Plaza Colada Sushi

Writing about this...uh, cocktail

Tour d'Argent changes chef (my yawn just yawned..)

Stephane Riss just published this news  on one of Paris' oldest and well known restaurants changing chefs. They need a lot more than a young chef change to turn this place around, and exchange the wave of American, Russian and Japanese tourists for serious gastronomes.

They're probably still worth a visit for their superb cellar though.

Thierry Marx moves to Paris

Thierry Marx at the Mandarin Oriental Paris next year.

Le Piege , opening September 2010 (?)

Like I said three months ago,  Jean-François Piege and Thierry Costes'  Thoumieux upstairs restaurant will be a six table gastro with a maximum of 20 people and be called Le Piege. Unfortunately, the opening will apparently be later on this year in September, on the date of the chef's birthday. They expect four month waiting lists...

Will I get credit for the name ;)  ?

My Monocolumn

Here's my little column on MONOCLE magazine's website on the new Michelin guide. Pretty general, but hints at the new Paris culinary zeitgeist.

Passage 53 - one star in the Michelin !!

Actually, I'm taking time out of my no-comment-on-the-Michelin-guide-hiatus to say bravo for giving my favorite restaurant of the year, Passage 53 their first star.

I've been railing on this subject ever since Adeline Grattard told me the guide called her a few weeks ago to tell her of her first one star promotion, believing that Guillaume and Shin deserved it better- for the hard work and transformation they went through, from a "modern bistro" concept, ripping out the bar and changing the decoration to make the dining room more comfortable, giving chef Shin his chance to follow his own culinary path, and just being all around great guys with a totally unique restaurant.

Seeing Jean-Luc Naret there during lunch a few weeks ago (he returned two weeks after for another lunch), and hearing that the inspectors had already come by a number of times gave me a clue, but this was a big surprise. I'm happy to have promoted/supported/been their biggest fan-boy. Congrats!

I predicted it in the above article a few months ago, surprised noone else saw it coming ;)

The other two tables of note, are  Yam T'cha with one star (controversial with many Parisian foodies who think the cuisine is flagging) and La Bigarrade, with two.

Michelin Guide Paris 2010

No comment this time around. As my friend Alex Cammas says, "Who cares about the Michelin".

Much Meandering about Meat - Charbon Rouge

I've spoken a lot about meat on this blog- covering the best and the worst in Paris, and another steakhouse opening isn't usually on my top list of priorities. Recent ventures such as Meating (dumb name, strange concept- ie. American meats broiled in a broiler brought at tremendous expense from the US..) have left me a bit luke warm. In fact, there is so much good meat in Paris restaurants, if you know where to look for it, that a new table (Charbon Rouge) purporting Argentinian, US and Kiwi meat cooked over hot coals on the touristy rue Marbeuf , didn't really hold much interest for me. My friend Greg, former George V bar pro and all around rock star and nice guy runs it and has been begging me to test, and I trust his opinion. So, after a few drunken textos to him (home watching a football match, on a rare day off), I got my late resa, and slouched around the corner to test. No expense has been spared in this modern, two floor carnivore temple, and it was pretty well packed with locals and fashionable jet setters, and the place is all the more strange , being situated between two of the most well meat restaurants in the city, Le Relais de l'Entrecote and Maison de l'Aubrac. There's not much to say except that they serve perfect renditions of dishes such as a luxurious , almost creamy ceviche and an Argentinian entrecote that blew my mind, with a tasty little chimichurri sauce and crispy fries, making for a perfect, filling, natural and hearty meal after a soirée plus qu'un peu arrosé!

Royal Gin Fizz at Le Forvm- the cocktail world's answer to Cialis?

Taste of the week - Sliders at Px Cocktail Club

For those of you who don't know (ie French people), a "slider" is a tiny hamburger popular in coolio bars in gentrifying 'hoods all over the US, and until now haven't hit Paris.

Last night at the Prescription Cocktail Club:  Yves Marie Le Bourdonnec, 40 day aged meat patties, vieux compté, onions and truffled mayonnaise on Poujauran mini hamburger rolls.

No pix, you should be salivating by now.

Anahi - not for me

One thing that really irks me is a so called trendy restaurant that's crawled its way up from the primeval sludge, and made its way into all the guides and magazines, the collective dining public's mind, and somehow, despite the fact that they were famous pretty much only in the 80's, because Jean Paul Gauthier went there once or twice, and because during fashion week it's filled with noisy, stupidly dressed American fashion press people , they still retain some sort of authenticity.

It went like this: It was Saturday night and I had no idea where to go, but a strange hankering for Argentinian meat or ceviche. I called Anahi: "We've only got space in the back room" (ie for the little people). Ok fine. I'm hungry. We arrive. Restaurant empty. We are relegated to the back room while the Argentine lady owning roams around the front room, preening herself for the real guests (who, by the way, take two hours to come).

The first round comes: decent, although tiny empanadas , guacamole, a little too smooth (think baby food) and lacking a bit of spice, but with great homemade bread, decent ceviche . We order our meats, told it comes with green salad. Everything comes with polenta instead.

"Can we have the green salads we were promised?" I say to Argentinian owner lady and fashion ambassador. "No it comes with polenta". Me: "We were told it comes with green salad". Her: "You'd like extra green salad". Me:"No, I'd like what we were promised, green salad". Her: "OK, sorry for the waiter , he never works in the restaurant, only on Thursdays". Okkkk......The kicker was when she took away a small bottle of Pago juice (20cl=8€!! , 85 cents in the local Monoprix!) that was only half empty, and spirited it away to the kitchen. When told , she said sorry, disappeared into the kitchen again, and was seen bending down to get the juice bottle - yes yes yes , at just about poubelle height. I could go on and on: the basil/tomato sauce on the brochettes was forgotten, no sugar offered with coffee, etc etc

I was fortunate my company was so charming.

La Tete dans les Olives

Paid a visit the other day to this tiny little store/Paris' smallest restaurant after having read about them in the Figaroscope. The shop, hidden away on a rundown street sandwiched between the Hopital Saint Louis and the Canal Saint Martin, carries a great selection of fine Sicilian produce, and apparently supplies grand maisons such as the Plaza Athenée with their wares. The afternoon I visited, I did a little tasting of about five different olive oils, black and green olives, dried tomatoes, dried figs, tuna bresaola, fresh bay leaves, and fennel seeds, many of which were picked by Cédric Casanova , the raffish, young half Sicilian owner. François Simon and the Figaroscope people had been there in recent days, and it seems that this is the next gastropress bandwagon jumping hot spot that you'll all be reading about soon. Can't wait to try out their new table, with five seats and a simple "best of" menu, but John, Meg, Wendy, and Barbra got the jump on me ;)

Chateaubriand Redux

I've never been a huge fan of Inaki Aizpitarte's Chateaubriand. Maybe it's all the media hype surrounding this bad-boy Basque, a rogueishly handsome, perpetually unshaven lady killer of a cuistot. Maybe I'm jealous of all the attention he gets variously from the top food and travel magazines, as well as a legion of hot young foodies. My friend and fellow chef/food blogger extraordinaire once told me, "I don't know what all the fuss is about- it's nothing special, just n'importe quoi" . Another friend Trish, who profiled him for a top French food mag thinks he's sex on a stick. Most girls do. I swear when he pops out of the kitchen you can almost hear the panties drop.

Well, all this hype has sort of muddied the water a little, making people expect something on the level of El Bulli I have the impression. All the fashionistas and gastro-tourists arriving for dinner last night had a similar look on their face, "Is this it?" One bobo type style editor girl got into a heated argument with the head waiter because they took more than 4 seconds to find her reservation. He couldn't give toss. I expect he gets it every day. Too much press buzz giving an impression of something else.

Anyway, last night I got it. A 45€ , five course menu with very decent food is a good deal:Amuse bouche of marscapone, crab and pissenlit, Bouillon with mushrooms, radishes , foie gras and various crunchy peanuty things floating around, lieu jaune with mashed purple tomatoes and raw, thinly sliced cauliflower, Lamb from Hugo (a bit too chewy), with carrots, agrumes and "carri", and a pear crumble/yoghurt dessert with caviar like little yuzu pearls. Cheese (coulommiers, "young" gorgonzola and chevre) was very decent.

So, despite previous misgivings, I've been won over for a simple, slightly creative cuisine at good prices. And it really was fun observing all those stupidly dressed fashionidiots waiting for my table in desperation at the standing room only bar, while I slowly sipped a last glass of chilled bubbly ;)

Quick Review - Breizh Café

Perfect Breton comfort food for a rainy Parisian day, deep in the heart of the trendy Upper Marais. Art galleries, leggy models, hipsters. Tsarskaya oysters, crispy black flour crepe with a filling rivaling a Full English: mushrooms, bacon, fresh Normandy cream, piment d'Espelette, farm fresh scrambled eggs, all washed down with a crisp jug of organic cider.

Me vs. Le Figaro

My piece a few weeks ago for Virgin Atlantic's website, vtravelled, and Le Figaro's piece yesterday.

Hmmmmmm.

Paris restaurants 2009/2010 : the year (partly) in review

2009 was a surprisingly good year for food in the City of Light. In recent years , with the exception of the bistronomic movement, there wasn't really a whole lot happening in town, and other cities such as New York, London and Spain were starting to get the upper hand in innovation. This past year started to put Paris back on the map again, and what follows is my personal opinion on the most interesting culinary movers and shakers :

Passage 53: Located in a charming turn of the century passageway not too far from place de l'Opera (across from the Hard Rock Café, yikes!) is probably my favourite restaurant of the year. Run by the delightful Guillaume Guedj (whose father in law happens to be famed butcher Hugo Desnoyer), what started off as a slightly flawed bistro de luxe, turned into a small gastro of great note and promise. When early diners and reviewers complained that the dining room wasn't comfortable of spacious enough, he immediately rectified it. And then he did an about face, and went from bistro to gourmet, with a staff strengthened by a charming young Japanese sommelier who worked at Tokyo's three star Quintessence, and allowing Japanese chef Shin(ichi) Sato free reign with a lunch or dinner tasting menu only. Dishes such as the veal tartar on a bed of chopped Gillardeau oysters or artichoke tempura on a bed of chopped, yuzu flavoured oysters were not only the ultimate surf and turf, but some of the best dishes of the year.

Yam T'Cha: The year's most mediatized newcomer, this small table , not far from the Louvre museum, offered what I hesitate to call a fusion cuisine. Chef Adeline Grattard and her Chinese husband, Chi Wa, run this modern little dining room , all minimalist with exposed brick and open kitchen, offering a tasting menu including French and Asian products (Challans duck with Szechuan pepper, hot foie gras with Pok Choi and mustard leaves), that is subtle and completely unique. No surprise then, that Grattard trained with some of the best, the Meurice's Yannick Alleno and Astrance's Pascal Barbot, as well as a stint in Hong Kong at the two star Bo Innovation. Chi Wa, a former graphic designer runs the tea service with elegance and professionalism. But the press coverage was brutal and immediate, and getting a table at either lunchtime or dinner is nearly impossible, and time will tell if they can withstand this pressure. As a chef friend of mine recently said "Adeline is stressing out too much, you can feel the stress in the dining room, and I wonder if you can even taste it in her cuisine".

Frenchie. Another one you'll be hearing alot about soon is this restaurant owned by Gregory Marchand, a young French chef whose culinary training was exclusively outside of France in places like Jamie Oliver's 15 and at New York's Gramercy Tavern. His tiny little place, not far from the garment district and the ancient rue Montorgueil market street has drawn raves for his (very) short daily market menu (changes weekly) and bargain prices. A lot of local press has guaranteed very hard to get table status. Marchand recently imposed a two week before only booking policy to encourage local diners to get reservations.

Another unlikely table that has recently become one of Paris' hottest tables is the joint venture between Thierry Costes and former two star Crillon chef Jean-François Piege, Thoumieux. The old 1920's brasserie located in the chic seventh had been flagging in recent years, and Piege's redesign of both the dining room and update of the classic French menu (with additions such as the pizza soufflé and "carbonara" of calimari) have pleased diners as much as the reasonable prices. The upcoming renovation of the hotel and his future upstairs chef's table , (perhaps) called "Le Piege", will, according to rumours serve anywhere from 8 to 25 lucky diners. We'll see in a couple months.

Other interesting addresses include (in no particular order) : Tartes Kluger ,a modern pie-house/factory opened in an old, disaffected bakery in the Upper Marais neighborhood, all sleek surfaces and exposed brick, offering a limited selection of homemade sweet and savory quiches. O'trement, located on the upper floor of the classic brasserie Flottes, an arty, cozy modern dining room with a cuisine taken over by Nicolas Vernier (formerly of one star Caffè Minotti) , and a menu conceived by Frederick e. Grasser-Hermé: chic, relaxed with luxury comfort food and excellent products. Zinc Caius , spice crazed chef, Jean-Marc Notelet's annex to his main restaurant Caius, with an excellent selection of products and list of small production wines, and less than 20 seats. KGB one of the hottest entries of the year offers a Thai inspired world menu from young Israeli chef Yariv Berebi, who trained with owner (and chef of the motherhouse, Ze Kitchen Galerie, William Ledeuil). The menu is comprised of a fusion hors d'oeuvre selection, followed by pastas and crockpots, and a less than stellar dessert menu. Soundproofing is a little iffy, but worth a try with a foodie friend. Bob's Kitchen , a new lunch table from Marc Grossman of Bob's Juice Bar in the grungy/chic Upper Marais offers vegetarian salad, soups, stews and great desserts and smoothies, perfect for a detox lunch/brunch. Caffè dei Cioppi had all the Parisian food critics/writers on the bandwagon for a well conceived Italian menu from a former chef of the Relais Plaza. Price is right, and the place is charming, with an open kitchen, and located in a small passageway near the Bastille. Beware of restrictive seating times however, strictly enforced. La Patisserie des Reves the (finally!) new age pastry shop from famed chef Philippe Conticini opened to a media fanfare for his updated versions of French classics in a modern setting in the chic 7th.


** WORK IN PROGRESS ALERT **I'll be expanding on this post in the coming days, feel free to chime in...

Le Piege

I've come up with a great name for Jean-François Piege's upcoming new table de chef on top of his trendy new 20 seater Thoumieux restaurant: Le Piege.

Catchy, huh?

P53 dish of the moment

Artichokes cooked 'tempura' style (Shin-sana doesn't like that word) on a bed of yuzu tinted oysters(not Gillardeau, by the way). The new veal tartar. And one of the best things you can eat in Paris at the moment, the ultimate Franco-Nippon surf and turf.

Self Revelation no.1

Am I just an overheated fanboy on the periphery of culinary genius and innovation?

Caffè dei Cioppi

Open kitchen

Tiny dining room - 14 seats!

Buffala mozzarella with grilled vegetables and roquette

Subtle, if watery , safran risotto

Sbrisolona: Dessert of the year?


I decided to let things cool down and go after Mr. Tout le Monde Bloggeur Critique to test this hot new table which virtually anyone has heard about by now such as their gastronomic press firestorm been.

This tiny little table is located not too far away from the Bastille in a grungy but ever increasingly bobo part of the 11th arondissement, and hidden along a small passageway, which in the summer has a great little terrace. The dining room has only 14 seats, making last minute bookings pretty much impossible (we had an hour to eat..), but it's worth trying your luck because this place is great value. The ambience is very elbow to elbow, with diners getting all chummy, cool Jazz piped in, the kitchen totally open plan with casseroles boiling away, and three stools at a sort of bar with a full view of the action. The chef used to second the kitchens of the Relais Plaza at the Plaza Athenée hotel, and for the price the cooking shines pretty bright, with only a couples hicks here and there. I hoped to have the burrata cheese advertised on the menu, but , hélas, even being the first client of the day, they were out of stock and replaced it with an excellent mozza, accompanied by a salad of grilled veg and roquette. The following lasagna with sausage was delicious, although the safran risotto, for me, was pretty bland and too watery, and needed a copious dusting of pepper and salt (I'm told their red wine and sausage version is really good, but wasn't on the menu). Desserts were impeccable, especially the crunchy corn flour and almond based biscuits (known as sbrisolona) and marscapone cream, surely one of the most delicate sweets of the year. Count on spending about 30-35 Euros per person with a glass or two of wine.



Caffè dei Cioppi
159 rue du Faubourg Saint Antoine, 11th
+33 1 43 46 10 14