Paris, Left Bank--Long report

Here's my post from chowhound. By the way, FWIW, I find chowhound--France and Italy, altho still very uneven, to be far more credible sources of info than chowhound--Chicago.

"Les Papilles (30 r. Guy Lussac). The highlight. As mentioned elsewhere on this board elsewhere this small restaurant/epicerie offers only one meal, altho you choose your wine from the shelves at 6 euros above retail. The dinner we had was very au bonne mere--leek pottage, lamb stew w/ primeurs, panna cotta--nothing that I could not make myself at home, but with an intensity of flavor I could never recapture chez moi. A memorable experience, particularly at 98 euros.

Pre Verre (corner of r. Thenard and r. Sommerard). Wonderfully inventive cooking on a 26.5 euro menu. Choices are very limited and you'll need to be flexible, but all of our selections were excellent. They included a watercress soup, a terrine of foie gras and petit pois, a delightfully rich cochon de lait, and a papillote of banana and mango (enlivened by a touch of cayenne!) for dessert.

Many meals at wine bars consisting of plates of charcuterie or fromage, all of them good in varying degrees, with strong selections of wines. In particular:

Taverne Henri IV: An old favorite at the tip of the Ile de la Cite, with a surprisngly local "feel" to its crowded interior despite its central location.

Pipos (where r Descartes mets r. de l'ecole polytechnique). Robust assiettes (mostlly cold) and a good place to stop for an after-dinner cordial, if you don't mind a little smoke.

L'Ecluse (15 quai des Augustine and elsewhere): Fromage not as interesting as the above, but some good Bordeaux and a wider menu. Considering its location (a couple of steps from the tourist-ridden Boul St. Mich) it turned out to be a good choice. I recommend particularly the assortment of goose and duck (foie gras, confit, gesier) at about 20 euro.

By the way if anyone's interested in the name of a 16th-18th century chateau for about 120 euro/day in the Loir (not the Loire) valley, where you are truly treated as a member of the family, feel free to send me an e-mail. A wonderful restaurant, Le Cheval Blanc, is in walking distance."

So where is the Loir valley (I tried to Google it, but Google assumed I was wrong and added the final "e")?

Here's a good start:

http://www.vallee-du-loir.com/

More specifically, google "troo france" for the village where we stayed, and the chateau is here:

http://www.chateauxcountry.com/fr/depar ... voute.html

Cynthia wrote:So where is the Loir valley (I tried to Google it, but Google assumed I was wrong and added the final "e")?

You could force the issue by googling for [+loir valley].

I can't say anything intelligent about your actual question, but I tried that out of curiosity (cause I'm like that) and saw much better results.

Well, I can point to this map I found.

Rather than start a new thread, I thought I'd add to this one, since the title still fits. Again, since some of the original recs were from Chowhound, I've posted my report first there and revised it slightly for here:

I've given up trying to find that perfect "neighborhood" restaurant in central Paris, packed with locals and devoid of tourists. I've come to the conclusion that if I know about it through my most trustworthy sources, than others of my ilk will, too, and flock to it, probably long before I can get there. (You want to be surrounded by Engllsh-speaking tourists? Then head off to that obscure, cutting-edge joint just mentioned in the NYT, and you'll get your wish.) But, so what? If a restaurant's any good (and, often, if it wants to survive), it will do what it does best no matter the nationality of the clientele, and our dinner destinations last week--all in the LQ and all 50-60 euros total per head--fit that bill.

Our favorite, to which we returned for a second meal, was Au Buisson Ardente (25, rue Jussieu). I hesitate to recommend any particular dishes since mostly everything was superb (and we sampled about 60% of the menu) but the croustillard de raie and the mango tatin deserve special mention.

The entire youthful team there seemed to enjoy what they were doing and our company. On the other hand, the folks at Christophe (8, rue Descartes) didn't. The chef really knows his way around a piece of viande, and all of our plats were perfectly prepared, but I've spent some time thinking about a phrase to describe the general ambiance of the place and the service, and what I've come up with is "aggressive indifference." We won't be back.

And again on the other hand, the well known (and often under fire for its service) Balzar (49, rue des Ecoles) was a blast. Now, I wouldn't walk through their doors with an attitude, but after breaking through what seemed to be a very thin layer of ice, I found it to be everything I was looking for in a typical brasserie: a wooded-leathered-mirrored interior, a boisterous atmosphere, and traditional dishes well done. Of special note were the choucroute, the poulet, and a really drunken baba rhum (apparently my wife was supposed to tell the waiter when to stop pouring on the rum; she didn't, so he didn't. Needless to say, none of us needed a digestif and to top it all off, the waiter left the bottle of rum on the table, just in case he hadn't soaked the baba enough. How's that for service?)

And here are a few spots out of the Quarter that do seem to serve occasional regulars, as well as dependable lunches: Le Petite Fer a Cheval (30, rue Vieille de Temps), near the Carnavalet, and very good for sandwiches and charcuterie; and right at the eastern tip of Ile de la Cite (and also mentioned in my previous account) is Taverne Henri IV, which we've always especially liked for its wine selections and plats du jour.

And, finally, one that is off the beaten path. About a metra stop north of Cimetiere de Pere Lachaise, in an area that doesn't seem replete with traditional French lunch options, is La Boulangerie (15, rue des Panoyaux). Since their lunch plats (a curry and a veal parmesan) didn't appeal to us, we decided to order from their dinner menu and make this the primary meal of the day. We were rewarded with some excellent wine and some excellent wine sauces and my lapin farci turned out to be another of the highlights of another satisfying culinary expedition in Paris.

A couple of observations from a recent visit, not entirely devoted to the Left Bank, but this seemed like the best place to stick them.

So, the Left Bank. This is what I had to say about Les Papilles in 2007:

"Les Papilles (30 r. Guy Lussac). As mentioned on this board elsewhere this small restaurant/epicerie offers only one meal, altho you choose your wine from the shelves at 6 euros above retail. The dinner we had was very au bonne mere--leek pottage, lamb stew w/ primeurs, panna cotta--nothing that I could not make myself at home, but with an intensity of flavor I could never recapture chez moi. A memorable experience, particularly at 98 euros for the two of us."

Since then Les Papilles has been featured twice in the NY Times and popped up in all sorts of other places, so I reserved with some trepidation, feeling that it might have been thoroughly Anglicized by now. Once I arrived in Paris, however, I moved our reservation up from 7:30 to 9:30, and whether it was this more Paris-friendly dinner-hour or the one-meal-and-one-meal-only-served policy acting as a tourist-barrier, we were pretty much surrounded by French-speaking customers. Moreover, the meal was as good as I remembered--this time an eggplant bisque poured over feta cheese and crème fraiche, followed by pork belly braised in vegetables and beans, a cheese course, and a panna cotta dessert. A little pricier than the previous time (the exchange rate was pretty much of a disaster area), but still a satisfying venue for French comfort food.

And on the other bank, just above Boulevard Haussmann at the edge of Montmartre, is a place that anyone interested in the history of restaurants needs to visit. There were about 250 "bouillons" in Paris at the turn of the last century, and one of the few now remaining -- perhaps the last truly authentic one (i.e., it hasn't changed much in any respect since it opened in 1896), is restaurant Chartier (at 7, rue Faubourg Montmartre). I don't necessarily recommend this place for its food -- which is usually good, simple, and cheap -- and I do recommend that you go at lunch (for the experience) and not for dinner (where the food options elsewhere are so much better). If you do go, you'll get a unique chance to experience what a fast-food restaurant was like for average Parisian (and perhaps many other urban) workers in 1900. They have their own website here (http://www.restaurant-chartier.com/www/visit/) which is, as might be expected, rather quaint, but a more informative review can be found here (http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2009/02/bouillon-chartier/).

Anyway, I would no more recommend Chartier over, say, a starred restaurant for your one day in Paris than I would the catacombs over the Louvre. But if anyone were compiling a list of Parisian GNRs, I'd wager Chartier would be a charter member.

Still on the Left Bank, but this year a little further afield:

In the 14th, we liked La Cagouille, a fairly basic seafood house just above one of the seedier districts of Montparnasse. Their menu is on a chalkboard, and since the food is fresh from the market you'll discover what's being caught and sold that day. When we were there the standouts were the meaty razor clams ("couteaux" (knives) in French), the grilled dorade, and the scallops; all simply prepared without any unusual pirouettes from the kitchen. Pricey, but not so much for Paris, and there is a limited prix fixe menu that allows for some cost shaving. A keeper.

(La Cagouille
10 Place Constantin Brancusi
75014 Paris, France
01 43 22 09 01)

Further out in the 15th we tried Jadis, a fashionable bistro that's been receiving some enthusiastic press. With a prix fixe menu of 36 euros, it's a pretty good value for inventive dishes with a considerable flair. Standouts here were an oyster veloute (its flavor punctuated by crispy chunks of andouillette), perfectly cooked slices of gigot of lamb (its flavor punctuated by salsify and chunks of kidney), and a hunk (literally) of suckling pig, accompanied by a pyramid of carrots, raisins, dates, and confit of lemon. The serving staff was young and all in black, and friendly enough I guess, although with an attitude bordering on the ironic, as if Paris were trying to impersonate Manhattan or vice versa. It was worth the trip for the food, but we preferred the ambience of . . .

(Jadis
208 Rue Croix Nivert
75015
01 45 57 73 20)

L'Epigramme. Right in the heart of St.-Germaine-des-Pres, this small bistro--somewhat hidden on a side street, and with only 10 tables--manages to preserve a fairly sedate atmosphere in a frenetic neighborhood. We also found the staff to be extremely welcoming, and largely because of that, I'd gladly return, although not if I were famished, since the portions are sparse. But the food was good and also as inventive as Jadis. They, too, depend on the daily market, so their menu is scrawled on a chalkboard and difficult to predict. But if the roasted saddle of lamb were on the menu (which can be ordered rare, sometimes unusual for a roasted meat) or the duck breast, these would be good choices. Thanks to the patron we also discovered a very drinkable and reasonable Minervois which we later purchased at Rue Mouffetard for 11 euros.

(L'Epigramme
9 Rue de l'Éperon
75006
01 44 41 00 09)

For lunch we returned to Taverne Henri IV just off the Pont Neuf on the Ile de la Cite, and I continue to recommend it for their wine-bar fare, but also for their plats du jour (stuffed cabbage and a seafood casserole, this time). Get there by 12:15 if you want to be assured a seat. We also returned to Le Petit Fer a Cheval in the Marais, but that seems to have slipped a couple of notches (at least for lunch, although we were a little late which might account for the tepid andouilette and the limp frites). We probably won't be back there, but we'll definitely make the trek again up to Jacques Genin Chocolates (133, rue de Turenne), and don't fail to try a couple of the caramels, particularly the mango/passion fruit. Outrageously priced at about 1 euro each, they're worth every centime.

And, if anyone's interested in recommendations for places to stay/eat in the Fontainebleau/Troyes/Orleans regions feel free too pm.

Good call on Taverne Henri IV. Genuinely Paris. I always think when I'm there that that's where Maigret must have eaten many a time, with the PJ so close by. Once my wife and I were sitting in the little parc-ette in front of the place, discussing exactly that notion, when a nearby local started laughing and winking at us, and whistling a tune that must have been the theme song of some of the movies.

Geo

I always think when I'm there that that's where Maigret must have eaten many a time

As a matter of fact, according to its proprietor, the Taverne appears in 14 of the Simenon novels (http://robertgiraud.blog.lemonde.fr/201 ... pond-plus/); the author and his creation also used to haunt Ma Bourgogne up at the Place des Vosges (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/holid ... inued.html), once home of the best croque monsieur in Paris, but, alas, no more.

On a recent visit to the Left Bank we had limited time, but sufficient to visit two old friends Les Papilles and La Cagouille (both described in greater depth above), both of which were on their game, continuing to impress with their rather simple versions of market-fresh, traditional cuisine. They remain two of our favorite restaurants in Paris.

But we also had the opportunity to sample a newer candidate for our list. The area around rue Mouffetard is replete with ethnic and cheaper restaurants, catering primarily, it seems, to the tourist and student trade--a neighborhood, with its great markets, more likely to furnish memorable ingredients for a picnic or a hotel-room dinner than a serious restaurant experience. But although we only had the chance (and capacity) to share a single item from each of the menu categories (entree/plat/dessert) at Le Comptoir des Arts, the velouté (accurately described as "onctueux") of sweet potato, crab, and hazelnuts; the caramelized pork chop, as moist as a cooked inch-thick chop could be; and a fondant of chocolate noir (a term I vastly prefer to dark chocolate), convinced us that there was one serious chef in the kitchen. We hope to have the opportunity to explore its menu in far greater depth soon.

LE COMPTOIR DES ARTS
100 rue Monge
Paris 75005
http://lecomptoirdesartsparis.fr/en

La Cagouille
10 Place Constantin Brancusi
75014 Paris
http://www.la-cagouille.fr/

Les Papilles
30 rue Gay Lussac
75005 Paris
http://www.lespapillesparis.fr/

Thanks for the ongoing reports. Our hotel was about a block away from Les Papilles and you're making me feel even guiltier than I already did that we didn't make it there. It was on our list...along with too many other places. Still....

Just returned from a short trip to Paris with some new and some old:

The old: La Cagouille continues to impress with some of the freshest seafood options around. It’s difficult to predict what will be on the menu since that continues to depend on what’s available at the market that day (and how much of it, too—we arrived a little late in the service and were chagrined to watch the waiter wipe selections off the chalkboard, one-by-one, just as he brought it to our table). Suffice to say that the salmon trout (which I hadn’t seen before on the menu) was perfectly cooked and the noix St. Jacques reminded us what scallops should taste like. Prices seemed to have risen a bit, but there is still a 35-euro three-course “formule” with enough selections to make it well worth the price.

We were surprised to find one of our go-to lunch places, the classic wine bar Taverne Henri IV—which does a bustling weekday business trade—open on Saturday. We were also surprised to find it almost empty, but I think there was a reason it wasn’t “bustling.” Only one guy was running the joint—seating slicing, pouring, microwaving, serving—but he did his best, and although the quality was still apparent—a little overnight “sitting around” is not going to do much harm to good charcuterie, cheese, stuffed cabbage, and burgundy—we will be confining our visits to weekdays when chef and atmosphere are fully present.

Pipos continues to be Pipos, maintaining its neighborhood bar-bistro status in a highly transient market at the foot of Rue Mouffetard, and although it has finally made some concessions to the tourist trade (which it had resisted aggressively for some time) with English translations on the menu, it has not sacrificed the quality of its offerings, particularly its charcuterie and fromage. A new place for us—very much like Pipos and nearby-- Café de la Nouvelle Mairie has, along with a wide selection of wines, a limited proletarian menu that changes daily and delivers both simplicity and taste. The mackerel I had was recommended and was worth the wait, and my wife’s onglet was both large and tender. Daube was the only other main on the menu. Because of the inexpensive menu (wines for 4 euro-glass), this is a popular place, and it is wise to reserve for dinner.

Nearby, but far more ambitious, is Terroir Parisien Mutualité. This is a hip, upscale bistro owned by the three-star chef Yannick Alléno, but without the three-star prices. The quality of the food convinced us that somebody on the staff pays an early visit to the market on a daily business, and without a doubt—and perhaps with the exception of our own “in-house” cheese plate chosen carefully from Androuet up the street—theirs was the best cheese plate we enjoyed on this (and perhaps previous) trip(s). A little further afield on the Right Bank was La Bourse et La Vie—another bistro run by a celebrated chef, in this case the American Daniel Rose—and traditional enough to be renowned for its crème caramel. But its foie gras over artichokes was also welcome and the duck—perfectly crisp on the outside, moist within—may have been the best main dish I had on the trip.

To all the above: à bienôt

La Cagouille
10 Place Constantin Brancusi
Phone: +33 1 43 22 09 01

Taverne Henri IV
13 Place du Pont Neuf, 75001 Paris, France
Phone: +33 1 43 54 27 90

Pipos
2 Rue de l'École Polytechnique
Phone: +33 1 43 54 11 40

Café de la Nouvelle Mairie  
Address: 19 Rue des Fossés Saint-Jacques
Phone: +33 1 44 07 04 41

Terroir Parisien Mutualité - Yannick Alléno  
Address: 20 Rue Saint-Victor
Phone: +33 1 44 31 54 54

La Bourse et La Vie
Address: 12 Rue Vivienne
Phone: +33 1 42 60 08 83

A year ago March, our first meal in France was a late lunch at Cafe de la Nouvelle Mairie in the Latin Quarter near our hotel. We were jetlagged and a bit not-with-it, but everything about the ambience screamed 'Paris'. We luxuriated in our surroundings while slowly grazing on andouille saucisses, cepes and ratatouille, with a bit of Chateauneuf du Pape and crusty bread. It felt quite magical, like I had been waiting for this my whole life, and now it was happening.

We had better meals over the course of our four nights in Paris--one three-course prix fixe at Philou in the 10th (which included some top-notch foie gras) was noteworthy, and a steak au poivre at Bistro Paul Bert in the 11th was almost orgiastic--but I can't seem to forget the simple lunch at Mairie. I kept hearing a voice tell me, 'Nous sommes ici! (We are here!).

Obviously, can't wait to return.

Nice report jbw. Here's a bit of an oddity about the Tavern Henri IV: it was one of the main models for Maigret's Brasserie Dauphine, from whence he and his lieutenants were constantly ordering beer, sandwiches, etc. to be delivered to the Palais de Justice!

http://www.trussel.com/maig/ls-dernierf.htm

Years ago, my then wife and I were sitting on a bench in the park across the street, telling Maigret stories to the obvious delight of a Parisian overhearing our stories from the next bench. He finally got up, smiled, nodded at us, and walked off, whistling the theme from the long standing tv series Maigret.

Geo

First of all, thanks to Ronnie-suburban for the rec for Le Villaret. Appropriate for October when we were there, the menu seemed to be game-centric, and I, too, took a stab (in fact, a considerable number of stabs) at the wild duck. Traditionally served rare. it indeed required some effort with knife and fork (it was “sauvage,” after all) to reach its essence and placate my stomach, but I found the results to be very much worth the effort. We were a bit disappointed in the soups (a lobster bisque and a cèpes/foie-gras velouté—sounds great, doesn't it?), since the depth of flavors did not match the height of my expectations, increased perhaps by the 20 euro ticket price for each. But the cabinet of cheeses (placed on out table entirely at our disposal) and the light refreshing desserts made up for the disappointment at the other end of the meal.

I don’t have much to add to what I’ve said previously about La Cagouille, which we’ve visited on all our recent Parisian trips, other than that the merlan (which I hadn’t noticed before on the chalkboard menu) was about as well-prepared as it could be, and that at the end of the meal they have an excellent line-up of cognacs to match their varied list of whites.

Our major “find” of the trip was Le Christine. It’s on a quiet street, but near Boulevard Sainte-Germain and far from unknown, so be sure to reserve (lots of turn-aways at the door}. Like many of the restaurants in the quarter, they seem to be comfortable with two seatings for dinner, an earlier one (say 7-9) to accommodate the tourists’ earlier appetites, and a later, more Frenchified one (say, 9-10). On our two visits, we were attracted primarily to the meat offerings (a duck breast, a lamb shoulder—ordered twice!—and a pork belly—fatty, but what else is new?), all with an intensity of flavor that reminded me of the Publican at its best. At the beginning of the meal a duck foie gras gave new meaning to the description “meat butter” and some refreshing desserts with home made ices, in particular a wonderful peach soup, were well beyond (as long as we’re making comparisons) the skill set of the Publican’s desert-makers.

A further note: If you ever make a day-trip to Rouen, consider La Petite Auberge for lunch (not far from the cathedral and popular, so stop by early on your visit to reserve). The quality, value, and traditional offerings and ambience of the restaurant and its offerings (oysters by name and region, for instance. and varieties of escargots) reminded me of why we avoided Paris for the provinces for so many years.

Le Villaret
13 Rue Ternaux
+33 1 43 57 89 76

La Cagouille
10 Place Constantin Brancusi
+33 1 43 22 09 01

Le Christine
1 Rue Christine
+33 1 40 51 71 64

Restaurant La Petite Auberge
164 rue de Martainville
76000 Rouen
02 35 70 80 18