I now have posted a review of OktObre on my blog (mainly about wine, but depending on response, I may add restaurant reviews.
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Thanks for this…your tuna does look fabulous. And the wine, another grape I have never heard of! Merci.
Hi Onzieme, well done, as expected — and glad to see you adding this feature to your blog. Very helpful restaurant review (and nice background and photos). I’m looking forward to more/ similar restaurant reviews on your fabulous wine blog. — Jake
Jacquère is primarily grown in Savoie and has long been regarded as an après-ski wine, i.e., totally unserious. But there is a new generation in France coming up that is very serious about wine and is willing to do the work in the vineyards and the cellars to make really interesting wines from what in the past were throw-away grapes and locations. Of course, too, for a region like Savoie global warming so far has been beneficial.
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But perhaps not for skiing?
Not a skier, so I’ll leave that for others to comment. @sfcarole ?
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Good discussions of Savoie wines, and this and other grape varieties, are found in Wink Lorch’s 2019 “Wines of the French Alps.” And there are two good chapters in Jon Bonné’s newly published (2023) encyclopedic two volume masterpiece, “The New French Wine.”
I wish I could call Bonné’s book a masterpiece, but it isn’t. He’s delusional on Burgundy, having made up a whole history that is false (but that serves certain people who recounted it to him and that serves his overall narrative). I was there for weeks at a time every year since the mid-1980s (other than a break caused by covid), tasting in the cellars and discussing the wines with the producers and he wasn’t – he is so uninformed, in the words of a friend of mine (who I think is also a friend of his), that he doesn’t even know what he doesn’t know. Moreover, much of the real history is in contemporary publications or even in newer publications on Burgundy, but apparently it would have been too much for him to have read through them.
I’ve brought the book with me to Paris, but haven’t had time to read beyond the chapters on Burgundy. Maybe some of the other parts are better. But even so, what’s with no captions to the photos? And no bibliography (maybe because that would show how shallow his knowledge is?)?
In short, it’s a polemic (some of which from an experienced view I agree with) filled with “facts” that are verifiably wrong, but who gives a damn about facts if what you’re writing is a polemic?
Hmmm, I have not looked at the Burgundy chapters — so far, I’ve reviewed only the Jura and Savoie passages. So maybe “masterpiece” overstates — I was mostly impressed with the breath of coverage. (And for me, he starts out with credit flowing from his earlier book, “The New California Wine,” which I found very useful and informative.) Anyway, both the Jura and Savoie coverage looks quite good to me. I do agree that it’s disappointing, and may be a bit suspicious, not list sources/publications. And there really isn’t a proper index. I also agree, it’s very odd not to include photo captions. Wink Lorch’s book has none of these problems, and covers the Savoie in more depth.
Interesting discussion Jake and onzième! Jake, you’ve introduced us to some lovely wines from the Jura and Savoie. And onzième, too, from other areas.
As far as skiing in the Jura/Savoie area, I don’t need to tell anyone here how catastrophic the drought in Europe was for the ski industry in France last year. Meanwhile in Tahoe we were virtually buried in snow, with much property damage due to roofs and decks collapsing under the weight of the snow.
Nice blog - thanks for sharing.
That looks like a fabulous dinner. I am sort of surprised how reasonable the price looks for a dinner of that quality. As a New Yorker it look’s actually cheap. At least for the dinner part. The wine sound as though it can get pricey. I am eagerly awaiting the next review.
This was actually a lunch. At dinner, there is a choice of a six-course menu and Ă la carte.
Well even for lunch I think that’s a great price. The dinner still looks like a good value.
Frequently (typically) new restaurants of this ilk start out at bargain prices and raise them as they get better known. For now, indeed, OktObre is a real bargain!
I’ve been pretending to be Italian for the last month and not yet in Paris mode but your description of Oktobre has me salivating. Many many thanks for bringing it to our attention. Certainly at the top of my to-do list for “la rentrée”.
I had lunch again at OktObre yesterday, another fine meal that I report on here.
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Since our Paris stays overlapped late last week, my wife and I met Andy G & his wife at OktObre for lunch. Andy will probably have more details to share, but I remember that I thought that it was an excellent value for the quality of food served. I believe that the entrees of 3 parts (which 3 of us had) were very similar to your write up & I thought that each was very good, with maybe a slight let down on the 3rd (with the mayo), as I found it a little too sweet. As for the mains, my fish was the same as in your photo (whiting), plated exactly the same, and every bit as delicious. However, our failing memories (& no photos) cannot recall my wife’s plat, although we both think it was poultry (quail?) and thoroughly enjoyed. I do not recall our desserts.
Some of the memory of the food is clouded by the fact that we were very happy to meet Andy and his wife and to find that we had so much to talk about (& did). It’s great meeting up with fellow HO contributors & we’ve made lasting friendships by doing so. Thank you to Andy for reserving our lunch &, once again, thank you Onz for an excellent write up.
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My wife and I had a lunch at OktObre last November when we were in Paris. Nothing that we had was bad, but neither was anything so good that we would wish to return. C’est la vie.
Yes, much thanks to Steve for his gracious invitation. My wife and I enjoyed talking with Steve and Ginny so much that I paid much less attention to the food - and took fewer pictures - than I usually do.
The Hors (née Zors, from when it was still Kitchen Gallerie Bis) D’ouevres were indeed excellent and the reason I return there (well also because, as @onzieme notes, it’s a fantastic value). Onz’s pics on his recent blog post are better than mine, and at least 2 of the 3 items were identical.
I can confirm that Ginny’s main was indeed quail, as my one regret was that I hadn’t remembered to order it, even though afterwards I recalled someone else on the board raving about it a few months ago. My fish main was fine but not memorable. Our apple tart with house made ice cream dessert, OTOH (same as on onz’ recent post) was even better than I recall dessert there last year.
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