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The following are some of my favorite Paris Restaurants,
divided between Bistro and casual restaurants and Top Tables.
(Note : when calling or faxing from outside of France,
dial 33 and delete the first 0). Unless noted, all
restaurants take most major credit cards.
Prices include service but not wine.
TOP TABLES:
LES ELYSEES DU VERNET
25, Rue Vernet
Paris 8.
Telephone: 01 44 31 98 98.
Fax: 01 44 31 85 69.
E-mail: hotelvernet@jetmultimedia.fr
Métro : George V.
Closed Saturday, Sunday, Monday lunch, August, and
Christmas week. 105 to 120 €.
Anyone wondering what might have happened to Grand
French cuisine should reserve a table at Les Elysèes
du Vernet, where the talented Eric Briffard has been
working his magic since December of 2001.
With touches that are both thoroughly modern and totally
classic, Briffard’s 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. The wine list is exhaustive and includes
some treasures, such as the dense, intense red 100
% syrah Vinsobres, Civades 2001 priced at 50 €.
PIERRE GAGNAIRE
6, Rue Balzac
Paris 8.
Telephone: 01 58 36 12 50.
Fax: 01 58 36 12 51.
Email: p.gagnaire@wanadoo.fr.
Métro: George V or Charles de Gaulle-Etoile.
Closed Saturday, Sunday lunch, holidays. Menu at 85 € (lunch)
and 195 and 260 € (dinner). A la carte, 200 to
290 €.
In these days of French anxiety, it is always reassuring
to know that when all else fails in this country, one
can always be assured of a certain gastronomic bliss.
A meal at Pierre Gagnaire can remind one of what several
hours of pure pleasure can do for the soul.
I confess that it is rare that a dessert remains my
strongest food memory of a meal. But I can’t
stop thinking about how pure and pleasurable I found
Pierre Gagnaire’s chocolate dessert. part of
a procession of “quelques” desserts. When
it arrived, our table burst out with a laughter of
joy. Like a candy store on a plate, it arrived as four
or five rounds of chocolate cookie the size of an Oreo
all filled with a smooth chocolate mousse, stacked
up like a dark brown millefeuille. The dessert was
streamlined and simple in its own right, pure decadence
in another light.
Gagnaire is at the top of his form, and that’s
saying a lot. Somehow this classically trained chef
has managed to always keep up with the times, always
remain passionate and true to his art, and make us
all feel that he is having a good old time at it as
well.
Gagnaire’s food has always been complex and
full of fireworks, but once you think through a dish
of his, it really is all about the purity of flavors,
with an emphasis on aesthetics, on the progression
of colors, of varying essences of varying power. Even
his butter looks like the more beautiful thing you’ve
ever seen, the color of brilliant lemon zest. Sometimes
I think that his food is about all sensations, all
the time, and you have to step back from the table
and think about what is going on to digest it all in
your mind.
But nothing is lost if you just dig in! He is into
processions these days, especially during his market
menu at lunch time. You will find things like a tiny
bouquet of asparagus green and asparagus white, enhanced
with an egg yolk pâté that looked as though
it was applied to the bowl with a putty knife. An incredible
gelée of varied vegetables --- peas, snow peas
and white Tarbais beans – is a riot of color,
texture, spring flavor. Lieu jaune – a generally
less than noble codfish --- arrives warm and has a
rich herbal essence to it. Here we have the smoothness
of the fish offset by the Gagnaire’s original
sel cuisiné, his own varied mixtures of fresh
herbs and sea salt that he sprinkles atop his dishes
like we use common salt and pepper. Here the mixture
is one of chives and salt, and this simple addition
creates a texture that common salt could not. Finally,
his curry de racines (a mixture of varied root vegetables
paired with bean sprouts and pistachio oil) create
a colorful, spicy climax to his lineup of starters.
The main course – a perfectly cooked saddle
of lamb, pan-fried with oregano and served with a timbale
of lamb sweetbreads and sorrel – has an almost
a calming effect as it follows the fireworks of the
complex first course.
Wines I have loved here include Rossignol’s
1999 Volnay Chevret, a fine example of the 1999 red
Burgundies that are drinking now with a certain youthful
beauty; and Thevenet's 1999 Macon-Villages, an always
welcome well-priced example of a classic Chardonnay.
JAMIN
32, Rue du Longchamp
Paris 16.
Telephone: 01 45 53 00 07.
Fax: 01 45 53 00 15.
E-mail: reservation@jamin.fr.
Métro: Trocadéro.
Closed Saturday and Sunday. 53 € lunch menu,
95 € dinner menu. A la carte, 105 to 135 €.
Of all the chefs I have spent time with over the years,
few have impressed me with their depth and stability
as has Benoît 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 Joël Robuchon, both
at Jamin and later at Restaurant Joël Robuchon
on Avenue Raymond Poincaré.
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 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 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 hales 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
joues 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 feuilletée, 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 granité 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 Livinière 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.
LE MEURICE
228 Rue du Rivoli
Paris 1.
Telephone : 01 44 58 10 10.
Fax : 01 44 58 10 76.
E-mail : restauration@meuricehotel.com.
Web site: www.meuricehotel.com.
Métro : Concorde or Tuileries.
Closed Saturday lunch, Sunday, two weeks in February
and August. Menus at 55 € (lunch) and 150 € (dinner).
A la carte, 120 to 130 €.
Yannick Alléno is one Parisian chef that is
more than content.
Since he arrived in September of 2003, the Meurice
Hôtel’s dining room has been playing to
a full house at lunch and dinner.
Here, the 50-seat dining room is gracious and elegant,
filled with shimmering crystal chandeliers and antique
beveled mirrors that reflect large bay windows framed
in rare marble. And 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 a special meal
orchestrated by Alléno (who was awarded two
Michelin stars in the 2004 guide) and his staff can
appear magical.
Alléno installed 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 cèpe 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, or chanterelles
mushrooms cooked in the sherry-like vin jaune from
the Jura – to a wintry fricassée of suckling
pig, anointed with sage butter and a fresh artichoke
mousseline.
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 cèpe
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 Sèche.
GUY SAVOY
18, Rue Troyon
Paris 17.
Telephone: 01 43 80 40 61.
Fax: 01 46 22 43 09.
E-mail : reserv@guysavoy.com.
Métro: Charles de Gaulle-Etoile.
Closed Saturday lunch, Sunday, Monday, and August.
Menus at 188 and 235 €. A la carte, 160 to 200 €.
Since finally receiving his well-deserved and long-delayed
third Michelin star, Guy Savoy has been giddy with
joy. His staff acts as though they are in perpetual
training for a non-existent fourth star, and we the
diners are the fine beneficiary of all that unleashed
enthusiasm.
Guy Savoy has always been a brave, modern man, a trendsetter
in the kitchen and the dining room. He was the first
chef I ever saw use such an array of ultramodern white
china bowls, so perfect for tiny tastes, with the edges
acting as a blank canvas for a chef’s creativity.
His penchant for modern art took fine restaurants out
of the obligatory oversized vases of flowers and a
touch of red velvet.
Savoy’s latest act of bravery is to serve a
single green asparagus on a plate. But not just any
asparagus. Imagine the plumpest spear of green asparagus
cooked to perfection, with a little rectangular notch
carved out of it. In that little rectangle he poses
a finely fitting portion of a foie gras royale, a creamy
compact, smooth-flavored foie gras, all bathed in a
forward-flavored truffle vinaigrette. Not a bad way
to start a lovely meal!
I have had the pleasure of twice sampling his turbot
trio, a combination of gently poached Brittany turbot
paired with ratte potatoes poached in the turbot water
(picking up a gentle brininess along the way) and bathed
in a touch of turbot butter. This is followed by his
petit ragout des cuinsiniers tasty bits of turbot quickly
pan fried. It is hard to imagine how such simple ingredients
can be elevated to more than the sum of their parts,
and at the same time left seemingly untouched. In this
presentation, flavors are pure, almost intense, textures
are clean and well-defined.
Guy pulls off the same success with his agneau de
lait dans tous ses états combining brochettes
of shoulder and roasted leg of lamb allowing us to
admire all the ways a single tiny piece of lamb can
taste.
He remains faithful as ever to his classics: the ever-soothing
artichoke soup topped with black truffles and Parmesan,
paired with a rich brioche buttered heavily with a
truffle and mushroom butter.
A wine I have loved here is Jean-Luc Colombo’s
Saint Péray, La Belle de Mai 2000, a beautiful
example of one of my favorite grape varieties, Roussanne,
which has the ability to offer a wine with a fine balance
of acidity, with complex floral notes.
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