My lunch partner's starter of mussel and saffron soup was decent enough, but my bland autumn vegetable "cook pot" came with a side order of worm. Yes, you heard me right. The attitude of the staff was very "har har har, more protein for you". Nice. It happens I know.
When I the sommelier asked what I'd like to drink and I replied "I trust you", his reply (with no humor intended, I'm sure) was: "Tant pis pour vous". I believed him when a little later he knocked my 17€ glass of Condrieu across the table, smashing the glass in two, whisking away the pieces (sans apology). He replaced the glass and we continued on with a tasty baby squid tagliatelli with fresh cepes and parmesan, and a regrettable (especially at 38€) lobster macaroni which was overpowered by something or other I ceased to care about.
Their "famous" camembert was fine. The 40 minute wait for the bill afterwards, however, was not, as apparently the entire staff of the restaurant, except the manager had vacated the premises and forgotten us upstairs.
Note to self: file somewhere between "very disappointed" and "never again". Especially, especially at 100€ a head.
Mussel and saffron soup
Baby squid "tagliatelli" with cepes
Lobster macaroni
7 comments:
Good for you, Adrian. You came right out and said what everyone in Paris who cares about good food knows, which is that the Alain Ducasse empire is in free fall. What he did to Benoit was a catastrophe and Aux Lyonnais has been skidding, too.
gastronomic dead zone ?????????????
Not very well informed for a concierge !!!!
- Caïus of Jean-Marc Notelé, 6 Rue d'Armaillé.
- Les Fougères of Stéphane Duchiron, 10 rue Villebois Mareuil (just on the other side of Frédéric Simonin you are naming !)
- Le Hide of Hide Kobayashi, rue du Général Lanrezac
- Chez Gabrielle, 7 rue de l'Etoile
etc, etc...
He's right. That area of town is so boring gastronomically. Just a few addresses.
What's "a few" ?
Need more ?
I'm going to leave the worm thing alone, because frankly that just freaks me out.
But isn't there a place and a time for places like Rech? Stick to what is important: a huge plateau de fruits de mer (really, if being part of the Ducasse chain is only good for one thing, it's having "first pick" of fresh, quality seafood, non?) accompanied by a chilled bottle of not-extremely-expensive white wine.
Sometimes a meal out shouldn't be more complicated than that. For those times, Rech and the like suit me just fine.
Good for you, Adrian. You came right out and said what everyone in Paris who cares about good food knows, which is that the Alain Ducasse empire is in free fall. What he did to Benoit was a catastrophe and Aux Lyonnais has been skidding, too.
Good for you, Adrian. You came right out and said what everyone in Paris who cares about good food knows, which is that the Alain Ducasse empire is in free fall. What he did to Benoit was a catastrophe and Aux Lyonnais has been skidding, too. china outsourcing
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