simon says french food blog

SNAIL’S GRACE

Paris,

by Joe Ray 

An old standby is a new favorite.

I’d been to L’Escargot, tucked away in the far reaches of Belleville, years ago when Canadian singer Sarah Slean and her entourage were in town and they turned to me for a place to go.

It’s been a bit too long to remember what we ate, but my favorite moment was when the diva’s dad turned to me and said, “That was the best meal we’ve had in France.”

Recently, I ate at L’Escargot a couple times in a two-week span – enough to notice that chef Frederic Valade had the guts to propose gizzards as a bar snack. Earning more points, I also learned he runs a triperie (hard-core butcher shop) down the street. … but I’m putting the cart in front of the horse.

Like Mehdi As-Siyad, what Valade is doing is some of my favorite stuff in Paris right now – young chefs, making some seriously good food and having fun.

One night, Valade walked out into the open kitchen in a pink wig, then giant sunglasses, then a cabaret-style sequined hat, all of which would have made him look really dumb if the food wasn’t good. Instead, his duck confît is among the best in town – crunchy on the outside, melting on the inside and packed with flavor. Add to the plate a little tower of mashed potatoes with truffle oil and a salad with a vinaigrette that keeps your taste buds awake and - Petit Fer A Cheval take note - you’ve got something comforting, luxurious and well-priced.

Almost every dish at L’Escargot is this good – a venison steak with winter vegetables, braised lamb shank that bursts with flavor, incredibly tender kangaroo (!) filet and ‘beef bo bun’ – a bowl of bite-sized seared flank steak in a lemongrass sauce. Dessert? The only problem with the crispy crepe (think: thin cousin of a sugar cone, broken up, and shaped into a little puck of goodness nestled under a dense cloud of whipped cream) was that I got a little aggressive with my spoon and launched half of the dish onto the table and my lap. I ate it anyway.

L’Escargot 50, rue de La Villette 75019 Paris Tel +33 1 42 06 03 96  Map

Food and travel writer and photographer Joe Ray is the author of the blog Eating The Motherlandand contributes to The Boston Globe's travel blog, Globe-trotting.

La Cupole

Paris,

by Joe Ray 

In nearly a decade living in Paris, I had never been to the Montparnasse brasserie La Cupole - it’s the Bostonian’s equivalent of never having been to Legal Sea Foods. Part of the reason for not going was that I snobbishly avoid chains on principle and La Cupole is owned by the Flo group, which owns or bought up more a dozen brasseries in Paris and across Europe including Bofinger, Brasserie Flo and Julien. span>

I’d also be justified in staying away for nothing more than wanting to boycott those cheap-looking sandwich board that each Flo brasserie has out on the sidewalk advertising something like a 19 € prix fixe menu. It looks like they pimped them from the semi-ubiquitous French steakhouse chain called Hippopotamus. I imagine the original owner of each brasserie groaning every time they walk past those things.

But the other afternoon, it was cold and we needed a coffee, went inside and I immediately wondered aloud why I had stayed away so long. Like brasserie Wepler, it’s got that great, big-town feeling that envelops you as soon as you walk through the door. Everything from the big, beautiful cupola that floats over the room to the waiters in their black and whites swooping around with big plates of shellfish to the sense of space the mammoth room affords – it all gives a sort of city comfort.

What I’d really like to applaud is the price of La Cupole’s coffee and hot chocolate. Though 4,10€ for cappuccino makes me groan, particularly considering the poor quality of most French coffee, I’d pay a similar price at my neighborhood café. La Cupole’s hot chocolate, made with high-end  Valrhona chocolate, costs about the same and it beats the pants off the powdered junk with the pony on the label that most cafes use.

La Cupole : 102, bd du Montparnasse 75014 Paris  +33 1 43 20 14 20 Map Web

 Food and travel writer and photographer Joe Ray is the author of the blog Eating The Motherlandand contributes to The Boston Globe's travel blog, Globe-trotting.

SWITCHING FROM WORK TO PLAY

Paris,

By Joe Ray 

I arrived a few minutes early to lunch the other day at Auberge Pyrénées Cévennes and knew I was in good shape by watching the table of businessmen across the room.

Before the food arrived, everyone was fidgety – they clearly didn’t know each other too well and spent time pulling their cell phones from those goofy belt-holster things to check messages instead of talking with one another.

Their wine showed up and the mood lifted, but the big change came with the first plate. A fortysomething guy with glasses and salt and pepper hair watched a neighbor’s plate arrive and his face sort of melted. Then he switched to a big, childlike grin.

The noise level picked up noticeably as the plates arrived. Everyone was smiling. Suddenly, everyone had something to say. The bridge between business and pleasure had been crossed and one of the men lifted a glass and offered a toast.

“Bon appétit, les amis!”
…

Auberge Pyrénées Cévennes is not for the slightly peckish – this is the cuisine of "la France profonde", complete with hunting lodge décor, and built for that kind of appetite: a standard lunch might be a big lentil salad, a wonderful cassoulet, and a fantastic tarte tatin that comes (as it should) with its own bowl of crème fraiche.
The 30-euro menu is more than you need at lunch (price included), but at dinner, it would just make you feel spoiled and happy.

Auberge Pyrénées Cévennes 106, Rue de la Folie Méricourt 75011 Paris, France Tel +33 1 43 57 33 78 Map

Au Bascou : Go with your gut

Paris,

By Joe Ray 

I like to decide quickly what I’m going to eat in a restaurant. I usually have a good instinct for what will be good, and more particularly what won’t, and if I stare at the menu too long, I start feeling like I’m in a video store without knowing what to rent.

Despite a recent, glowing recommendation by you-know-who about Au Bascou’s Lievre à la Royale, (there’s a framed version of his Le Figaro review on the bar), I was curious to try the wild pigeon cooked two ways.

I love this kind of thing; a few years back while shooting pictures for a story about Spring, chef Daniel Rose served lamb three ways and I still remember the spoonful of tartare he slid under my nose. (Squirm all you want – more for me.) Here at Au Bascou, the deep, earthy flavor of roast breast of wild pigeon reminded me why I love game, but les cuisses were the showstoppers: black-as-night thighs, legs and claws(!), on either side of the plate that looked like set pieces pinched from “The Dark Crystal.” I wondered aloud if they were to eat or just a gutsy garnish. Me of little faith. I took a bite and my hand did that thing where it involuntarily flies up in the faces of my dining companions, quaintly indicating something like ‘Shut up and let me taste this.’

The preparation - en salmi - a sauce made with the bird’s carcass and, as chef Bertrand Gueneron puts it, “lots of time bubbling away in wine,” give it a depth flavor that demands all of your attention. Deep and primordial, it made me salivate so much, I almost drooled.

The service was a bit spotty – they seemed weirdly short-staffed and flighty for a place this nice – and two of us were crammed into strange theater chairs not made for eating, in but in one bite, a return customer was born.

Au Bascou 38, rue Réaumur, 75003 Paris +33 1 42 72 69 25 Map

Food and travel writer and photographer Joe Ray is the author of the blog Eating The Motherland and contributes to The Boston Globe's travel blog, Globe-trotting.

 

KNUCKLES, ONIONS AND A MAN ALONE

Paris,

By Joe Ray

Put to the test on where to go in the neighborhood to fulfill a French onion soup quest, the team at La Cave à Jojo floundered.
“That’s tricky around here,” said Jojo, batting ideas around with clients at the bar, before smiling. “I’ve got it.”
We walked back into the night, skirting the base of Montmartre and bringing our bodies down to the right temperature for soupe à l’oignon.
On the way to our table, a man alone ate oysters from a raised platter, following each with brown bread and sweet butter, then luxuriously washing it down with some white wine; we were in the right place.
I’ve known this – the one-man reward in a bistro - and seeing the man made me think of doing the same several years ago, filing a story at some ungodly hour and heading to Au Général Lafayette for pig knuckle, choucroute and beer. Similarly, every year when I get a new carte de séjour, I straight from the prefecture to the Petit Fer à Cheval where I order steak tartare, silently toast my grandma and thank God I don’t have to renew the damn thing for another year.
Back at Wepler, the breeze blowing through an open door shook me from my reverie – Paris city air sweetened with the sea salt it picked up blowing across the oysters kept outside.
Inside, three men who have ordered two coffees look up as the waiter arrives.
Garcon smiled, placing the coffee on the table and slipping a chocolate to the guy who didn’t need any more caffeine.
In this temple of consumption, the thought of it all made the conversation better, made me hungrier.
We ordered soup, my friends agreed to split a chèvre chaud, but they stared at me funny when I ordered a pig knuckle.
I raised a silent toast to grandma and dug in. 
Brasserie Wepler 14, Place de Clichy 75018 Paris +33 1 42 93 70 84 Web Map

Food and travel writer and photographer Joe Ray is the author of the blog Eating The Motherland and contributes to The Boston Globe's travel blog, Globe-trotting.

 

 

Ze Kitchen Galerie, far from the stiffs

Paris,

By François Simon

What we find so wonderful about William Ledeuil's Kitchen Galerie is the blending of ideas.  I defend this place, while certain specialists turn up their noses.  Not enough of this, they say, too much of that.  Whatever.  The point is it's darned good, straightforward, plunging into different kinds of cuisine as one might clear branches from one's path in the forest.

It's hard to know if William Ledeuil has a particular aim in mind, since he doesn't speak.  He acts.  He prefers working in the shadows to the false glare of the spotlight, discretion to exhibition. He has no aspirations to preeminence.  His dedication to his clients mirrors that of his waitstaff, and he chooses wines that suit his fancy rather than playing to the Gallery, even if it is that of the Kitchen.  When you leave, you see more clearly.  In my top 10 of the moment.

Ze Kitchen Galerie. 4, rue des Grands-Augustins, 75006 Paris, tél. : 01 44 32 00 32; Count on 50 euros per person. Web  Map

Le 21 : Hidden away but impeccable

Paris,

By François Simon

Certain Parisian restaurants seek obscurity, prefer that we don’t talk about them.  Often these places have excellent chefs.  They work and invent in a spirit of generosity.  21, with its fish specialities, is such a restaurant. 

You find on the daily chalkboard selections that are lucid, straightforward, and sometimes surprising, like the shrimp served with pasta.  And it turned out to be excellent !  A dish that’s just spot on, and truly copious.  What else do we want from our cuisine ?  Nothing. 

Just one catch - referreing to the bill as "the damage" is entirely apt at le 21.  It’s pricey.  But all the same, it’s good, even very good.  One of the best addresses in Saint Germain, and even all of Paris.

Le 21 : 21 rue Mazarine Paris VIe. Tel.: 01 46 33 76 90 Around 75 €.

Map Vidéo

NEGOCIATING IMPERFECTION

Paris,

By Joe Ray 

Why do I keep coming back to this place? Beautiful and flawed, Aux Negociants is still one of those places (like Au Reve across the street) that’s the perfect place to come when you get off the plane for a fast dose of Parisian Paris.

One of the most glaring idiosyncrasies is the chef. What’s he doing in the front of the house at suppertime? Shouldn’t he be out back cooking our dinners?

Instead, he seems to have come up with a menu that allows him to spend most of the service time at dinner out at the bar shooting the breeze with his pétanque buddies or time to get mad at me for sending the wine back.

There’s stuffed cabbage, saucisse de Montbeliard, confît de canard - all stuff that you either make ahead of time and/or just heat up… I can’t tell if I’m miffed that he isn’t out back doting on my food or impressed at the preparation that goes into it.

In any case, the food’s good and there’s the friendly crowd, good wine and that funny feeling that I want to come back again.

Aux Negociants 27 rue Lambert +33.1.46.06.15.11 Map

Food and travel writer and photographer Joe Ray is the author of the blog Eating The Motherland and contributes to The Boston Globe's travel blog, Globe-trotting.

Le Baratin, a must

Paris,

By François Simon

Frankly, I’m not sure it’s the best idea to share this one with you. 

A former wine bar that’s become one of the go-to places for Parisian “bistronomie,” this place is quite simply one of my favorites in Paris.  The cuisine of Raquel (a self-taught Argentine who’s been slinging hash for 20 years) is marked by a biblical simplicity, insolent in its goodness, naked and scrumptious.
Strangely, all the gourmands of Paris come here, including some of the biggest names in French gastronomy, to dine on the braised ox tail with citrus fruits, the cod and shrimp stew with saffron, the marinated sardines, desserts to die for, excellent wines by the glass selected by an enthusiast associated with the restaurant.  Among those places for the truly food-crazed, Baratin finishes in the top three.  Unbeatable.
But be careful; make sure you go prepared for a lively atmosphere and the decibel level that goes with it.   
Le Baratin. 3, rue Jouye-Rouve, 20th arrondissement. Tél. : 01 43 49 39 70. Every day except Saturday for lunch, Sunday and Monday.  Prix fixe: 15 eur (lunch) Menu : 35-40 euros. Map

Photo/dr

SARDINES OVER ROYALTY

Paris,

By Joe Ray 

I’ve been lucky enough to go to the Bistrot Paul Bert twice in the past month or so. Simon Says’ namesake and I have a fondness for this place to the point where it’s surprising we haven’t bumped into each other.

Truth be told, the last couple of times have been… ok. Perhaps both the chef and I have been a bit too game for game. I had a partridge dish which I liked principally because it had some buckshot in it and lievre à la royale (hare with foie gras and a deep-colored wine sauce) that left me, if we call a spade a spade, with a lot of connective tissue on my plate.

BUT! There have been plenty of reminders why I love this place: particularly a heaping dish of tiny, fried sardines which must have taken advantage of the P-B’s husband and wife team which also runs the neighboring seafood specialist, L’Ecallier du Bistrot. The only way to win with a dish like this is to hit it out of the park; nothing leaves a worse impression than bad fish.

I love a place that’s got the confidence in itself and its customers to serve a ‘low’ fish… which is why I’ll keep going back.

Bistrot Paul Bert 18, rue Paul Bert 75011 Paris Tel : 33.1.43.72.24.01
Noon-2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.-11 p.m. Closed Sunday and Monday Map

Food and travel writer and photographer Joe Ray is the author of the blog Eating The Motherland and contributes to The Boston Globe's travel blog, Globe-trotting

Photo : JoeRay

The Voltaire – the cup overfloweth

Paris,

By François Simon

What’s incredible about this place is the price of the devilled eggs. Eighty cents - whereas in the rest of the menu the prices club you over the head.   The reason is simple – the adherence of the Voltaire to immutable prices.  Some time ago the price was 5 francs and some dust.  The prices are never adjusted.  A kind of amused, contemptuous elegance.

Nevertheless, the egg doesn’t come crumbled with a half-leaf of lettuce.  Rather, it’s a veritable Opéra Bouffe, with salad, de-leaved vegetables, the egg of course (well done), with the spread slathered over it – disarming generosity. 

Which is what characterizes the Voltaire.  Now, logically, one doesn’t order desert at the Voltaire.  The portions here aren’t for squirrels, but for butchers.  But, of course, our investigation had to be as thorough as possible.  The result was predictable – the chocolate profiteroles (17.50 euros – bam!) fell on us like a ton of bricks.

Le Voltaire, 27, quai Voltaire, 75007 Paris. Tel : +33 1 42 61 17 Map

(Photo F.Simon)

JUST LEAVE THE NUT OUT

Paris,

By Joe Ray

A restaurant is always doing well if a mother and son dining in their premises feel comfortable enough to have a conversation about French infidelity habits. This happens to Mom and I at La Table De Claire, a place I’ve been curious about for months, thanks to its obscure location, curious wife chef-swapping habits and deceptively simple-sounding menu.

Hidden away on rue Emile-Lepeu in the 11th, the restaurant has a growing reputation for bringing guest chefs in once a month and giving them carte blanche to do what they will along with giving the sous chef free reign two nights a week (note to struggling restaurant owners: great way to keep local clients interested!).

Product quality is the guide here, yielding short and occasionally cute dish names; La Table’s magic is getting the flavors to marry. “Fish, scales and rocket” uses thin potato ‘scales’ to surround the fish and gently absorb its sea and salty goodness. Beet and walnut risotto is something that would keep you coming back to a lover who cooked it. A rutabaga and foie gras appetizer sounds a bit gimmicky, but the tuber, sliced in rounds and lightly sautéed soaks up everything that’s good about goose liver.

The only problem is the rocket, sitting as a simple salad next to mom’s fish.

“Tastes like every dandelion I’ve ever picked in my life,” says the gardener, voicing a distaste for the greens I haven’t inherited as she nibbles on a frond.

“Damn things…” she mutters.

“More for me,” I say, taking advantage of her distracted state to swap plates with her.

Somewhere in there, we have a bottle of white, Claire’s list augmented by a revolving selection on blackboards with clever red or white frames. Mirroring the dining menu’s gracious restraint, no bottle appears to climb above 30€.

Aided by the latter, I explain to Mom the cinq à sept – the delicately named “five to seven” or post-work time reserved for affairs.

Me: From there, there’s an apéro and after that, dinner.

Mom: And that’s every night?

Me: If they’re doing well

For dessert, mom orders a near-perfect crème brulée with a beautiful chestnut confît bulging above the surface in the center. For reasons I struggle to understand, Mom doesn’t like the nut but loves everything around it.

Me: This is worth coming back for.

Mom: Just leave the nut out.

La Table de Claire : 30, rue Emile-Lepeu 75011 Paris [email protected]
TEL : +33.1.43.70.59.84  Closed Sunday

Web Map

Food and travel writer and photographer Joe Ray is the author of the blog Eating The Motherland and contributes to The Boston Globe's travel blog, Globe-trotting.

HOLDING CANDLES TO CABBAGE

Paris,

By Joe Ray

I want Stéphane Chevassus to cook all of my vegetables.

This is my first impression when I taste his braised cabbage with butter that held my fish aloft at Au Vieux Chêne. If a chef can knock your socks of with plat du jour cabbage, he’s got my vote. Plus, I Tried It At Home and though it was tasty, I couldn’t hold a candle to Chevassus’ cabbage.

I checked in again recently with mom and everything was up to snuff – a light but creamy pumpkin velouté, fish dishes done just right, little chocolate pastilles (white, milk and dark) served with coffee. Prix fixe lunch for 14€ and cabbage from heaven.

Au Vieux Chêne - Map 7, rue Dahomey 75011 Paris  TEL : +33.1.43.71.67.69
Closed Saturday & Sunday

Food and travel writer and photographer Joe Ray is the author of the blog Eating The Motherland and contributes to The Boston Globe's travel blog, Globe-trotting.

Le Jeu de Quilles, darn good

Paris,

By François Simon

Here’s one place that shouldn’t be left to the dogs.

Le Jeu de Quilles proposes cuisine that doesn’t make a make a spectacle of itself.    Three or four tables that can accommodate about 20 clients, two nice waiters that serve unpretentious food characterized by abundance and quality (meats from neighbor Hugo Desnoyer!).
And the wines are chosen with care. 

At Jeu de Quilles you’ll discover new textures and flavors, and when you leave you’re sure to be in a good mood. And the price is absolutely fair.  I left a 10 euro tip I was so happy!  My verdict:  one of the best places in Paris at the moment.

Le Jeu de Quilles : 45, rue Boulard, 75014. Tel : +33 1 53 90 76 22, Métro Mouton Duvernet. Map

(photo F.Simon)

Saut du Loup, dazzling

Paris, France

By François Simon

Restaurants inside museums have always felt a kind of embarassment towards food. As well as towards many other things, in fact. Rudeness, common things, other temptations. They retain around themselves a kind of space which they expect to fill in a tawdry manner. Fortunately, from time to time, some unexpected rays of sunshine appear, like at the Saut du Loup, in the Museum of Decorative Arts.

The service is stylish and efficient, though at times the solicitude of the staff goes a bit too far.

I started off with a Romaine salad. Somewhat entertaining, it was rather a failure (the Romaine remains imperturbable), but at least there is some goodwill here, some risk taking, even if lacking in execution, indeed the dish was simply ordinary in the end.

Next up are the Saint-Jacques.  The chef still prepares his emulsions the way they were made at the beginning of the 21^st century. The problem is that goes back a decade now.  That said, it seems suited to this sort of disembodied meal, ethereal and cloud-like, that seems to fly through the air, and which in the end isn’t bad thanks largely to the attentiveness to flavour (here, a touch of vanilla, with the sea bass a hint of ginger with the bass).  It was quite a pleasant experience, though the portions are a bit meagre given the hefty prices (26€).

Overall, it was a delightful experience (there’s a beautiful terrace), even if it obviously isn’t cheap at 143€ for two people, which gets you just enough to pick at.

Le Saut du loup, 107, rue de Rivoli (1^er) - Tel. : 01 42 25 49 55. Web Map

L'Agapé – but where is the life?

Paris, France

By François Simon

It’s not easy to make a name for oneself when opening a restaurant. The rarefied world of « gastronomy » stands in the way.  At every turn, there are about a hundred people in Paris that prevent you from taking your place at the table.  How to force one’s way through the crowd of the already-tenured blocking the gate?

Sneak in on your hands and knees? Create a diversion? Wear a disguise ?  Marry a food critic? Or why not open a restaurant on rue Jouffroy-d'Abbans. That’s what three former employees of Passard just did – L’Agapé.

They offer excellent food, the kind that deserves a Michelin star. The asparagus with Colonnata’s bacon is exquisite. The Sologne’s pigeonneau (a small pigeon) is sumptuous. The ice cream with rosemary is delightful.  Everything is impeccable, but curiously we feel almost in the way. We let the torch march past without clapping too loudly. 

This restaurant is off to a great start. It’s headed at full speed towards its destiny and at the same time has already made it, plain and simple, to the gastronomic “big show” – that world of criticism, accolades, food guides and chocolate medals. What’s missing?  Life, of course! 

From 80 to 100 euros. Menus at 39 euros for lunch.

L'Agapé - 51, rue Jouffroy D’Abbans (17^ème) - Tel. : 01.42.27.20.18. Map

Open Monday - Friday, closed Saturdays and Sundays - Subway station : Wagram.

Pasta Linea, love it….

Paris, France

By François Simon

It’s funny that I’ve never mentioned this charming place.  You’ll find a couple there (Sylvie and Alexis) with a passion for gourmet Italian products who regularly dig up all sorts of little goodies: hams, truffles, pastas, olive oils….You can even get a delicious lunch of home-made pastas of surpassing goodness (vegetable lasagna; sage, fig, basil ravioli); tiramisu that more than holds its own…. Too good.

Pasta Linea, 9, rue de Turenne, 75004 Paris (01.42.77.62.54). au déjeuner seulement. Map  French version

Photo F.Simon

What's the verdict on Cyril Lignac's new place?

PARIS

By François Simon

Stop the presses, Cyril Lignac has just acquired Chardenoux. The result is predictable - bistrot cuisine that's dazzling, charming, and suited to urban appetites. This isn't your typical unrefined bistrot fare – here the proportions are well-balanced and the final product is not bad at all. It's all very much in keeping with the approach we've come to expect from this likable and serious young man. Of course, we had to pick a fight or two, needle him a little bit. But, in all sincerity, I find him to be a class act, an affable guy.  He takes it all well, sticks up for himself, and loves his job.  Where can you find fault?  That said, it's just not my cup of tea. I was delighted to have had a light lunch there because that night I had another meal waiting for me....

Chardenoux : rue Jules Vallès, 75011 Paris. Tel : 01.43.71.49.52. Open seven days a week. Map

Photo F. Simon

Jean Paul Hevin, Killer Chocolate Mousse

PARIS

By François Simon

Finally - Jean Paul Hevin’s salon de thé has just reopened. And it was an absolute must to be there on the first day to hear the renewed tapping of little spoons! 
You get the idea – a devilishly light milk-chocolate mousse, airy but eminently chocolaty, superb work that evokes the flavor of the cocoa beans. You almost get the impression that the chocolate is lightly perfumed with berries. It isn’t so, in fact – there’s only the chocolate, expressed here in all its purity. It’s a wonderful moment. As for the tarte au chocolat (which will be available soon), one musn’t hesitate to ask for it served warm. That’s when you’ll really lose it. It practically stings; not unlike being slapped in the face. Retreat is no longer an option, by now you’ve been properly enveloped in a wall of chocolate. It’s a funny feeling – the chocolate actually seems to penetrate; a gustatory shock. It’s like being hooked up to a chocolate IV. As good as opium. 
Jean Paul Hevin, 231, rue Saint Honoré, 75001 Paris. Tel : 01.55.35.35.86

Web Map

(photo F.Simon).

César Salad façon Ritz (Paris)

Contrary to what we are led to believe, César Salad has nothing to do with César Ritz. But it was too late, the booking had already been made at the Vendôme Bar of the Ritz Hotel. Although legends have good excuses, they sometimes need to be questioned.

The César Salad was a long time coming. Perhaps it came from far away through the basements of the hotel. Almost one subway station between the bar and the entrails. Or maybe, she had her soul somewhere else, her mind more concerned by other accounts, either way she took her time. And that must be why she arrived exhausted. Which for a salad is regrettable. Her extremities were a little aged, which is just like having some dirt under one’s nails. It’a style of sorts, but logically not that of salads, certainly not the one we looked for. Especially if she wants to join the top of the crop. She is in strips, which is also a certain style, but not the César’s.

In a word, she drifts in her definition. She meanders.

The waiters, just like the salad, had a certain absent mindedness (thinking of holidays, tips or shopping for dinner). They make mistakes with basic orders (plain water instead of sparkling water), but they have the superb haughtiness of mafiosi only with coffee stained jackets

Concerning the price, when we see tarts with raspberries costing 27€, the César salad drives comfortably at breakneck speed. Then is it necessary to come ? Of course yes, it is the Titanic on live…

Web Map

Bar Vendôme, Hôtel Ritz, 15 Place Vendôme (1^er) – Tel : 01.43.16.30.80 – Every day