquette or ultra-AOC charcuteries for lunch at only 30-35€. On deck: Yves Camdeborde the 8th, Flora Mikula the 10th, William Ledeuil the 14th and Thierry Marx the 19th. He also wrote up the trendy x3 Hotel Amour, coordinates given before, with a cool garden and nice terrace that serves such fare (which upon reflection was pretty good) as roast chicken, cheeseburger with correctly-made fries, green salads and cod with lemon zest for 18-25 € a la carte and a disappointing wine bar in the 20th - A la Vierge de la Reunion, 58, rue de la Réunion, 01.43.67.51.15, closed Sunday, Monday, Tuesday night and all day Wednesday for about 18 €; the wine carries a corkage fee of 7 € and the food was poor except for the bread and cold-cuts. In a stunning but ironic announcement {tipped to me by Felice}, Le Figaro said that owner Hachette has announced that Zurban would cease publishing, as of this issue. The reason: the publication went to only 46,500 folk, not the 70,000 that was called for in their business plan.

In Emmanuel Rubin’s “C’est nouveau” in Wednesday’s Figaroscope, he gave the photo, lead and only two hearts to the Pamphlet’s sympathetic annex - Le Petit Pamphlet, 15, rue St Gilles in the 4th, 01.42.71.22.21, closed Saturday lunch, Sunday and Monday lunch, costing 30-40 € for ceviche of sardines, veal with carrots, risotto with ink and rice pudding but three hearts and a secondary billing {I think there’s a message there} to Paul Minchelli’s return to the exLa Cafetiere space {which only opened six months or so ago} where he now runs Le 21, 21, rue Mazarine in the 6th, 01.46.33.76.90, closed weekends, where he serves a fish-dominated menu of dishes such as sardines fagora, herring cousus, marinated lisettes and pasta boutargue for 50-60 €. Another two-hearter was Le Jardinier, 5 rue Richer in the 9th, 01.48.24.79.79, closed Sundays which has been reprised (it got two hearts when it opened in October 2004) with menus at 17 and 21, a la carte 30 € at dinner, for fare such as marinated salmon, brandade and apple tart – all made like a family Sunday dinner. One heart each went to Thai Spices and the Japanese Zendo.

And Francois Simon, going along with the theme in his ”Hache Menu”, went to the sandwich place la Boulangerie de Papa in the 5th where he spent 3.50 € on a jambon-gruyere with no ummph and no cheese; don’t go he says.

Simon also wrote about the article in the US Saveur proclaiming La Chassagnette in Le Sambuc the best restaurant in the world instead of the Atelier de Jean Luc Rabenel in Arles. In addition, in Figaro Madame there was an article on Japanese pastry by Maya Blanc that featured: Kitchoan, 17, place de la Madeleine in the 8th, 01.40.06.91.28, Toraya, 10, rue Saint-Florentin in the 1st, 01.42.60.13.00 and Chajin, 24, rue Pasquier in the 8th, 01.53.30.05.24. There was also an article by Alexandra Michot on sexy looking pastry.

Thursday-Friday, Jean Claude Ribaut in Le Monde has three pieces: a tribute to Claude Terrail, an article on artificial and natural aromas and additives to food and another on the butter spray controversy in France.

Last Thursday, in L’Express Pierre Herme revealed his favorite bistro – Le Baratin and cheese shop to get chevre – Cantin. This week, J-L Petitrenaud wrote up two established places: La Grille in the 10th and La Coquille in Concarneau.

Thursday as well, Gilles Pudlowski offered his usual potpourri of places and things, a book notice of the new tome by Nobu Matsuhisa, reviews of the restaurants: La Côte Saint-Jean in Dijon, Guy & Family in Gevrey-Chambertin, Tarridec in Saint Tropez and the creperie Ti Saozon in Roscoff, says we should follow Pavillon Baltard + Hotels de Sers in Paris, and declares Conti + Izaaki in Paris in good shape. He also gives as a source of Morteau & Jesu sausages - J.-C. Bouheret – in Morteau and provides a recipe of lentils with Morteau sausage.

Every once in a while it’s worth looking at RestoaParis website for their picks; the most recent list includes: Le Traversière, Le Jardinier, Au Métro, Kiwi Corner, Tine, Ripaille, L'Amaryllis, Alice Pizza, Le Queniau + A la Biche au Bois.

Sunday’s New York Times’s Travel section had an article by Barbara Ireland on “Cezanne’s Provence” that mentioned three places in Aix-en-Provence: Les Deux Garçons, Relais Sainte-Victoire + Le Pain Quotidien.

Sunday as well, John Talbott had an article in Bonjour Paris called “Turning a menu on its head” and Margaret Kemp one on “Terrific Terraces.”

Please post comments here and not in the Digest thread.

Edited July 2, 2006 by John Talbott (log)

[John Talbott]

The Week of June 12th, 2006

From the weekend Figaro comes an article by Alexandra Michot and Francois Simon on the new restaurants in Brittany that includes:

In Finistere: le Bistrot de l’Ecallier, La Cigale Egaree + La Coquille

In the Cotes d’Armor: Le Youpala Bistrot, La Vielle Tour + Aux PesKed

In the Moriban: La Maree, La Table des Marees _+ Henri & Joseph

In the Ille et Viliane: L’Arsouille, Le Coquillage + Creperie a l’Abordage

Monday, the Le Fooding website talked of the “Grand Fooding d’Été à Marseille” June 18th. For more info please see here. {EN: Readers/members interested in “Le Fooding” events may want to bookmark the site and check it as well as Felice’s Events Calendar from time to time.

Tuesday, in A Nous Paris, Philippe Toinard gave 4/5 blocks to Le Petit Pamphlet coordinates given before, where he liked the prices for a ceviche of sardines, veal with veggies and rice pudding as well as wine.

Emmanuel Rubin’s “C’est nouveau” in Wednesday’s Figaroscope awarded two hearts to three places:

(1) The ephemeral Transversal at the Grand Palais,

(2) The Japanese place Ozu in the 16th, and

(3) In the space previously occupied by the {great} bouillabaisse resto, the Quinson, there is now Le Minzingue 5, place Etienne Pernet in the 15th, 01.45.32.48.54, all day Sunday and Mon-Weds for dinner, running one 25-35 € for herrings, tartare and a fruit gratin.

One heart each also went to a pizza place, Maison d’Italie in the 20th and a neo-café l’Eglantine, 21, rue Fabre d’Eglantine in the 12th, 01.44.67.73.40, open everyday, serving oeuf mayo and a loin of lamb.

In this week’s “Dossier” the crew covered desserts:

All chocolate

6 New York

All Apples

Pomze

As much as you want

Cave de l’Os a Moelle

Double portion

l’Assiette

Half portion

Bar chinois du Pinxo

Temples of sugar

Laduree, Dalloyau, Café d’Angel + Aux Saveurs du Marche

Signed creations

Sebastien Gaudard au Delicabar, Pierre Herme au Kong, + Café Lenotre

In addition they give several other places for single dishes, such as Chez Michel for Kouig-Amann, Vin et Maree for Baba de Zanzibar, Market for pannacotta, le Bistrot d’a Cote Villiers for petits pots de crème au chocolat, Coffee parisien for brownies, Elysees du Vernet for citron de Monton confit, Café Constant for rice pudding, Rose Bakery for cheese cake and Bistrot Paul Bert for a Paris-Brest.

But Francois Simon, going along with the theme in his ”Hache Menu”, went to the Bristol for three desserts and a bit of coffee that cost him 104 €, to which he gave a red card {it being soccer month in the rest of the world outside the USA.}

Finally, Figaroscope mini-reviewed two dessert books: “Nos meilleurs desserts de grand-meres” Flammarion, 12 € and “Tentations sucrees” Reader’s Digest 16 €.

A few weeks ago Figaroscope’s “Dossier” covered “street food,” which was not posted promptly. Now however, I have the list that includes:

Falafel

l’As du fallafel

Sausages

Epicurya

Donner kabob

Anonyme

Crepes

Marche ou crepe + Jour de crepes

Deluxe sandwiches

Kayser, Cosi + Gourmand Gourmet

Asian sandwich

Hoa Tang

Ice cream

Deliziefollie and at the last minute, Yves Camdeborde’s take out place next door.

They also recommended a book: “Bien Manger: Sur le Pouce,” Editions de l’If, for 14.50 €.

I had previously noted the “huge list” of places with terraces provided by Frank Picard in Le Figaro. On reading the hard copy I see he also rated them 0-20 for charm (10 max), noise (5 max) and food (5 max.) The top five were Restaurant du Palais-Royal, Grande Cascade, Bristol, Pre Catalan + La Cour Jardin Plazza. For food only the top four were Bristol, Pre Catalan, La Cour Jardin Plazza + Georges.

Thursday, in L’Express, Jean Luc Petitrenaud gave as his weekly favorites l’Oasis in la Napoule and Euzkadi in Espelette.

Thursday as well, Gilles Pudlowski offered his usual mixed bag of places and things - La Villa in Calvi, Le Lunch in Marseille, La Promenade in Touraine and La Croix Jean-Claude in Meribel, a book with recipes and presentations by chefs of many nations called “Cousins cuisine” published by Flammarion, 15 E, l'andouille of Guémené and how to prepare it, two places in Paris to follow: Le Paprika + Chez Cedric, 13, rue Denis-Poisson in the 17th, 01.44.09.03.30 with a lunch menu : 29 E and a la carte : 55 E and finally; two places in good shape: Les Anges + La Maison Blanche.

Thursday-Friday, Jean Claude Ribaut in Le Monde had a piece on the arrival of the French chefs in Las Vegas.

Friday, in Les Echos, Jean Louis Galesnes listed his favorite restos on the Ile de Re:

Le Richelieu, L'Atalante, Les Embruns, Le Bistrot de Bernard, Le Chat Botté, L'Ecailler + Bô.

The weekend Figaro had another article by Alexandra Michot and Francois Simon on restos in vacation places, this entitled “Week-ends Gourmands,” covering in Etretat – La Villa Sans Souci, in Montreuil-sur-Mer - Auberge de la Grenouillère, in Courlans – Auberge de Chavannes, in Sanzier Le Puy-Notre-Dame – La Pinsonnière, on the Île de Fedrun – La Mare aux oiseaux, in Annecy-le-Vieux – Clos des Sens, in Hasparren – Hegia and in Sivergues – Bergerie du Castellas.

Sunday, John Talbott had an article in Bonjour Paris called “Hot Quarters – the 6th and 18th” and Margaret Kemp one on new places and chefs in Paris - Petit Pamphlet + Le 21 where Paul Minchelli has settled or changes in existing places, specifically Christian Constant’s turning over to a lieutenant, the Fables de la Fontaine and her affection for the Café de l’Alma + Beauvilliers.

Please post comments here and not in the Digest thread.

Edited July 3, 2006 by John Talbott (log)

[John Talbott]

The Week of June 19th, 2006

Monday, the Le Fooding website had an article by Elvira Masson of the June 25th Le Fooding last event of the year in the Marais {already mentioned in the French Forum.}

In Emmanuel Rubin’s “C’est nouveau” in Wednesday’s Figaroscope, he gave the photo, lead and two hearts to Au Pere Lapin, 10, rue de Calvaire in Suresnes (92), 01.45.06.72.89, open everyday with 20 and 25 € lunch menus and two hearts to La Plancha, 5, ave de St-Germain in Maisons-Lafitte (78), 01.39.12.03.75 (RER: Maisons-Lafitte) closed Sunday and Tuesday dinner and Wednesdays running one about 50 € apiece. Then he awarded one heart to three places: an offshoot of PDG called PDG Rive Gauche, 5 rue du Dragon in the 6th, 01.45.48.94.40, open everyday and serving hamburger, cheesecake and brunch for 20-30 €; a crepes place Page 35, 4, rue du Parc Royal in the 3rd 01.44.54.35.35, open everyday for about 10-15 €; and a wine bar - A la vierge de la Reunion, 58, rue de la Reunion in the 20th, 01.43.67.51.15, closed all day Mondays and Tuesdays as well as Sunday at dinner for about 20 €.

The “Dossier” covered places in which to get a cocktail, etc, in several categories:

Unusual

Urgence Bar, Ice Kub Bar, La Pharmacie, Footsie, Dans le Noir, 3 Pieces Cuisine, Mercerie-Quincaillerie, Le Point Ephemere, Le Coin de Verre, Le Doudingue + Pena Festayre

Trendy

General Beurat, Pause Café, La Gazzetta + Viaduc Cafe

Lounge

Buddha Bar, Pershing Hall, Bar du Murano, Mandalaray, Le Barramundi + l’Asian

Exotic

La Perla, Favela Chic, Andy Walhoo, Impala Lounge, Barrio Latino + Casa del Campo

On his part, for his “Hache Menu,” Francois Simon visited Alcazar in the 6th, where despite the tables full of loud Brits and price (172.50 E for 2), he liked the langoustines and fish.

Wednesday, Pariscope’s seemingly enhanced section on restaurants {in the wake of Zurban’s demise,} featured the following: Le Café des Roses, Chez les Anges + Chez Andre as well as bargain “menus” at four top flight places – 78 € at Le Grand Vefour, 75 € at Le Pre Catalan, 80 € at Le Bristol, and 65 € at Le Carre des Feuillants. In addition three books of note were mini-reviewed: “Cuisine des bistrots Parisiens” 15 €, Editions Libris; Herme, Lenotre, Veyrat and Blanc’s “Les douceurs de l’enfance,” and Blanc and Veyrat’s “La Cuisine de nos meres” - both {apparently} published by Hachette at 9,90 €.

Thursday as well, Gilles Pudlowski offered his usual potpourri of places and things, a book notice of the new tome by Nobu Matsuhisa, reviews of the restaurants: La Côte Saint-Jean in Dijon, Guy & Family in Gevrey-Chambertin, Tarridec in Saint Tropez and the creperie Ti Saozon in Roscoff, says we should follow Pavillon Baltard + Hotels de Sers in Paris, and declares Conti + Izaaki in Paris in good shape. He also gives as a source of Morteau & Jesu sausages - J.-C. Bouheret – in Morteau and provides a recipe of lentils with Morteau sausage.

Thursday-Friday, Jean Claude Ribaut in Le Monde covered the new places in the new museum on the Quai Branly that features African, Asian, etc., art: le Café Branly + Les Ombres, 27, quai Branly in the 7th, 01.47.53.68.00, seasonal menu = 32 €, ala carte about 45 €. The latter gets its name from its location in the shadows of the Tour Eiffel and is chef’d by Arno Busquet, 30 years old, ex-second at Laurent, trained by Robuchon. The food is described as lively and filled with spices and techniques from the world over. He has a second article that is entitled “The new restauration in the museums” that does not add much to what most of us already know about Paris museum restaurants.

Friday in Les Echos’ Jean Louis Galesne wrote an article listing places open in August; as follows:

Laurent, La Méditerranée, Le Chamarré, Le Vaudeville, Wajda, + Le Café de l'Alma.. {I’d second the suggestions for La Méditerranée + Wajda.}

Sunday, Astrid de T’Serclaes in JDD provided yet another list of places to go with terraces that included:

Le River Café, Le Jardin de Bagatelle, L’Ile, Le Chalet des Iles, Le Chalet des Iles Daumesnil, Le Roland Garros + Le Pavillion Elysees. In addition, Christian Willer of La Palme d’Or in Cannes gave as his favorite affordable Parisian restos: La Marmite Bazar + Le Restaurant du Marche. There was also a book review: “Le Vrai Guide des Bistrots a vin de Paris,” Jean Lapoujade and Robert Savoye, editions de l’IF, 14.50 €.

And finally, Sunday, Jane Paech had an article in Bonjour Paris on teashops.

Edited by John Talbott to correct errors.

Please post comments here and not in the Digest thread.

Edited July 4, 2006 by John Talbott (log)

[John Talbott]

The Week of June 26th, 2006

Monday the Le Fooding website wrote up the restaurant called Le Tracteur in Sanilhac.

Monday as well, in the free newspaper Metro, there was a book notice for “Les Meilleurs Restos exotiques de Paris,” Dominique Lesbros, editions Programme, 6 E.

Tuesday, A Nous Paris published its year-end summary with an editorial stating that they were trying to present restos, bistros and wine bars affordable by ordinary French readers rather than hotel places affordable only by Japanese and American tourists like the Crillon, Bristol + Meurice although Robuchon, Martin & Senderens do present one with sure value. They indicate the following had an up year: Stella Maris, Vin Chai Moi, la Ferme des Mathurins, Jean, l’Atelier des Comperes & Petit Pamphlet. Finally they give their “Best Of” list:

1st-4th:

Mori Venice Bar

Ebis

Eatme

5th-8th

Ribouldinge

Le Comptoir

L’Atelier des Comperes

Le Passage (Alain Senderens)

Sea food Bar de la Caviar House & Prunier

9th-11th

le J’Go

Jean

La Table de Claire

12th-14th

Habibi

Tokyo Eat

Le Queniau

Le Casier a Vin

15th-17th

Prunier

Ripaille

18th-20th

Vin Chai Moi

Le 20eArt

La Boulangerie

Suburbs

La Cave est Restaurant

Wednesday’s Figaroscope contained a pull-out supplement with several “Best Of” lists, including:

10 new places

Les Ombres the most awaited

le Patio du 404 the most in

Le Chateaubriand the most bobo

l’Amour Hotel the most sexy

Chalet des Iles Dausmesnil the greenest

San the most Italian

Le Black Calvados the most St Tropez-like

l’Atelier des Comperes the most camping-like

Ribouldingue the most ant-beach

Ozu the most aquatic

10 terraces

Dalva tranquil

le Duc de Richelieu bouchon-like

20e Art Village-y

Café Bibliotheque panoramic

Alice Cafe hedonistic

Comme Cochons Bistro-like

le Brespil charming

Symples de l’Os a Moelle intimate

Les Cailloux Italian

les Delices d’Aphrodite Greek

10 great ideas – alone or with family

Publicisdrugstore a film and meal for 20 E

la Creperie du Comptoir Camdeborde’s new operation

Fontaine Fiacre 12.50 E for a daily special and glass of wine

Martine Lambert for ice cream

Cave de l’Os a Moelle a bike and picnic for 32 E

Cueillette de Gally pick your own food

Musee de la Vie Romantique tea in the garden

Laurier the new place to plotz in the Galeries Lafayette run by Mavrommatis

Hippodrome d’Auteuil a green buffet

l’Atelier des Chefs a “new generation” cuisine cooking school

5 cooling dishes

Fontaine Gaillon for fresh crab

6 New York for tomato salad with langoustines

Baratin for a ceveche of rabbit

Absinthe for a blanc-manger with a curry marmalade of peaches

Citrus Etoile for a stuffed rouget

10 juice bars

Litchi, Wanna Juice, Ferme Opera, Bioboa, Boost, Soup & Juice, Cojean, Lood, Bob’s Juice bar + Pousse-Pousse

10 Astonishing summer wines for you to look up on the website

10 books to savor

“Les Tartes d’Eric Kayser,” “Quand les brasseries se racontent,” “Bistrots de Chefs a Paris,” “Venez Diner, c’est Pret,” “Cuisine des Bistrots Parisiens,” “Les Pique-niques Plaisir,” “Le Vrai Gout du Liban,” “Les Delices de Chez Catherine,” “Mes Saveurs d’Asie” and “La Fleur d’Oranger.”

It should also be mentioned that within the supplement, Francois Simon inserted his “Hache Menu” noting his experience (2 gelati for 10 Euros) at Deliziefolie in the 1st, where his answer to whether one should go is “Hum.”

Wednesday, Pariscope continued to provide an expanded food section, featuring the existing restos: Le Rouge est Mis, Au Bonheur de Chine + La Terasse Fleurie and two wine-focused places - Le Bistrot du Sommelier + Pain, Vin, Fromage and one new place reviewed above - l’Atelier des Comperes.

Thursday’s Figaro’s Literary Section had a page devoted to books on food pegged to the publication of the new edition of the “Dictionnaire universel de cuisine pratique” by Joseph Favre, preface by Jean Pierre Coffe, Omnibus, 32.50 Euros; an essay by Yves Camdeborde of Le Comptoir about the writers he admires; and reviews of three books - l’Art de la Braise en Plein Air Rocher, 18 E, Mots de Cuisine Buchet-Chastel, 2 vol 25 E, Aventures d’un gourmand vagabond by Jim Harrison, Bourgois and Salami Actes Sud {no prices given on the last two}.

Thursday, Gilles Pudlowski presented his traditional mixture in l’Express of carrots from Creances and how to prepare them, restaurants outside Paris he likes – La Vigatane in Canet-Village and Le Magasin aux vivres in Metz as well as places in Paris to follow: Chez Géraud in the 16th and Dalva in the 2nd, places in good shape – le Meurice + Il Carpaccio and one in trouble – MusicHall in the 8th.

Thursday, J-L Petitrenaud wrote up two established places: Michel Rostang in the 17th and l’Abousier in Saint Raphael.

Friday, Jean Louis Galesne discussed Paris restos open in July and August, noting: Laurent, La Méditerranée, Le Chamarré, Le Vaudeville, Wajda, + Le Café de l'Alma..

The weekend Figaro had another article on restos outside Paris, this though, those new ones just outside. They included: La Villa 9 Trois in Montreuil, Au Pere Lapin in Suresnes, Le Bar de la Plage in Versailles, l’Escarbille in Meudon, les Etangs de Corot in Avray, Issy Guinguette in Issy les Moulineaux, Le restaurant l’Ile on the Island of St Germain and Le Chalet des Iles Daumesnil in the bois de Vincennes. Next to it was Francois Simon’s “Croque Notes” in which he bemoaned the mark-up of wines (7, 10 and 15 times) but indicated that the Café Moderne in the 2nd held very reasonably priced tastings Monday nights, the prices holding for the entire week.

Sunday in JDD, Astrid de T’Serclaes presented another list of places with terraces that included: Le Café Barge, Le K’fe Court, Le Café de l’Homme, Le MK2 Café, Le Transversal, l’Hotel Amour + Mori Venice Bar. She also mentioned the yearly giant 14th of July picnic of citizens at the Buttes Chaumont, for which further info is available here. In addition, Patrick Bertron of Le Relais Bernard Loiseau in Saulieu picked his favorite affordable restos:

La Petite Serene de Copenhague + La Bonne Heure.

Sunday, in Bonjour Paris, Margaret Kemp published a review of Beauvilliers and John Talbott wrote a piece entitled “Pacing is Everything.”

Where Paris’s Alexander Lobrano had practically the whole June issue at his disposal and presented several sections. First, he reviewed the new place Black Calvados, coordinates given before and two new places near Les Halles open late at night – the Franco-Japanese Le Wa, 8, rue Coquiliere in the 1st, 01.40.26.40.01 and the North African Le Comptoir, 37, rue Berger in the 1st, 01.40.26.26.66. Then he mentioned three cheese-oriented restos – La Fromagerie 31, 64 rue de Seine in the 6th, 01.43.26.50.31, Pain, Vin et Fromage, 3, rue Geoffroy l’Angevin in the 4th, 01.42.74.07.52, and Fromages et Affinities, 58, rue des Mathurins in the 8th, 01.40.06.96.18. Also, he provided a huge list with mini-reviews of places with terraces that included: l’Auberge du Bonheur, Barlotti, le Bistrot de Breteuil, le Bristol, le Chalet des Iles, Flora Danica, La Grande Cascade, Le Jardin Plein Ciel, Laurent, le Pre Catalan, Le Quai + Le Restaurant du Palais Royal. In addition he gave his 50 favorites:

Always great

Au Petit Marguery, Au Bon St Pourcain + Stella Maris

Current hits

le Cinq Mars, La Mediterranee, La Ferrandaise, Dominique Bouchet + Le Vieux Chene

Asian

Le Coin des Gourmets, Baan Boran + Thiou/Petit Thiou

Business

l’Angle du Faubourg, Chiberta + Senso

Cheap + Cheerful

Lescure, Chez Germaine + Chez Casimir

Italian

Barlotti, Paolo Petrini, Il Cortile + Emporio Armani Caffe

Light lunch

Le Café Artcurial + Musee Jacquemart Andre

Sunday open

le Reminet, La Truffiere, La Table du Lancaster, Mon Vieil Ami, La Maison, Le Comptoir, Market, La Chaumiere, Butte Chaillot + La Gare

Trendy

Café Marly, Hotel Costes, Alcazar, Kong, Georges, Music Hall, Murano + Stresa

Late night

Au Pied de Cochon, l’Alsace, La Tour Monthery + Auberge Dab

Wine bars

Le Rubis, Bistro Melac, Les Enfants Rouges, Le Sancerre + Au Sauvignon

Finally, in the food section, he again mentions the “casual elegance and good food” at La Mediterranee.

Originally (June 4th,) I did not make mention of Mark Bittman’s article “Dining by Satellite” in the Sunday New York Times Magazine but since folks have pointed out that it mentions several French chefs (Ducasse, Robuchon, Vongerichten) as being fly-by participants in restos outside the hexagon, I’ll refer you here.

Please post comments here and not in the Digest thread.

Edited December 7, 2006 by John Talbott (log)

[John Talbott]

The Week of July 3rd, 2006

Monday Alexandre Cammas, in the Le Fooding website wrote up the multi-purpose place plus light restaurant called NOU4 in Laguiole.

Tuesday in A Nous Paris, Philippe Toinard provided his list of restaurants with terraces, as follows:

Issy Guinguette

Tokyo Eat

Le Roland Garros

Quinzieme Cuisine Attitude

Il Cortile

Les Jardins du Plain Ciel

Les Arts

Beauvilliers

Hotel Regina

Au Pere Lapin

La Terrace Montaigne

Cap Seguin

La Cuisine

Le Square

In Wednesday’s Figaroscope, Emmanuel Rubin gave the lead, photo but only one-heart in his “C’est nouveau” to Il Carpaccio, Hotel Royal Monceau, 35-37, ave Hoche in the 8th, 01.42.99.88.00, open everyday and attributes his low mark to the chef’s cooking that is like the Italians’ soccer play – catenacio = defensive rather than interesting (langoustine salad, calamari and risotto, fraises des bois, running one about 100 €.) However, he gave two hearts each to Corneil, 18, rue Condorcet in the 9th, 01.49.95.92.25, open for dinner except for Sunday, serving a terrine, cote de boeuf and fromage blanc for 30-50 € and the neo-classical Chez Cedric, 13, rue Denis Poisson in the 17th, 01.44.09.03.30, open everyday but Sunday, with menus at 23 and 29 and a la carte about 40 €, serving pate en croute, beef filet and profiteroles. Only one heart went to the Café du Musee d’Art Moderne, 11, ave Pres Wilson in the 16th, 01.53.67.40.47, closed Tuesdays, serving sandwiches, salads, tarts, etc for 20-30 €. Finally he gave a broken plate to Le Marsa in the 5th where he didn’t dare sample the dessert after the tuna/salmon duo and rouget.

Francois Simon’s “Hache Menu” was really a full review of the new resto in the Quai Branly Museum, Les Ombres, coordinates above, where despite its being run by the Elior group that runs the restos at the Maison de l’Amerique Latine + Musee d’Orsay and le 70 + le Ciel de Paris does a not dishonorable job. For 94 €, he and his guest had carrot soup and veal carpaccio, pig’s feet and cod and fromage blanc ice cream and strawberry “gaspacho” plus 3 ½ liter bottles of Chateldon @ 6 € each (which is enough to turn one into an alcoholic, says he.) But he noted you could shave some off the cost by taking the 32 € menu.

The Figaroscope team’s “Dossier” this week covered “Ice cream, terraces, tapas, etc.:”

Watery stuff

Ozu

La Plage

Ephemeral terraces

Cristal Room Baccarat

Jardins Plein Ciel

Airy places

Vincent Cozzoli

Deli-cieux

Summer drinks

Drouant

La Blanchisserie

La Gare

La Place

Ice creameries

Raimo

Damman’s

Pariscope’s “What’s New” section featured three places: Mood, Asia by Nina Sushi + Laurier respectively a super-bar/café, sushi/sashimi resto and Mavrommatis off-shoot. Maxime Landermaine writes of the re-opening {for the second time in a year} of Le Cou de la Girafe coordinates given before, by the Richard Group and the established Italian place Le Conti; his colleague Jean Claire Mariani touts two established palaces – the Lebanese La Taverne du Nil + Le Jardin.

Thursday, Gilles Pudlowski wrote a shorter than usual bunch of things in l’Express; two restos to keep your eyes on in Paris – the Atelier Renault, 53, Champs Elysees in the 8th, 01.49.53.70.70, with menus at 23 and 29 E for sardines, 21st century hamburgers and frites and the Italian Urbietorbi in the 2nd; plus l’Evasion + Silk & Spice that are holding up; an ideal villa in the St Tropez gulf, the Villa Marie and a book notice by Alain Ducasse on “Le goût de l'origine” Hachette/Inao, 19,90 E.

Last Thursday, the group at l’Express listed their twenty “Best Of” places in the past year, that included: La Pizzetta, Le Cesar, Kai, Chaumette, Ozu, La Ferrandaise, Le Transversal, La Gazzetta, Le Ribouldingue, Il Cortile, l’Altro, Aux Zingots, Corneil, Bistro Volnay, Café M, Les Symples de l’Os a Moelle, Mori Venice Bar, Le Chateaubriand, Jour + Fogon.

Thursday, Philippe Charles in ParuVendu recommends several places outside the city (as have others recently): Issy Guignette in Issy les Moilineaux, Le Cape Rouge in Bougival, Au Pere Lapin in Suresnes and Le Relais de Pont Loup in Moret sur Loing.

Thursday-Friday, Jean Clause Ribaut had an article in Le Monde about choosing fruit not being so easy, using as his ideal, Joel Thibault’s stand at the Avenue President Wilson market Wednesday and Saturday mornings.

In the July Where Paris, Alexander Lobrano reviews three new places – Steak & Lobster, Hotel Amour + Mood coordinates given before, all three of which have interesting décor and food; features three others in the “Dining” section – Black Calvados, La Terrasse Fleurie + Senso, ditto; and added the following terrace restos to last month’s list: Café LeNotre, Café Marly, Cour Jardin, Fontaine de Mars, Georges, Hotel Ritz, Il Cortile, Maison de ‘Amerique Latine, Petite Cour, Terrasse Fleurie, River Café + Ziryab.

Issue #4 of Omnivore contained its now familiar mix of news (OFF in Le Havre and Toulouse and Omnivore’s Film Night during Fraich’Attitude week), inquiries (re: the 50 best restos article in Restaurant), gossip (why Gregory Coutanceau left le Cou de la Girafe), reports (of the Robert Doisneau show in Monoco), review/appreciations (of Inaki Azpitarte’s new venture at Le Chateaubriand, Jean Francois Rouquette’s move to the Park Hyatt Paris – Vendome and Jean Luc Rabanel’s l’Atelier in Arles), recipes (Olivier Bellin from Plomodiern’s “tart” of encornets and tripes), practical culinary techniques (Thierry Marx from Cordeillan Bages making a lemon tart with Paco), young chef of the month (William Elliott at the Westminster in Tourquet Paris Plage), nudges (the future of the “jeune cuisine” and “Generation C”) and wine info (eg five Anjou’s).

Time Out Paris this week featured Un Jour à Peyrassol coordinates already given.

Sunday, in Bonjour Paris, Margaret Kemp published two articles entitled “4th July at the Meurice and Salon Prive” and John Talbott wrote a piece entitled “Hi my name is Bruce and I’ll be your waiter tonight.”

Please post comments here and not in the Digest thread.

[John Talbott]

The Week of July 10th, 2006

Monday, on the Le Fooding website, Sylvie Augereau touted La Tour Cassée in Valvignières.

Le M.i.a.m.’s June issue reviewed several new and existing places in French and English including: La Bonne Heure, Sensi, Stella Maris, Ripaille, l’Ecale, Le Fin Gourmet, Prunier + Jarrasse.

Tuesday, Philippe Toinard wrote up two places for A Nous Paris and gave: 4/5 blocks to L’Acajou, coordinates given before, but notes three menus (vs two mentioned in Figaroscope) at 28, 35 and 40 € - he had cherry tomatoes stuffed with sorel mousse, daurade royal and strawberries and kiwi fruit; 3/5 blocks to Le Minzingue, ditto – where it sounds like the wines are more important than the food (steak tartare, duck tournedos, andouillettes and Auvergne cheese.) His colleague, Jerome Berger, awarded 3/5 to the abat-centered, second resto to Ramulaud, Aux Zingots, coordinates given before, where he had chorizo salad, beef cheeks and brioche made like French toast. The paper also mentioned a new book dedicated to take-out food restaurants and their menus, called: “Guide des Restos d’Or 2006,” 4.75 € at FNAC.

Wednesday’s freebie Metro announced that Stephane Haissant, ex-Senderens and ex-Guerard would be taking over at La Tour d’Argent seconded by Frederic Calmels and M’Baye Sakho.

Wednesday as well, Pariscope continues to struggle between retaining its infomercial type reviews to changing towards really reviewing new restos, chefs, etc. For instance, it announces a 60 € menu (long anticipated) at La Table du Lancaster, a change of chefs (with Frederic Lesourd replacing Franck Charpentier) at Le W, one of the few reviews of the two-year old Harold but less noteworthy pages were devoted to existing places like Capitaine Francasse, Mandala Ray, Senso + Le Chalet du Lac.

Thursday, ParuVendu listed great places in which to have a picnic and listed the:

Esplanade du Champs de Mars in the 7th,

Port de l’Arsenal in the 4th,

Parc de Bercy and

Bois de Vincennes in the 12th,

Cite Universite and

Parc Monsouris in the 14th,

Iles aux Cygnes,

Parc Andre Citroen and

Parc Georges Brassens in the 15th,

Bois de Boulogne in the 16th,

Square de la Butte du Chapeau Rouge,

Parc des Buttes Chaumont and

Parc de la Villette in the 19th.

Thursday-Friday, Jean Clause Ribaut had an article in Le Monde about making ice cream that, although mentioning Berthillon, gives coordinates for three artisinal places: La Marquisette. 31, av de Saint-Ouen in the 17th, 01.45.22.91.65, Raimo, 59-61, bvd de Reuilly in the 12th, 01.43.43.70.17 and Maison Dagniaux in Lille.

Time Out’s website touts Sens’s Chiva-Som (exotic flavor) spa menu served until July 31st, featuring things like a green tea cocktail, spicy crab and lime appetizer, green papayas salad with gambas, beef satay with lemongrass, and a jasmine cake with coconut sorbet.

The freebie Voyages d’Affaires wrote up three places in its July-Aug-Sept issue, all relatively recently changed under new chefs: Les Arts, Jarrasse + 144 Petrossian.

Finally, Sunday, in Bonjour Paris, Margaret Kemp published an article on the Grand Vefour and John Talbott wrote a piece entitled “It’s best in the burbs.”

Please post comments here and not in the Digest thread.

[John Talbott]

The Week of July 17th, 2006

Monday, on the Le Fooding website, Elvira Masson talks of the meals and rooms at Guy Marchand’s Grand Hôtel des Bains in Locquirec.

Francois Simon in his Figaro “Croque Notes” talked of people who make multiple reservations at top places and don’t show and the way restaurants are handling the problem.. Most amusing is Jean Pierre Coffe’s calling the delinquent at 4 in the morning to enquire if he wants the brigade to anticipate him for breakfast; most scarifying is one place’s practice of charging your credit card 120 Euros. Simon also wrote an article on places in the Basque country that included: Arrantzaleak, in Ciboure, Olatua, in Saint-Jean-de-Luz, Zoko Moko, in Saint-Jean-de-Luz, Bar Jean, in Biarritz, Chez Albert, in Biarritz, Kafé Loko, in Guéthary, Les Platanes, in Biarritz, Sissinou, in Biarritz, Etchemaïté, in Larrau, Ferme Ostalapia, in Ahetze and Iparla, in Bidarray. I fear I missed digesting an article on the Palace hotels need to attract big chefs ever since Ducasse went to Louis XV in 1990 and later to the Plaza as well as Jean François Piège to the Crillon, Yannick Alleno to the Meurice, Eric Frechon to the Bristol, Philippe Legendre to the Four Seasons George V, and Michel Roth to the Ritz. He also anticipates “spectacular changes” after the rentrée, including Philippe Legendre of the George V going to the Tour d'Argent ? [sic].

Thursday-Friday, Jean Claude Ribaut wrote about places that are open in July and August that have changed their menus to fit more with summer, including the Citrus Etoile, dinner menu = 39 euros, L'Atelier des compères, (closed two weeks around the 15th of August), menu at 40 euros, La Cave gourmande, menu carte : 32 euros, Le Soleil, about 40 euros, Le Coq de la maison blanche, about 45 euros, the Delices d’Aphrodite, about 30 euros, all whose coordinates are either in the guidebooks or given before, except for that of the Brasserie Ascot, 66, rue Pierre-Charron in the 8th, 01.43.59.28.15, about 35 euros.

Saturday-Sunday in the Weekend FT, Sue Style wrote an article entitled “All in disgracefully good taste” about Southwestern master wine classes run by a British couple at the Tastevin du Monde, Château de Bouillon in Bouillon, 05.59.81.40.95.

Sunday in Bonjour Paris – Margaret Kemp wrote an article entitled “We are Open in August” that mentions: La Cour Jardin, La Terrasse du Parc, Citrus Etoile, Le Galvacher, Beauvilliers, Thoumieux, Les Ombres, La Table de Joel Robuchon, L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon, Astier + Le Chalet des Iles and John Talbott one on the “New Hot Quarters – the 7th and 19th.

Sunday’s New York Times had an article by Seth Sherwood entitled “Going to Monaco” that mentioned: the Louis XV, Maya Bay, Beefbar, + La Mandarine. And, I missed digesting his article June 18th on “Going to Bordeaux” mentioning: Quai Zaco, Le K Baroque, + Le Café du Theatre.

Rosa Jackson in the July-August Paris Notes’s “Paris Bites,” reviews three places all of whose coordinates have been given; she is most enthusiastic about Les Papilles where the fourme d’Ambert with a prune and chocolate cappuccino were the best part; she was less impressed at l’Os a Moelle complaining about the delay in serving the wine but rushed-ness of service of the food and found the cheese inedible, the foie gras “ordinary” and mousse banal (my word); but also found the “menu surprise” at Chez Les Anges to be rather good.

Please post comments here and not in the Digest thread.

[John Talbott]

The Week of July 24th, 2006

This week’s NouvelObs has another article (which was accessible for a few days but now seems to require registration) by Jean-Marcel Bouguereau on the Young Chefs movement particularly mentioning: Thierry Marx, Jean-Paul Abadie, David Zuddas, Jean Marie Baudic, Jean Chauvenel, Jullian Pekle, Olivier Bellin, Laurent Peugeot and Fernand Braudel and some of their elders – Pierre Gagnaire, Joel Robuchon and Oliviere Roellinger (see the thread on the subject by Felice.) For those interested in the top 150 places selected in conjunction with Omnivore, whose book “Le Carnet de Route” will be in the bookstores in September, look here. Those in Paris listed in the original article, included:

1st – Kai

2nd – Angl’Opera, Drouant

4th – Mon Viel Ami, Benoit

6th – Le Comptoir du Relais, Fogon, Ze Kitchen Galerie

7th – Chez l’Ami Jean, l’Arpege

8th – La Table du Lancaster, Les Saveurs de Flora, Les Ambassadeurs, Le Bristol

9th – Jean

11th – Le Refectoire

13th – l’Avant Gout, l’Ourcine

14th – Le Beurre Noisette

16th – l’Astrance

18th – La Famille

Ile de France – Le Pouilly, Laurent Trochain, Les Magnolias, Le Transversal

And also Aux Lyonnais, Les Papilles, Le Pre Verre, Le Bistrot Paul Bert, Le Volleret, La Regalade, La Cerisaie, l’Ami Marcel, Le Baratin.

Wednesday-Thursday, Jean Claude Ribaut wrote a history of “cocktails” from Hemingway’s chambéry-cassis to the present day “Allez les bleus.”

Thursday, l’Express had an article on the Tables of Summer that mentioned: Jouni in Nice, Le Lou Fassum in Grasse, La Socca in Antibes, Blanc le bistro in Toulon, La Buvette du Jardin in Biot, Café Diego in Saint Paul de Vence, Le Jardin de Marie in Saint Vallier de Thiey, La Bastide Saint Louis in Caussols and La Brasserie des Arts in Saint Tropez. In addition they published an article June 26th on their 20 “coups de coeur” of the year, including: La Pizzetta, Le Cesar, Kai, Chaumette, Ozu, La Ferrandaise, Le Transversal, La Gazzetta, Le Ribouldingue, Il Cortile, l’Altro, Aux Zingots, Corneil, Bistro Volnay, Le cafe M, Les Symples de l’os a moelle, Mori Venice Bar, Le Chateaubriand, Jour + Fogon.

Thursday as well Le Point’s food section was devoted to the Gers area covering the Relais & Chateau Domaine de Bassibé plus La Florida, Le Puits-Saint-Jacques, La Bonne Auberge, La Table des Cordeliers, l’Auberge de Saint-Mont, Le Pigeonneau, La Ferme de Flaran + Chez Simon.

I also missed in Le Figaro of June 6th a wonderful book review of “Rosbifs” by Bénédict Beaugé, entitled “War of the Chefs” that provides a “delicious” history and has “astonishing” prints and other illustrations.

En Ville, courtesy of Felice, had an article on Inaki Aziparte’s favorite places, aside from his own Chateaubriand, including his wine supplier – Le Verre Vole, vegetable guy, Joel Thiebaut and cheese store Boursault.

On the les Resto website that is one of the most accurate early warning systems to new resto openings in Paris, comes word that the Miss Betsey bunch will take over Le Buisson Ardent, 25, rue Jussieu in the 5th, 01.43.54.93.02 serving rather classical food.

Another new place, also sounding classical and basic was featured on the RestoaParis site which has quirky but sometimes interesting finds is Les Lauriers 14, rue de Thann in the 17th, 01.42.27.25.43, closed weekends, lunch menu at 25 €, a la carte 30-60 € but half-liter carafes of wine at 12 €. And while at that site, I saw that the 75 year old Roger la Grenouille, 26, rue des Grands Augustins in the 6th, 01.56.24.24.34, closed Sundays, that features and has an essence of guess what in every dish has been taken over by folks from Allard. It too sounds interesting. For completeness, I’ll list the other places they “love” despite not having heard anything elsewhere about them: Le Winch, Chez Cristina, La Grande Ourse, La Girondine, Le Traversière, Le Jardinier, Au Métro, Kiwi Corner + Tine.

This summer’s issue of France, the US version, has an article on the Loire in which it singles out Restaurant les Tonnelles on the island of Behuard.

The British France for September, meanwhile, features the Dordogne and suggests the Auberge des Charmilles, Les Voyageurs, Le Sablier du Temps, Hotel des Voyageurs, Hotel du Lac + Au Rendezvous des Pecheurs all with both rooms and a restaurant and the resto l’Auvergnassou. Another feature on Talloires mentions Pere Bise, l’Abbaye de Talloires + La Villa des Fleurs. Finally in Honfleur they touted Au Vieux Honfleur, l’Ecallieur + Bacaretto.

Sunday John Talbott had an article in Bonjour Paris called “What makes Ze so great” and Margaret Kemp one on “Mellors Le Jardinier” covering Ze Kitchen Galerie + Le Jardinier respectively.

Please post comments here and not in the Digest thread.

[John Talbott]

The Heart of Summer, 2006

The New York Times has printed several articles mentioning places in Paris and without, some of which I’m tardy in noting. Florence Fabricant wrote up Culture Biere, June 25th ; Richard Woodward suggested Chez Serge in Carpentras and Les Florets in Gigondas; and Seth Sherwood recommended La Mere Germaine in Villefranche sur Mer, l’Arc en Ciel + Le Grill du Chateau in Eze, and Le Cagnard + Josy-Jo in Cagnes. In addition, Ann Morrison, July 2nd wrote a “Going To” about Lyon and mentioned: Bocuse or one of the five Brasseries Bocuse, l’Alexandrin, Nicolas Le Bec, Les Andrets, Les Meuniere or a non-tourist trap bouchon such as the Garet, Petit Bouchon, Chez Georges + Petit Flore. In the July 13th issue was an article on the value of a Michelin star that referenced two scientific contributions: (1) “A Paradigm Change in Taste Industries” that says that in 55 years, costs of Paris meals have climbed 216.8% adjusted for inflation, while “nonluxury food [is] cheaper,” and (2) “Stardust over Paris” that concludes that a star increases prices 20% and rates “overpriced and underpriced” places; the Bistro d’Albert being among the latter, Maxim’s among the former {Digester’s Note: which I find bizarre since it’s now primarily a museum and boutique selling Maxim tchotchkes and maybe some coffee and sandwiches.}

July 31, Heather Stimmler-Hall covered juice bars and terraces. Among the juice bars she listed: Wanna Juice, Litchi, La Ferme Opera, Lood, Bob’s Juice Bar + Foody’s; among terraces she noted: Andy Wahloo, Les Sept Lezards + Cristal Room Baccarat.

Mondays, Le Fooding continued through August to herald places largely outside Paris: July 31st it was Le Refuge des Tarentes in Carqueiranne; August 7th, the Maison Cointre in Dinge; and August 14th La Pinsonnière in Le Puy-Notre-Dame, inspired by Olivier Schvirtz who created La Robe et le Palais + le Garde Robe in Paris.

Wednesday-Thursday, Jean Claude Ribault in Le Monde had an article on the secrets of “fishing” with one’s feet for amandes, bigorneaux, bulots, bernicles or berniques, coques and couteaux. Wednesday-Thursday, August 16-17, he talked of the rosés of summer. On August 23-4, he reported from Barcelona on tapas but listed Paris coordinates too for: Fogon + Cristina’s Tapas.

Thursday in Le Point François Guillaume Lorrain published an article on the treasures of the Cotentin including: eating at La Malle aux épices in Auderville (about which Gilles Pudlowski wrote more) and the best oysters being found at Lesdos-Allaire in Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue. In addition, I missed Gilles Pudlowski’s special edition about the Vauclause where he recommended: Les Andéols in Saint Saturnin les Apt, Les 5 Sens, La Mirande + Les Campagnie des Comptoirs in Avignon, Le Vieux Bistrot d’Aude in Cabrières-d'Avignon, Restaurant Prevot in Cavaillon, l’Auberge de Cheval Blanc in Cheval Blanc, Le Jardin du Quai in L’Isle sur la Sorgue and La Maison in Paluds de Noves. {Digester’s Note : For sometime I’ve been assuming that Pudlowski’s reviews appeared only in the Gastronomie section but just now realize that he also contributes to the Voyages and Villes sections. Thus if one want to know what’s good in Cannes, Rouen, Bastia, etc before the yearly France Pudlo comes out, check here.}

Thursday, in L’Express, Amandine Hirou wrote a nice feature on Hennequin, the fish monger on the Ile de Yeu. There was also an article on the most beautiful markets in Provence by Catherine Robin.

In the August 26th Financial Times was an article by Sarah Woodward on Roquefort and another by Andrew Jefford on Loire Reds.

Thursday August 10th, Veronique Andre, in Le Figaro had an article on three places on the Ile de Re: Le Richelieu, Le Chat Botte + Le Bistrot de Bernard as well as one on where to get salt, fish and oysters on the island. She also had more places listed elsewhere: L’Arche de Noé on the île de Porquerolles, La Vieille Fontaine in Le Lavandou, L’Anse de Port-Cros on the ile de Port-Cros and La Plage d’Argent on the ile de Porquerolles. And on August 17th, Sophie Grezaud featured products from the Ile de Noirmoutier; on August 24th on products from Belle Ile.

Les Restos announced the opening of several new places as well as what chefs are taking over which existing places in September, including : Louis Jacques Vanucci, who has taken over the ex-Gildo space, 153, rue de Grenelle in the 7th for his new Le Soleil 01.45.51.54.12, an offshoot of the resto by the same name opposite the St Ouen flea market and Guy Martin of Grand Vefour, who will open Sensing at 19, rue Brea in the 6th, 01.43.27.08.80. They also announced the opening the beginning of September of the new Moroccan place called Sensi dar Faudel, 1 bis, rue Jean Mermoz in the 8th, 01.42.90.29.10 (Faudel is a French/Morrocan singer).

July’s Gourmet mentioned two places in their “Restaurant Roundup:” Sa.Qua.Na (for saveurs, qualite and nature) in Honfleur and Chateaubriand in Paris, coordinates already given. August’s Gourmet mentioned only one – Ribouldingue.

August’s Elle had a review/mention of a new book on “Cantine” food written by Sébastien Demorand, Emmanuel Rubin and Sophie Brissaud entitled “20 sur 20 !” that indicates it features a macédoine by Yves Camdeborde, céleri rémoulade by Pierre Gagnaire and fruit salad by Flora Mikula (Editions Agnès Viénot, on sale as of 31 August.) {Sounds really neat.}

The August Bon Appetit had in its “Starter” section, mention of the Palais de la Mediterranee in Nice.

In August in Expatica Simon Coss had an article on the only AOC-designated moules - those from Mont St Michel.

The weekend of August 5th-6th, John Talbott wrote a piece for Bonjour Paris on The “Hot New Quarters: 8th and 20th” and Margaret Kemp wrote up the new finger food place called Kube in her “Buzz” column. Then August 12-13th, Margaret Kemp featured the Gantie Guides restaurants published in French and English that review along the Mediterranean coasts of France and Italy and John Talbott wrote a piece on air conditioning. August 19-20, Margaret Kemp wrote about Christian Willer and other places around Cannes and John Talbott about “Cluttered Food.” Also, our own Felice wrote a piece on tipping etiquette. August 26-27th, in Bonjour Paris John Talbott wrote a piece on “Talking to and with Others” and Margaret Kemp wrote about Spoon Byblos in St Tropez.

Please post comments here and not in the Digest thread.

[John Talbott]

The Week of August 28th, 2006

Monday’s Figaro, still in a holiday mode, had an article by Alexandra Michot on Concarneau that listed several restaurants: La Coquille, l’Escale + Chez Leo.

Monday, A Nous Paris reappeared, but instead of reviewing new restos, suggested several known places where one can grab a quick bite to eat that included: L de Liza, Christina’s Tapas, Be au Printemps de la Maison + Croccante and featured two books: Bien manger sur le pouce by Julien Ponceblanc & Jerome Sorrel, editions de l’If and Les Petits Roules by Thomas Clouet, ed. Hachette Pratique.

Wednesday, Jean-Claude Ribault of Le Monde had an article on the 100-year old Maison Marguin in Dombes with an adjacent note about their famous ecrevisses with Bresse chicken recipe.

Thursday, Jean-Luc Petitrenaud in l’Express returned with his picks of the week: Thoumieux in Paris and Le Riou in Mandelieu-la-Napoule.

Thursday as well, Gilles Pudlowski was also back in l’Express with his mélange of restos, producers and recipes: he says that in Paris the Table of Joel Robuchon is in good shape; that he wants to go back to the Chinese Elysees Hong Kong in the 16th and the Italian Taverna degli amici in the 7th; that Velly in the 9th has a good price-quality ratio; and outside Paris recommends the Bistro de Jean-Pierre in Besancon, La Signora in Calvi, and La Table de l'Horloge in Saint-Quentin-de-la-Poterie; rhapsodizes about the Swiss L'Ermitage/Ravet in Vufflens-le-Château between Lausanne and Rolle and finally he recommends a sort of wild black pig raised in the Pyrenees by Jean Denaux, in Saligny for which he gives a recipe.

The weekend Figaro featured the return of Francois Simon’s “Croque Notes” with a mix of subjects : the trend of chefs to put their energy mostly into the amuse bouches which results in the replacement of “bon appetit” by “bonne degustation” and an hour long wait til the diner gets to the real food (recently he had a leap over a mound of them to get at his miserably small portion of langoustines); the difficulty ensuring hotel reservations and the new style of serving food so finely mashed, chopped, julienned, etc. it barely resembles its origins.

In the weekend FT Rowley Leigh, chef at London’s Kensington Place wrote a piece on the market in St Cyprien.

September’s Gourmet had an article by Alexander Lobrano on “Burgundy” in which he “details” the following Restaurant Jean-Luc Barabet in Auxerre, Laroche in Chablis, l’Auberge de la Charme in Prenois, Restaurant Le Charlemagne in Pernand-Verglesses, Sushi Kai + Les Mille et Une Vignes in Beaune and La Table d’Olivier Leflaive + Le Montrachet in Puligny-Montrachet.

September’s Conde Nast Traveler featured an article on Provence by Patricia Storace that mentioned several places: Le Phebus in Joucas, Clementine in Menerbes, Les Deux Garcons in Aix, Le Prieure in Avignon, Pizzeria de la Tour in Barbentane, Pantagruel in Cavaillon, La Mere Germaine in Chateauneuf, l’Auberge de la Bartavelle in Goult, Le Comptoir d’Edouard in Lourmarin, l’Auberge de Noves in Noves and l’Auberge Saint Roch in Suzette.

August’s Where had several notes by Alexander Lobrano about new places – calling: the food at Les Ombres a happy surprise but with “special-occasion” prices; Yves Camdeborde’s sandwicherie/creperie next door to Le Comptoir “perfect for a takeout meal;” and Le Petit Pamphlet, a “lower-priced (than the mother ship the Le Pamphlet )….charmer.” He also mentions four places for fusion food – Ploum, Aida, Kaiseki + Opera Ramen and later mentions another new fusion place – Mood. {This being a transition week, I’ll digest the September issue as well} Here he calls the Bistrot Volnay + Le Baratin bountiful bistros, with the former having a “brief but satisfying menu;” the latter “outstanding.” He also touts the Thai place Num and the vegetable-influenced Jardinier which has an “excellent market menu.” Later in the restaurant listings he entitles a picture of Le Mesuret – “Best Bistro.”

August-September’s GaultMillau mentioned chef moves or take-overs – Guy Martin to Sensing, Paul Minchelli to Le 21 and Michel del Burgo to l’Orangerie. They also called the Great Discovery of the Year Le Mirazur in Menton. There are no reviews as we knew them in the old days with ratings and tasting; instead they mentioned Chateaubriand as perfectly BoBo and l’Absinthe + La Braisiere as holding up. They do a sort of review of Les Ombres, calling it “chic and cher” (entrees 18-28, mains 26-42, desserts 12) and noting that the poor cooking at high prices won’t work and if the chef wants to feed 130 persons he better cook brasserie food at brasserie prices.

Sunday’s JDD had Astrid de T’Serclaes in Version Femina reviewing two new places: Chateaubriand coordinates given before, where she found the three-day beard waiters tres sympa and the food quite different at noon and at night as well as DS Café, a carpaccio, bagel and pastrami place in the 17th. In the main paper Richard Coutanceau of the famed resto in La Rochelle named as his favorite places in Paris Spoon + Le Dauphin.

Finally in Bonjour Paris Saturday-Sunday, Margaret Kemp has an article on how much chefs are worth and a tribute to the Jardin d’Hiver at the Meurice and John Talbott one on “Eating with Children.”

Please post comments here and not in the Digest thread.

[John Talbott]

The Week of September 4th, 2006

Monday-Tuesday in A Nous Paris, Jerome Berger gave 4/5 to Nono, 43, rue de Tourtille in the 20th, 01.43.49.37.79, open Monday-Saturday 11-15 and 17h30-12mn, Sundays 12-19, a la carte about 15 € (well, that’s for the charcuterie and cheese not the wine in this “salon de vins”) and Philippe Toinard gave 3/5 to Le Jardinier, 5, rue Richer in the 9th, 01.48.24.79.79, closed Sundays, serving very fresh veggies and fish on formulas of 17 and 21 € and the menu-carte of 30 €.

Wednesday, Emmanuel Rubin in Figaroscope returned with “C’est nouveau” featuring its traditional 5 new places. Garnering two hearts each are the revived (thus coordinates in the guidebooks) versions of Petrus in the 17th where he had simple but good leeks vinaigrette, scallops and veal liver for 50-60 € and Wadja in the 6th where Thierry Coué (ex-Amogenes) has replaced Benoit Reix, cooking up a sardine tart, spinach millefeuille and crepes filled with eggplant for about 40 €. Meanwhile the other three restaurants reviewed got 1 out of 4 hearts; they were: Le Gourmand in the 6th where the neo-classic food was not quite up to its price (30 €, formula at 16 €), the Spanish place Hispanico in the 6th and Thai/curry place Num in the 1st .

Playing off the cantine book mentioned last week in the Digest (Cantines by S. Demorand & E. Rubin, ed. Agnes Vienot, 29 €), the entire “Dossier” is devoted to eating cantine dishes in Paris restos, as follows:

Crudities at l’Entracte

Mackerels in white wine sauce Le Gastroquot

Stuffed veal at Le Refectoire

Boeuf bourgignon at Aux Crus de Bourgogne

Roast beef with fried potatoes at Au Bon Coin

Breadcrumbed scallop at the Cafeteria Rivoli

Apple compote at Chartier

Chocolate mousse at Polidor

Rice Pudding at l’Ebauchoir and also:

Eggs/mayo at 20

Hachis parmentier at Natacha

Quenelles at Moissonnier

Salt pork and lentils at Petit Salé

Ham, pasta and truffles Drugstore Publicis, coté brasserie

Pureed peas at l’Auberge Pyrenees Cevennes

Creamed chestnuts at Lou Cantou

Francois Simon, returned to 1970’s food too in his ”Hache Menu” at Au Pied de Fouet, where despite the sexual distractions and faults of a local hangout, he enjoyed the carrot salad, veal liver and tiramisu – a three hour experience for 19 €.

Wednesday-Thursday, Jean-Claude Ribault of Le Monde had two articles concerning museum restos; the first on the Ombres at the Musee du Quai Branly, 27, quai Branly in the 7th, 01.47.53.68.00, open everyday {which is not what they told me,} seasonal menu 32 €, a la carte 50 €, where he admired the exotic products and the Restaurant du Musee d’Orsay, 1, rue de Bellechasse in the 7th, 01.45.49.47.03, closed Mondays, daily formula 15,30 €, a la carte, 38 €, which despite attracting 76% of its clientele from tourists, wants to lure back French customers with bourgeois dishes such as pot au feu and which will now be open on Thursday nights, when the music evenings occur, and have a salon with 46 covers for “Golden Century” cuisine and art. The second marked inquiry concerns museums not only depending on art any more to attract clients but restos {It mentions almost every museum in Paris so I will not repeat them but refer you to the article}.

Thursday, both l’Express and le Point had special issues/articles devoted to wine. Le Point also had Gilles Pudlowski’s traditional mixture: that included news of the takeover by an Indian restaurant Ratn in place of Bath’s; finding Ambrosie + Petrus in good shape and the trattoria Lei in trouble and a gushy piece on Helene Darroze; a review of Ithurria in the Basque city of Aïnhoa; as a product, the petit sale lamb from le Mont Saint Michel available from René Lemonnier in Pontorson and a recipe for cooking a gigot of it; and notices about Silvana, an ice cream place in Florence and the Post House Steak house in NYC.

Thursday, ParuVendu ran a piece on atypical brunches that suggested:

Little new PDG Rive Gauche

Cosy l’Heure Gourmande

Bucolic Le Café des Lettres

Irish Bugsy’s

Berber Le Comptoir {the one in the 1st, not 6th}

Literary Café M

Without forgetting:

Murano Urban Resort, Curieux Spaghetti Bar, Le Watt, Rose Bakery + Le Refectoire.

Friday, Jean Louis Galesne in Les Echos returned with an article on restaurants near or with views of Mougins: Le Moulin de Mougins, Le Candille, Le Feu Follet, La Terrasse, + Il Lago.

In the weekend Figaro, Francois Simon’s “Croque Notes” discusses two places cheek to jowl on the rue St Dominique: Fontaine de Mars + Fables de la Fontaine. Simon says at the former dishes were badly cooked and banal; but at the latter things were nickel, service was impeccable and Constant returned to his bistro roots with gusto. The rest of the GoutVins page was taken by minireviews of the dozen or so yearly wine guides.

September’s Omnivore has a total new look and is a special issue devoted to “What’s New,” largely which chefs they consider hot, their recipes, etc. On the cover is Jean Francois Piege of the Crillon and inside largely full page tributes to their role models Michel Bras, Fulvio Pierangelini, Ferran Adria + Alain Ducasse as well as pieces on chefs group in categories of hypercoherents: Michel Bras, Rene Redzepi/Hans Valimaki, Gilles ChoukrounThree masters from Kyoto, Antoine Westermann/Antony Clement, Andoni Luis Aduriz, Alain Perrillat-Mercerot; intransigents: Fulvio Pierangelini, Jean Luc Tartarin, Jean Paul Abadie, Jean Marie Baudic, Jouni Tormanen, Benoit Witz; provocateurs: Ferran Adria, Nicolas Pourcheresse, Moreno Cedroni, Jacques Decoret, Michel Portas, Benjamin Toursel, Fabrice Biasiolo, David Zuddas and the visionaries: Alain Ducasse, Thierry Marx, Pascal Barbot, Pierre Herme, Alexander Gauthier + Jean Francois Piege.

Sunday’s JDD had Astrid de T’Serclaes in Version Femina reviewed two new places: Mood where she found the food delicious and reasonably priced (35 €) and the Bar de Angl’Opera which sounds much like Choukroun’s Angl’Opera regular menu except maybe more limited and reasonably priced (20 €). In their newspaper section, there’s the usual choices of famous chefs in Paris, this week Pascal Helard of Le Duc who picks l’Opportun + l’Evasion.

Finally in Bonjour Paris Saturday-Sunday, Margaret Kemp has an article on the Renault Restaurant and John Talbott one on “Places where you are caught in transition.”

Please post comments here and not in the Digest thread.

[John Talbott]

The Week of September 11th, 2006

Monday, Alexandre Cammas in Le Fooding reviewed Le Bar de la Marine in Sete.

Monday/Tuesday, A Nous Paris reviewed/summarized museum eating opportunities, awarding them blocks, specifically: 4/5 to le Jardin at the Museum de la Vie Romantique which it called Tea Time and Transversal at MAC/Val which it called Bio Attitude; then 3/5 to the Café at the Jacquemart-Andre which it suggested for brunch, Les Ombres at the Quai Branly for Pause Lunch and Georges at the Pompidou for dinner.

Wednesday, Emmanuel Rubin in Figaroscope’s “C’est Nouveau” awarded 3 hearts to Sensing, Guy Martin’s new place in the 6th where he liked the rouget, pigeon and savarin au rhum {see my review for coordinates}, 2 hearts to the new team that took over Le Vieux Bistro, coordinates in the guide books, which was pricey (50€) for the paté, boeuf bourgignon and tarte tatin and one hart to Charlie Birdy the American cantine and the Japanese Kiccho plus a broken heart to La Baba Bourgeois in the 5th.

Its Dossier was devoted to Thai places: Thai Spices, Thabthim Siam, Num, Bai Thong, Madame Shawn, Banyan,Mum Sabai, Silk & Spice + Ban Som Tam and also Sukho Thai, Phetburi, Wassana, Krung Thep + Krua Thai. And Francois Simon, in his ”Hache Menu” got to go where he wanted Thiou in the 7th.

Wednesday/Thursday, Le Monde published an article entitled Wine in the face of global warming by Jean Claude Ribault which says that many call 2005 the “wine of the century” although we’ve got 95 years to go, that for each 1 degree C rise you’ve got to go 200 km North (so Champagne should move to Britain) and that we’ll see if warming produces higher productivity and lowers the prices of Bordeaux .

Thursday, Gilles Pudlowski in Le Point is following in Paris: the Café M + Ribouldingue and says Mavrommatis + Aux Lyonnais are in good shape; he also likes Les Plantanes in Biarritz, the Villa Dilecta in Les Sables d’Olonne and Aux Trois Capitaines in Malroy; and tells where to buy mimolette – Philippe Olivier in Boulogne sur Mer and Lille as well as how to prepare figs with mimolette and where to buy 20 varieties of calvados - La tonne a cidre in Cricqueboeuf.

Thursday as well, JL Petitrenaud Restaurants of the week resumed in l’Express with Au Vieux Chenein Paris, coordinates well known, and La Bastide Saint Antoine in Grasse.

Friday, Les Echos published a piece by Jean Louis Galesne on Nimes that included: Le Lisita, Alexandre, Le Shogun, Aux Plaisirs des Halles, Vintage Café, L'Esclafidou + Le Cheval Blanc {Note : they’ve got their dates and articles mixed up on the website – persevere !}

Saturday, in Le Figaro’s “Croque Notes,” Francois Simon wrote a very positive piece on Alain Passard and l’Arpege but called his « restaurant of the week » L'Évasion in the 8th for their wines from Augé and exceptional meat.

Saturday/Sunday in the Wall Street Journal subscription required, Raymond Sokolov had an article on the new Michelin fad of designating some places as possibilities to reach a star. He lists: l’Astor in Paris, the Auberge Les Templiers in Vence, La Ciboulette in Valence, Le Cilentro in Arles and La Veranda in La Baule.

September’s Paris Notes featured Rosa Jackson’s “Paris Bites” lauding La Bourse ou la Vie in the 2nd for it steak-frites and saying that other such haunts include: Relais de l’Entrecote, Severo + Georget.

Please post comments here and not in the Digest thread.

[John Talbott]

The Week of September 18th, 2006

Monday-Tuesday, in A Nous Paris, Philippe Toinard awarded 3/5 blocks to Pere Lapin in Suresnes, especially admiring the tandoori crab tartare, saddle of lamb and café gourmand {for my more enthusiastic review see here}; while Jerome Berger gave 4/5 to the Greek spinoff of Mavrommatris in the 5th, called Laurier located in Galeries Lafayette.

Wednesday, Emmanuel Rubin ranked five places in his Figaroscope “C’est Nouveau” as follows: 2 hearts each to: Et dans mon coeur il y a…, 56, rue de Lancry in the 10th, 01.42.38.07.37, open everyday, which Rubin describes as a surprising neoclassic bistro, serving a tomato & squid tart, risotto with cuttlefish and a “transparence” {see my review next week for a description;} an Italian place La Gazzetta and a deli-winebar-counter Nono; one heart to RATN, 9, rue de la Tremoille in the 8th (where Bath’s used to be) and a busted plate to Le Café M - La Chinoserie in the Hyatt Regency.

Figaroscope’s Dossier was devoted to tuna in all its forms:

Pizza of sashimi at Market

Tuna tartare at l’Avenue

Carpaccio at La Pizzetta

Half-cooked with nuts at Petrus

Filet of fatty tuna at Ozu

Blue tuna at Chez l’Ami Jean

Recuite tuna at Le Dauphin

Tuna a la plancha at Le Petit Baiona and

Good priced tuna at Les Papilles.

Francois Simon, in his ”Hache Menu” went to the Bastide Odeon in the 6th where he had rosé tuna and said to go despite the Americans and other foreigners. Bill = 107 € for two.

And finally (at least for Le Figaro,) there was a box signed by the food critics called: Under the Tables, giving the following news, that Petter Nilsson (note different spelling below) coming from the Trois Salons in Uzes to La Gazzetta in the 12th {to my eye the menu looks totally Italian, whatever the PR says}; Ratn replacing the one Michelin macaroon Bath’s in the 8th, the old second at Sendersens coming to the Grande Cascade; the former proprietaire at Gaya Rive Gauche opening up 35° Ouest in the 7th, a fish place; and literary brunches have been reinstituted at the Café M at the Hyatt.

Wednesday/Thursday, Le Monde published an article entitled something like ”A great chef recreates a historic dish without betraying its spirit” by Jean Claude Ribault in which he talks of great pigeon dishes from Raymond Oliver to Alain Passard to Lasserre’s current chef - Jean-Louis Nomicos.

Thursday, Gilles Pudlowski in Le Point wroteenthusiastically about A l'abordage, 2, pl. Henri-Bergson in the 8th; Christophe in the 5th, Roger la Grenouille in the 6th and the Thai place Num in the 1st as well as saying that Pere Lapin in Suresnes is in good shape. Outside Paris he liked the Château de la Dame Blanche in Besancon; Miremont in Biarritz; the Relais de la poste in Magescq and the root - angelica from Niort, giving a recipe for macaroons made from it.

Thursday as well, JL Petitrenaud in l’Express chose l’Archelle in the 15th, now celebrating its 1st birthday, as his restaurant of the week, also reviewing La Taverna, an Italian place in the 7th.

Friday, Les Echos published a piece by Jean Louis Galesne that one usually associates with Le Figaro, summarizing the changes going on among restos and chefs at the rentree, specifically the opening by Guy Martin of Sensing and coming of Michel del Burgo to l’Orangerie as well as Christian Constant’s revision into a chic bistro of the Violin d’Ingres with a 45 E menu making him competitive with L'Affriolé, l'Ami Jean, Le Comptoir du Relais + Chez Michel. In addition he notes the coming of the Swedish chef Petre Nilsson to La Gazzetta and opening of Osmose by the owners of the 8e Art, the reprise of Gildo in the 7th by the owner of Le Soleil, Cameleon in the 6th by Jean Paul Arabian, the takeover of Moulin de la Galette in the 18th by two chefs associated with Chamarre, Vin de Soif in the 7th by an exAnacreon, enlargement of Dominique Bouchet in the 8th, opening of Partage in the 5th by an ex chef of Pershing Hall, a contemporary brasserie called Tarmac in the 12th by an ex of De Lacaze, a wine bar Caves Esteve in the 4th, arrival of an ex-Senderens to the Grande Cascade and a change in name of the mediocre Bigorneau in the 16th to La Maree de Passy.

In the weekend Figaro, Francois Simon’s “Croque Notes” covered the Moulin de Mougins reprised by Alain Llorca, and Alexandra Michot used the festival this weekend in Mougins as a jumping off point to celebrate the cooking of Roger Vergé, now 76. In addition, in a section called “Crumbs,” Figaro reported on the following: Michel Roth at the Ritz doing a 145 € all red meal at dinner until next Spring; Joel Robuchon’s new Atelier’s in New York , London and maybe Chicago; and Helene Darroze converting her entryway into a “boudoir” with “finger food.”

Sunday’s famous chef this week in the JDD is Jean Chauvel of Les Magnolias in Perreux sur Marne, who picks two places also in the suburbs: Les Mignardises in Villers sur Marne and l’Ambre d’Or in Saint Mande.

September’s Paris Notes featured Rosa Jackson’s “Paris Bites” lauding La Bourse ou la Vie in the 2nd for it steak-frites and saying that other such haunts include: Relais de l’Entrecote, Severo + Georget.

September’s En Ville has a page on food, recommending a book Les Bistronomiques a Paris, editions Minerva for 35 € with 60 addresses, bios of chefs and recipes, for example Bruno Doucet of Le Regalade, Stephane Jego of l’Ami Jean and Thierry Blanqui of Beurre Noisette. Geraldine Perrault also lists literary places from Max Monnehay: La Closerie de Lilas, Le Bouillon Racine, Le Pre aux Clercs, Les Editeurs & Le Barroco.

Finally, in Bonjour Paris Margaret Kemp had a piece on Leslie Caron’s Burgundian Inn and Gilles Epie’s Citrus Etoile and John Talbott one on “Ordering defensively.”

Please post comments here and not in the Digest thread.

Edited by John Talbott to place in correct daily sequence (no change in content.)

Edited September 27, 2006 by John Talbott (log)

[John Talbott]

The Week of September 25th, 2006

Monday in Le Fooding Marine Bidaud wrote up La Gazzetta, coordinates given last week, which is getting an incredible amount of buzz. This review has pluses and minuses but concludes quite positively despite the clinkers.

Monday in A Nous Paris, Philippe Toinard awarded 3/5 blocks to Astier, coordinates well known by eGullet members, who liked the pressed sweetbreads, veal kidneys and crumble all on 18.50, 23.50 and 28 € formulas and menus {for my review, see my report last week here}; Jerome Berger, meanwhile gave 3/5 to {another place I liked} Et dans mon coeur il y a, coordinates given last week, liking the risotto with mushrooms, cod with orange butter and beef parmentier (formulas at 14 and 20, a la carte 40 €).

Wednesday, Emmanuel Rubin ranked his traditional five places in his Figaroscope “C’est Nouveau” as follows: 2 hearts to Jean Paul Arabian’s Le Cameleon, 6, rue de Cheveuse in the 6th, 01.43.27.43.27, open everyday with fried eperlans, duck filet (impeccable) and French toast for 40-50 €, but gives only one heart to two places: C’est mon plaisir, 150, bvd Montparnasse in the 14th, 01.43.21.03.48, open everyday where his adjectives (not bad, classic, too sugary) don’t match with his one heart rating and Boo which also serves bourgeois food whose descriptions don’t sound so bad as to get only a heart; and two broken hearts to Toro a Spanish tapas, etc place in the 1st and Tarmac, in the 12th serving stuff with the taste of the frig, hamburgers and musty fries. {My oh my.}

Figaroscope’s Dossier was devoted to places to eat under 30 €:

Hier & Aujourd’hui

Le Petit Pamphlet

Ribouldingue

Wadja

La Gazzetta

Minzingue

Le Jardinier

Les Zingots and

Le Buisson Ardent.

They also list another bunch of “sure value” places {I’d title them golden oldies but then…..}:

La Ferrandaise

l’Ami Jean

Chez Michel

Bisto Paul Bert

Le Temps au Temps

l’Ourcine

l’Avant Gout

La Regalade

La Cerisaie

Beurre Noisette

Le Troquet and

l’Entredejeu.

And Francois Simon, in his ”Hache Menu” went to the newly renewed Astier in the 11th where he had the 29.50 € menu with creamed veggies with smoked duck, a duo of fish with risotto and oeufs a la neige – that he sums up as honest, good value and getting to the heart of things. Should one go? Silly question, for less that 100 € for two, you bet. Maybe it’s not 100 FF as it was 25 years ago, but life goes on and so does Astier. {Nice review Francois, even I could figure this one out.}

And for the second week running, in Le Figaro, there was a box called: Under the Tables, giving the following news, that the Costes (Café Beaubourg, Café Marly, l’Esplanade, etc., are opening up a resto-bar Nirvana open 9 AM to 2 AM; that Bernard Magrez has opened a new wine store at the angle of the ave de l’Opera and 34, rue St Augustin in the 2nd with 30 chateau and domaine wines; that one of the oldest Chinese places in the city Ngo has been replaced by the high class Japanese restaurant Yushi 16; that the Bar du W Hotel in the 8th has a new “menu” for the really pressed – “15 minutes/15 €”; that Drouant is now offering a weekend “French” brunch for 32 € - soft-boiled eggs with smoked salmon, zucchini soup and cucumbers with fresh mint, fromage blanc and ham, fruit salad, along with breads and a glass of Cremant d’Alsace; that at the beginning of October the Aprifel agency will open a new Fraich’Attitude place with workshops etc at 60, rue du Faubourg Poissonniere in the 10th (www.cuisinefraichattitude.fr); that the Cave a Bulles, 45, rue Quincampoix in the 4th has so many things with bubbles that it rivals the Bootlegger in the 14th.

Thursday in l’Express Jean Luc Petitrenaud wrote of two places: Gourmandises in Cormeilles and Saudade, a Portuguese resto, in the 1st.

Thursday, as well, Gilles Pudlowski in Le Point wrote of La Boulangerie + Le Cameleon in Paris as places to follow and Le Violin d’Ingres + Le Jardinier as being is good form. Outside the walls, he likes the Domaine d'Auriac in Carcassonne, Le Pontarlier in Port-Lesney, L'auberge du Pas de Vent in Pouillon, Bagatelle in Oslo and cooking l'omble chevalier.

Friday, Jean Louis Galesne in Les Echos largely discussed Thierry Marx’s restaurant in Pauillac, he covered three other nearby places as well: the Café Lavinal in Bages, the St Julien in Saint-Julien-Beychevelle and the Hôtel-restaurant du Château de Pomys in Leyssac.

Finally, in Bonjour Paris John Talbott had a article on “The hot new quarter; the 9th arrondissement.”

Please post comments here and not in the Digest thread.

Edited November 11, 2006 by John Talbott (log)

[John Talbott]

The Week of October 2nd, 2006

Monday on Le Fooding Sebastien Demorand writes of a feast at Michel Bras in Laguiole, which will close October 29 until April 2007 while the Bras’ open their second place on Hokkaido.

Wednesday, Figaroscope’s Emmanuel Rubin, in “C’est Nouveau” this week gave a 3 heart rating to 35° Ouest, 35, rue de Verneuil in the 7th. 01.42.86.98.88 closed Sundays and Mondays, lunch menu 29, a la carte 50 €, for sardines, langoustines and a croustillant of citrus; two hearts to Le Pre Sale, 9, rue d’Argenteuil in the 1st, 01.42.60.56.22, closed weekends, two dishes = 23.50, three for 29.50 €,with a cream of potato soup, andouille, magret and rice pudding; and one heart each to the French place Neuf 7, 97, rue du Cherche Midi in the 6th, 01.42.22.19.18, the Italian Maria Louisa in the 6th and the Japanese Yushi 16 in the 16th.

This week’s Dossier had a bunch of places near the flea market in St Ouen that included:

La Pericole

La Petite Salle a Manger

Le Jardin des Puces

Le Relais des Brocs

Marisqueria O Beirao

Le Cafe Loom and also

Le Coq de la Maison Blanche, Chez Serge, Cafe Paul Bert + Le Biron

And of course, for his ”Hache Menu,” Francois Simon gets to go to the best place near the flea market - Le Soleil, coordinates in the guides, where he enjoyed the ratatouille with poached egg, dorade with zuccini and blanc-manger, all for 99 € (with the menu-carte = 28 Euro) - he says one should go.

Jean Claude Ribaut in Wednesday-Thursday’s Le Monde talks of game prepared any which way and suggests the following established places in which to eat such: Yugaraj, Le Jardin - Hôtel Royal Monceau, Auguste, Le Passiflore, Le Jardin des sens, Citrus Etoile, + La Table Lauriston.

Thursday in l’Express Jean Luc Petitrenaud wrote of two established places: the Restaurant Garnier in the 8th across from the Gare Saint-Lazare, where the carte is about 31 € and the Grand Hôtel Montespan Talleyrand in Bourbon-l'Archambault where the 1st menu is 24 €.

Thursday, as well, Gilles Pudlowski in Le Point reviewed a neat sounding book about what the ancient Gauls ate called La cuisine gauloise continue by Anne Flouest and Jean-Paul Romac (Bibracte et Bleu publishers, 255 pages, 18 E), a specialty store in Calvi (Corsica) called Annie Traiteur, a fruit distillery, the Grandes Distilleries Peureux in Fougerolles and a recipe for foie gras with hibiscus and cherry juice. In addition he talks of following the new Parisian places - Sensing + Ozu and in good form – Le Bristol + Prunier, coordinates given before, as well as L'Imaginaire in Terrasson-la-Villedieu, L'Epicerie in Amboise and Le Bistrot du bord de l'eau in Levernois, near Beaune.

Friday, Jean Louis Galesne in Les Echos largely discussed Thai places: Baan Kanya, Thaï Spices, Thabthim Siam + Sukhothai but also wrote about the wait to harvest wine grapes this year.

Over the weekend Le Figaro finally posted Francois Simon’s “Croque Notes” – a letter to Helene Darroze {disclosure: I seem to detest her food and place(s) as much as he, so I took great delight in reading this} about the disastrous meal he had there recently that involved: a chilly reception, a demand (illegal) for his credit card to charge (120 E) if he didn’t show and had no “valid excuse,” childish music, long waits for food, nauseating dishes, and a sizzling hot check (220 E for two for “finger food” in her new “Boudoir.”) {If you read French and want to sample Simon at his acidic best; read this!}

The publication Expatica has an article on where to buy “home” products in Paris that includes for American stuff: Thanksgiving + The Real McCoy and kosher places Alimentation + Cash Cacher Naouri; British products at: La Grande Epicerie de Paris and the “the Pakistani area on rue du Faubourg St-Denis in the 10th arrondissement where tiny stores stock British staples,” and Irish and Scots goods at Saveurs d'Irlande et d'Ecosse + The Gourmet Shoppe.

Adrian Moore, a loyal eGullet member, is back writing for the BMIbaby website and this month wrote an article called “The Temples of Cool” mentioning Black Calvados, Kube, Ozu, Les Ombres + Hotel du Nord.

The English language (now on the web only) publication GoGo Paris. Since it restarted publication the following recent reviews are available: La Gazzetta, Ozu, Mme Shawn.

In ParlerParis, Adrian Leeds writes of the “Highs and Lows of Paris Dining,” mentioning l’Atelier de JR, Et Dans Mon Coeur Il y a + Pere Claude.

David Applefield’s My Mercredi recommends Deliziefollie, 7, rue Montorgueil in the 1st for ice cream.

Laura Van Iterson in ParisVoice recommends fall cheese from three cheese stores run by Christian Lelann: La Ferme Saint Aubin, La Cave aux fromages, + La Ferme des Arenes.

For completeness sake I should mention a New York Times article on Sept 27th, on both current highly regarded food-wise, no smoking places: Spoon, l’Atelier de JR, l’Epi Dupin, la Table de JR, la Table de Lancaster, l’Artisan de Saveurs, Legrand et Filles et Fils, Fish + Le Beurre Noisette and a website where one can find all of them by arrondissement and region.

Finally, in Bonjour Paris Margaret Kemp wrote up Astier + Le Café Moderne and John Talbott had a article on “What happened to the little fellow.”

Please post comments here and not in the Digest thread.

Edited November 11, 2006 by John Talbott (log)

[John Talbott]

The Week of October 9th, 2006

Monday in Le Fooding, Alexandre Cammas says, imagine one has found, two months before the next Fooding event, the sort of place these folks celebrate – an Argentinian resto in Paris called Unico, 15, rue Paul Bert in the 11th, 01.43.67.68.08, not yet open for lunch. It serves ceviche, empanadas, guacamole and wood grilled meat.

Wednesday, Emmanuel Rubin of Figaroscope devoted his picture and blurb and awarded 3 hearts to Michel Del Burgo’s newest essai, l’Orangerie, 28, rue St Louis en l’Ile in the 4th, 01.46.33.93.98, open everyday except Saturdays, where for about 90 € (Menu 75 €) he offers a rouget pissaladière without the pissaladière, mushroom raviolis and pigeon with dried fruit; and three hearts as well to the place taking the old Petit Coin de la Bourse space - Le Versance, 16, rue Feydeau in the 2nd, 01.45.08.00.08, closed Saturday lunch, Sundays and Mondays, where one can have for about 50-70 €. (menus are 32 and 38 €) a cepes velouté with ginger mousse, sweetbreads with nuts and a ragout of small peas and refreshing grapefruit with meringue. Then came three one-hearters: the first, a branché bistrot to which you’d take your older sister {get it?} Les Petits Freres, 68, av. de la République in the 11th, 01.43.55.52 costing about 35-40 € (with a 16 € lunch formula though) for a roasted Saint-Marcellin with salad, wok-cooked duck with veggies (too well-cooked) and amateurish piccata of chicken; another Breakfast in America, this on the rue Mahler in the 4th; and {what I must surmise is a very tardy discovery of} a wine bar/charcuterie place open for a long time, La Cremerie in the 6th.

This week’s Dossier covered abats and of course, where to sample them:

Andouillette at Au Petit Riche

Boudin at Aux Lyonnais

Grilled pig’s feet at Au Petit Theatre

Sauteed veal liver at Le Caméléon

Veal’s head at the Caves Petrissans

Veal kidneys at Le Petit Marguery

Veal sweetbreads at Casa Olympe

Tripe (gras double) at Moissonnier

Beef cheeks at Aux Zingots

Buttered lamb’s brain at Ribouldingue

Marrow tartine at Chez Flottes

And Francois Simon, helping out with the fun, went to the Restaurant Joséphine-Chez Dumonet for the veal liver. Go? Well, since it was 124 € for two, he might not recommend crossing Paris for it, especially with a hundred places of its ilk around (and because the place is very 6th and American-y, he seemed especially put out that two elderly Americans “forgot” to order the Grand Marnier soufflé at the beginning and were astonished that it wouldn’t instantaneously appear.)

Wednesday-Thursday, Le Monde wrote of the sugar treats of Ramadan especially recommending La Bague de Kenza, in Paris.

Thursday last’s L’Express had an article by François-Régis Gaudry on Molecular Cuisine.

Friday, in Les Echos, Jean Louis Galesne covered places in Poitiers including: Maxime, Vingélique + Nardo’s Bouchon.

Saturday, Francois Simon’s Croque Notes dealt with Michel Del Burgo’s new venture – l’Orangerie, well-covered already {Ed Note: by at least Pierre45 and myself}, entitled the “Cry of Del Burgo.” He documents his jumps like a kangaroo all over the place, finally settling at Jean-Claude’s place on the Ile St Louis where Barbie and Ken (and the inevitable Americans searching out new places {E.N.: could he be talking of us?}) could dine with candle-light. Despite his back-handed compliments he says the product in impeccable, the cooking strong and the results delicious; 75 € the menu.

Finally, in Bonjour Paris Margaret Kemp wrote up Grand Hotel in Cannes and John Talbott had a article on RW “Johnny” Apple entitled “Apple, Paris and Food.”

Please post comments here and not in the Digest thread.

[John Talbott]

The Week of October 16th, 2006

Monday on Le Fooding, Elvira Masson wonders if 2006 is the “Year of the Pizza” and names several places she admires: the most snobbish La Pizzetta, the most wannabe San, the most piggish La Strada, the most cool Maria Louisa, the most mobile Zorglubino, the most satisfying Amici Miei and not forgetting La Mare aux Oiseaux in Saint Joachim.

Monday-Tuesday in A Nous Paris, courtesy of Felice and Paga, Jerome Berger gave 3/5 blocks to an Italian place Carmine, 81, av Bosquet in the 7th, 01.47.05.36.15 while Philippe Toinard gave 2/5 blocks to Marsa, 47, rue Guy-Lussac in the 5th, 01.46.33.11.85, formulas and menus at 12 and 23 € (with wine and coffee included), closed Sundays, where he liked the low-cost risotto, cod and millefeuille but thinks the two chefs can aim much higher. They also announce the reopening of the Boeuf Coronne, the place with some of the last souffled potatoes, near La Vilette.

Wednesday, Emmanuel Rubin of Figaroscope devoted his picture and blurb and gave two hearts to an Argentinian steak house l‘Unico at 15, rue Paul Bert in the 11th, 01.43.67.68 08, open every night except Sunday and Mondays, costing about 40-50 € - as well as one heart to four places: the Bistrot 190, 190, ave Jean Jaures in the 19th, 01.40.40.09.39, open everyday til midnight for food such as good foie gras and baba worth having again, which with wine and coffee costs 33 €; a Brazilian place Corcovado in the 14th, a weekend brunch place O Restaurant in Levallois and a generation X “sports-bar” Rulla Bulla in the 11th.

Wednesday, the Figaroscope gang picked 12 items the great chefs use and where to get them:

Chez Bordier’s baratte butter Fromagerie Dubois + Alleose

Buffala mozzarella Cooperative Latte Cisternino

Termignon blue cheese Frogagerie Boursault

Jambon sur l’os Joel Meurdesoif

Bellotta Unico Jose Da Rosa

Root vegetables Joël Thiébault

Foie gras Robert Duperier

Breton fish La Poissonerie du Dome

Farm veal Hugo Desnoyer

Beauce Hare Pietrement-Lambret

Saffron Goumanyat

A boule of biological bread Boulangerie de Monge

Francois Simon’s contribution was to go to the Vin de Soif, coordinates known and eat and sort of trace the origins of the shrimp and avocado, carre de porc (Hugo Desnoyer) and chocolate cake. {News to me:} the wine bar burned up this summer. His bill 100 € for two. Go? You bet but reserve because there are but a few tables.

Wednesday, Paris Update had a review by Heidi Ellison of Louis Vins coordinates well known whose title says it all- “Delicious Food: Disorganized Service.” Something to recall is that it’s reasonably priced food (two courses 24; three 27 €.)

Thursday in l’Express Jean Luc Petitrenaud wrote about Le Duc de Richelieu, 5, rue Parrot in the 7th, 01.43.43.05.64, a la carte about 30 €, recently relaunched by Stéphane Derré. He must have tried practically everything on the menu on reading all the choices offered - ranging from herrings with potatoes to a côte de boeuf and baba – and sounds classic and reasonable. His resto outside the walls is Ailleurs in Hyeres where the menu is a very easy 14 €. There is also a very nice review by Marie Desplechin of Mémoires du restaurant an illustrated history of this French invention by François-Régis Gaudry (Ed Aubanel, 222 p., 39 €.)

Thursday, as well, Gilles Pudlowski in Le Point provides his usual mélange of items: in Paris he says he’ll follow (eg go again) to Les Ombres that Grand Vefour + 21 are in good shape but Thiou is in trouble and out of Paris, likes S'Bastberger Stuewel in Imbsheim (Alsace,) the return of Jean-François Sicallac after years at the Tour d’Argent to La Coquille in Concarneau, and the hotel/restaurant Villa Eugénie et La Rotonde in the hôtel du Palais, in Biarritz. His ingredient of the week is/are Paimpol beans from Paimpol that he suggests one buy from the Prince de Bretagne in Saint-Pol-de-Léon and naturally gives a recipe – for ”caviar” of these beans. But he also suggests buying your game from Deverdun in Melun. In the same issue under the Villes section, Pudlo summarizes all the places in Issy-les-Moulineaux, but it’s pay-for-view only.

Over the weekend Le Figaro Madame had an article/review by Alexandra Michot of three books on Caribbean/Malian/etc cooking.

Finally, in Bonjour Paris Margaret Kemp wrote up Sensing + La Table de Fabrice and John Talbott had a article on “Holding down wine costs.”

Please post comments here and not in the Digest thread.

Edited November 11, 2006 by John Talbott (log)

[John Talbott]

The Week of October 23rd, 2006

Monday on Le Fooding, Elvira Masson wrote an article upon again locating Claude Colliot, ex of Bamboche, Montreal and New York at l’Orenoc, (Hotel Meridien), 81, bvd Gouvion St-Cyr in the 17th, 01.40.68.30.40, closed Sundays and Mondays with starters priced from17-26, mains 28-35 and desserts 11-13 €. (Total a la carte = 56-74 before beverages.) She loved the raw langoustines, sweetbreads and ricotta with Granny Smiths.

Monday-Tuesday in A Nous Paris, there was an article on Cyril Lignac of “Oui Chef” fame and his salon de cuisine.

Tuesday the IHT (also of course in the NYT), three weeks after his death, published an article by Johnny Apple on his top 10 that included l’Auberge du Cepp in Fleurie.

Wednesday in Figaroscope, Emmanuel Rubin’s “C’est nouveau” covered his usual five new or changed places: 3 hearts going to La Grande Cascade, Allée de Longchamp in the Bois de Boulogne in the 16th, 01.45.27.33.51, open everyday, where Philippe Robert, exSenderens cooks zucchini flowers with girolles, coques, sweetbreads and a cold coffee nut tarte for about 180 € a la carte, menus at 70 € (lunch), 165 & 230 €; 2 hearts each to the Italian place Carmine in the 7th and Tante Maguerite coordinates well known, closed weekends, where a new chef and redecor provide for a 34 € lunch menu or 40 € dinner one of Morvan ham persillé, filet of mullet, endives and roast pineapple. One heart each went to Le Boudoir, 4, rue d’Assas in the 6th, 01.42.22.00.11, closed Mondays, where in the heart of Darrozeland one can eat foie gras with truffles, quail eggs with Aquitaine caviar and apple cornet; salt dishes from 27 to 65 €, sweet ones 22-25 € and the North African Sensi Dar Faudel in the 8th.

The “Dossier” this week is a compendium of new places, all of which carry categories and ratings from 1-10 but really 3-8. So here are the grades (as in school);

Top of the Class

8 - Sensing

8 - 35° Ouest

7 - Versance

7 - Et Dans Mon Coeur, il y a….

5.5 - Wajda

5.5 - Ozu

5 - Les Petits Freres

5 - O Restaurant

Near the Heater

5 - Num

4.5 - Yushi

4 - Tarmac

4 - Toro

3 - Le Baba bourgeois

The Good Students

7 - l’Orangerie

6.5 - Le Caméléon

6.5 - Petrus

6.5 - l’Unico

6.5 - Pre Sale

6 - Maria Luisa

The bunch that could do better

6 - Gazzetta

6 - Les Ombres

There was then a box assorted news items about various places:

New decors at the Violin d’Ingres, Mathi’s + Jarrasse

New owners at La Cremerie, Le Perrroquet Vert, Le Gourmand, Laumiere, Buisson Ardent + Le Van Gogh

New chefs at the Hotel Royal Monceau, Astor, Café M-La Chinoiserie de l’Hotel Hyatt-Regency Madeleine, Ratn, Vieux Bistro + Sensi.

Related to the new places that were graded in the Dossier above, Francois Simon went to Et Dans Mon Coeur, il y a…. Bottom line: Should one go? Yes for a good Faugeres wine, one starter (tarte with thyme), one dessert (French toast) shared and two mains (veal and risotto) with a big bottle of water = 89 E.

Wednesday, Richard Hesse was the latest to review (in English) reviewed Le Chateaubriand coordinates given before, in an article called “Life in the Basque Lane.” It’s an amusing and descriptive piece; I won’t give details because the menu changes frequently and Paris Update keeps articles on the site for a long time so you can consult it when the time comes.

Wednesday-Thursday, Jean-Claude Ribaut had two articles, one on Espelette pepper, the other on the young chefs who serve tea with their meals at La Place + Le Temps au Temps. He also mentions the book a guide to tea places - A l'Heure du thé by Gilles Brochard, Editions L'Archipel, 2002, 20,96 € as well as the Festival du thé to take place October 28-30 at the Bourse de Commerce, 38-40, rue du Louvre in the 1st from 10-19h00, entrance 4 €.

Thursday, Gilles Pudlowski in Le Point, seems to have scored a scoop, finding two places I’ve not seen reviewed elsewhere : the bistro En haut de l'A, 14, rue de Clichy in the 9th, 01.48.74.51.27, a la carte about 50 E, reprised by Emmanuelle Perret, ex-Coco serving avocado and crab, bass with spinach and pannacotta and Boo, 6, rue du Sabot in the 6th, 01.42.22.21.56, a la carte about 35 E described as an old auberge where Hélène Avril runs the front and Stéphane Porte the piano with medallions of monkfish with curried saffron or lamb’s knuckle with eggplant. He also says that Laurent + Ripaille are in good shape. Finally, in Paris, he repeats what others have noted, that 40 years after his debut in Cannes, Jean-Paul Arabian is back, now at Caméléon, coordinates given elsewhere, where the chef is Dany Angelot. Outside the city, he touts L'Ardoise gourmande in Luçon and Savelberg in Oosteinde, the Netherlands. His products include ray with a recipe and the cheese from Les Mille et un fromages in Biarritz.

Thursday in l’Express Jean Luc Petitrenaud wrote about the return of Philippe Detourbe, now at l’Ampere, coordinates in the guidebooks where this “big-hearted” chef cooks up things such as pink shrimp tempura, salmon and a magnificent filet of beef with fries on a 20 € menu; and the Brasserie Le Boulingrin in Reims.

Friday, in Les Echos Jean-Louis Galesne wrote up the places around the Marche St-Germain: Litchi, Bacchus & Ariane, Da Pietro, Huîtrerie Régis, La Crémerie “Les Vents d'Anges + Petit Vatel.”

The website les restos has news of a rash of openings, including: Christian Conticini’s opening of La Table de Jean in Le Perreux-sur-Marne, ditto Jean-Marie Burnet at l’Ambre d’Or in Saint-Mandé, the exSavoy chef Sébastien Altazin at l’Accolade, where the late {unlamented by me anyway} Miss Betsey used to be and the traditional French cuisine place C’est Mon Plaisir on the Bvd Montparnasse.

The now web-only publication GoGo Paris reviewed La Gazzetta, coordinates given before, a wine bar/resto run by the folks who run China Club + Le Fumoir. They also noted that Alcazar, now 10 years old, has withstood the test of time.

Over the weekend Le Figaro Madame had an article by Alexandra Michot of the new Indian place Ratn.

Saturday-Sunday, Bonjour Paris had articles by Margaret Kemp on “AOC” and John Talbott on “Theme-food restaurants.”

Please post comments here and not in the Digest thread.

Edited November 13, 2006 by John Talbott (log)

[John Talbott]

The Week of October 30th, 2006

Monday Le Fooding’s news was about Bob’s Juice Bar, 15 rue Lucien Sampaix in the 10th, 08.72.33.14.70, Tuesday to Sunday 7:30 AM – 6:30 PM except Sunday closing at 4 PM – formula of juice, soup, salad and muffin = 7 €, pancakes Saturdays and Sundays.

Monday as well, Robyn in Parisist wrote a tribute to Laduree.

Monday-Tuesday, A Nous Paris had an article on the “Salon Cuisinez” at the Carrousel du Louvre. It’s too late for this year, but here is the link for reminding you for next year.

Wednesday, Emmanuel Rubin in “C’Est Nouveau” in Figaroscope gave three hearts, the description and a photo to l’Orenoc, coordinates last week, 38 € menu at lunch, otherwise 70 € a la carte for white onion raviolis with lime paté (brilliant), roasted cepes (remarkable), beet pop (inspired); two hearts each to Le Partage, 17, rue Frédéric-Sauton in the 5th, 01 43 29 46 25, dinner only, closed Mondays, 40-50 € for filet of mackerel, tuna half-cooked and roast figs and La Maree Passy, 71, av Paul-Doumer in the 15th, 01 45 04 12 81, open everyday, also for about 40-50 € for langoustine raviolis, ray and canaille marin; and two one-hearters – Alfred, 38, av. de Versailles in the 16th, 01 45 25 51 15, open everyday but Sunday dinner and Mondays where for 35-40 € (19.5 formula and American brunch on Sundays) one has not bad crispy veggies and crab and well made oeuf a la neige {I cannot figure out what’s wrong with it} and the Moroccan Mogador, 10, rue de l’Église in Neuilly-sur-Seine, 01 46 24 95 01, closed weekends where again for 35 - 40 € one can have perfumed and runny pastry triangles and couscous.

The Dossier this week concerned itself with eggs everywhichway:

Mayo

Les Amis de Beaujolais

Brick

La Boule Rouge

Meurette

La Rotisserie du Beaujolais

Benedict

Coffee Parisien

Scrambled

Rose Bakery

Massala

Indra

Ile Flottante

La Marlotte

And also: Softboiled at Delicabar and Mollet with piperade at A&M.

Francois Simon, went to Eporio Armani Caffe and he spends 7/8ths of the article describing the clientele (branché), décor (1990’s) and ice creams (lots), leaving a bit for the sublime food (rivaling the best Italian in Paris) and suggesting you should go, albeit for 180 €.

Wednesday-Thursday, Jean-Claude Ribaut had an article on the Slow Food movement, tying its recent meeting into two places that are adherents to the cause – Le Paul Bert in Paris and the Restaurant Le Cep in Fleurie-en-Beaujolais. He also has a box with descriptions and links to allied movements – Le Fooding, Generation C, the Jeunes restaurateurs d'Europe {that Felice has discussed} and the Université populaire du goût.

Thursday, Gilles Pudlowski in Le Point, is back to his panoply of places: places he’s going to follow in Paris include Mandala Ray + Le Tarmac and restos he considers in good shape – Le Pré Catelan+ La Gauloise. Places outside include : the dream in Burgundy - Marc Meneau/A l'Espérance in Saint-Père-sous-Vézelay, in the Camargue, Chez Bob in Arles, in the Loire – Le Neuvième Art in Saint-Juste-Saint-Rambert and in the Cotentin – the Maison Gosselin in Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue. As usual he gives a product, in this case Camargue rice and a recipe describing how to make black risotto with it.

Thursday in l’Express Jean Luc Petitrenaud wrote up two places: Chez Gramond in the 6th and La Pen’Tiere in Avesnes-sur-Helpe.

Friday, in Les Echos Jean-Louis Galesne wrote up restos in London.

This week’s GoGo Paris reviewed Num, which has a chef and provenance that is Asiatic but there’s no real indication of the type or quality of the cuisine.

Eat in Paris has news and notes that say that La Maree Passy is newly opened in Passy, Les Bookinistes has undergone some change, Le 20 de Bellechasse offers good food at a moderate price and Pershing Hall’s new resto has recently opened.

In Expatica, Clair Whitmer wrote a devastating review of Dans le Noir, saying it offers mediocre food at high prices (38 E) but liked the “experience.”

I’m way behind reporting on an October 18th article Philippe Couderc wrote in Nouvel Obs about authentic bistros wherein he says Ribouldingue is a 16/20 in price-quality.

Interestingly, Ribouldingue was also the subject of Rosa Jackson’s “Paris Bites” in the November Paris Notes. She loved the tetine, raw on the inside tuna and ewe’s milk ice cream. {Digester’s Note: Jackson’s reviews are a delight to read, if you’re not a subscriber, it’s worth it just for her contribution.}

Saturday-Sunday, Bonjour Paris had articles by Margaret Kemp on “Guy Savoy and Vanilla de Tahiti” and John Talbott on “First Meals.”

Please post comments here and not in the Digest thread.

Edited November 11, 2006 by John Talbott (log)

[John Talbott]

The Week of November 6th, 2006

Monday, Le Fooding’s Elvira Masson wrote an article about Spring, 28, rue de La Tour d'Auvergne in the 9th, 01 45 96 05 72, open for dinner weekdays and sometimes for lunch that has as its chef a native of Chicago – Daniel Rose, who trained with Constant, Bocuse and Alleno; then a buddy of Aizpitarte and since October has his own place that serves pumpkin soup, partridge salad, rabbit with girolles and chocolate cake on a menu of 36 €.

Parisist Monday had an article on Hevin & Aoki by Robyn.

Monday-Tuesday, the A Nous Paris reviewers reviewed and gave 4/5 blocks each to l’Orangerie, where they liked the sole and fruits but regretted a 75 € cod dish; and Les Autodidactes, 9, place Jean-Zay in Levallois-Perret (92), 01.47.39.54.02, closed evenings (except with a reservation) and weekends, menu 35 € for salmon tartare, fresh morue and pineapple; regretting it was only open for lunch.

Wednesday, Emmanuel Rubin’s “C’est Nouveau” in Figaroscope featured the same place as Le Fooding above, Spring, giving it the photo, lead blurb and 3 hearts. There are some slight differences though, here he says it’s open everyday but Sundays and describes the pumpkin soup as with foie gras, the cepes and chestnuts, the rabbit with veggies and the cake of nuts. He gave 2 hearts to a neighborhood bistrot Le Vertbois, 38, rue du Vertbois in the 3rd, 01.42.71.66.95, open every weekday with formulas at 15 € (lunch) et 25 € (dinner); the food is described as “bobo” such as cooked St Marcellin, chicken breast with spices and a tarte tatin. Then come three 1-heart places: the Siamese Coco Tree’s in the 17th; the creole Ze Restoo in the 4th; and the Indian Mantra Lounge in the 17th.

As for this week’s “Dossier,” It’s all coquillages all the way:

Expensive

Grande Cascade

Scallops

Violin d’Ingres

Mussels

Jarrasse

Le Laumiere

Coques

Saudade

Bulots

Maxan

Petoncles

Gaya par Pierre Gagnaire

Palourdes

l’Altro

Francois Simon, went to 35° Ouest, which he calls chic seafood, where he had oysters and scallops and where the clientele that, that night included a minister and a name-dropper. The bill = 140,90 € ; Go ? Yes.

Wednesday in Paris Update. Richard Hesse reviewed an old favorite of his, a Lyonnais jazz place called Le Petit Machon in the 1st, coordinates in the guidebooks. The interesting thing though was that he compared its excellent service with the bad service encountered by the same friend he’d eaten with at Chateaubriand – a place he’d raved about only last week.

Wednesday-Thursday, Jean-Claude Ribaut had two articles in Le Monde: one on the oysters of Arcachon and the other on white pizza for which he recommends: La Pizzetta in the 9th, Maria Luisa in the 10th and Chez Etienne in Marseilles.

Jean-Luc Petitrenaud, in this week’s l’Express gave a very positive review to l’Escapade, 36, bvd des Batignolles in the 17th where the daily-changing short blackboard menu (25 €; a la carte = 35 €) features items such as mushroom salad, oeuf mimosa, veal’s knuckle with remoulade (his favorite), cote de boeuf and veal, shrimp and avocado and the best tartare in the city.

Thursday, Gilles Pudlowski in Le Point, reviewed in Paris: La Coupole in the 14th, {apparently because it went no smoking}, saying that its quality holds up (salmon rillettes, runny avocado and crab, sausage poached in wine and a parfait) and the tapas-snack-bar-hotel-bar Le 15 cent 15, 12, rue de Marignan in the 8th, 01.40.76.34.59, (a la carte : 25-50 €); and says La Truffiere + Le Jules Verne in the 5th and 7th, respectively, are holding up. He also reviewed: Gilles Etéocle’s La Poularde in Montrond-les-Bains, Michel, (Sarran) Marcel, Pierre et les autres in Toulouse and the cake place Gibourdel in Trouville, that features “pâtisseries médiatiques” named after celebrities; finally mentioning pink garlic from Lautrec and a recipe for soup with it.

This Friday, Jean Louis Galesne wrote up places in Le Mans, singling out: Le Beaulieu, Auberge de Matfeux, Le Pont Rouge, Le Bar à Vin, La Villa Jacobins + Crêperie Le Roy d'Ys.

The November Bon Appetit named Joel Robuchon the Chef of the Year.

The November Gourmet has an article by Alexander Lobrano on Lyon restos and bouchons, that included the bouchons: Au Petit Bouchon Chez Georges, Chez Hugon, Daniel & Denise, Le Garet, Le Jura, Café Comptoir Abel, Chez Paul as well as a box on Lyon’s next generation, now cooking at: Nicolas Le Bec, Les Terasses de Lyon, Restaurant Thomas, Matthieu Viannay + Le Verre et l’Assiette. The month’s section on Menu: Restaurant Roundup features Les Ombres in Paris.

Saturday-Sunday, Bonjour Paris had articles by Margaret Kemp that (1) reviewed La Grande Cascade and chef George Menut’s favorite resto – Bistro 31 in the 16th and (2) talked of Pudlo’s demotion of it as well as one by John Talbott on “Hot New Quarters – the 10th.”

Please post comments here and not in the Digest thread.

[John Talbott]

The Week of November 13th, 2006

Monday, Le Fooding’s Elvira Masson wrote an article entitled “Rock in the Casbah” about a new couscous place Le Gourbi Palace, 48 rue Albert Thomas in the 10th, 01 42 08 45 20 from Monday to Saturday 12 :30-2 :30 and 5 :30-11 PM except Saturday lunch.. Du lundi au samedi de 12h30 à 14h30 et de 17h30 à 23h. Fermé samedi midi et dimanche, formula at lunch with a dish and coffee = 10,30 €.

Parisist Monday had an article on L’As du Falafel by Robyn.

Monday-Tuesday, in A Nous Paris, Jerome Berger awarded 3/5 blocks to Le Cameleon coordinates above, Jean Paul Arabian’s new place, where he enjoyed the leeks vinaigrette, foie gras and ray and they have a 25€ lunch formula (for 2 dishes); and his colleague Philippe Toinard gave 3/5 to l’Accolade, 23 rue Guillaume Tell in the 17th (where Miss Betsey used to be), lunch menu 20€, a la carte 34-47€, he commented particularly on the moules stuffed with parmesan, tuna and Breton Sable with pears and ice cream.

Wednesday, Emmanuel Rubin’s “C’est Nouveau” in Figaroscope featured the 2 heart bistronomique place that has replaced the “adorable” {but I guess unprofitable} C’Amelot, 50, rue Amelot in the 11th, 01.43.55.54.04, open Tues-Saturday, running one 40-50 €, with a lunch formula for 19.50 €, where he thought the oeufs coque with a mushroom forestiere sauce were not bad and the double pork chop was beautiful but the accompaniments poorly done – noting that the charcuterie was Spanish. Three other places got 2 hearts as well; a half-kitsch/half-casbah place Gourbi Palace in the 10th; a intimate neo-bourgeoise place Pramil, 9, rue du Vertbois in the 3rd, 01.42.72.03.60, closed Sundays and Mondays, menu = 29 €, lunch formula 18 €, for leeks with anchovies, foie gras with pigs’ ears and 7-hour lamb; and the rebirth of Pharamond, coordinates well-known, in the 1st, taken over by an ex-l’Ami Louis person that runs one 40-50 € for escargots, tripes and rice pudding. Finally he gave a broken heart to La Toque Saint Germain in the 1st that serves dry, pitiful food to tourists around the Chatelet.

As for this week’s “Dossier,” It’s all about wine bars and wine places where one can eat:

Wine bars

l’Abordage

Le Bar des Artistes

A la Vierge de la Reunion

Cellars where one can eat

Cremerie Caves Miard

Les Coulisses du vin

La Garde Robe

Nono

Places serving wines from a producer

Drouant

Lavinia

Bistrot du Sommelier

Ritz

And also, consider : La Cave du Daron, Le Vin se livre + Le Vin de Soif

An innovation, in a small box they give their preferences

For breadth and finesse of its selection

la Garde Robe + la Vierge de la Reunion

For the food and quality of products

l’Abordage + Caves Miard

For the team and atmosphere

Nono

Francois Simon, went to Fish la Boissonnerie, coordinates well know, where he says to go for the good (Anglo) ambiance and not so bad food despite its lack of reputation for that. The menu-carte of 32.50 € seems to have interested him.

Wednesday-Thursday in Le Monde Jean-Claude Ribaut wrote an article about this year’s Beaujolais Nouveau and recommended the gourmand, non-filtered, non-chapitalized wine of Michel Guignier (69910 Villié-Morgon : 04-74-04-22-24), available for 5.50 Euros from Yveline et Daniel Hallée at l'Œnothèque (the restaurant where you can also buy bottles to take-out) at 20, rue Saint-Lazare in the 9th, 01-48-78-08-76. He also wrote another article on the attempt to sell more French wine by sprucing up the labels; noting that close to 90 % of wines are bought by producers for less than 5 Euros a bottle.

Wednesday in Paris Update. Richard Hesse wrote about three places he’s nostalgic about: Chez Clovis, Le Trumilou + Le Rubis.

Thursday, Jean-Luc Petitrenaud, in this week’s l’Express wrote about one really established place in Paris La Fermette Marbeuf 1900 in the 8th as well as L'Auberge fleurie in Sars-Poteries.

And also on Thursday, Thursday, Gilles Pudlowski in Le Point, reviewed in Paris: in his following it category: the Otalian restaurant Carmine + Dar Moha a Magrebian place; as well as finding La Regalade + Al Dente in good shape; and outside that Christian Sinicropi has replaced Christian Willer at La Palme d'or in Cannes, that Jacky has been succeeded by Christophe Marguin at the restaurant of the same name in Dombes, and a long tribute to the famed resto of Chagny – Lameloise. He also mentions a Basque gateau maker in St Jean de Luz – Etchebaster, his product of the week is Vodka and he gives a recipe for a Caipiroska cocktail.

As I digested a bit back, Francois Simon predicted that Bertrand Gueneron, exLucas Carton would move to Au Bascou on the Rue Reamur at the beginning of April and this week’s “Croque Notes” has what I can only call a tribute to him, albeit a tribute to a very living chef. He (Simon) raves not only about the Basque cuisine but the desserts.

{I hesitate to digest the latest Gault-Millau principally because it is difficult to differentiate the paid pages that look like news from the news pages that look like ads. In any case,} the November issue seems to like the new places - Ca Blanca, Petrus + Café M at the Park Hyatt Madeleine and find in good shape – Maximin, Le Soleil + Christian Etienne in Avignon but gave Le Bistro d’Edouards in Lourmarin a frowny face and La Chassagnette in Arles an insupportable one.

In the November Where Alexander Lobrano recommended l’Ecallier du Bistrot + Au Coin des Gourmets the former for seafood, the latter for Indochinese cooking as well as Le Cou de la Girafe + Sensing for fine dining and the “brilliant new brasserie” Brasserie Printemps in the department store of the same name. {Lobrano’s reviews were brought to my attention a few years ago by an eGullet Society member and I’ve never really dug into the descriptions in the listings until this week when I discovered that he sometimes does what few critics in Paris dare do – give places a zetz – as when he comments that l’Ami Louis has “exhorbitant” prices, Benoit caters to “(very) affluent tourists,” that Lipp coasts “on its reputation despite merely passable food,” and that Helene Darroze’s dishes are “hit-or-miss.” I have new respect for a man who can take on the sacred cows that Americans incomprehensibly go gaga over.} His choices in the October issue were David Zuddas’s (Auberge de la Charme in Dijon) “fast eating” not fast food, menu at the BE boutiques in October only sadly; a reappraisal of Alcazar after 10 years, the Table de Fabrice, 13 quai de la Tournelle in the 5th, 01.44.07.17.57 with a 40 E menu and great views of the Seine, and the new Cave a Bulles artisanal beer place in the 4th. He also had a lengthy article on all the restaurants in museums:

Les Ombres + Café Branly at the Quai Branly

Georges at the Pompidou

Le Grand Louvre + Cafés Marly, Richelieu, Mollien, Denon + Pyramide at the Louvre

Café des Hauteurs + Restaurant d’Orsay at the Orsay

Café des Techniques at the Arts & Metiers

Salon des Porcelains at the Guimet

Café/tea salon at the Jacquemart-Andre

Tokyo Eat at the Palais de Tokyo

Café de l’Homme at the museum of the same name and

Ziryab at the Monde Arabe.

Finally, in October he also recommended the new Bistrot Volnay.

Saturday-Sunday, Bonjour Paris had two articles by Margaret Kemp entitled “GaultMillau 2007” on the fact that the guide gave its highest rating to Jean-Francois Piege of the Crillion and “Senderens triumphs at Senderens" as well as one by John Talbott on “How to avoid tourist traps.”

Sunday in the JDD there was a full page article by Benoist Simmat on Recipes for Survival for Chefs, noting that Marc Veyrat would not be reopening his winter place in Megeve but instead had gone to Japan {NB Margaret Kemp in the article referenced above states it’s to save up for his much anticipated move into Paris}. It says he denies money problems. It then goes on to talk of various moves chefs have made to make ends meet: (1) Senderens “giving up” his stars and opening a new type resto and Guy Martin opening Sensing, Pierre Gagnaire Gaya and Savoy and Rostang opening branches, (2) cutting prices of lunch by 1/3rd (Passard, Camdebord, Rostang + Darroze to under 100 € and (3) chefs trading in on their names with books, courses, consulting and products. It winds up by saying that the big stars are Ducasse + Robuchon for their multi-national empires. In addition, there was a small box quoting Emmanuel Rubin, Francois Simon and Vincent Gregoire (advisor to Senderens criticizing the Michelin for essentially sticking to their old standards at a time when the world was moving toward “zapping.” Finally, Astrid T’Serclaes reviewed what she called the gay friendly Grizzli Café that she recommends for after-theatre dining.

Please post comments here and not in the Digest thread.

[John Talbott]

The Week of November 20th, 2006

Monday, Le Fooding’s Alexandre Cammus announced that on Thursday Nov 23rd, for 1.20 €, you could buy Liberation and the Fooding Guide 2007, that has lots of recipes as well as info on the Semaine du Fooding, November 27th to December 4th.

Parisist Monday had another article on Thai food by Spoon and one by Meg saying that the “best Korean food in Paris” is at the Restaurant Namsan in the 19th.

Monday as well, Olivier Hachon-Bueb, in apparently a new feature in Le Figaro called MIAM Nº1, had an article on a « super-star » dish at the Bristol which is a riff on pig’s head and feet. The picture alone is worth the price of admission but the ingredients are impressive: stuffed cabbage with pig’s feet, chestnut sausage, half-snout on mashed potatoes and white truffles, a slice of smoked peasant bacon and black sausage between two “chips.”

Monday-Tuesday,in A Nous Paris, Jerome Berger reviewed, rated and summarized four places to go if you’re hungry late at night: 4/5 blocks went to “The Most like home” Les Enfants Rouge, coordinates well-known; 4/5 blocks to “The Most Snobbish” Bar Le Passage ditto; 3/5 to “The most soused” Oh Bigre, 4, rue Bridaine in the 17th, 01.44.90.05.04, closed Sunday and Monday, a la carte about 20 €; and “The latest” Le Tarmac, coordinates given before.

Wednesday in Paris Update Richard Hesse had a nice review of Les Zingots.

Wednesday, Emmanuel Rubin, in Figaroscope’s “C’est nouveau,” gave 2 hearts each to the “resto-cave-epicerie” La Cantine de Quentin, 52 rue Bichat in the 10th, 01.42.02.40.32, open every day, lunch formula at 14 €, a la carte 25-35 €, chef’d by an exSavoy Sébastien Altazin, serving pumpkin soup with blue cheese, cassoulet with duck and risotto with white truffles; Le Soleil, 153, rue de Grenelle in the 7th (the old Italian resto Gildo space), 01.45.51.41.12, closed Sundays, a la carte 40-60 €, an offshoot of the St Ouen flea market place of the same name, serving an aioli of bulots, crab soup, squid with mushrooms and pigeon with innards and crouton sauce; and the exRostang chef’d place in the old Miss Betsey space, l’Accolade, 23, rue Guillaume Tell in the 17th, 01.42.67.12.67, closed Saturday lunch and Sundays, lunch menu at 20 €, a la carte 35-50 €, serving pumpkin soup with Fourme d’Ambert and scallops (see here for my very positive experience). Finally, he gave one heart each to Evi Evane, 10 rue Guisarde in the 6th, 01.43.54.97.86, closed Sundays, lunch menus at 14.90 and 19.90 €, a la carte 35-40 €, serving tarama, rabbit with polenta with feta and a milk tart; and the wine bar Aux Anges, 30 rue Faidherbe in the 11th, 01.43.56.38.53, closed Sundays, a la carte 15-30 €, according to the amount and number of wines, Alleose cheese and Basque charcuteries.

This week’s “Dossier,” was about huge (200-500 covers) dining spaces that included:

Golden Wok 500 covers

La Coupole 500

l’Ile 450

Quai Ouest 400

New Nioulaville + Chai 33 400

Chartier 346 and at a good price

Mandala Ray 320

Mood 300

Le Café du Commerce 280

La Gare 260

Barrio Latino 300

Buddha Bar 300

Moussa l’Africain 200

Asian 200

and other big spaces – the Café de la Paix, Mollard, Bofinger, Flo, Jenny + Boeuf sur le Toit.

Francois Simon in his “Hache Menu,” went to: O Restaurant, coordinates well-known, where he and his companion had a millefeuille of tomato and marbled crab; cod; and one piece of cheesecake. With one bottle of Chianti (50 €), the bill ran to 155.50 €, which when he asks himself if it was too much, says – when it’s not great, it’s always too much, but then says to go if it’s a nice day.

Wednesday-Thursday, Jean Claude Ribaut had an “Inquiry” on a rival to a hamburger – kebabs. He mentions numerous places to get it/them, among which are: Chez Mounir, Janissaire, Paristanbul, le Sizin, Marmara + l'Uludag.

Thursday, in Le Point, Gilles Pudlowski reviews places in Paris he will watch: La Gazzetta + Savoye Café, 13, blvd de Courcelles in the 8th, 01.42.89.20.99, open everyday, a la carte : 30 E, chef’d by an ex-Griffonier called Robert Savoye, who serves goose rillettes, tartare and ices from Octave; places he deems in good form are Guy Savoy + Le Train Bleu. Outside Paris he loves the Chateau de Bagnols in the town of the same name, Brasserie Jules in Amiens and Les Roches in Le Lavandou. His products of the week include a water from the source in Saint Geron in the Auvergne that Michel Rostang, Alain Dutournier and a wine guy - Alexandre Bader of Billecart-Salmon have revived (it’s available at the Taillevent Caves and the Grande Epicerie de Paris) and the first leeks from Nantes for which he gives a recipe.

Friday, Jean Louis Galesne wrote up places where one can have seasonal dishes : for white truffles in all sorts of preparations : Emporio Armani Caffé + Mori Venice Bar, for white truffles and nuts: Pierre Herme’s buche, for black truffles: Michel Rostang, for game: Gérard Besson, le Pré Verre + Chez Michel, and for scallops, oysters and fish : La Marée Passy.

Friday, in Le Figaro, Sibylle Grandchamp noted that Bordeaux now has their own L’Atelier des Chefs.

Saturday, Francois Simon in Figaro, had a notice about Alain Ducasse’s taking over the Eiffel Tower restos, notably Le Jules Verne. There was another article about Thanksgiving by Camille Labro that suggested these three places to eat this weekend and/or buy ingredients: the Cajun restaurant Bayou La Seine, 20, rue Saint-Paul in the 4th, 01 42 77 68 29 ; the already mentioned store Thanksgiving and The Real McCoy.

The December Gourmet had among its places in its Restaurant Roundup, two in Paris: l’Orangerie + Sensing, the notice that Olivier Roellinger has opened a cooking school, La Cuisine Corsaire Ecole next door to Les Maisons de Bricourt in Cancale as well as an article by Alexander Lobrano on Alsace that mentioned: Buerehiesel, Le Bistro des Saveurs, Au Fer Rouge, Fink’ Stuebel, Au Pont Corbeau, La Winstub du Chambard, JY’s + l’Auberge.

Saturday-Sunday, Bonjour Paris had a review by Margaret Kemp on Le Soleil and an essay by John Talbott on “The Hot New Quarters – the 11th.”

Please post comments here and not in the Digest thread.

[John Talbott]

The Week of November 27th, 2006

Last week, in France-Amerique, Claire Derville wrote about the six Parisian chefs who ran the NYC Marathon, the first five with faster times than Lance Armstrong: they were Thierry Breton, Yves Camdeborde, Thierry Faucher, Bertrand Bluy, Flora Mikula + Rodolphe Paquin. {Pretty impressive, eh?}

Francois Simon, in an article in Le Figaro November 11th, entitled “Paris, Capital of the gogos” sang the praises of the food at l’Astor and the Thai place Thiou but found no tart in dishes listed as a chipirons tart at the former and langoustine tart at the latter (where there were no langoustines either). His moral of the story: Paris is not only the capital of the gogos but the dreamers, the illusionists and cover-ups. {I guess you had to be there.} Also, November 25-26, Simon had three articles in the “Gout” section. The first was a short one entitled “The Ducasse Empire” accompanying a nifty map that shows where his 1400 employees in 21 establishments in 9 countries are located. The second concerns Ducasse’s takeover of the Jules Verne designed by Lou et Slavik (a related article by Eric de la Chesnais concerns the Ducasse-Sodexco partnership for the Eiffel Tower project). And the third is his “Croque Notes” which starts with a riff on the various recent “movements:” Slow Food, Le Fooding & Omnivore, then goes off on a discussion of Le Fooding and finally says that if you read his column, you do so to get good recommendations, and he then lists – Christophe, 8, rue Descartes, 01.43.26.72.49 which despite its banal décor provides good food costing 35-60 € in the evening with formulas for lunch.

Monday, Le Fooding’s News was all about The Fooding Week.

Monday in Parisist Robyn assessed Pierre Herme’s macaroons.

Monday-Tuesday,in A Nous Paris, Philippe Toinard reviewed and gave 3/5 blocks to the Villa Pereire, 116 Blvd Pereire in the 17th, 01.43.80.88.68 with lunch formulas at 19.50 and 24.50, a la carte 28-56 €, closed Saturday lunch and Sundays, where Jimmy Merle (ex-Miss Betsey,) is now cooking dishes like shredded lieu in jelly, tuna steak and pear in red wine and Jerome Berger gave 3/5 blocks to 35° Ouest, coordinates given before, where he, (like me), found the fish very expensive for the product. In another article written by Jerome Berger he discussed several food-related items: two exhibitions of food art, one at Fraich’Attitude in the 10th featuring “Eat Art” and the other “Freddy and the Chocolate store” featuring things like a Minitel in chocolate at the gallery Philippe Chaume in the 10th; the gallery bookshop on which a thread is already running called Food; a website that does everything from answer questions about food and food services all over the world to organize food tours – it’s in three languages including English; and the website of the Le Fooding event going on til December 4th, already know to members.

Tuesday, in an article in Le Figaro by Alexandra Michot, Colette Monsat and Francois Simon, the authors determined which were the best croissants in Paris and declared that the top five came from: Pierre Hermé, Triomphe, L. Duchêne, Mulot + Lenôtre. Tied for #8 was A. Poilane, Kayser was 15th, Fauchon tied for 17th, and Paul, Laduree + Dalloyau were all at #24.

Tuesday last week I failed to record two places that the Wall Street Journal’s reporter Daniel Michaels recommends in Nimes: Aux Plaisirs des Halles + l’Enclos de la Fontaine.

Wednesday in Paris Update Richard Hesse had very positive take on on the newly renovated Pharamond, where he says one has classic food (escargots, vol au vent, poule au pot, etc.) for about 60 €.

Wednesday, Emmanuel Rubin, in Figaroscope’s “C’est nouveau,” gave 2 hearts to the neobistrot l’Arome, 3, rue St Philippe du Roule in the 8th, 01.42.25.55.98, closed Sundays with lunch menus at 28 and 33 €, a la carte 40-50 €, where he liked the crisp pork cheeks and beef tails, duck with chorizo and cabbage and prune beignets. {I’ll be posting my views in a week or so.} Two one heart places were the Spanish tapas/etc type place Almodobar in the 17th and Le Mathusalem, 5 bis, bd Exelmans in the 16th, 01.42.88.10.73, closed Saturday lunch and Sundays with a lunch formula at 22 €, a la carte 30 €, for sausage salad, salmon and tiramisu. He also gave busted hearts to La Cuisine Colbert in the 5th and Jimmy Blanche Café in the 11th.

This week’s “Dossier,” was about business lunch restaurants that included:

New ones

Le Violin d’Ingres

L’Orenoc

Les Ombres

Sensing

Pharamond

Le Versance

Petrus

Drouant

35° Ouest

Trendy

Unico

Hotel Amour

La Gazzetta

Mori Venice Bar

Sens

Bistros

Le Cameleon

Chez les Anges

Ze Kitchen Galerie

Astier

Cafe Panique

Et dans mon cœur il y a…

Bistro Volnay

And Francois Simon in his “Hache Menu,” went to Laurent, coordinates well-known, that he calls “the magnificent” and where he and his companion had the Pavillion menu with scallops, pigeon and vanilla ice cream, which with a Gamay and water ran him 193 € that that he felt was a good price-quality ratio and worth the experience.

Metro this week was the first {I believe} to publish a review of a clever-sounding book: La Soupe de Kafka by Mark Crick, Flammarion, 118 pps, 12 €, that features recipes “in the manner of;” for instance lamb as Raymond Chandler would have had it or the Marquis de Sade’s deboned chicken.

Wednesday-Thursday, Jean Claude Ribaut had an “Inquiry” on Molecular cuisine in which he stated that last week (11/23/06) in Saint Sebastien, Ferran Adria renounced the movement because of who was attracted to it.

Thursday, in Le Point, Gilles Pudlowski reviews places in Paris he will watch: the Italian NY type snack bar in the 9th - Impro’vista + Le Daniel, 8, rue Frédéric-Bastiat in the 8th, 01.42.56.17.00, a la carte : 60 €, where he liked the zucchini flowers with rosemary, St Pierre and iced soufflé with cassis. He’s still impressed by the Celedon + Savy. Outside Paris he likes Anne-Sophie Pic in Valence, Blanc le Bistro in Toulon and L'Atlantide in Nantes. His producers of the week (coldcuts) in Sainte-Menehould are Sylvain and Nadège Warin, his product is Pietra beer from Furiani (Corsica) and his recipe is for rabbit with beer.

Friday, Jean Louis Galesne in Les Echos covers the last of 2006 restaurant openings, reviewing:

Les Fougères, 10, rue Villebois-Mareuil in the 17th, 01.40.68.78.66, closed weekends, menus at 22 (lunch) et 29 €, where he liked the price-quality ratio of the food, such as shrimp soup, mackerel with girolles, hare and cardamon ice cream provided by Stéphane Duchiron (ex-Lameloise) and Roland Durand (ex-Passiflore + Bon Accueil.)

l’Orenoc, Hôtel Méridien, 81, bd Gouvion-Saint-Cyr in the 17th, 01.40.68.30.40, closed Sundays and Mondays, lunch menu at 38, a la carte about 70 €, chef’d by the ex-Bamboche head, who now serves 100 rather than 30 covers items such as onion raviolis, parmesan fondue, tuna, sweetbreads with cocoa beans and grapefruit ricotta. You won’t be bored, he says. {My review is forthcoming.}

Le Soleil, 153, rue de Grenelle in the 7th, 01.45.51.54.12, closed Sundays and Mondays, formulas from 32-36 € and a la carte about 50 € where Louis-Jacques Vanucci ex and still I take it at the St Ouen resto of the same name and refuge from Villaret serves things such as a Sicilian tomato pizzetta or tiny crabs soup, lamb filet and partridge.

The chic and chere Le Diane, in the Hôtel Fouquet's Barrière in the 8th, 01.40.69.60.60 open everyday, running one 90-130 € with a 165 € menu, where the chef of Fouquet’s, Jean-Yves Laurager, directs the serving to 32 covers of fare such as red mullet, foie gras, autumn salad, Wagyu beef and “black bottom” pig at “prohibitive” prices {See Francois Simon’s take on this and the prices below.}.

L'Arôme, 3, rue Saint-Philippe-du-Roule in the 8th, 01.42.25.55.98, closed Sundays, lunch formula 26 €, lunch menu 33 € a la carte about 50 where Pascal Bataillé, ex of Pierre Gagnaire {Now that explains why I left so stuffed} serves up such items as slices of beef with prunes and leeks, cuttlefish tempura, and a fricassee of langoustines. Eric Martins, ex from l’Ami Marcel is the front room man.

Saturday-Sunday, in various parts of Le Figaro, there were several articles of note. Francois Simon wrote his “Croque Notes” about a disastrous experience at Diane, the new Fouquet’s restaurant at 46, ave George V in the 8th, 01.40.69.60.60, which he was told to go to fast but also warned about by readers who had had catastrophic experiences via messages on his published phone number – 01.57.08.55.19. It’s an amusing article which I won’t dwell on but things are described in horrid detail, such as his asking for hot wine because the room was so cold and his shock at the prices of the awful food – 135 for prune-fed pork for two; the 6-7 times markup on the wine instead of the 3 times routine markup – but it does sort of serve him right that he spent 344 € on a meal he had received ample warnings about. Another unsigned article notes that a group called the Wine & Business Club has arranged a program where holders of its “Vin en ville” card are able to open their own wine for only 5 Euros corkage fee and get a 10-25% discount on wines at 30 restaurants, such as l’Autobus Imperial, le Pont Alma + Tante Louise. Finally, the second in a series called MIAM written by Olivier Hachon-Bueb appeared and talked of a Thai salad of grilled or chopped beef costing 9,50 € at Pattaya, 29, rue Étienne-Marcel in the 1st, 01 42 33 98 09.

{I have gone through the December/January Gault-Millau twice, making notes and turning down pages and when I reached the real ads (as opposed to the text copy that looks ad-like), I realized I had little to « Digest » from the issue. The cover features Adriana (Karembu)’s Confessions about Christmas (What ?, Who ? When I « Googled » her I first got 14 nude photos of her – Good Lord, this is a culinary expert ?) ; their Cook of the Year is Jean Francois Piege ; their Great Parisian Chef of Tomorrow is Inaki Aizpitarte ; their city to feature is Lyon ; there are lots of books mentioned (one of which, co-authored by Jean Pierre Coffe, I’d like to read) – Big Surprises ! but where is the cutting edge stuff, the news about restos that Henri Gault and Christian Millau celebrated, that brought us all into the new world of French cooking ; where are the judgments, the ratings, the savvy ? Sorry for the rant, but this is a sad, sad ending to this once fabulous pub.}

{And while I’m on a tear, let me say that I’m equally disappointed with the supposedly cutting-edge mag - ex-Omnivore now oMni. I don’t know what’s happened, but it’s lost its edge too. Cases in point: (1) Featured chef : Antoine Westerman, story line : turned over le Buerehiesel to his son to devote his energies (he’s only 60, for goodness sake) to his Paris operations ; (2) yet another article on the Slow Food movement and how the French chefs aren’t jumping on the train (I’m shocked, shocked….) ; (3) a nonsensical article on learning from Turkish food ; (4) another on « What comes after Generation « C » ?» ; and then slick photo-features on chefs they really like, and sorry, this is where I stopped.}

Saturday-Sunday, Bonjour Paris had an essay by John Talbott on “The Yanks are coming.”

Finally, on Sunday in the JDD, Samuel Le Torriellec, chef at La Marée in the 8th gives as his two favorite inexpensive places in and around Paris: Au Pied de Cochon + Chez Celement {I kid not} in Bougival where he goes with his family for Sunday lunch.

Please post comments here and not in the Digest thread.