Parisian Dining: A Study in Contrasts

PARIS – Last week’s dining offered a supreme study in contrasts in Paris dining. First there’s Wadja, an old faithful Left Bank Montparnasse bistrot, comfortable as one’s favorite pair of shoes. Then one settles into the restaurant of the moment, Baccarat crystal’s sumptuous and other worldly Cristal Room in the private mansion in the well-bred 16th arrondissement.

I don’t think it would be possible to have a bad time at Wadja, where the welcome, the daily menu, the wine list and the jovial wait staff all make it all so easy to let down your hair, rest your elbows on the table, and dig into a good evening’s fun.

Old bistro classics – such as the heart-warming leg of lamb that’s cooked for a full seven hours --- gigot à sept heures – is almost always on the menu here, and when it is, do order this moist lamb dish, washed down with one of their bargain wines. We adored the meaty red Côtes du Rhône, the Domaine la Montagnette, from one of the region’s top wine cooperatives, Cave Estezargues, priced at 30 €. Daily specialties might include the freshest of Brittany’s scallops – coquilles saint Jacques -- simply seared, or a soothing starter of artichokes cooked à la barigoule – braised in white wine and herbs – served with shavings of Parmesan. Ask for a large bottle of water and the waiter playfully replies: water comes in half bottles, wine in full bottles.

Barracat’s Cristal Room is the kind of place about which no one can be blasé. The famed French crystal manufacturer has closed its doors on the famed Rue Paradis in the city’s 10th arrondissement and grouped together a show room, a museum and restaurant in one of the city’s grandest private homes, one might even say it’s a palace. Everything about this ultra-modern place glistens, shines, reflects, reverberates. And just about everything about this totally re-focused 1880’s mansion makes you gasp and even giggle, for everywhere your eye falls, the visual contrasts and surprises make you take notice, reflect.

It’s clear that the ubiquitous designer Philippe Starck had his hand in all of this, and the results are both good and bad. On the good side, I love that modern design can have a sense of humor, make us laugh. Most of all it makes us reflect on styles, the whys and hows. In the main dining room, the walls have been taken down to bare red brick and framed in gilt mirrors. All the while trappings of elegance, from the giant crystal chandeliers to the vast marble fireplace mantles, remind us that this house has serious bones. Crystal, of course is everywhere, in the form of chandeliers, candelabras, wine glasses, water glasses, carafes, carafes, carafes.

The dining room may glisten, but it sure lacks comfort. The banquettes are totally impossible: Posture is not even an issue, you just can’t sit comfortably or elegantly perched at the edge of a sofa. And the dainty, gilt, party-rental chairs are simply too tiny for most male bottoms. Now Baccarat will want to tar and feather me for this, but their wine glasses are simply inadequate for any wine appreciation or enjoyment. The footed, faceted crystal ware may be classic and pretty, but the bowl is too small to swirl or stick your nose into, and the thickness of the crystal gives you the impression that you’re drinking out of a jelly jar.

But on to the food and service, both of which merit at least a visit. I expected the food to be an after thought, and though it bends over backwards to be the chicest of chic – and awkwardly so – the food does have merit, despite the fact there seems to be a certain smug dismissiveness of the real pleasures of gastronomy. An amuse bouche of frothy langoustine cappuccino topped with the thinnest sliver of fresh black truffles was delicious --- redolent of the sea, warm, soothing, with a nice long finish. I can’t imagine any foie gras lover not wanting to go back for the foie gras crème brulée, truly a gratin dish filled with shimmering foie gras topped with a sugary crust. The contrast of the rich and fatty duck liver and the gentle sugar sweetness was truly brilliant. I didn’t quite get the point of what they called “ephemeral oyster ravioli” -- a single plump oyster from Prat ar Coum in Brittany – surrounded by a touch of jelly and bathed in cream. But what there was of it, was delicious. Their already famed club sandwich – a mile-high classic of chicken, bacon, mayo and plenty of toasted pain de mie – is indeed quite something, but I for one have never figured out how one is supposed to attack a club sandwich without disfiguring it as you dismantle and devour. The grilled dorade – served whole and cooked to perfection – would be hard to improve on and the thick veal chops was equally fine. A cheese course of the creamy, fragrant seasonal cow’s milk Mont d’Or from the Jura was indeed delicious but the accompanying “poire à croquer” was just that, to crunch with vigor. It was rock hard. The wine list offered some good buys but they were out of most of them that night. We loved what they did have in stock, an always reliable red Faugères from the Languedoc, well-priced at 25 € a bottle. (But do watch the prices: We were charged 25 € for a bottle of Faugeres, but then 54 € for three glasses of a less interesting Savigny les Beaune, offered by the glass!). The bread needs improvement and chocolate chip cookies at the end are simply silly. Reservations are among the most precious in town. My hairdresser told me friends paid a bribe to get in.

Wadja
10 rue de la Grand Chaumière
Paris 6 Telephone 01 46 33 02 02

Closed Sunday and Monday at lunch. Credit card: Visa. A la carte, 35 € per person, including service but not wine.

Cristal Room
11, place des États Unis
75116 Paris
Telephone : 01 40 22 11 10
Fax : 01 40 22 11 99
email: cristalroom@baccarat.fr.

Closed Sunday. All major credit cards. 25 to 86 € per person, including service but not wine.

Two New Left Bank Casuals

PARIS -- Is there a better symbol of French gastronomy than a simple, sublime, classic roast chicken? Golden, fragrant, its skin crisp and crackling, the humble poulet rotie is one of the world’s greatest dishes, one that can stand on its own or serve as a soothing escort to all manner of potatoes, crying out to be paired with a red wine of some stature.

In comes Guy Savoy, once again, to show us the way. His newest endeavor in the Parisian restaurant world is a remake of one of the city’s older restaurants – the Left Bank Atelier Maitre Albert – a warming spot with a giant fireplace at one end, a modern rotisserie at the other. Along with chef Emmanuel Monsallier and director Laurent Jacquet, Savoy has managed once again to figure out what we want today, and deliver.

Walking in after the opera late one Saturday night, the place felt as though it had been open for decades, as tables for two, for four, for ten diners filled the room with sounds of fun and good times. The brief menu includes some Savoy classics – such as my ever favorite huitre en nage, or chilled oysters in a bed of soothing oyster jelly -– and of course that golden rotisserie chicken, teamed up with a warming potato purée. Daily specials might include a perfect roasted duck and a potato gratin (with potatoes too thinly sliced for my taste).

The wine list offers some old favorites such as the fruity, lively Savigny les Beaune from Simon Bize (the 2000 priced at 47 €) or Jean Noel Gagnard’s sterling red Chassagne Montrachet (the 1999 priced at 49 €) both perfect for pairing with poultry.

Another plus is that the restaurant’s hours fit all lifestyles, open evenings only, Monday through Wednesday from 6:30 to 11:30, Thursday through Saturday, 6:30 to 1 am.

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Another Left Bank newcomer worth visiting is Au Gourmand, a tiny restaurant the size of a railroad car just across from the Luxembourg Gardens. Chef Christian Courgeau and partner Hervé de Libouton offer an unpretentious, carefully conceived little spot that’s run with care and attention. There is a single, 33 € dinner menu with changing daily specials that might include a brilliant starter of two fresh Brittany langoustines dusted with coarsely chopped pistachios and served with a tiny tangle of greens (a bit too salty for my palate) or a superb main course of a thick, giant pork chop – cote de cochon – cooked rare, a delight. I also loved the pairing of filet of dorade set upon a bed of crushed potatoes. The fish and potatoes had the very same texture, yet stood out on their own in the most soothing way.

If you have a sweet tooth, don’t miss the pain perdue aux cerises, classic French toast paired with super sweet cherries and a dollop of pistachio ice cream.

Atelier Maître Albert
1, rue Maître Albert
Paris 5
Telephone 01 56 81 30 01 Fax 01 53 10 83 23

All major credit cards. Open dinner only, Monday through Saturday. A la carte, about 40 euros per person, including service but not wine.

Au Gourmand
22 rue du Vaugirard
Paris 6
Tel/Fax 0l 43 26 26 45

All major credit cards. Closed Saturday and Sunday. Lunch menus at 22 and 29 euros, dinner at 33 euros, including service but not wine.

Modern Elegance at the Meurice

PARIS --- Yannick Alléno is one Parisian chef that is more than content.

‘’Complet, Complet, c’est genial!” he says with satisfaction at the thought that, since he arrived on September 1st, the Meurice Hôtel’s dining room has been playing to a full house at lunch and dinner.

This lean, muscular, 35-year-old chef seems more than at home and at ease in this grand hotel, where he oversees no less than 72 chefs in a series of three kitchens spread side by side in the hotel’s vast underground workshops.

But it is clear that his focus and his pride shines upon the 50-seat dining room, a gracious and elegant room filled with shimmering crystal chandeliers and antique beveled mirrors that reflect large bay windows framed in rare marble. Here, the youthful staff dressed to the nines in mourning coats, with hair slicked back and with the posture of ballet stars, whirl about as if they are part of the show, and they are.

For me, the Meurice – long the hotel of the aristocratic, where you are encouraged to accept luxury as a birthright – is the jewel in the collection of the city’s grand hotels. And here, a special meal orchestrated by Alléno (who was awarded two Michelin stars in 2002 while chef at the restaurant Les Muses in the Hôtel Scribe) and his staff can appear magical.

While not known for its bargains, the Meurice dining room’s 55 € lunch menu is a good place to cut your teeth: Here, the choice is vast but not overwhelming, and offers a good look at Alleno’s fare, which I find a surprising jig saw puzzle, served with grand elegance and a distinctly modern sensibility.

As soon as Alléno arrived at the Meurice he completely overhauled the kitchens, adding state of the art ovens and a rotisserie that flatters his top quality ingredients, including a gorgeous, moist roasted duck that is paired with wild cepe mushrooms and baby turnips infused with the wintry flavors of juniper berries.

His food has style (lots of rounds upon rounds, squares upon squares), and while flavors are generally soft in texture, there is always a touch of crunch at the end, filling our natural desires for a bit of snap, crackle and pop on the palate.

Luncheon specialties may range for the purely simple – a superb mound of tiny girolles mushrooms cooked in the sherry-like vin jaune from the Jura – to a wintry fricassee of suckling pig, anointed with sage butter and a fresh artichoke mousseline.

I spent a morning with Alléno in his kitchen, and snapped up some home-style recipes that have already been incorporated into my own repertoire, including a winning gratin of Swiss chard stems: Poach match-stick sized stems in chicken stock, layer in a gratin dish with sprinklings of grated Parmesan, heat beneath a broiler, then finish it all with miniature cubes of Parmesan, tiny bits of celery leaf and bay leaf and a shower of well-toasted pine nuts.

No matter the menu, his food combinations are always out of the ordinary, but never go over the edge toward wackiness. For instance, thin slices of abalone – ormeaux – cooked in salted butter seem right at home with the earthy nature of fresh white shell beans and wild cepe mushrooms.

A favorite at a recent dinner was his rotisserie saddle of lamb from small farmers in the Languedoc paired with the classic white shell beans, here slow-roasted in the oven in stock, with a touch of garlic, sherry vinegar, parsley, tomatoes and the almost-smoky, just-right-spicy red pepper from Espelette in France’s Basque country.

The wine list can get pricy, but sommelier David Retif assures a small selection of wines priced from 34 to 49 euros, also available by the glass. Selections might include the Marsanne-grape based white Saint-Péray from the Voge vineyards, or a Loire Valley red from Château Fosse Seche.

Le Meurice
228 rue du Rivoli
Paris 1
Telephone: 01 44 58 10 10
Fax: 01 44 58 10 15
Website: www.meuricehotel.com

Closed Saturday lunch and all day Sunday. 55 € lunch menu. A la carte, 100 to 155 €, including service but not wine.

Intelligent Modern in Burgundy

Chassagne-Montrachet, France --- The idea seems so obvious, it’s amazing that more people don’t pick up on it. Take a group of winemakers without a showcase for their wines or a fine place to entertain clients. Add a young, talented and ambitious chef without deep pockets. Put them together and you have an instant success in the name of Le Chassagne, a lively, up and coming restaurant in the center of a brand name Burgundian village.

This is not the last time you will hear the name Stephane Leger, the extremely smooth, sure-footed chef at Le Chassagne. Photo of Stephane Leger at Le Chassagene restaurantThe 34-year-old native of the Jura grew up in a family that revered food and wine. But thankfully, Leger takes Burgundian cuisine beyond the strangling tradition of snails, coq au vin, and rich red wine sauces. He loves fish and shellfish and honors them beautifully. He considers his good classic French but I’d call it Intelligent Modern. With a menu that is sprinkled with sweet and meaty Brittany langoustines teamed up with crunchy touches of citrus, wild turbot cooked on the bone, a wide array of game specialties, and the irresistible plump Bresse poultry paired with fragrant morel mushrooms, this is food you want to embrace, wrap your arms around, rejoice.

I can still taste his delicious risotto, bathed in a blend of basil oil and a touch of golden, flowery saffron, and fine, fresh Saint Pierre from Brittany’s waters. Equally adept was his pairing plump and rare Belon oysters with my favored langoustines, a dish that shows up his talents: Leger ekes out brilliant, fresh, intense flavors that make us sit up and take notice. Like many other dishes on his menu, this dish makes you aware of flavors that are clean, clear, concise and close to the earth.

The food is copious and varied without being cumbersome, and our lunch included a rich pumpkin soup (just a few sips, to entice you and put you in the mood) as well as a tomato gaspacho laced with rich shellfish essence.

And the wines are, well, about as classy as they come. Chassagne-Montrachet, especially the whites, are among my favorite wines. Burgundy unquestionably produces the world’s best chardonnays, and here the expression of soil, sun, a delicate balance of fruit, acid and gentle tannins make the wines exceptionally food friendly. You almost want to curl up by the fire with their wine list, sipping as you peruse the treasures: There are more than a dozen white Chassagne-Montrachet priced from 49 to 63 euros, representing the best winemakers of the region. We feasted on Bernard Morey’s 1997 Chassagne Montrachet Les Caillerets (55 €), an exquisite, refined, intensely pleasurable wine, one that was beautifully balanced and more than at home with Leger’s carefully constructed cuisine.

We are in cheese land and Le Chassagne does not let cheese lover’s down: Try the ripe, earthy full-flavored Soumaintrain, the rare Aisy Cendre (the only cheese that is coated with true cinders from local vine clippings) and an abundance of light local goat’s cheese. Just as appealing is the warm Epoisses served with a salad of lamb’s lettuce tossed with fragrant walnut oil.

For dessert, don’t pass up the seared, grilled fresh pineapple escorted by a fragrant vanilla sorbet and a tiny glass of coconut milk.

A young, energetic staff that is well-informed and clearly dedicated to their work, and a lively clientele that clearly are having a good time makes the meal that much more pleasurable.

Energy and commitment can also be found not far away in the charming city of Beaune, in the name of the highly successful wine bar and restaurant Ma Cuisine, run by Fabienne and Pierre Escoffier and their son, Photo of the Escoffier's at Ma Cuisine restaurant Romain. You feel instantly at home in the crowded little spot off the beautiful passage in the center of town.

The food here is simple and family-like, with abundant portions of mussels in cream; a delicious version of parsleyed ham (jambon persillé) served with a green salad; meaty skate (raie) teamed up with an abundance of capers; and a fine rendition of ratatouille, served warm and topped with grilled sardines. Burgundian wines, of course, are the foundation of the wine list here, and I can still taste the smooth and elegant, long-lived red Pommard from the hands of Hubert de Montille (Les Pezerolles 1997) as well as the owner’s finely recommended, blackberry-scented Morey Saint Denis 1999 from the trusted Domaine Henri Perrot Minot.

While wandering the streets of Beaune, make sure to stop in at Jean-Luc Girard’s lovely shop offering fine kitchen antiques (everything from canning jars to baskets, old kitchen cutting boards to old work tables) as well as Michel Graglia’s poster shop, Graglia, offering an abundance of vintage posters, many focusing on food and wine.

Le Chassagne
4, impasse de Chenevottes
21190 Chassagne-Montrachet
Telephone: 03 80 21 94 94
Fax: 03 80 21 97 77

All major credit cards. Menus at 28, 39, and 59 €. A la carte, 65 to 135 €, including service but not wine.

Restaurant Cave Ma Cuisine
Cave Sainte Helene
Passage Sainte-Helene
21200 Beaune
Telephone: 03 80 22 30 22
Fax: 03 80 24 99 79

Closed Wednesday, Saturday, Sunday, August, and school holidays. A la carte, 35 to 40 euros, including service but not wine.

Quatre Faubourg
Jean-Luc Girard
4 rue du Faubourg Bretonniere
21200 Beaune
Telephone: 03 80 22 96 18.

Michel Graglia
21 rue Maufoux
21200 Beaune
Telephone/Fax: 03 80 22 23 50.

A Breath of Fresh Air in Paris

PARIS – Following Joel Robuchon’s lead into the world of the more casual any-time-of-day gastronomy with his Left Bank Atelier, respected chef Alain Dutournier has tossed his hat into the ring. Pinxo, a clean, modern, all black and white restaurant near the Place Vendôme on the Right Bank, offers a nice breath of fresh air, a new approach. Open seven days a week from noon until midnight, the restaurant will help break France’s traditional strict dining hours and customs.

With a bar open to the small, compact kitchen, and a casual atmosphere, the restaurant is designed to accommodate those who want a single quick bite as well as diners who are willing to wile away an afternoon or evening sampling Dutournier’s creations. The chef is a proud son of France’s southwest and a staunch defender of all its products, and so it is no surprise to find the region’s specialties honored here. From the marvelous beef “race blonde d’Aquitaine” to tiny chipirons (baby squid) and on to a cool piperade (eggs, red peppers, onions, tomatoes and ham), the brief menu takes us on a fine tour of the region.

The wine list, wisely, is arranged not by region or color but by price, with bottles ranging from 28 € for a Domaine de Deurre Côtes du Rhône Villages Vinsobres 2000 to 85 € for a Volnay 1er Cru Marquis d’Angerville 2000. Wines by the glass range from 5 to 7 euros.

I loved almost everything about the place and assume some of the nicks will be taken out in time. Service was hesitant and at times just wrong (bringing items we had not ordered), and some ingredients just didn’t have that ultra-fresh flavors we expect of Dutournier.

Miniature heads of lettuce the size of a Belgian endive are all the rage right now, and he kicks in with a welcoming Salades Croquantes, a generous mix of a trio of crunchy hearts of lettuce, sliced mushrooms, shallots, radish sprouts and tomatoes. So good to know that green salad is back, but too bad the tomatoes had that stale, I’ve-been-sitting-around-too-long flavor.

His soup – better than almost anyone’s mom – is brilliant, a superb mix of herbs, mushrooms, a touch of ginger, and fresh beans, all warming and energizing. And I literally devoured his tiny spring roll of fresh crab, a fine rendition of an Asian classic.

I am a huge fan of the sweet, crunchy, tiny squid known as chipirons and no one does it better than someone from France’s southwest. Here they are cooked “a la plancha,” or on a flat griddle, seasoned with a touch of ginger, mildly spicy pepper and garlic chips. Alas, the garlic chips were bitter, marring an otherwise delightful dish .

When you go, do order the beef filet, aged to perfection and cooked perfectly rare. The meat is served with an unusual combination of cubed Charlotte potatoes bathed in a healthy tapenade, or black olive purée.

With the meal, we loved the Jurancon Sec Clos Uroulat Cuvée Marie 2000, an always appealing white from the Petit Manseng grape, and priced at 35 €.. Most items – which can be mixed and matched – range from 7 to 22 €.

Dutournier came up with the restaurant’s name from the verb “pintcher,” which means to capture something with a quick gesture., and not like many have assumed, the Spanish pinchos or tapas eaten with one’s fingers.

Alain Dutournier has not been sleeping. This summer he took advantage of the holiday period to also re-decorate his Michelin two-star restaurant – Carre des Feuillants -- transforming the large space off of Place Vendôme into a sober, modern, calming spot. The food is as good as ever, with a fabulous terrine of foie gras, an updated version of the classic wild hare lievre à la royale, and an oyster starter – that included a superb “terrine” of fresh oysters and a little tartare of algae that is worth a trip all on its own.

Pinxo
9. rue d’Alger
Paris 1
Telephone: 01 4 020 72 00
Fax: 01 40 20 72 02

All major credit cards. Open daily. A la carte, from 20 to 60, including service but not wine.

Carre des Feuillants
14, rue de Castiglione
Paris 1
Telephone: 01 42 86 82 82
Fax: 01 42 86 07 71
Web: www.perso.wanadoo.fr/carre.des.feuillants.

All major credit cards. Closed Saturday and Sunday. 58 € lunch menu, 138 € dinner menu. A la carte, 150 to 200 € including service but not wine.

Of Passions and Country Bistros

Quarré-les-Tombes, France -- When the French are passionate about something, and proud of what they do, there can be no end to their sharing those qualities with their guests. And Francis Salamolard of the charming Auberge de l’Atre at the edge of the Morvan forest in northern Burgundy is just that kind of Frenchman.

Along with his wife, Odile, this chef/innkeeper/mushroom expert and wine aficionado somehow juggles all the balls in the air, all the while playing perfect host in the lovingly restored auberge overlooking a forest of oak, beech, birch and evergreens that look as though Christmas might be right around the corner.

The fire glows in the hearth at both ends of the spotless hotel-restaurant, as Francis races around like a magician, excited about the morning’s mushroom harvest. Although French mushroom lovers predicted a dreadful fall crop due to the summer’s draught, the actual harvest has been small but exceptional in flavor: meaty mushrooms that are fragrant and powerful, and chefs are managing to extract extraordinary flavors from their treasures.

I wanted a simple weekday lunch and Francis came through, with a model platter of raw vegetables, with all manner of cucumbers and tomatoes, beets and celery root, melon and a touch of tomato. The requested main course --- nothing but mushrooms -- arrived fit for the leader of any kingdom, an avalanche of cepes (wild boletus), girolles (chanterelles) and pleurots (feather-edge mushrooms) cooked with precision and attention to detail with just a tiny bit of oil, a shower of shallots, a tangle of fresh parsley. From his vast cave came a sterling bottle of crisp, mineral-rich Chablis 1er cru from Francis and Jean-Marie Raveneau, their 1997 cuvée that somehow manages to offer all things for the palate: tastes of gunflint, bonbons, butter, and yet is refreshing and long-lasting in the mouth. Remarkable. And all the more remarkable when paired with a perfect platter of just-picked wild mushrooms, so good we asked for seconds.

Save some wine for the cheese course, for this is Burgundy cheese country: We savored the dreamy, unctuous double-cream Chaource, the golden, buttery, Epoisses-like Soumaintrain; and a local dry goat’s cheese, all served with a basket full of fresh walnuts.

I am already making plans to return, to sample some meatier fare: rabbit terrines and a saffron-tinged blanquette of monkfish; roasted guinea hen with the aromas of fresh rosemary; pigeon flavored with the local honey; and of course Burgundy’s famed chicken with tarragon cream. This sweet spot deserves every bit of its Michelin star.

If one ever doubted that those picture-book village bistros still existed then that person has not been to Les Minims, a solid and old-fashioned BurgundianPhoto of the bistro Les Minims bistro in the center of the charming village of Semur-en-Auxois. Here Eve-Lyne Bouy holds court, barking orders and acting tough, like all good bistro owners, amidst a tried and true décor of mahogany-colored moleskin banquettes and walls decorated with photos of past and present wine harvests. (Among the bric a brac displayed is the bistro’s award for receiving 3rd prize from the village for its Christmas window decoration in 2001.)

But as ever, it’s what’s on the plate here that counts and there is plenty of it – from tete de veau to pied de porc, clafoutis and profiteroles. But there is also lots of invention here, including a warming and welcome plate of ravioli filled with the ripe and pungent cow’s milk cheese, Epoisses. Equally delicious was the updated versions of the popular regional jambon persillé – or cubes of ham in a parsley-seasoned gelatin. Here, chunks of chicken as well as ham were suspended in the flavorful gelatin, making for a refreshing starter. The main course chicken in tarragon cream was all it should be, with a healthy hit of pungent tarragon.

For a simple bistro, the wine list is quite exceptional: Try Vincent Girardin’s red Chassagne-Montrachet 2000, a ruby-colored pinot noir rich with flavors of blackberries and cherries and well-priced here for 36 €.

An equally good meal and good time was had at La Pierre Sauvage, a country auberge/bistro just outside the city of Macon in southern Burgundy. This is a pastoral, picture-postcard corner of France, filled with compact farms of golden stone.

Sitting in the sun on the terrace of this pleasing auberge, we enjoyed a modern Burgundian version of snails, here bathed in a touch of cream, plenty of tomatoes, three different kinds of mushrooms and a touch of parsley. Sopping up the light, refreshing sauce with plenty of country bread, we sipped a simple Macon Villages from the nearby Domaine de la la Croix Senaillet.

The menu here – with fine cooking from chef-owner Annie Lionet -- offers something for everyone, including an excellent version of the local fromage fort – a strong cheese that combines aged goat cheese, a touch of Burgundian marc or eau-de-vie, and white wine. The cheese literally bursts in your mouth, and makes you want to come back for more.

Auberge de l’Atre
les Lavaults
89630 Quarré-les-Tombes
Tel: 03 86 32 20 79
Fax: 03 86 32 28 25
email: labergedelatre@free.fr
web: www.auberge-de-latre.com

Closed Tuesday dinner and all day Wednesday. Menus at 39.50 € and 47.50 €. A la carte, 35 to 65 €, including service but not wine. All major credit cards.

Les Minimes
39 rue des Vaux
21140 Semur en Auxois
Tel: 03 80 97 26 86.

Closed Sunday evening and all day Monday. About 35 € per person, including service but not wine. Credit card: Visa

La Pierre Sauvage
Col des Enceints
71520 Bourgvilain
(15 km from Mâcon, between Pierreclos and St-Point Lamartine)
Tel : 03 85 35 70 03
Fax : 03 85 35 74 71

Closed Tuesday and Wednesday in summer; Open Friday night to Sunday night in winter. A la carte, about 25 € per person, including service but not wine. Credit card: Visa.

Taillevent Celebrates 30 Years Of Three Stars

PARIS -- This has not been an easy year for France’s top restaurants. There’s the economic crisis, the suicide of Bernard Loiseau of Burgundy’s Côte d’Or, and the recent retirement of Champagne’s Gerard Boyer of Les Crayeres in Reims, reportedly linked to Loiseau’s death.

So it was a pleasure to put a positive spin on it all with the recent celebration of Paris’s Taillevent’s 30 years of three Michelin stars, the guide’s top rating that is currently shared by only 25 restaurants in France, 15 of them in the provinces, 10 in Paris.

In 1946, Andre Vrinat opened the first Taillevent in the 9th arrondissement of Paris, receiving his first Michelin star in 1948. In 1950, the restaurant moved to its current quarters --- an elegant and classic hotel particulier --- and by 1956 was awarded a second Michelin star. Andre Vrinat’s son and current owner – Jean Claude—joined the restaurant in 1962 and by 1973 the restaurant had gained the Michelin three-star rating. That same year, three other restaurants shared the honor. Chefs at two of them – Alain Chapel of La Mère Charles in Mionnay, and Jacques Pic of Pic in Valance --- have since passed away, and Claude Peyrot of Le Vivarois in Paris closed his restaurant several years ago.

Since 2002 the kitchen at Taillevent has been in hands of Alain Soliveres, who seems to be leading the restaurant down a positive path. Taillevent will be ever respectful of classic cuisine but both Vrinat and Soliveres realize that classic need not mean worn or outdated. The celebration meal, and careful choice of wines, showed just what Taillevent can be and can mean some 30 years later.

A starter of chilled tomato gaspacho, studded with capers and celery and embellished with a scoop of mustard ice cream set the stage for things to come. Bright, pretty, and full-flavored, the appetizer shouted modern and elegant all at the same time.

The first course viennoise de sole aux ecrevisses was a wink at two of the most classic ingredients of French cuisine. Perfect rectangles of moist and delicate sole were escorted by the mellowest of crayfish, almost sauceless and pure. Coincidentally, the waiters poured the 1999 vintage of Domaine Henri Gouge’s Nuits Saint-Georges Les Perrières from glistening carafes, the same wine I sampled on my very first visit to Taillevent in 1979. The golden, rich, and complex wine married perfectly with the sole, with neither overwhelming the other.

As another nod to modernity, the 40-year-old Solivérès – born in the south of France -- offer an earthy bowl full of epeautre du pay de Sault en risotto, or spelt from the region of Mont Ventoux in northern Provence, cooked like a risotto in plenty of rich stock. Tiny bits of arugula were intertwined with the grains, and all was topped by a generous portion of the tiniest of girolles, or baby chanterelle mushrooms. Here, a modern French wine – from young cult winemaker Laurent Vaillé at the Domaine de La Grange des Pères in the Languedoc --- brought the pleasures of the dish full circle. The poor man’s wheat, as épeautre is known, cried out for the crispness of and coolness of this solid white, a Roussanne-based wine dripping with comforting flavors of honey and butter.

For his classic touch, Solivérès looked back to Taillevent himself, 14th century chef to French royalty who was the first to codify French cuisine in the form of a manuscript published in 1373, le Viandier. Soliveres offered his rendition of Taillevent’s roast pork, with a succulent roasted suckling pig, anointed with such rustic ingredients as chestnuts, and lentils, as well as grapes and pears. Spicy, ginger and cinnamon-flecked meatballs – or caillettes -- were made of pork liver, hearts, brains and tongue and wrapped in delicate caul fat.

To accompany this creation, Jean-Claude Vrinat hesitated between his father’s favorite wine – the Bordeaux La Mission Haut Brion and a Burgundian Volnay Marquis d’Angerville. His father’s love won out, and this full, rich red at its height of maturity blended seamlessly with the complex pork offering.

A pure passion fruit soufflé – served simply and elegantly in the fruit’s shiny purple shell – closed the meal, with sips of 1925 Bas Armagnac to send diners on their way.

Taillevent
15, rue Lamennais
Paris 8
Telephone 01 44 95 15 01
Fax : 01 42 25 95 18
email : mail@taillvent.com
web : www.taillevent.com

Closed August, Sunday, Monday, and holidays. All major credit cards. A la care, 110 to 140 euros, including service but not wine.

Two Tables in New York: Daniel and Annisa

New York, NY – Making the new seem amazing without being bizarre, making the tried and true seem totally refreshed, doing this day in and day out year after year, that’s the mark of a great chef.

I have followed Daniel Bouloud’s inventive cuisine for more than 25 years, and he shows absolutely no signs of letting up. Take a table in his 1930’s Hollywood-style dining room – words like plush and lush and posh come to mind – on New York’s Upper East Side and let him and his attentive staff take care of you.

Daniel’s cuisine is steady but far from boring, and for sure he is one of those chefs that manage to surprise you, staying one step ahead of the game, presenting you with a dish before it becomes a cliché. But behind it all, you know that his standards are high and he’s not just there to make waves but make pleasure.

Sometimes new is just the tiniest twist on a classic, like his recent main course of veal cheeks cleanly flavored with rosemary, miniature Thumbelina carrots, a mound of spinach, and – the surprise – the creamiest of polenta flavored with a welcome, refreshing touch of citrus.

Earlier this year, Daniel created an astonishing, multicourse feast that covered all bases, dipping into Asian flavors with a lemongrass-cured salmon appetizer; setting us clearly in France with seared tuna embellished with peppers from Espelette in the Pays Basque, tiny bites of crisp socca (chickpea batter crepe) from Nice and a remoulade Nicoise full of the flavors of the Mediterranean; and taking us to Italy with an unforgettably smooth and satisfying ricotta and fontina ravioli showered with shavings of fresh black truffles.

World cuisine it is, and he pulls it off with finesse, flavor, bravura and clearly lots and lots of hard work, discipline and planning. While dining in America I never get enough of the country’s top-rate crab, and Daniel filled the void with an astonishing salad of North Pacific Dungeness Crab, soft textures offset by the crisp of cucumber, the sweetness of mango and the surprise of a summer roll stuffed with the bright flavors of mint, coriander, sweet pepper and mint.

Daniel spares nothing in terms of quality ingredients – whether they are sweet Nantucket Bay Scallops, Vermont baby lamb, or Beau Soleil oysters from the coast of Maine.

The wine list alone is worth a visit, with knowledgeable wine stewards at your side throughout the meal. Some recent treats include Peter Michaels’ 2001 Sauvignon Blanc “l’Apres Midi,” and a stunning red Russian River Valley Seghesio Zinfandel “Old Vines” 1994 that still had tons of life left in it.

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ANISSA

There are times you sit down and examine a menu and soon you find yourself thinking, dish after dish, “Why didn’t I think of that!” And this is the way I felt as I began selecting my meal at Annisa, a thoroughly pleasant Greenwich Village restaurant run by chef Anita Lo, where everything from the service to the execution of the food is straightforward and unmasked.

The all-white dining room creates a soothing, comforting environment and the efficient staff - void of attitude - make you feel that much more at home. The modern American menu is full of pleasant surprises, from the kumquat and lemon confit that brightens a pleasing salad of shaved fennel and fresh jumbo shrimp, on to the miniature lemon and radish garnish that flanks the memorable unagi – or eel – that is served tempura-style, bathed in a salted egg yolk batter.

Hours later I could still close my eyes and relive the mouth filling taste of the thin slice of charred eggplant, laden with spice and set atop a cloud-like dollop of yogurt. This nice twist on what could well be a hackneyed dish is embellished with a tiny timbale of perfectly cooked, deep green lentils.

Here the chef deep frying oysters in a buckwheat batter and anoints the salty bivalves with fresh caviar; while smooth, alabaster sablefish is marinated in miso, set atop a rectangle of silken tofu, and set afloat in a golden brown bonito broth.

But perhaps my favorite dish was the straightforward sautéed filet of skate, teamed up with cubes of avocado, the right hit of chili and tender bits of Iroquois corn.

In a city overrun with large and often impersonal restaurants, Annisa is a little jewel to put on your list when you want personality, full flavors, no nonsense.

Daniel
60 East 65th (between Madison and Park)
New York, NY
Telephone: 212 288 0033

Annisa
13 Barrow Street (between Bleecker and West 4th Street)
New York, NY
Telephone: 212 741 6699

A Bistro Revolution

PARIS -- You might call Jacques Lacipière a revolutionary. When he opened his traditional little bistro in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower in the 1990’s, it became an instant hit. Somehow, it hit a chord for what we wanted at the moment; The place was always sure to be jam packed, so you felt you were at the right place, and the energy from the sounds of the good times within was always infectious. At a time when only the top restaurants were caring more about the quality of the ingredients than just about anything else, bistrotier Jacques was up there with them.

Now, after shutting down for several months for a facelift to the dining room, kitchen, and the menu, he has emerged with another small revolution on his hands. And I love it. Lacipiere has transformed the tiny dining room that now seats about 25 elbow to elbow into what might well be the first Elegant Bistro. The walls are wood, the recessed lights are halogen, the chairs are cozy, the napkins a pale grey linen, the napery a crisp white. The menu is still ingredient based --- fresh sole from Saint Gilles Croix de Vie and milk fed lamb from Pauillac – and the dishes are way beyond bistro. But the noisy, welcome sounds of good times are still there, the wait staff still don their black Bon Accueil work aprons, and everyone seems to come with fun in their pockets.

The food and the wine list chart new territory. The food is light and complex, full of surprises, but most of all, satisfying. I loved the tiny roasted langoustines teamed up with cebettes – tiny spring onions – bits of bacon and a dark, rich jellied consommé. (Jellied fare is the kiwi fruit of the moment, showing up everyone and with every course.) Fresh green asparagus from Pertuis, in northern Provence, sits upon a bed of tiny minced vegetables, showered with shards of Parmesan.

A main course poultry – volaille du cros de la Géline – is first poached, then roasted, making for a bird that is both moistly tender and crisp at the same time. Placed on a spoonful of creamy morels bathed in sweet vin jaune from the Jura, it made a very traditional combination taste brand new indeed.

Desserts get points for pretty as well as taste. The thin apple tart appears as a golden rose, almost too beautiful to eat, but we did. Served with a salted caramel ice cream, it made for a perfect ending. Equally fine is the tiny raspberry tartelette, with the plumpest and ripest raspberries set on a crunchy cookie-like pastry.

The wine list offers some real treasures. It is full of little treats, with wines from well-respected winemakers who are not widely known, such as Dureuil-Janthial and Domaine Joblot in Burgundy, Domaine Montvac in Vacqueyras, Domaine des Espiers in Gigondas, Daniel Barraud in Saint Veran and Domaine H. Pellé in the little known Menetou Salon. I was delighted to discover Domaine Joblot’s rich, juicy, smokey white Givry Clos de la Servoisine 1999, decently priced at 46 euros a bottle. Equally exciting, and beautifully priced at 23 euros a bottle was the 2001 white Chateau l’Ermitage Costieres de Nimes, cuvee Sainte Cecile, a wine rich with the Northern Rhone flavours of Roussanne and Marsanne and loaded with pleasantly oily, mineral richness.

As part of the face lift, the restaurant – redecorated by the Parisian design firm of Joelle Sultan-Marouani – also features a new exhaust system. It was put to a tough test as a constant smoker sat next to me, and not a whiff of smoke found its way across the table. Thank you, Jacques, for thinking of the non-smoker!

Bon Accueil
14 rue de Monttessuy
Paris 7
Telephone: 01 47 05 46 11

Menu at 29 euros, including service but not wine. A la carte, 40 to 60 euros per person, including service but not wine.

A Robuchon Revolution, A Return

PARIS -- One common trait among very creative and very successful people is the ability to constantly reinvent themselves. Chef Joel Robuchon – who “retired” from the restaurant business but not the food business in 1996 -- is back in all his glory.

If you are someone like Robuchon, the reinvention is a good thing. Particularly with chefs, one becomes easily bored with delivering their 10 Greatest Hits day after day, as I am sure they do, too.

Robuchon “retired” at the top of his game. He said goodbye before we were ready for him to go. He knew he was generally considered the best chef in the world, and decided to leave on his own terms.

He is back, with a restaurant that is new, a concept that is new, a look that is new. At L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon, the kitchen workshop comes alive. No more stern maitre d in starched white shirt, bow tie and formal black suit. No more tables or starched linens, snooty sommeliers who hold the wine list at arm’s length. This is 2003, Europe, and JR is reinventing what it means to dine out.

There is just room for 42 diners, all seated at oversized and comfortable red leather stools, with plenty of room to dangle your feet at the bar. The décor is all black and red and stainless, with real food assembled like still lives throughout the dining room. Chefs are in black, not white, the staff is bright red. You sit face to face with the sommelier, the wait staff, with JR himself, who wanders by to see what everyone has ordered, and wants to know if it pleases.

Here he is, the timid one, the chef who NEVER ever emerged from the kitchen for all those years, never went table to table in the dining room as chefs have done for so many years.

The kitchen itself is “open” but discreetly so. Ever since the day he left his eponymous restaurant on Avenue Raymond Poincairé Robuchon has been plotting and dreaming of this restaurant . Cleverly, he took on restaurant consulting assignments and carefully placed his top men in place: Sommelier Antoine Hernandez and chef Erick Lecerf at the Astor, where they achieved two Michelin stars. Philippe Braun, at Laurent, where he achieved two Michelin stars. The fourth chef, Eric Bouchenoire, remained at his side as Robuchon, they are all equal partners in the affair.

And the food: It’s a something for everyone menu, a world menu, filled with the new and the daring, the tried and true, comfort food and some of the dishes he made most famous. On opening night, May 5, we began with a trip down memory lane, with a few carefully prepared servings of his famed crème de choufleur aux huitres, creamy, sweet, and memorable. But the dish had a new look: Rather than being served in porcelain tea-cup sized bowls, a clear martini glass did the trick.

Everywhere, there are new and different looks of china, glass, some imported from Japan, everything diminutive in size.

Robuchon takes influence from Spain, where he spends his time off, and so there are lots of dishes “a la plancha” or cooked right on a fiery hot griddle, such as oversized langoustines seasoned with coarse salt. There is gaspacho and paper-thin sliced ham from Spain, spaghetti carbonara and an outstanding Vitello tomato from Italy, steak tartare and frites “bonne-maman” from France.

Robuchon classics -- such as his merlan frit Colbert (deep fried whiting), look just as welcome and at home seated at a stool as at a stiffly starched linen-covered table.

Perhaps what’s best is the ambience. The great sounds of a lively bistro, yet everyone is talking, making friends with the stranger who sat down next to you a few minutes ago. Robuchon wants to break the mold of the formal restaurant, bring quality to more casual dining.

Prices are reasonable, and one can come in for a simple serving of gaspacho at 6 €, then a giant spring vegetable salad for 20 €. Or, one can have a multicourse meal, beginning with two or three tapas style starters – such as fresh avocado rolled around spoonfuls of crabmeat or irresistible sweetbreads decorated with fresh bay leaves and served with a lovely rendition of Swiss chard, a single wilted leaf wrapped around crunchy stalks, bathed in a creamy white sauce. Lamb, beef, veal, tuna and fresh cod make up the main course offerings.

During these opening days, no reservations are being accepted. And, bravo, there is no smoking allowed in the restaurant, ever.

L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon
5, rue de Montalembert
Paris 7
Telephone: 01 42 22 56 56
All major credit cards.

A la carte, about 50 € per person, including service but not wine. Open daily from 11:30 am to 3:30 pm and 6:30 pm to midnight.

A Spring Splurge of Creativity

PARIS – The city’s best tables may be suffering from a loss of customers – atypically almost every grand restaurant currently has at least an empty table or two – but that does not stop the top chefs from continuing their ongoing bursts of creativity.

Is it spring that’s in the air that gives the chef’s such cognitive energy, or the fact that spring ingredients just look, smell, taste better than at any time of the year? With some chefs, I’d give them three stars just for coming up with the ideas they do, even if they weren’t executed.

Often, it’s the simplest idea, a little twist or extra touch that make my enthusiasm jump off the charts. At the elegant Michelin two-star Laurent – hand’s down the best place for romantic dining outdoors in Paris – chef Alain Pegouret almost made me leap from my chair when the waiter set down a trio of giant langoustines cooked “tandoori” style, accompanied by a glistening green, perfectly formed mound of finely shaved avocado, drizzled with almond oil. The langoustines had been gently marinated in a not-too-spicy tandoori marinade (a blend of cumin, ginger, chili pepper, quatre épices and salt) then quickly pan seared. Gratefully the spice did not overwhelm the delicate, deep-sea flavor of the langoustines, served with a welcome tangle of well-dressed herbs. The gorgeous avocado dish appeared as perfectly formed curls of the rich and meaty fruit, stacked cautiously one atop the other, almost too pretty to eat. Pegouret sets the curls atop a spicy guacamole, and seasons it all with mixture of lime and orange zest, for a colorful and flavorful contrast. The langoustine/avocado pairing was brilliant, the dish a symphony of texture, color, flavor, aromas.

With the dish we sampled a delicious white Château de Cazeneuve from the Languedoc, a blend of Roussanne, Grenache Blanc and Viognier, and rich with flavors of honey, acacia, pears and ripe fruit.

Guy Savoy’s three-star creativity knows no boundaries, and his recent creation of a carpaccio of Daurade royale – the Mediterranean sea bream – was smothered in a cream made of oysters, creating a delicate but brightly flavored starter.

In the same vein, at the three-star Ledoyen, chef Christian Le Squer offered us a startlingly delicious pairing of giant oysters with a tiny bowl of oyster cream topped with a welcome dose of caviar. At the same meal, he surprised us with what the waiter called “pain de crevettes” and lo and behold the bread did taste as though it had been infused with shrimp. In fact, it was prepared with a healthy dose of mixed dried seaweed from the Brittany coast.

One can always count upon three-star chef Pierre Gagnaire to come with something new and different: At a recent lunch he created no less that eight dishes I had never sampled before. The two most amazing were a dish he simply called aubergines braisee and it consisted of a mix of eggplant that had been reduced to a purée so rich it was as if he had completely captured the smoky, dense essence of this versatile vegetable, almost multiplying its flavor, then topped the little round with a shard of very thinly sliced, dried eggplant.

If there is an upcoming trend to follow what I call “shot glass cuisine” – the proliferation of tiny mousse-like concoctions served in a clear shot glass – it will be the gelatin mode. Gagnaire’s rendition hit the spot: Cubes of bright green zucchini were folded into a pale golden wobbly jelly made with the fresh lemons from Menton, all topped with a soothing fromage blanc ice cream.

Finally, at the two-star Pre Catelan chef Frederic Anton’s creative combination of beets and Comté cow’s milk cheese wins raves. Who would combine beets and cheese? Here he combines paper-thin shavings of cooked beets perfumed with a touch of nutmeg, with equal-sized rounds of aged Comté from the Jura, drizzling it all with meaty cooking juices. The starter opens the palate, soothes, and makes one salivate, getting ready for even more to come.

Laurent
41 avenue Gabriel
Paris 8
Telephone: 01 42 25 00 39.

Guy Savoy
rue Troyon
Paris 17
Telephone: 01 43 80 40 61.

Ledoyen
Carré Champs-Elysees, first floor
Paris 8
Telephone: 01 53 05 10 01.

Pierre Gagnaire
6 rue Balzac
Paris 8
Telephone: 01 58 36 12 50

Pré Catelan
Route de Suresnes
Paris 16
Telephone: 01 44 14 41 14

Who is Influencing the Great Chefs of France?

PARIS – Who is influencing the great chefs of France? Asia, Asia and Asia. It’s impossible to dine in restaurants large or small, expensive or bargain-based, without coming upon fare that is wrapped Asian-style, seasoned with herbs and spices with an Asian accent, or filled with such non-traditional French ingredients as papaya, mango, fresh ginger or Japanese seaweed.

In some small way this is not all that new, for French chefs have been using flavors such as vadouvan and green papaya, cumin and mango, and sushi-ized bites for a long time. What is new is that the trend has become almost ubiquitous and chefs such as William Ledeuil at the trendy Le Kitchen Galerie on the Left Bank are no longer just flirting with Asian thoughts, but taking a stand and taking action.

Ledeuil has been moving slowly in the Asian direction, but a recent trip to Thailand only reinforced his own feelings that what diners want more of today is lemon confit and black radish, Thai-curry and ginger-marinated guinea hen, even peanut ice cream with a pistachio sauce. And in the hands of a classically trained French chef, the fusion works, especially when someone like Ledeuil begins with a classic base, and applies the Asian accent to achieve more clear and specific flavors, as well as to lighten up contemporary fare.

In fact, he is so into his new Asian larder of food that he is now offering demonstration cooking classes in his open kitchen one afternoon each week. (For specifics call the restaurant.)

Two recent meals there suggest that Ledeuil is on the right track, but needs just a bit more fusion of flavors in some dishes. I applaud his careful and studied use of everything from fresh lemon grass to fresh lime leaves, and lively Thai curries. His most successful dish to date is a lightened and well-examined version of the famed Thai curry soup, here a beautifully seasoned and totally cohesive dish generous with chunks of young chicken, redolent of fresh citronnelle, just a touch (not an overdose) of rich coconut milk, and full of vegetables such as baby asparagus, fresh spring peas, highlights of tarragon and offset by fresh Thai coriander leaves. His creative touch – he thickens the soup with an Italian artichoke purée and marinates the chicken in, among other ingredients, Japanese rice vinegar – is everywhere and I am eager to see just where all this experimentation will take him, and us.

Unfortunately, some of the dishes – such as the fine marinated fresh tuna with a citron and mango condiment and the grilled pigeon with a condiment of asparagus, basil and polenta were very good on their own, but there was no true liaison, no true link, no handshake between the finely crafted French style and the new Asian touch.

The chef now eschews cream and butter, preferring that sauces be bound with juices and emulsions, vegetable purees, bouillons or marinades. A trend worth applauding as long as we don’t get caught short on flavor and satisfaction.

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When brothers Philippe and Marc Delacourcelle opened their Clos Morillons in the 15th arrondissement of Paris in 1984, they foresaw the fusion trend. Even back then, their menu was filled with Asian spices and a favorite guinea hen bathed in a sauce with a faint touch of vanilla. Philippe ran French restaurants all over Asia for years and returned with a changed palate.

The brothers were absent from the Paris scene for a bit, and are now back with a new and lively wine bar in the 5th, a jam-packed month-old spot filled with fare that is sometimes on the spot, sometimes tentative. Bistro-style, the Pré Verre menu appears on chalkboard and ranges from a stunning potato and foie gras terrine from their Clos Morillons days; a welcome lacquered mackerel set on a flavorful almond purée; and an excellent and unusual dish of seared baby squid with a terrine of lentils and sesame seeds. I loved, as well, the braised suckling pig with its deliciously creamy cabbage, and the meaty beef cheeks. Less interesting was the veal served over a strange potato and root vegetable purée. And in the dessert category, I confess that the strawberries in curly parsley sauce did not deliver me to a joyful state of bliss.

The wine list offers some pleasant discoveries, including a fruity and dense vin de pays de d’Herault, from the Domaine de L’Escalette. The 2001 is made from Carignan vines more than 80 years old, giving character and personality to a wine that is still in its infancy.

Ze Kitchen Galerie
4 rue des Grands Augustins
Paris 6
Telephone: 01 44 32 00 32
Fax: 01 44 32 00 33

Closed Sunday. All major credit cards. A la carte, 40 to 45 €, including service but not wine.

Le Pré Verre
8, rue Thénard
Paris 5
Telephone: 01 43 54 59 47
Credit card : Visa

12 € lunch menu, including a glass of wine.
Dinner, a la carte, about 24 € including service but not wine.

As If the Angels Were Cooking

PARIS – Of all the chefs I have spent time with over the years, few have impressed me with their depth and stability as has Benoit Guichard, on his own since 1996 at the famed restaurant Jamin in Paris’s 16th arrondissement.

Before that he could be found fine-tuning his talents as the faithful lieutenant to Joel Robuchon, both at Jamin and later at Restaurant Joel Robuchon on avenue Raymond Poincare.

Today, he appears full-grown and very much his own man, with a style that is classic, contemporary, modern, even touched a bit by Asian inspirations. If someone wants to fully understand what is truly great about French food and about classical French training – the discipline, the rigors, the constant search for excellence on all levels – then they should reserve a table at today’s Jamin.

Guichard – with two well-merited Michelin stars to his credit -- is now cooking on all burners, and has fine tuned his style, which is by no means static. His menu changes almost day to day, as one ingredient enters the market and another departs. He seems to be in a “wrap” mood, a little conceit that is reminiscent of Asian food and one I love. On one visit we found a perfect rectangle of turbot wrapped in bright green spinach leaves, almost a gift-wrapped package to please the palate, sauced in a delicate and golden Champagne sauce and flanked by a pair of fat, fragrant and perfectly cooked green asparagus, the first of season from Provence.

A starter might include an almost Chinese-flavored morsel of chicken wrapped in a veil of dough and expertly deep-fried. The breast of the famed breast chicken is “wrapped” in a super-fine bread coating that seems to have been handled with the fingertips of an angel.

Another evening, a complete sense of well-being came over me as the waiter delivered a first-course of a giant, soft-cooked egg enveloped once again in that angelic bread coating. The now-golden egg sat on a bed of wilted spinach dabbed with a rich truffle sauce. Alongside, a trio of perfect green asparagus added proper contrast in color, flavor, pure enjoyment.

I can never get enough langoustines, and here the chef who hails from Brittany’s langoustine-rich waters, knows what to do. The least possible! A duo of giant langoustines are wrapped into a delicate homemade pasta, all floating in an unctuous chestnut broth. Here, the marriage is magic, for the flavor of the deep and dense flavor of the chestnut seems to pick up right where the lingering flavor of the langoustine left off, almost like finishing a sentence.

Guichard can go classic and homey when he wants to, and nothing is more satisfying than his long-braised joue de boeuf, or unctuous beef cheeks pairs with gigantic rounds of pasta coated with melted Comté cheese from the Jura.

On one visit, the finale ended was a rich and satisfying chocolate feuillete, a truly angelic puff pastry; on another, it was a roasted mango glazed with a highly reduced pink grapefruit sauce and served with a soothing citrus granite alongside.

There are some treasures on the wine list, and current discoveries include two selections from the region of the lovely village of Minerve in the Languedoc. The Chateau de Gourgazaud -- owned by Parisian businessman Roger Piquet -- is beginning to make some nice waves. His 100% Viognier 2001 is full of the ripest fruits – pears, citrus, a touch of honey – and the 1999 red Minervois La Liviniere Reserve would make any wine lover smile, with a fine balance, and the roundness and plumy notes of Merlot paired with the flavors of red fruits ripened by the summer sun.

Jamin
32 rue du Longchamp
Paris 16
Tel: 01 45 53 00 07
Fax : 01 45 53 00 15
Email : reservations@jamin.fr

Closed Saturday and Sunday. All major credit cards. 53 € lunch menu, 95 € dinner menu. A la carte, 105 to 135 €, including service but not wine.

Fine Bistro Dining at Delicious Prices

PARIS -- The newest crop of small Paris bistros offers some truly fine bargains, as well a cuisine that is totally modern yet wed to classic traditions. One of the handsomest “remakes” is La Grande Rue, located in the 15th arrondissement on the premises of the old Chez Pierre.

Here, chef Emmanuel Billaud – who studied with both Joel Robuchon and Alain Ducasse -- is turning out some pretty fine fare at totally delicious prices. The dining room is adorable – everything is as it was in the 1930’s, down to the double-faced clock, bentwood chairs and Art Deco patterned tile floors. But a fresh coat of paint, canning jars filled with goodies as appetizing décor and nice crisp linens give it a totally refreshing air.

This is also one restaurant that not only asks whether you want to dine in the smoking or non-smoking section, but they put the non-smokers in the front of the room, the prettiest part of the tiny bistro.

While walking to the restaurant I thought “I hope they have pasta tonight,” and sure enough, my wish was granted. Those tiny and wonderful ravioles de Royans from the south of France are bathed in the richest, most golden of broths. Equally good – though not one that would stun a true Italian – was the creamy risotto, bathed in an herb-rich sauce.

The fish selections – a turbot and a bar – were good but not great. I had the feeling the fish was just not as fresh as it might have been. But the day was saved by the most delicious and most perfect lemon tart I have tasted in years. Strange how dessert fashion seems have pushed the classic, puckery lemon tart off the bistro menu. Thanks, chef, for bringing it back.

The wine list is tiny but the St Chinian – always a great buy – was just right at 21 francs a bottle.

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Le Timbre

It’s just the size of a postage stamp, so why not name the restaurant Timbre! Restaurants don’t get much smaller than this one, a single simple room with space for no more than 20 diners. Le Timbre in fact reminds one of the famed La Merenda in Nice, where diners perch on stools, elbow to elbow and watch the chef cook in the miniscule kitchen at the back of the room. Le Timbre is always jam-packed and has the kind of cheap and cheerful, let’s play restaurant air. But there is nothing amateurish about the fine and honest bistro fare, with just the proper modern touch. Owner Christopher Wright keeps himself super-busy in the dining room, and one may have to wait a bit for service, so be forewarned.

Le Timbre has one custom that I applaud heartily and wish other restaurants would adopt: As soon as you are seated at the table Christopher brings you a complimentary glass of wine, on our last visit it was a welcome glass of chilled sauvignon blanc. What an easy way for a restaurant to win friends and increase the diner’s patience level!

I adored the ham and lentil salad, a pretty, molded round of lentils set in the center of the plate, with a thick slice of Spanish ham set atop it. There were also tiny cubes of ham laced through the lentils, making for a hearty, well-seasoned dish. Another starter – a warm curried beet soup with a dollop of crème fraiche atop it – was a pleasant surprise.

I had a ringside seat into the tiny kitchen, so even before ordering I had a chance to check out the day’s menu. The plump seared and roasted pigeon looked delicious, so I opted for this perfectly rosy and moist poultry teamed up with lots of buttery cabbage. Equally honest was the pan-fried Auvergnat sausages served with a fine parsnip purée and a touch of green salad. The baguettes are delicious, the homemade millefeuille is worth a return visit, and on the menu you’ll fine Michel Richaud’s fine wines from Cairanne. Who could ask for more?

La Grande Rue
117 rue des Vaugirard
Paris 15
Telephone: 01 47 34 96 12

Closed Sunday, Monday, and August. Menu at 27.50 €. Credit card: Visa A la carte, 28 to 35 euros, including service but not wine.

Le Timbre
3 Rue Sainte Beuve
Paris 6
Telephone: 01 45 49 10 40

Closed Saturday lunch and Sunday. Credit card: Visa. About 30 euros a person, including service but not wine.

Thoroughly Modern, Totally Classic

PARIS – Anyone wondering what might have happened to Grand French cuisine should reserve a table at Les Elysees du Vernet, where the talented Eric Briffard has been working his magic since December.

With touches that are both thoroughly modern and totally classic, Briffard’s current menu offers something for everyone. From the plumpest and sweetest scallops to his rosemary-infused grilled lobster and on to the finest duck I have ever eaten anywhere, he somehow covers all bases.

While some chefs let the finest ingredients speak for themselves and others prefer to impose their own personality on the ingredient (often smothering it in the process), Briffard manages to pull off both. There is absolutely no question about the quality of his ingredients, which he treats with utmost respect. But what is amazing is his range of creativity.

Briffard is one of the many talents to come out of Joel Robuchon’s kitchens, and to my mind one of the best. After sampling a series of dishes in a single sitting – one more appealing than the next – one is reminded of watching a top athlete perform. How does she or he do it, one asks. With lots and lots of practice, more than the rest.

The very first dish on the menu is a pure virtuoso performance: Legumes racine du potager du Joel. With all manner of winter root vegetables in a single dish, each is treated as though it was made of gold, not simply plucked from the cold winter ground. Arranged on a square glass plate like a perfect bouquet, we devour bright red radishes, yellow as well as orange carrots, turnips, Japanese artichokes (crosnes), baby onions and leeks, and celery root, potatoes and onions. A shower of the thinnest julienne of fresh truffles perfumes the dish and adds a perfect crunch. The vegetables are escorted by a tiny toasted baguette slathered with a brilliantly flavored horseradish cream that’s dusted with minced fresh truffles and paired with a delicious jelly of pot au feu, offering a perfect contract of textures. .

His food is complex but everything is there for you to see, so it is food that’s easy to understand. My favorite langoustines were treated with the respect they deserve, arriving out of the shell, teamed with paper thin slices of chorizo, a platter or crunchy vegetables and a winning artichoke vinaigrette.

The black truffle season is almost over, so if you want one last hit of this magical mushroom, race over and sample the copious salad of golden sliced charlotte potatoes literally smothered with thick discs of the most perfect and sensual fresh black truffles. Tangled with the warm potatoes are bits of dried tomato and thin slivers of lomo, or faintly smoked pork loin, a Basque region specialty. The slight smokiness is welcome, almost giving the truffles themselves a slight hint of smokiness.

Equally delicious is his beautiful tart of leek and truffles, a retooled version of Robuchon’s famous truffle and bacon tart. Here, Briffard uses the mildly salty ventrèche (France’s version of pancetta) sparingly, letting the leeks and truffles cut into generous slivers play a colorful black and green contrast. Alongside, there’s a slim shot glass full of a frothy sweet onion cream, laced with a bright hit of balsamic vinegar. Brilliant, just brilliant.

My favorite sherry-like vin jaune from the Jura appears in sauce bathing a creative combination of sweet white Saint Pierre and oysters; while a beautifully grilled lobster arrives smoking from the kitchen, the fragrance of rosemary filling the room.

The duck – canette de barbarie au sang – was just the best I ever sampled. Fragrant, rich, rosy, it was the true definition of that fine and often abused poultry. Served with surprising tamarind sauce, turnips and pears poached in spicy wine, it is a fine winter dish if there ever was one.

Desserts are original as well, including a pan-roasted baby pineapple deglazed with cider vinegar and served with a rich vanilla ice cream.

One could make a meal out of their bread assortments, ranging form yard-long slender bread sticks rich with the flavor of top-quality olive oil to a fine version of the Italian slipper bread. The classics – such as olive rolls and whole wheat – are hard to turn down.

The wine list is exhaustive and includes some treasures, such as the dense, intense red 100 % syrah Vinsobres, Civades 2001, from , priced at 50 €.

Now that the hotel – built as a townhouse in 1913 – has the talents of Eric Briffard the best thing they could do is hire a decorator to re-do the dining room. It could be one of the prettiest in town, with its Gustav Eiffel glass ceiling and lovely volume. As it stands, the lighting is all wrong, the décor totally out of date and heavy, even headache inducing. They could at least buy the chef some new plates: The mismatched old and new, square and round, hardly do justice to Briffard’s talents.

Service here is excellent, attentive without being invasive, and relaxed in a modern sort of way.

Les Elysées du Vernet
Hôtel Vernet
25, rue Vernet
Paris 8
Tel: 01 44 31 98 00

Closed Saturday, Sunday, and Monday at lunch. All major credit cards. 45 € lunch menu, includes service and half bottle of wine; 120 € tasting menu at dinner, include service but not wine. A la carte, 110 €, including service but not wine.

A Pair of Winter Bistros Le Cosi and Les Bouquinistes

PARIS - Le Cosi: What’s there not to love about Corsican food? It’s a perfect blend of country French and Italian, no frills fare that is easy to get your arms around. Until now, Paris has pretty much been a Corsican wasteland, but the new Left Bank Le Cosi seems to take care of that.

With bright orange walls, charmingly mismatched 1930’s chandeliers, highly varnished oak tables and Art Deco chairs, perky service, and a small but appealing menu, Le Cosi fits the definition of a cheap and cheerful modern Parisian bistro. I loved the first course “carpaccio” of coppa – Corsican smoke-cured fillet of pork loin that’s rolled into a sausage – served like a classic beef carpaccio, with parchment-thin slices of coppa topped with thin slivers of sheep’s milk cheese and drizzled with a touch of pesto. It’s a satisfying dish in any season, but particularly welcome on a cold winter’s night, downed with sips of Antoine Arena’s Patrimonio rouge, Corsica’s best wine, from one of its top growers (and well-priced at 30 euros a bottle.)

The first-course tarte aux tomatoes is highly recommended, luscious, deep and densely flavored and served with a well-dressed green salad on huge white plate. The main course cocotte de veau aux olives was a little stingy on the olives but served with fanfare and a flourish tableside, with the waitress spooning portions from a black cast iron casserole as if she were a Corsican mama. The roasted goat was a bit on the fatty side, but nonetheless delicious.

The classic Corsican fiadone – a rich and golden sort of cheesecake made with the ricotta-like fresh sheep’s milk cheese known as broccio -- was smooth, not too sweet or rich, just a perfect ending. Service here has an unusual touch of elegance and care: Thank you!

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Les Bouquinistes: The ever-popular Guy Savoy bistro Les Bookinistes has changed its name to Les Bouquinistes, with a new chef in the name of William Caussimon. Former chef William Ledeuil is still a partner at this always packed Left Bank spot along the river, but is concentrating full time on his own bistro right next door, Ze Kitchen Gallerie.

The bright, peppy spot has not seemed to miss a beat, and I love nothing better than sitting in the front room at the window, watching the city’s life stroll by. The restaurant has always been a model of what a contemporary bistro can and should be, meaning you can have your cake and eat it too: You get satisfaction from the familiar dishes we know so well, and yet get to be surprised by the chef’s creativity.

On a recent visit, I got a little of both. Nothing could be more modern than this appealing tempura of giant and meaty gambas, flavored with ginger, anointed by a surprising scoop of lemon confit sorbet. For the traditionalist in us, there was a super-tender, falling off the bone serving of tendrons de veau, meaty veal ribs you could eat with a spoon, teamed up with an unexpected accompaniment of stewed red cabbage seasoned with blackcurrant cream. The dish worked on all accounts and paired well with the meaty Roca Blanca Syrah from winemaker Michel Laroche in the Languedoc. The 2000 vintage was well-priced at 32 euros a bottle.

The menu here jumps all over the place, with roasted milk fed lamb from the Pyrenees roasted on a bed of potatoes and served with a confit of shallots; pan-fried foie gras served with chestnuts and glazed celery; and giant macaroni stuffed with mushrooms and pumpkin, topped with grilled coppa and white truffle oil. The dish was marred by the truffle oil – which is always offensive, and impossible to digest. (If I were queen of the world, truffle oil would be banned forever.) The food, alas, consistently lacked seasoning, something that can’t always be adjusted at the table.

Le Cosi
9, rue Cujas, Paris 5
Tel: 01 43 29 20 20

Closed Sunday. Credit card : Visa. From 30 to 40 € per person, including service but not wine.

Les Bouquinistes
52 quai des Grands Augustins, Paris 6
Tel : 01 43 25 45 94. Fax: 01 43 25 23 07

Closed Saturday lunch and Sunday. All major credit cards. From 40 to 65 € per person, including service but not wine.

Taillevent Stays on Top

PARIS – In almost any field, getting to the top is the easy part. You just work harder and longer and with more discipline than anyone else and the top prize is yours.

Staying there is another story. After time, some lose the energy to keep fighting, age sets in, or maybe boredom or routine or all of the above. And there are no prizes for just staying in the game if the top is your aim.

Well, we could all take a lesson from restaurateur Jean-Claude Vrinat, the perfect example of what one can and might and should do to get to the top and stay there.

The first time I dined at his Michelin three-star establishment, Taillevent, in 1979, it was also the first time a waiter filled my wine glass without my ever noticing it. On later visits, it was the first time someone arranged the silverware to accommodate the fact that I am left handed. Oh, yes, God is in the details.

How else could Taillevent have maintained that three-star rating since 1973? Vrinat does it not only by his own rigid, unfailing self-discipline but by demanding the same of everyone who works for him. And he knows that change --- in some form or another -- is always necessary. You’ve got to keep moving, and moving ahead.

I have to say that his newest change – the employment of the talented Alain Soliveres as chef – is one of his most brilliant to date. Recently, I had two of my finest Taillevent meals ever, and look forward to plenty more in the future.

Soliveres has added a needed light touch to the Taillevent table. The 39-year-old native of Beziers, in the Languedoc, has a fine history, having trained with Jacques Maximin at the hotel Negresco in Nice, at le Chabichou in the Savoy, at Lucas Carton in Paris and with Alain Ducasse in Monaco. Since 1992 he performed brilliantly at the city’s Les Elysees Vernet. There, he introduced the world to his famous (and now much-copied) epeautre (spelt) prepared like a risotto. His cuisine has always been distinctly Provencal, distinctly personal, and distinctly pleasing. (It’s curious that at Taillevent he replaces chef Michel del Burgo , who is now at the La Bastide de Gordes, where Soliveres served as chef in 1989. In a game of musical stoves, at Les Elysees Vernet Soliveres is replaced by Eric Briffard who was basically moved aside when Alain Ducasse moved into the Plaza Athenee.)

But on to the food. Perhaps the best compliment you can pay any cook is to wish for seconds, maybe even thirds. Run, don’t walk to sample his remoulade of truffled celery root topped with paper thin slices of scallops and truffles. This pristine, elegant first course arrived like a pastry shop millefeuille, a neat, crisp-looking rectangle with its infinitesimally chopped celery root laced with truffle bits. Atop it, alternating black and white discs of fragrant black truffle and sweet sea scallops, added a cool, refreshing balance. A tiny mouthful of this creation, followed by a studied swallow of Francois Jobard’s Meursault ought to throw any self-respecting gastronome into fits of ecstasy. I had to hold myself back from asking for seconds, for I knew what was next to come.

He did not disappoint with a gorgeous piece of bar, or sea bass, cut into a big fat chunk and bathed in a bouillon rich with shellfish stock and artichokes. The marriage of sea and land was perfect, oh so light, and oh so satisfying. The moist, perfectly cooked bar was flanked with the freshest of artichokes, and just the right amount of baby clams. Again, the dish did honor to Monsieur Jobard, and vice versa.

I think it’s brave to put something as seemingly homey as rabbit on such an august menu, but Soliveres pays homage to the meaty rabbit Rex from the Poitou, again, pairing it with the tiny violet artichokes from Provence. Here, the red Nuits Saint George of Henri Gouges seems right at home.

On one visit, I was very disappointed by the moelleux au chocolate warm molten dessert. It just did not seem dense or chocolaty enough for me. But on another visit, I was blown away by his crepes craquantes au citron, a tangy, puckery-sweet lemon concoction, a fine play of crunch and cream, and the kind of dessert that simply allows you to get up from the table with fond, sweet memories.

Taillevent
15 rue Lamennais
Paris 8
Telephone: 01 44 95 15 01
Fax: 01.42.25.95.18
Email: mail@taillevent.com

Closed Sunday, Monday, and the third week of July to the third week of August. Private dining rooms for 12 or 30 diners. Menus at 130 € and 180 € , including service but not wine. A la carte, 110 to 150 €, including service but not wine.

Bistro Precision and Japanese Flair

PARIS – About once a year something leads me to pick up the phone and book a table at Le Repaire de Cartouche, one of the city’s better bistros, and one that I seem to love more with each visit. It seems that chef Rodolphe Paquin and my palate are on the same wavelength: Keep it simple, keep it honest, and keep the big flavors coming. Paquin tugs our bistro-craving chord but does it with originality, spunk, and a pleasant precision.

My last meal in this cottage-like spot included a perfectly seared wild boar steak, or cote de sanglier, this one seized in the hottest of pans for a rich, caramelized crust, with an interior so beautifully rare, it was the color of fresh raspberries. The accompaniment --- red beets in vinegar – was as fitting as it was colorful.

But the surprise of the evening was an inventive minestrone of oysters and calf’s head, a warm soup fragrant with plump oysters bathed in a creamy liquid studded with vegetables and cubes of soft and succulent tete de veau. Totally different, yet totally appealing.

Just right for the season was the terrine of blood sausage, a perfectly spiced boudin noir set on a bed of apples, accompanied by a welcoming green salad.

The wine of the evening – a red Minervois, Le Bois des Merveilles 1999 from Jean Baptiste Senat -- started out tasting like a so-so, flat Beaujolais, but grew and grew as the evening went on, tasting in the end like a rich, pure syrah with lots of punch and tons of notes. As is, it was well priced at 20 € the bottle.

Desserts were tops, with warm, moist prune clafoutis and a palate-cleansing pineapple sorbet. The crusty bread from a neighborhood bakery was so good I almost had to ask to take the basket away, fearing total overdose.

Now that sushi has well-invaded all of Paris (albeit mostly bad sushi), the newest (old) game in town is teppanyaki, a cooking method so simple as to not need a name at all. Quite simply, it’s meats, vegetables, fish cooked directly on a flat metal grill, with just a touch of oil and a bit of seasoning. ( In Japanese, a teppan is an iron sheet, and yaki is stir-fried food.)

The latest show in town is Azabu, a sushi-bar sized little spot near the Odeon, and one I can see myself returning to on a very regular basis. What is it about food that is cooked in front of you that makes it all the more pleasing? You want it all, even if it’s not for you. You salivate, your nostrils flare, you are just so hungry.

When you go, sit at the bar so you can watch the dexterous chef. He works like an artist preparing his palate, quietly concentrating on each and every detail, lining up all the ingredients and bing, bang, zoom, they are flipped on the huge flat grill – scallops, chicken, squid, foie gras, beef, pork, you name it. Everything is cooked quickly and effortlessly, some topped with a metal hood to soften the heat and slow down the cooking.

The raw is good here, too, with a marvelous beef carpaccio as well as a platter of fresh oysters served with a seriously delicious sauce ponzu, a fabulous blend of soy sauce, rice vinegar, lemon juice and a touch of kombu, or kelp. (But these were rather difficult to eat with chopsticks, since there was nothing to cut the muscle.)

Equally lovely was a starter carpaccio of salmon, served with fresh sheets of nori seawood to wrap your own salmon packages. The main course teppanyaki chicken was moist, copious, and delicious. Wash it all down with a bottle of chilled house sake, or rice wine.

Le Repaire de Cartouche, 8 Boulevard des Filles de Calvaire and 99, rue Amelot, Paris 11. Tel: 01 47 00 25 86. Fax: 01 43 38 85 91. Credit card: Visa. Closed Sunday and Monday. About 45 € per person, including service but not wine.

Azabu
3 rue Mazet
Paris 75006.
Tel: 01 46 33 72 05.
Credit card: Visa.
Closed Sunday lunch and Monday. About 40 € per person, including service but not beverages.

Into the heart of Provence without the hype

Avignon --- There are times that the grand and fine gastronomy of France seems mired in quicksand. Too much show and not enough to show for it. A lot of flowery promises on the menu that are simply not delivered to the palate.

Well, a recent dinner at one of Provence’s shining stars of gastronomy proved that those comments don’t hold water here. La Mirande – an inviting yet august structure originally built as a cardinals palace in the 13th century and transformed into a private home in the 17th century and now a luxury hotel and restaurant – appears to be in quite fine form, despite losing its star chef. Daniel Hebet, who brought fame and a Michelin star to the restaurant has departed, leaving all in the hands of his assistant, Jerome Verriere.

The menu is modern and varied, without being self-consciously Provencal. That does not mean the dishes don’t sing of the region’s fruits, vegetables, herbs, poultry, meat and traditions. It just doesn’t insist on tugging at one’s heart strings.

A fine seasonal starter of chilled crab lasagne DID make one feel like dancing a Provencal folk dance, as it was embellished with a thick tomato sauce, a paper thin layer of pasta, and a thick and delicious layer of fresh crabmeat holding it all in place. As delicious as the tomato sauce was, though, there was a bit much of it and if you didn’t take care to go after the crab meat on its own, the sauce would have overwhelmed it all.

Chef Verriere surely wooed me with his pigeon preparation – the plumpest and most moist breasts of squab, seared and roasted with attention and respect, are placed atop an ingenious puree of Jerusalem artichokes studded with all manner of crunchy goodies: pistachios, raisins and nuts. A brilliant ruby sauce of griottes, or preserved morello cherries , served to sweeten, brighten, and round out the dish.

Equally pleasing and original was the moist and perfectly roasted lamb chops, paired with Asian-inspired “cannelloni” filled with a moist and well seasoned ratatouille. The Moroccan pastry “feuille de brique” encased the ratatouille, and sautéed to a crisp, they reminded one of the best ever spring rolls. A sauce heightened with the slightly piquant red pepper from the Basque village of Espelette helped pull the dish together.

The dining room itself is elegant without overwhelming one, and tables are spaced far enough apart to make for private, intimate dining. Even what seem like mile-high ceilings don’t intimidate or make you feel as though you are in a church, not a restaurant. The staff is youthful, they move with elegance and grace, and most are quite well informed as to what is on the menu, the plate, the wine list and the cheese tray.

The wine list is filled with temptations. Our table opted for what turned out to be two treasures: Northern Rhone superstar Yves Cuilleron wowed us with his 2001 white Saint Joseph (100% Marsanne), a wine with nose of lemon and citrus, and memories of honey. Equally fine was the 2001 Mas Amiel Cotes du Roussillon Village Carerade, a blend of 70% Grenache, with the rest divided between Syrah and Carignan. Full of the promise of cherries and plums, the wine had a fine, long finish, good structure, and a depth that felt right at home with the pigeon and lamb.

The breads here are excellent, with a mini baguette filled with seeds and grains, of which one could make a meal. The cheese tray is abundant, with a truly outstanding, well-aged Fougerus – a cow’s milk cheese from the Champagne region – plump, moist, fragrant, and served at the right chilled temperature.

Our dessert choice --- a tiny caramel and peanut tarte with a praline ice cream – was a perfect share for two contented diners.

La Mirande
4, Place de la Mirande
84000 Avignon
Tel: 04 90 85 93 93
Fax: 04 90 86 26 85

All major credit cards. Closed in January. Tasting menu at 75 €; Menu La Mirande at 47 €; Three-course Vegetarian menu at 47 €; Daily lunch menus at 28 € and 38 €.

Quiet Trends of Paris

PARIS – As trends go, the Parisian gastronomic Richter scale is always rather faint. Thank goodness. Change is slow but sure in this capital. If there is a current trend it is toward chefs doing what they want to do, spreading their wings as feel need.

Like Flora Mikula a few months ago (she moved from a crowded bistro space to in the 7th to a perfectly posh spot across from the Hotel George V) chef Catherine Guerraz left her small and intimate bistro near the Galleries Lafayette and took over the space formerly occupied by Guy Savoy’s Cote Sud.

She clearly wanted more space, a touch more graciousness and a chance to expand her already solid bistro-style repertoire.

A recent dinner here receives mixed reviews. While the food is right on target service ranged from totally inept to absolutely perfect, depending upon the person doing the serving. Orders were totally confused, we waited forever a touch of attention early on, and they were out of the wine we ordered. One hopes we can blame this on first month jitters, but the entire dining room staff needs to be corralled and taught to coordinate their moves.

As to the food the first of season scallops from Erquy were sweet super-fresh, and the raviolis of langoustines with tarragon made me one happy diner. Nothing rivals langoustines for their luxurious texture and unique, faintly nutty flavor. But the dish that made we swoon was the civet de sanglier, a glistening wild boar stew with just the right touch of gaminess, chewy and moist morsels of meat braised to a gentle tenderness. Embellished with a golden polenta galette and washed down with a delicate Santenay (the 2000 Les Gravieres from Domaine de la Pousse d’Or) the trio saved what might have been a sorry night indeed.

Alain Ducasse seems to be everywhere in the world today, and is about to place a foot in every arrondissement of Paris. His latest takeover – if you want to call it that – is the redo of one of Paris’ most classic bistros, Aux Lyonnais, near the French stock exchange, or Bourse. Along with partner Thierry De La Brose (owner of the renowned L’Ami Louis) he has done a fine job.

The 1890’s bistro – a classic Lyonnais style bistro with zinc bar, bright floral tiles and colorful deep red façade --- could serve as a museum piece or film set.

In short, if you have a gram of nostalgia in you, you will love this place. The food here is convincing and gently re-tooled. All the classic and roborative dishes of Lyon are there: the fragrant, chunky sabodet, or pork sausage; the salad of frisee, lardoons, herring and sheep’s feet; tablier de sapeur, or tripe that is marinated, breaded, and grilled; not to mention the famed Saint Marcellin cheese made most famous in the city of Lyon.

I don’t even mind that they tinkered a bit, for the flavors here are full and honest. I adored the remake of the classic sabodet, a strong and earthy sausage made with pig’s head and skin, one that warms the insides of a cold winter’s day. Rather than plopping the sausage in a pool of rich sauce, the venerable sausage is poached gently in broth, covered with a layer of potatoes, and perfumed with a lightened sauce gribiche, or mayonnaise of laced with capers, cornichons, and herbs.

Equally appealing is the classic roast chicken, garnished with tomatoes, mushrooms and onions, and deglazed with the traditional touch of red wine vinegar. The wine list is a bit pricey for a bistro. But do as they do in Lyon and stick with cru Beaujolais and you should do just fine, sticking with the Fleurie, Brouilly, Chiroubles or Moulin-a-Vent, all priced at around 30 €.

Chez Catherine
3 rue Berryer
Paris 75008
Telephone 01 40 76 01 40
Fax: 01 40 76 03 96.
Closed Sunday and Monday. All major credit cards. A la carte, 50 euros, including service but not wine.

Aux Lyonnais
32 rue Saint Marc
Paris 75002
Tel: 01 42 9 65 04
Fax: 01 42 97 42 95
Closed all day Sunday and Monday lunch. 28 € menu, including service but not wine. A la carte, 40 euros, including service but not wine.