on my list for next week.
FWIW, I don’t think I’ve read a single good review of LBG in the French press. Tourist attraction is the description that comes up the most.
Then again, I’ve been to restaurants deemed for tourists in other countries and had a good experience. So who knows!
Alain
Don’t get your hopes up too high - this is what their online wine list says:
NB: The list of wines and prices communicated here are only indicative. They are brought to evolve according to the sales and the changes of vintages .
Let us know how it actually goes!
I was at LBG last night and it was okay. Incredibly rushed at the beginning as I was going through the wine list (and I had a later seating). The food was average and underseasoned. They were happy to oblige with some fleur de sel. Service was fine also, but definitely improved when it was clear I wanted to order a bottle of something.
I probably won’t return in the future, as I’ve had many other better meals here so far (A.T., Le Rigmarole, Les Enfants du Marche Rouge, La Bourse et la Vie, and others). Full update when I return, as typing on a tablet sucks.
I’ll be at many of those you mention next week. I fear it may be raining the entire time, so all the more reason to linger over long meals.
Had a quick lunch of grilled octopus with chimichurri and a red pepper sauce at Les Enfants du Marché this week with a couple glasses of white wine. Very tasty octopus, I loved the relaxed atmosphere and friendly conversation with the server. First time there thanks to rec’s on this thread, I will be back for sure!
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we were there last night also. Food average. Atmosphere and wine great. Dauvissat Forest and Marc Roy Gevrey VV.
Interesting. I hated the atmosphere - crowded, noisy, pushy, smelly, people’s butts knocking over glasses on our table…
table was in a nook well protected from Arnaud.
I’m not sure if there’s any rain left after what I absorbed last week. I hope you have significantly better weather than I did. The weekend wasn’t bad, though. Cold, but not bad.
I had the same octopus dish and it was very tasty. The rack of lamb was excellent.
It looks like steady rain every day for me except perhaps one afternoon. That’s okay - I don’t care to sightsee and I won’t melt.
Good to know, I was curious how the food was with the new chef as we’re going in July and my 7 year old son keeps asking to go here (and to Bistrot Paul Bert, their recent Instagram post with the mountain of frites made him go nuts). I haven’t been back to Enfants du Marche since February 2020 so it’ll be good to find out what the new guy can do.
I spent 48 crazy hours with Mika, the owner, in NYC this past weekend. Of course he is biased but he said he is very happy with the new chef and that his food is a bit lighter. Trying to get him to do something in NYC!
Just back from a quick 4 days in Paris. Here are some impressions:
Clown Bar - another good meal, though perhaps a bit more heavy-handed than my last meal there, which was a lot of the same dishes. Still, I quite enjoyed what I ate and would happily go back. It’s good for a light meal or a lunch, but I think anyone looking for a larger dinner might do better elsewhere.
Les Enfants du Marche - stopped by for just one dish, and ended up with an enormous portion of rack of lamb, more than half of which I took back to my apartment. It was good, though I thought there were too many things going on on the plate - just personal preference. Meat was perfectly cooked. All the dishes around me looked very good as well. My first try at a glass of red was very mousy, but the second was clean and quaffable.
Septime - possibly the best meal I’ve ever had there, and many steps above the slightly off meal I had last time. The menu was a true delight, beautiful and delicious, and exciting to see them on form again in both the kitchen and the dining room.
David Toutain - superb meal. I loved every dish, the room, the service and the wine list. Fine dining at its most effortless and confident.
Restaurant Contraste - pretty much a train wreck of a meal, with problems in dish concept and execution, despite having just received a *. My main was some gorgeous lamb, but so over-salted as to be inedible. I sent it back, and was disappointed enough at that point that I asked them not to redo it, even though I was still hungry. They do have some good prices on champagne, though.
La Cagouille - back on track with a perfectly delightful meal, simple, delicious and exactly what I wanted after a disappointing night before. The list may not be what it once was, but there is still a lot to be appreciated.
Le Comptoir - I have such a soft spot for this restaurant, I was willing to overlook the fact that my veal main was woefully under seasoned. Maybe Contraste stole all the salt in town? A salad of asparagus, poached egg and veal lardons was excellent, as was a bottle of 2019 Foillard Cote du Py.
Le Rigmarole - every dish I had here was quite good, but I struggled to see the menu as a meal rather than a string of dishes. I can’t complain about anything, not flavors or execution, just never felt the series hung together. I’d love to go back when there’s a little more support staff, too. Don’t get me wrong - I had a very good time, and a good bottle of champagne, as well as tasty food. But I don’t see the high praise others have given.
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I was talking to a French chef and she asked me what my favorite restaurant was in Paris and I said Septime, she said ugh I don’t like it I have eaten seasonal food prepared in a simple way my whole life in France so its no big deal to me.
I asked her what her favorite restaurant was and she said Le Rigmarole, and I said ugh I don’t want to eat Yakitori and pasta in Paris. I have gone three times and each meal has been fine it is just not what I travel to Paris for but I can see why others like it so much.
It was really interesting to see our different perspectives.
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That is interesting and makes some sense.
With Le Rigmarole, for me, if is had really been a meal of skewers or pasta, I’d have enjoyed it more. But one skewer and one pasta along with several other things made it more like an isakaya meal, but one where you don’t get to choose yourself. I also hate sharing small plate pasta dishes, especially with more than 2 people. It makes no sense to me whatsoever - why would I want to take 4 strands of pasta?
thanks for your always insightful opinions, Sarah. We also ate at Cagouille, could live on the cockles and the couteaux there. Everything so clean and fresh, unadorned, letting the seafood speak. We had a corked, then amazing bottle of 2001 Grenouilles from Chablisienne, the corked bottle graciously whisked away after the owner verified my opinion, and it easily bested the 2011 Raveneau Clos, and at a fraction of the price.
As I’ve said before, I couldn’t ever get my wife back into Septime after a horrible meal there in a summer past. She won’t give Tour d’Argent another chance either.
We loved Toutain on a prior visit and need to return. Sounds like you had fun.
Funny - I crashed another table’s party when I was done with my meal at La Cagouille and they also had 2011 Raveneau Clos. Not a single enjoyable thing about it at this point. A 2000 Leflaive Pucelles, on the other hand (my thank you for letting me join), was clean and glorious!
I’ve never understood flat out refusing to go back to a restaurant - or never shared that feeling, anyway - except if they were dishonest or unspeakably rude.
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Epicure in the Bristol was again fabulous. Such a pretty room, service so gracious, attentive but not hovering, water service—something so often neglected in even fine restaurants—perfect. Crayfish, caviar dish, pasta/foie, fish all delicious and the timing and pace of meal perfect. Of course the Bocuse riff on poulet en vessie was great but I wonder who gets the rest of the chicken since only a thin slice of breast is served. Bring me thighs! And legs! Even wings! That’s a damn Heritage bird and needs proper attending. 2014 Dauvissat Forest and 2003 C. Tremblay Chapelle Chambertin, the former lovely, the latter a bit drying on the finish but good fruit not at all roasted, her first vintage and quite rare. They keep bringing loaf after loaf of bread with Normandy butter and it’s too easy to overeat bread.
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