So here is the rundown of our Paris eating. The places we enjoyed the most were L’Arcane, Le Vent d’Armor, La Condesa, and Alliance. i already wrote about Condesa. L’Arcane still delighted us, but not, perhaps, as much as last year. The first visit was mind-blowing; the second had to contend with the memories of the first. In any case, we and the friends who accompanied us are all looking forward to a return visit next year. Le Vent d’Armor was fabulous. I had 3 starters: oysters, razor clams (couteaux), and ormeaux (abalone). They were all fantastic. Two of the friends we went with are regular visitors, so we were received with much warmth. Alliance served us a delightful lunch, everything perfectly cooked. We wanted to revisit Montée, but we couldn’t get a reservation.
We tried Chinese dumplngs in a number of places: M + Y Savor, Hang a Li, Le Temple Celeste, 21G, but the best by far were at Les Délices de Shandong, identified by their sign at the entrance as Traiteur de Shandong. This was really excellent Chinese cooking, as good or even better than much of what we had in New York.
We enjoyed the yakitori at Le Rigmarole, but my wife was put off by the way all our clothes smelled afterwards. And we enjoyed the oysters and the friendly wine prices at Bar à Iode.
Places that we visited but were not wild about: Coretta, La Ferrandaise, Baieta, Sellae. They were all good, but not exciting.
Good standards without excitement: Saveurs d’Asie Gao Thom and Le Petit Pontoise.
Disappointing: Hugo & Co. Hugo has two seatings, 19:00 and 21:15. If the seven o’clock guests are not quite finished by nine fifteen, Hugo does not throw them out. This is entirely correct. But it means that the nine fifteen guests have to wait outside until the tables are free. This is not correct. The business with the two seatings is ridiculous. Aside from that, the noise level was high and we did not especially enjoy the food.
Sandwiches: We tried sandwiches at ChezAline and Bagnard. We were disappointed. At ChezAline there was a line of people out the door. So we waited for about 10 minutes until we got in. I took a sandwich with veal tongue and sauerkraut, my wite took one with feta, carrots and guacamole. We didn’t especially like either one. But I gave the repackaged half of the veal sandwich to a beggar in the area, and he was glad to receive it.
Bagnard was another story entirely. We tried to go to the Saint-Augustin location on a Saturday. It was closed. There was a sign saying that we should visit the location on rue Saintonge. Open Mo-Fr. So we went on Monday. It was closed on Mondays. We returned a few days later and had their tuna pan bagnat. We were underwhelmed. On the day we left we bought a tuna sandwich at the boulangerie at Maubert - Mutualité to eat in the train. We enjoyed it more than the special pan bagnat at Bagnard.
