Headed to Paris next week. Reservations at Frenchie, Les Papilles, and Taillevent for dinner. I’ll post comments on my return.
How did you score the Frenchie’s reservation? On line?
A vote for Spring- great meal there this fall.
Neal
I typically use the local concierge to make my reservations. It is my go to move unless I have a business connection in the city. I typically give them a list of restaurants I am interested in (often in groups based on price/style) and the available nights and general times. I say pick one or two from this group, one from this group, etc., and off they go and let them do their magic.
This time we are staying at the Hotel Intercontinental by Opera Garnier. I’ve stayed there several times and the staff has taken care of me quite well each time. Saves time, hassle, and I have never had a bad experience yet. YMMV
I hope you gave that concierge a nice tip! That res is impossible
I ate at Frenchie’s, Les Papilles, and Taillevent (for lunch) in October when I was in Paris, and liked all of them very much. Used the hotel concierge to makes the res (interestingly, I was able to get Frenchie’s but not L’Ami Jean). Also ate at Willi’s Wine Bar and L’Office. Food at Willi’s was unremarkable but the wine list, esp. the Chablis section, is great, e.g. lots of Raveneau at prices well below U.S. retail.
Please do. I have reservations at Frenchie, and plan to make them at Taillevant for lunch (5 years ago, we had a fantastic lunch). I look forward to hearing about Les Papilles as it is on my short list.
Here’s another nudge
Les Papilles is a well-priced, Basque bistro. They only offer one menu each evening (starter, main, and dessert) without options. Wines are chosen from the retail shelves that line the walls and cost a few Euros over the marked price when consumed on premises. Lotta bang for the Euro. Go late.
Just got back from Paris last night and wanted to post the tasting/eating notes on at least one of my three restaurants.
Frenchie (5-6 rue du Nil) 01 40 39 96 19 - Thursday night 2/7.
Restaurant is on one side of the street and the winebar on the opposite side. We had a high top table for four in the restaurant. I think they have two seatings with 25 - 30 people max each seating. People are very close together and I personaly saw one poor guy sitting next to the bathroom get smacked a dozen times from folks going in and out of the toilette. C’est drommage n’est pas?? Bottom line if that the seating is tight and can be distracting. The front room staff/sommelier Laura Vidal is awesome. She is from Montreal so if you are intimidated by French have no fear.
We showed up about 5 minutes after our 7PM reservation and felt a bit rushed at first. We ordered a 09 Dauvissaut Preuses to start and things began to slow down a bit. The menu (french and english) is limited. It is an appetizer, main course and dessert menu with two choices. We also had the chance to order some foie gras torchon as a started (which we did). No amuse buche here.
The torchon was good but not mind shattering. I asked for a sauterne and they had a glass of 97 d’Yquem that I reluctantly shared with my dinner mates. Appetizer course was sweetbreads or a smoked Leman lake Fera (fish). This appetizer was amazing. Evidently this is a freshwater whitefish that they hot smoked and served alongside a micro chopped grouping of smoked raw anchovies. Served with Avocado and grapefruit pieces it had an amazing quality to the dish. The sweetbreads were prepared with parsley and radish and while I did not try them one of my dinnermates thought they were fantastic.
The main dish choices were a Pigeon with red beets and cabbage or a Pollock with leeks. I went for the Pigeon and it was outrageously good. There were two pieces of Pigeon. One was a succulent breast and the other was a leg/thigh confit. It was all set on top of red beets, red cabbake, beet juice stained apple. I’m not a beet fan and I thought this stuff was to die for. Amazing dish.
I asked Laura for some advice on paring the right red burg with the Pigeon and she suggested a 93 Herbert Lignier Charmes Chambertin. The wine was simply amazing and evolved in the glass the entire hour I spent with it. Initially soy and cherry it added lots of mushroom and earthiness to the mix. Beautiful layered and complex wine.
Dessert was a brown sugar tart with carmalized apples and hay ice-cream or blood orange sherbert. You could opt for some British cheese as well. I went for the apples and they were delicious.
The menu is $45 euros not including the fois gras (+16 Euros) and the wine and bottled water and tip. Wine list is not extensive but it is well constructed with excellent choices and prices that while not cheap did not make me cringe (at least based on my experience). I would highly recommend this place for the food and for Laura (she is really great). Negatives would be that because of the two seatings you may feel rushed and it is really busy and crowded so go in prepared for a bit of shoulder to shoulder rubbing with your fellow men/women. I would not hesitate to go back.
I’ll post my experiences at Taillvent and Les Papilles as well.
Thanks, Alan. We have reservations there and chose the late seating. Your dinner sounds great. How dressy is it?
GREAT review Alan. Keep them coming!
Diane it was a good mix of clothiing. I saw women in beautiful dresses (one in particular was very striking in a white lace number) and in jeans and a jersey. My wife wore pants and a nice top and looked great! Wear what makes you feel comfortable especially since you will be up against your fellow diners!
Neal I’ll get the others done as well.
I prefer the late serving. Casual (I wear ‘dress’ jeans and a sweater). Many ‘postage stamp’ restaurants don’t offer options, only a discovery menu. Frenchie is pretty clever in providing an option for each course, assuming that half the seating will order one option and half the other. My wife and I order one of each. We like Frenchie very much.
Really? Not service compris?
Taillvent (15 Rue Lamennais) 01 44 95 15 01 - Friday night 2/8
Reservation was at 8pm. Thought I would give about 15 minutes to get by cab from my hotel (next to Opera Garnier) to the restaurant (very close to L’arc de Triumph). Bottom line. On a Friday or Saturday night if it is raining or in our case sleeting give yourself 30 minutes to just find a cab. We called to tell them of our predicament and they responded - No Worries! We arrived about 40 minutes late and stayed until after midnight enjoying one of my more wonderful dining experiences.
The room is just spectacular looking. Beautiful light wood panelling, enviting, comfortable. We were seated at our table and I asked for the wine list. As I dove into the list my dining partners (who don’t understand french) were left to go through the menu on their own. It was a bit too much for them and they began to panic a bit. There is a bit of intimidation factor going on here. My wife has had lots of fine dining experience but the language barrier is difficult for her. Our friends are first timers in Paris and not used to this level of dining - so I had to put the wine list down and come back to reality.
Between the impressive bell captain and me we were able to walk through the various menus - ala carte, truffle menu, various tasting menus. We than determined how humgry we were, what we all were interested in doing and we came up with a plan of action. The main 7 course tasting menu. Once this was completed i was able to focus on the wine. We started with a Taitinger Comptes de Champagne 2000. I also ordered and had decanted a 96 LeFlaive Puligny Montrachet les Combettes and a 1988 Mouton.
We had our champagne toast and were immediately served an amuse of salmon/horseradisch mouse with a center of fresh shredded radish. What an explosion of flavor. Great to et the tone and get the evening going.
Here was the lineup for the tasting menu
Course #1- Cool lobster creme soup with caviar and bits of claw meat and a violet flower petal. Lovely dish with great textures and lots of subtle flavors.
Course #2- Parmigana cheese risotto with frog legs. Very rich and delicious. Great flavor and hearty dish. perfect for the snow and sleet we were dealing with on the way to dinner.
Course #3- Seared Fois Gras with quince and apples. Huge portion of liver that literally exploded with flavor in the mouth and than melted. Amazing. Greatest dish of seared fois gras I have ever had.
Course #4- Veal filet mignon. Delicious piece of veal tenderloin. Perfectly cooked. Simple but I’ve never come close to having anything as delicious come out of my kitchen.
Course #5- assorted cheeses. I had a triple creme, a herb goat and a mild bleu. Served with additional pieces of various breads.
Course #6- Chocolate mouse cake with golden hazelnuts
Course #7- Fuit tart with various fuit sorbets
The meal and service were traditional in sytle and flawless in execution. My wife thought it was the best meal she had ever had. It was the execution of a more traditional style of cooking that she enjoyed. I compare a meal last year at Guy Savoy (not far from where Taillvent is located) and I found I enjoyed Guy Savoy marginally better. Please don’t get me wrong, Taillvent executes the traditional in a flawless and delicious manner. It does not rely on molecular gastronomy or modern presentation and preparation to wow you. Taillvent feels comfortable that it can achieve its greatness in the more traditional venue of the perfect seared piece of fois gras, the sublime sauted frog leg and how a simple filet mignon of veal can be so perfectly delivered. I cannot find fault in this philosophy or the quality and enjoyment of the experience. I would not hesitate to recommend or return again to this place.
As an aside they had several fresh truffle dishes and a truffle tasting menu that I thought looked amazing. One of the dishes was a roasted whole chicken with black trufffles for two. One of the tables next to us ordered this and i wish that I could have taken a bite off of the gentlemen’s plate (or grabbed the carcass and knawed on the bones). It looked amazing when it was brought out and carved at the table and than presented with the truffles and sauce. Several of the other ala carte dishes served around us were head turners.
Service was traditional and flawless. What an extraordinary and special evening.
Robert, yes it was service compris but I still leave an “extra” tip if the service was good albeit a bit less than I would here in the states. What I tend to do when travelling in France is to charge the meal to my credit card and than I typically leave around 10% of the entire bil in cash if the service has been good. I would typically leave 18 - 25% in the States depending on the service and the bill. Could be too much or too little just what i do…
Thank you for the Frenchie review, I’m going there on Monday and we’re looking forward to it.
Michel, enjoy! Say hi to Laura. You may need a shoe horn to fit into the seat. I’m a bit wide. Your mileage may be differnt…
Make a ressie for me!