Reporting back on our wonderful six days of eating in Paris. Many thanks to all the HO contributors who informed our dining choices - we couldn’t have done it without you!
Le Saint Sebastian - We called an audible to dine at SS on our first night rather than Hemicycle because of favorable reviews here and on Paris By Mouth, because we wanted a less formal atmosphere, and because the excellent wine list enticed. We had a wonderful time dining at the bar, chatting with the extremely friendly and enthusiastic waiter/sommelier/manager who was celebrating his 31st birthday. We shared some of our l’Anglore Tavel (priced well below NYC retail if you could even find it) with him and he gifted us some Champagne and house quince digestif. The food was excellent, particularly the unusual steak tartare flavored with ancho chile and the quail.
Maison (Sota) - We lunched here on Saturday and loved it! We enjoyed watching dishes being prepped and assembled in the open kitchen by the young sous chefs - and how stern the Japanese Chef/Owner was with them - from our seats at the counter. The attention to detail was impressive, as was the superb food. The value proposition at lunch here is amazing for a New Yorker tired of dining out at mediocre restaurants at inflated prices: Three amuses followed by five courses: scallop carpaccio with sea urchin, white asparagus, grilled trout with trout roe and green asparagus, guinea hen (roasted in bread and finished on a grill) with morel stuffed onions and green salad, and vacherin of strawberries with passion fruit and olive oil cream. €75!!! The five wines served in the pairing for €55 were very good, particularly a Sato New Zealand Chardonnay made by a Japanese; consistent with the generous atmosphere, after the waiter poured each glass, he left the bottle for diners to refill if they so wished.
Our only somewhat disappointing meal was at Le Bon Georges. We started out very well with six fat spears of delicious white asparagus with a light Hollandaise, but my main of pork cutlet was as tough as shoe leather and my wife’s faux filet was tres faux - virtually tasteless - and the accompanying frites mediocre. To their credit, the waiter and maitre’d were very apologetic and embarrassed about the uneaten pork, offered to replace it - and removed it from our bill. The massive chocolate mousse was delicious, but the evening did feel like a bit of an overpriced (€48 for the faux filet) stage show of a Parisian Bistro, complete with every table occupied by Americans (I know, people in glass houses…).
We got back on track the next day at Alliance. We were glad that we had followed the HO advice to lunch rather than dine there: the first rays of sunshine of our trip filled the minimally decorated dining room with welcome light; I imagine it
could be a bit staid at night. The service was the most formal of our trip, but friendly. The food was excellent for the most part - particularly the courses green peas with strawberries and the crab in radish packets, but the chicken suffered in comparison to Maison’s and the two desserts seem to be trying too hard: the beet tartare served with beet ice cream was interesting, but I would have preferred raspberry; similarly, why serve Swiss chard stalks instead of rhubarb with the strawberry dessert. Those minor cavils aside, we thoroughly enjoyed our two hours in the sun at Alliance.
In contrast to our experiences at LBG and Alliance, where all the tables were anglophone, we seemed to be the only non-regulars the next night at Cafe des Ministieres. Virtually every diner was greeted with embraces by the owner and the waitress. As reported, the portions were more than generous - my smoked herring and chou farci were as enormous as they were delicious. My wife and I could not finish the former between us and we took home a quarter of the latter (which was unlike - and far better than - any stuffed cabbage I have ever had!) My wife’s portion of sole was not so gargantuan but similarly tasty. The only mild disappointment was the soggy pastry on the Profiteroles (but it didn’t stop me from finishing it…) I was very happy that I had reserved CdM online three weeks in advance to the day at 7.30pm Paris time; unlike LBG it felt like a true bistro experience - and it was very fairly priced at €128.50 for the entire meal including a green salad, a glass of excellent Champagne, a beer for the herring, and a glass of Cotes du Rhone.
Our final meal was at Perception - and it was our favorite, along with Maison. We loved the subtle
Korean influences on classic French cuisine. The very friendly manager/sommelier suggested a
superb Champagne (Copain l’Argile) that went well with the entire meal. I opted for the 8 course tasting (€115) and my wife went with 6 courses (€95). My extras were wonderful foie gras accompanied by apple and duck broth gelees and compotes apples and turnip and lobster bibimbap, which was the only course where the Korean spicing may have overwhelmed the delicacy of the main ingredient. In contrast, the white asparagus kimchi was perhaps the best asparagus preparation of the trip (April in Paris is marvelous- in part because there is asparagus everywhere!). The John Dory course was our favorite fish of the trip, and the grapefruit with sponge cake was a perfect conclusion to the meal. The wonderful feeling of hospitality at Perception was illustrated by the manager not only calling a taxi for us, but also escorting us outside to it when it arrived. Truly a special experience!
Miscellaneous notes:
The ham and comté sandwich at Caractère de Cochon was very good, but we liked the ham and cantal sandwich at Le Petit Vendome just as much - and it cost €8, not CdC’s €15, and we could sit at the friendly bar and watch busy Parisians scarf down their lunches, rather than have to find a nearby park, and the LPV’s €4.50 pomme frites were as delicious as LBG’s were disappointing. Highly recommend LPV for an excellent, simple, fast, and inexpensive lunch.
Our favorite croissant (and we tried many) was at the charming, tiny Notre Pâtisserie in the Rue Amelie, even better than the nearby Maison Bergeron, which took seventh place in the annual croissant ranking. NP’s hybrid croissant-brioche flavored with orange (and only available on weekends) was a revelation!
As advised, we got our oyster fix at HSP La Table before going to the fascinating pre-Olympics Sports art show at Musee Marmottan. The No 2s and No 3s were delicious, as were the crab and shrimp.
We foraged a wonderful dinner in our Air BnB with patés from Arnaud Nicolas, whose paté en croute with dried fruit and paté Grandmere were extraordinary. Dessert was exemplary vanilla rice pudding we happened upon at an organic market called Miyam on the Rue Beaubourg.
And finally a warning: we chose to take the Eurostar to London because we thought it would be easier than flying. Big mistake! The traffic to Gare du Nord was terrible, and the chaos at the station was even worse. Crowds of people milling about with virtually no guidance from the few staff in attendance. We were herded into pens like cows awaiting slaughter. The explanation over the static-y loudspeaker was delays at passport control; perhaps the delays wouldn’t be so extreme if you didn’t have to swipe your passport through two separate machines…The elevator down to the platform was not working so everyone had to carry their baggage down the stairs. When I asked one of the attendants if this was unusual she smiled ruefully and said it was always like this. The whole experience made air travel seem well-organized, pleasant and stress-free. YMMV but never again for me.
