Alice Feiring explains how deep kissing factors into the natural wine movement, François Chidaine blasts InterLoire, Lettie Teague and Aaron Ayscough praise some local wine lists, and Paris gets its first Tiki Bar.
Gail Simmons recently returned to Paris for the first time in a decade and (helped in part by your Twitter suggestions) ate her way through the city. She named the sweetbreads at Spring and Frenchie’s cod with smoked eggplant as two of her favorite Paris tastes. But what else did she put in her mouth?
After eighteen months of meticulously documenting the work of Paris pastry chefs, Adam has finally had a pastry created in his honor – L’Ami Caouette at Un Dimanche à Paris. As a nod to Adam’s American heritage, Quentin Bailly incorporated peanut butter into an otherwise very apricot dessert. He then topped it with a tiny clitoris. [Paris Pâtisseries]
Alan Richman reveals an important new trend called bistronomy and credits Daniel Rose with starting the revolution. Other gems within this epic 5,500 word essay about Paris dining: the rue de Nil (where Frenchie sits) is “creepy.” Basque culture is “quirky.” Senderens is a “bistro”. L’Agrume is “new”. And the euro, that arrogant currency, is “overblown”. [GQ]
Barbra Austin’s review of two meals at Septime makes me want to be a better writer. You should really read the whole thing. But here are a few dishes to tide you over before the click: “white asparagus, served with a funk-and-brine sauce gribiche with oysters” and “egg floating in the middle of a fantastically clear, concentrated bouillon which the waiter described as including foin. Hay. The bowl was nested in its charger with hay, too.” [Barbra Austin]
Patricia Wells joins the chorus chanting “genius! genius!” and agrees that chef David Toutain at Agapé Substance is indeed “brilliant“. “Not since my first taste of Pascal Barbot’s food at Astrance many years ago have I been so immediately taken with what an inventive chef is trying to convey.” [Patricia Wells]
Gregory Marchand’s market cooking, honed during well-documented stints abroad, lives up to the hype. His house-smoked fish, which often appears as one of two starters on the regularly changing 38€ menu, is a revelation. As for getting in, it’s getting easier: Marchand has added a second dinner seating (but is no longer serving lunch), so your chances at night have just doubled.
Patricia Wells says that Laurent is “the sort of rare restaurant that makes Paris Paris,” with its historic setting, a 30,000 bottle cellar, and “dishes made in heaven.” The 85€ lunch, she says, “is hard to beat in terms of value and pure pleasure.” [Patricia Wells]
On June 25, a group of pastry devotees, led by their patron Saint Adam-of-the-holy-glycemic-index shall descend upon Jacques Genin’s shop en masse, buy stuff, then go eat it in a nearby park and wait for the rapture. Or something. [Paris Pâtisseries]
Frenchie‘s new wine bar, set to open across the street in May or June, may be even smaller than L’Avant Comptoir.
Happy Plates
Pudlo observes the anglophones, the groupies, and the three-day beards at Le Chateaubriand and concludes that it’s a place you must go, at least once, to taste “les idées du moment.” To wit: white asparagus with parmesan snow and olive oil and a dessert of orange sorbet with black olive powder and bitter endive. [Gilles Pudlowski]
And speaking of three-day beards, Pierre Jancou seems “never to have left” his new restaurant that opened only yesterday. Bruno visited Vivant for lunch and sampled the formaggio (Castelmagno, Taleggio), a bright salad of Annie Bertin asparagus, a bit of foie gras and a “poulard Racines” with vegetables. With wine (a dry muscat from Pantelleria) and coffee signed by Giani Frasi, Bruno says to count 60-75€ per person. [Food Intelligence]
Talk has been circulating for months about Gregory Marchand’s new wine bar across the street from Frenchie, but Sébastien Demorand has finally pinned that rumor to the calendar. The new place will open in April, along with Aux Verres de Contact by Guillaume Delage (Jadis), Vivant by Pierre Jancou (ex-Racines), and maybe even a new spot from Juan Sanchez (La Dernière Goutte, Fish).
Happy Plates
Speaking of Frenchie, Aaron recently visited the “unbookable flaming hot destination table” and likes the mix of “brilliant undervalued natural selections” and “slightly overpriced status bottles” that inhabit the wine list. As for the food, he says “Frenchie is the first place I’ve been in Paris where certain dishes genuinely recalled, in an amusingly Proustian way, American fine dining cuisine.” [Not Drinking Poison in Paris]
John Talbott on Our Guide to Paris: Lao Lane Xang 2"Whoa! Strong words, Sophie. Does Mr. Talbott know you feel this way about his beloved LLX2?" Actually Mr/Dr T., as you both...
Alastaire Allday on Our Guide to Paris: Le Coq RicoThis new restaurant was an extraordinarily pleasant discovery on a recent trip to Paris. Excellent food, simply prepared, done well. Would have...
Adam on Our Guide to Paris: Du Pain et Des IdéesThis place is great - but with very limited opening times, and even when they are open, there always seems to be...
