Seemingly the case in Paris at least over the last couple of years now with the good places to eat at.
The highlights of four days and nights in Paris last month (which seemed like a procession of food and drink….)
Lunch at Arpege - absolutely singular cooking, some utterly amazing dishes, a meal like no other. That said, somewhat church-like and reverent. M. Passard was not in the house, or so it appeared. A very nice bottle of 08 Carillon Combettes (I think……not absolutely sure about the vineyard….) followed by a couple of glasses of Sauzet Puligny Montrachet '10 which were in fine shape. I was wary of the differing views on the place but for us it was absolutely fantastic. A few dishes which left you shaking your head at their audacity.
Notwithstanding the technical excellence at Arpege, the meal I enjoyed most was dinner at Semilla for its combination of slightly raucous setting and fantastic cooking. There’s the most marvelous buzz about the place and my wife’s veal sweetbreads were the best thing I ate all week, Arpege included. We were comped a couple of dishes in between starters and entrees, and together with a stunningly good bottle of 2010 Jamet Cote Rotie (which delivered in spades), its a place I’d happily return to every time I’m in Paris.
Others….
La Cagouille did what it always does for us, deliver beautifully fresh seafood (oysters, rouget) and the best white burgundy around, in this case two bottles of 2007 Dauvissat Le Clos which were stunningly good.
There are lots of great things about L’Assiette, a traditional bistro tucked away in the 14th but the creme caramel is the thing that keeps me coming back - the best I’ve ever had. Before all that, snails and pigeon for me, an unbelievably great sardine appetizer and tete de veau for my better half……I continue to be amazed at why this place isn’t more visible. I wish I could remember what we drank ![[scratch.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/4/42a16863a8714da3c1604419e3eb9206bb87aa50.gif "scratch"){kind=small}
Willi’s Wine Bar has expanded as has previously been noted but notwithstanding the debate about whether its lost its soul, the wine list is as good as ever, particularly strong in my favorite regions of Chablis and Northern Rhone. I erred in ordering an 09 Raveneau Butteaux when the 07 Dauvissat Forets was available but Raveneau is never a bad place to go wrong. We had a very nice lunch there and there are many great things about the list.
After an unsuccessful attempt to eat late Sunday afternoon oysters at Le Dome, an old school Nicoise Salad and a cheeky bottle of 2010 Leflaive Macon Verze at the Select did the job very nicely. Sometimes the old places are the best.
Fish, on Rue de Seine, was a lovely place to start our sejour, with cheap Pepiere Muscadet and a delicious mushroom risotto after the flight from the US.
L’avant Comptoir really hit the spot with some delicious Beaujolais and ham.
It was a great few days. Normally you’d think of one or two duds, but we ate wonderfully throughout.
Le Comptoir du Relais is quite good and has been mentioned. Just ate there this past week.
Peter,
We ate the ‘vegetable’ menu at L’Arpege last Monday for dinner, including the last tomatoes of the year. I’d seriously love to eat an all tomato menu there sometime. Much more casual than when we were last there a year ago. Passard spent most of the evening in the dining room and was much more outgoing and voluble than I recall in the past. The dinner was excellent, but in retrospect we wish we had ordered 4 vegetable dishes to share and the turbot. The other thing that I noticed was that he dropped the price of the menu degustation by 1/4. Only two men, both Parisian, and I wore sports coats.
Semilla is one of our Sunday haunts. I agree that the food is good, as is the energetic vibe. The cooking, while always solid, has become progressively better in the three years that we have been going. Much better, in my opinion, than Fish (which I used to like a little, now not at all). We were at Semilla two weeks ago and may return next Sunday.
One thing that has become increasingly evident to us over the past few years is that the smaller farm/market to table restaurants pretty much serve the same stuff, which makes sense. Last week, it was pumpkin, sweet breads, celeriac, cod, squid, grouse, and the mushrooms have transitioned from ceps to girolles and trumpet/trumpet mort, and Normandy oysters. Not that I’m complaining. We haven’t had a clunker in the 15 dinners so far this visit. We’re taking tonight night off and going to Pizza Chic, in order to gear-up for our final two weeks.
Hi Mark
You’ve reminded me……we were joking at the end of lunch that, had we responded to the “have you any food allergies?” question with the answer “yeah, we’ve a bit of a thing against tomatoes….”, lunch would have consisted of a basket of bread, a couple of courses of pureed beetroot and a bottle of Carillon.
No such problems though. I was so happy with the sushi with green tomato and fig oil that they promptly brought me a second portion!
When I got back to the hotel, I scribbled down what I could remember about what we ate. There are some gaps here, not least because we went straight back out to dinner with a friend who’d traveled over from London to hang out with us and it was somewhat of a long day……
Amuses of three small tarts - carrot and beetroot and I can’t quite remember….
Hummus, sesame seeds with a puddle of liquified beetroot in the middle of the hummus. Beautiful.
Gazpacho with celery mustard ice-cream. Amazing.
Sushi of green tomato with fig oil x 2
Tomato tart
Pureed beetroot with red pepper oil
Sweet onion
Vegetable ravioli with tomato consommee
Beetroot tartare with quail egg. Absolutely incredible, best thing I ate all day.
Ratatouille with lots of tomato!
Lobster in white wine with sweet potatoes
Rhubarb millefeuille
Mignardises.
I actually thought lunch was pretty good value, including a good bottle of white burg, two glasses of champagne and a couple of glasses of Sauzet Puligny, relative to what one might pay in other 3* establishments.
I’ll make a small defense of Fish, though it was only our first time there. We arrived just as lunch service was finishing, they were pleasant as could be and my mushroom risotto was delicious. At peak hours I suspect things may be a bit less controlled though.
Hope you’re continuing to eat well.
yes, arpege. it’s everything.
good time to remind people to religiously follow passard on twitter…or maybe not as it’s quite painful sometimes to watch from afar.
Ate last night at Saturne. It is what Spring would like to be. €65, 6-course discovery menu. Great food, great value. And more French diners than Americans. My wife doesn’t eat raw oysters, so they concocted a squid dish for her that rocked.
I follow that twitter feed and never having been to Arpege I have no idea if the food actually tastes any good but wow does it all look gorgeous. The colors he gets in his vegetables are incredible.
that’s gorgeous! Thanks, Yaacov.
Can you elaborate on why Spring falls short? At it’s price point, the two meals I have had there were more than superb.
I find Spring to be corporate feeling and and geared to older Americans. The cooking was ok, but lacking energy. Seemed to me to be an American restaurant in Paris. Many people enjoy it; I enjoy others much more.
i saw this comment and looked left to see if i wrote it! we are the same person.
You sit on your own left side? What about your other self, you’re on his right side. Which is which? ![[wow.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/7/7d450e9830889c8943b674446a21b7254cad657e.gif "wow"){kind=small}
Last night my wife, son, and I ate a stupendous meal at Passage 53. With Arpege, my favorite Paris restaurant. 20 covers a night, every dish is precise, imaginative, and supremely executed. We have been 5 times over the past 5 mid-Octobers and have never seen the same dish twice, except for the signature onion and jabugo tarte. Highlights last night included oursin in the shell with smoked haddock cream, slow poached abalone with baby potatoes served in the shell (a present from Guillaume), turbot with cepes, veal loin with white truffles and chanterelles, onion tarte with jabugo, wild hare mini-pie with chocolate sauce (think Franco-Japanese mole). Shinishi Sato can cook and Guillaume Guedj is a wonderful host and knowledgeable sommelier. Not inexpensive, but worth every centime and worthy of its Michelin**, and then some.