Water! Pop Rocks! Amâlia! - Saturday, 6 September

 

Water!  It’s absolutely essential for survival, and once in a while you run across one that elicits an “oh, ya, baby!” and today was one of those times at Restaurant Amâlia.  The sparkling mineral water Abatilles was new to me – medium viscosity, fresh, lovely minerals, just a hint of salt, fine bubbles.  It comes a close second to my favorite Badoit.  This afternoon I learned from a friend that Abatilles is sourced near Bordeaux and frequently seen in restos there.  Subsequent research revealed that it originates at the Arcachon basin at a depth of 1,548 ft; the depth – consisting of layers of sand, limestone and clay – functions as a filter, ensuring the water’s pristine qualities and keeping it free from nitrates.  So glad that it has made an appearance in Paris! 

They offer both a vegetarian menu and an “I eat everything” menu.  Three guesses as to which one I picked.  If you’re stymied (or not), keep reading!

My little welcome bites are a cardamom breadstick and cool crème fraiche with spicy Hungarian paprika – surprising and tasty.  And with a very clever breadstick holder!

Next, three hors d’oeuvre:

• A thin caramelized pastry cylinder filled with mild red pepper and orange cream and dipped in toasted coconut – fascinating combination of flavors
• A pastry basket with fish purée, basil oil, mustard seed and a Japanese herb that I think is a type of seaweed – very refined
• A slice of a tiny cheesy tarte with a cookie crust, grated Parmesan and balsamic vinegar

With the first course, a Dehours & Fils Champagne Grande Réserve, mostly Pinot Meunier.  Flavors of pear, lemon zest, brioche; slightly heavier viscosity than you find in most Champagnes; tiny bubbles.  My server said that the blend includes wine from the 1998 vinification.  Delightful!

The dish: beautifully crafted pillowy gnocchi with poached oysters, rustic black pudding (a texture like pulled pork, organy), tiny croutons, red bell pepper sauce, and a creamy potato foam.  Sort of a funky surf and turf!  The  Champagne broke the intensity and fattiness and added a tiny citrus note.

With the next course, a Gérard et Hubert Thirot Cuvée Pierre Pinot Noir from 2020.  Dry, a bit acidic, sense of currant and sour cherries.  

  

I was so excited about my monkfish course that I dove right in before taking a photo!  It was the best I’ve had in a long time – pure, sweet, steaky (I could barely flake it), dense, not very “fishy,” served with spinach, chicory greens, black sesame seeds and vegetable stock.  On the side, some lovage-scented hollandaise with a drizzle of basil oil and a hint of garlic.  Monkfish have huge teeth and a very scary appearance (I’ve seen a complete fish only once) – so their heads are usually removed before displaying them.  Their tails, however, are absolutely delicious and uniquely flavored/textured – a wonderful treat.   The wine's cherry aspects came forward as it cut through all of this fat and deliciousness!

For dessert, rice pudding (very popular here!) topped with with rhubarb confit, rhubarb sorbet, whipped cream infused with star anise, and tiny crispy meringue kisses.  With it, a clever cocktail made with rhubarb juice and a bit of vodka(?).   

Finally with my Italian espresso (I was given a couple of options) a tiny peanut and salty caramel tart, and the most unusual and entertaining mignardise to-date: small shards of pop rocks enrobed in semisweet chocolate and dusted with a gold powder!  Remember pop rocks?  They’re caramelized sugar, taken to the hard crack stage and embedded with pressurized carbon dioxide.  These were unflavored – just the caramelized sugar – and popped surprisingly and pleasantly in my mouth for quite a few seconds, imparting a bit of zing along the way.   Total entertainment!

Restaurant Amâlia, 32 rue de la Fontaine Au Roi 75011.  One Michelin star. https://amaliarestaurant.com/en

The kitchen to my left and an open sliding door to my right - a very pleasant setting on a beautiful day!

The Best Roasted Cèpes (and a whole lot more!) - Friday, 5 September

 

Restaurant Quinsou sits just across the street from École Ferrandi, one of the top culinary schools in the world https://www.ferrandi-paris.com/en, so you can be pretty confident that the food will be good.  And it is!

Today they had a regular lunch prix fixe menu and also a “market” menu.  I went for the market menu!

My lunch started with a lovely delicate Champagne Colin Alliance Brut blanc (65% Chardonnay, 35% Pinot meunier).  Fresh, a sense of pear and white peach, floral, very fine bubbles.

Two bites to welcome me:  a warm puréed green bean soup (very vegetal, with just a hint of shallot and a slightly grainy texture) with a dab of cool miso cream, and two small very crispy caramelly slightly salty buckwheat tartellets filled with celeriac cream and topped with a dab of verjus gel.  With the Champagne they got all of my textural and flavor and olfactory senses up and running!  

Next, a generous slice of foie gras terrine with an Armagnac jelly, some prune, and a dab of apricot purée.  Well made, and the texture was spot on, but the flavor of the foie left a bit to be desired – in retrospect, I should have asked for some fleur de sel.  

To accompany my next course, Château Prince Les Ardoisieres Chenin blanc from the Loire.  Fresh, white fruit, a sense of cilantro and granite.  

And for this course, spectacular tender and pure tuna carpaccio with a drizzle of concentrated cucumber water, dabs of onion gel, tarragon leaves, fennel seed, and a slice of cucumber at the bottom to clear the palate!  Wow.  Simple preparation with pristine ingredients combined in a creative and entertaining manner to partner beautifully with the flavors of the wine.  I would love to be this clever!

The next wine was also a white but heavier and smokier, with senses of yellow fruits, brioche, leek, almond, and a hint of licorice.  Dormy Pouilly Vinzelles from Burgundy – 100% Chardonnay

The dish: broiled sweet firm red mullet with delicious rich bouillabaisse sauce, celeriac crème, a wedge of braised fennel, a slice of radish (nice and spicy!), and a sprinkle of fleur de sel.  Warm and satisfying with just enough bite to surprise the palate and sharpen the focus.  And I soaked up every last drop of that bouillabaisse sauce with my bread!

Then to accompany my meat course, a wonderful very dry Côtes du Rhône, Petit Ours by Matthieu Barret.  My server told me that it was a modern style Syrah – not sure what that means, but it might be worth researching!  Lovely ripe black fruits, a bit peppery, fresh.

The course: five slices of medium rare roasted veal (always a treat – can’t really get it in the U.S.), a couple of the best sweet tender roasted cèpes mushrooms I’ve ever had (wanted more!), celeriac purée, and textbook complex veal stock.  Treeeemendous!  The wine went even drier with this sweet course.

With my cheese course and dessert they offered a lambic ale, 3 Fonteinen – light, vinegary, citrusy, a bit of malt.  An interesting choice, but it didn’t really work for me.

For the cheese course, generous portions of two goat cheeses (one fresh with a slight lavender scent, one aged) and two cow’s milk (one creamy style and one aged firm Comté) with black olive and beetroot condiments and a cherry soaked in vinegar.  Nice!

Dessert was a delicate pastry ring filled with spice cookie crumbles, then figs, then fig ice cream and topped with whipped coconut cream.  Sweet and light and cheer-inducing!  Then the mignardises: a chocolate truffle, a strawberry-raspberry gel, and a crispy lacy brown sugar disk.

So, textbook French cuisine with whimsy, appropriately found just across the street from the Ivy League of culinary schools!  I wonder if the chef instructors stop by occasionally!

Restaurant Quinsou, 33 Rue de l'Abbé Grégoire, 75006. One Michelin Star.   https://www.quinsourestaurant.fr/

You've Got Mail! - Thursday, 4 September

 

Just a little street scene for you today!  

The mail carriers (facteurs) here use sturdy square multi-pocketed rolling cases with four big wheels for their routes.  Since the deliveries are to shops on the ground level and to a bank of mailboxes just inside a digicode-accessed door for the apartments above, it's very efficient, and they can carry a lot in those cases, and the big wheels seem to make traversing the sidewalks and the paving stones and curbs a snap!  

As I was waiting for a taxi outside my apartment today, my facteur made her deliveries to my building.  So I snapped her photo!

Here are our mailboxes...they've been upgraded since my last trip here.  I see that my apartment is lucky #13!  

A New Star in the 'Hood, Aldéhyde - Wednesday, 3 September

 

Restaurant Aldéhyde received its first Michelin star this year.  And it’s a block-and-a-half from my apartment – staggering distance!  Part of the trail is a courtyard entrance paved with those lovely ancient rounded stones, so it’s extra cautious staggering for that segment!  But I made it safely there and back home for lunch today.  It’s perfectly accessible for the mobility-challenged, with just a tiny step up from the sidewalk.   

And what a lunch!  It started with a terrific Champagne Brimoncourt Brut Régence (mostly Chardonay with some Pinot Noir) – fresh, slightly sweet, suggestions of pear and peach and rosemary, tiny bubbles – delicious alone and it beautifully enhanced my first courses.

The amuse bouche was a finely chopped broccoli and tarragon tartare, which I think was bound with olive oil, topped with little dollops of sunchoke purée and a green pepper purée enhanced with just enough Tabasco-type hot sauce to wake you up and make your tongue tingle!  They served a terrific very-crunchy-crusted bread with Spanish olive oil.  

Then came several small ravioli stuffed with duck confit, on a bed of braised leeks, topped with crispy leeks, in a pool of cilantro emulsion, dusted with with some dried powdered thyme (I think).  WOW!  Warming, rejuvenating, deep, pillowy, earthy, just fatty enough.  Satisfying while leaving enough stomach space for the next courses!  With it, the herbal qualities of the Champagne came forward.

before the "sauce" was added

with the "sauce"

  Next, my fish course – the most tender and sweet and pure barely-cooked trout, slightly warm (cooked sous vide?) with a small skinned tomato stuffed with trout liver!  A “sauce” of halved cherry tomatoes, hazelnuts, red onion and (I think) cacao nibs in a well-balanced vinaigrette was spooned over the dish.  Amazing contrast of textures and flavors and levels of acidity that stimulated all areas of the palate.  

I went for a delightful Spanish medium-intensity dry red wine Alto las Cuestas (Grenache) with my meat, cheese and dessert courses.  Senses of cherry and cassis, parsley, grape stems, birch, and leeks.  I loved the tastes and the way it tamed the spicy elements of the final dishes.

So for my meat course, pristine moist rich lightly roasted chicken breast and more-darkly-roasted leg meat, slightly spicy red pepper purée seasoned with za’atar, and a small red pepper stuffed with an herbed cheese, all in a pool of delicious chicken stock.  On the side, a little pastry basket containing all the flavors of the dish, sitting on a dab of hot sauce, to be consumed in one bite after the rest of the plate was eaten – so clever!  Again, fabulously skillful blending of flavors and senses and textures that all worked together and complemented each other.  Brilliant!

I’m in France, so of course I need a cheese course before dessert!  Goat cheese chunks and a bit of Szechuan pepper flavored vinegar were in the bottom of this bowl.  It was topped with cheesy foam, fresh figs, fig compote, and olive oil also spiced with Szechuan pepper.  A great mix of fresh and sweet and hot, and the wine’s woodiness blossomed with this course!

And a real eye-opener for dessert, in more ways than one!  An almond sablé style cookie, fresh honeydew strips and purée, melon sorbet, dollops of cantaloupe and jalapeño (yup!) gels.  Wow!  The sensation of the cold sorbet against the jalapeño gel was delightful, and the whole dish just worked!  I'm pretty sure that I've never had jalapeño in a dessert before!

Finally a very strong very hot very delicious espresso with an apricot-violet jelly and a tiny financier.  What a meal!

Almost all of the 20+ seats were full.  The sound system was low, the conversations were quiet, registering about 60-70dB most of the time.  I heard a mix of languages around me, but the common denominator with wait staff was English. 

You can bet I'll be back, hopefully for dinner next time so that I can sample more of Chef Youssef Marzouk's classical yet imaginative French cuisine (with Tunisian influences).  He graduated top of his class in chemistry before following in his parents' footsteps into the culinary world, so it's perhaps not surprising that he named his first resto after the molecule contained in coriander, thus reflecting the distinctive character of his cuisine!

Aldéhyde.  5 rue du Pont Louis Philippe 75004.  One Michelin star.  https://aldehyde.paris/

    

the view from my table

Maybe Just a Late-Night Cocktail Next Time - Tuesday, 2 September

Pamela Popo is a little resto about 10 yards outside my door.  They are open only in the evenings, and their little deck-with-tables-and-umbrellas that extends into the street seems to be a quite popular spot late at night.  I had stopped there only once before, and only to grab an orange juice at an outdoor table to lubricate my brain while I was trying to work out a solution to a rather harrowing situation!  Read all about that here:  https://mariellen-musing.blogspot.com/2022/10/well-that-was-harrowing-wednesday-12.html

Their menu didn’t look terribly exciting, but I thought I’d give it a try for dinner tonight.  Since I had never been inside, I didn’t realize that most of their seating was upstairs (and up fairly scary looking stairs to boot!).  But the host took pity on me and seated me at one of the few ground floor tables inside.  

My welcome snack was a dish of breakfast radishes with smoked salt.  I ordered a melon spritz which was OK but fairly boring (melon liqueur, Prosecco, sparkling water).

For my meal: shredded lamb shoulder with a side of couscous.  The lamb was presented as a big patty (I’d guess about 3/4 pound) – nice and tender and moist inside, and then finished under the broiler for a crispy exterior.  I’m guessing that this was a commercial product (not prepared from scratch in their own kitchen), but no worries!  It sat in a pool of very tasty dark concentrated lamb demi-glace – you could taste the roasted bones and onions, carrots, celery, etc. – and was showered with fresh herbs.  The couscous contained raisins and candied orange peel and worked well with the lamb.  

For dessert, crème brulée.  The custard was a little over-baked (so a bit separated/lumpy) and cooler than the standard room temperature, but the sugar crust was nice and thin and crispy and caramelized!

So all in all, not bad but not worth multiple visits.  Unless, of course, some balmy evening I decide to try some other cocktail on their lovely deck!

Pamela Popo, 15 rue François Miron 75004 https://pamelapopo.fr/

Where's Faust??? - Monday, 1 September

There was a restaurant called Maison Faust on the ground floor of my building, with pretty irregular hours.  About a year ago it converted to a private event/dining/drinking/dancing establishment.  When I arrived last Thursday there were three white vans outside and a bunch of workers who appeared to be removing stuff from the space.  

It has an interesting history, according to their website and local rumors!  The website says:

There are so many stories about this house. From its mysterious hidden origins to its recent naughty past, Guillaume [the owner] shares the anecdotes of this magical place, witness to so many centuries.

Founded in 1380, it is one of two 14th century houses that have survived.

Originally a modest building housing a business that earned it the name "house with the sheep's head sign," with stone vaulted cellars and half-timbered floors, it features a secret passage whose destination arouses curiosity. For hidden visits or secret exits?

From its windows, one may have seen François Villon, Joan of Arc, Henri IV, Molière, Louis XIV, and Napoleon pass by. This house has survived fires, the Revolution, Baron Haussmann, and two world wars, and has participated in these events in its own way.

True to its past as a meeting place, it now hosts your private parties.  It is a haven of confidences when night finally falls, the silent witness to your secrets.

Oooh…intriguing!  

Word on the street (well, actually from one of the other owners of my apartment) is that it was also a swinger’s club in the not-too-distant past.  And I don’t mean swing dancing!

I don’t know how long the website will stay active, but here ya go:  https://maisonfaust.fr/  11 rue François Miron 75004

So, who was the Faust connected to this maison?  And where has he gone?  What’s next for this storied space?  Anyone interested in opening a resto?!?  I have a handy little apartment just three floors above it (well, for four weeks a year anyway)!  

P.S. it is fascinating to think that in centuries past I might have leaned out of my window and seen François Villon, Joan of Arc, Henri IV, Molière, Louis XIV, or Napoleon pass by....

All of the Essential Food Groups! - Sunday, 31 August

 

What could be better on a slightly chilly afternoon than a big steaming bowl of deep rich beef stock with caramelized onions, toast and melted cheese (with a side of beer and bread)?  I mean, it's pretty much all of the food groups essential for nutrition and happiness...  

...just missing chocolate, so....

The Gastronomy Portion of the Tour Begins! - Saturday, 30 August

 

You may have heard me observe that gastronomy is the only art form that appeals to all six senses – taste, smell, sight, touch, and hearing (of course), and also the sense of humor!™   OK, OK, I haven’t really trademarked that observation, but it is original to me.  

I mean, y’know that sense of delight when you eat something really surprising/amazing – something so entertaining that it makes you chuckle?  Well, QED!  Gastronomy goes beyond mere sustenance (although sustenance is a wonderful thing).  Great artists of all stripes refine their tools and techniques and imaginations and knowledge and well-honed skills to create paintings, music, literature, sculpture, dance, theatre, architecture – and meals – that take our breath away.  Gastronomy is an art form worth studying, worth structuring a trip around, worth immersing yourself in.  So I do!

Thus beginneth the "fancy dining" portion of our tour!

I returned today for lunch to one of my top 3 Paris restos, Accents Table Bourse.  I've gone there every trip since 2017 except for one, when they were in the midst of a remodel! 

To accompany my first bites, they served me a fairly low alcohol gin, litchi and tonic cocktail that was just right for an end-of-summer meal – invigorating the palate and somehow calming the spirit – and also their signature tomato/basil ice cube floating in tomato water.

The little bites with these drinks were a refined black pudding in the shape of a little piggy, a thin pastry cylinder stuffed with a brie-style cheese and a hot (as in chili) chunk of white chocolate (surprising and intriguing!) and a little banana meringue.  (BTW, those sticks were just props - not part of the dish!)

Then an wonderful celeriac “risotto.”  Cubes of celeriac had been cooked to a sort of al dente level and combined with tapioca pearls (instead of rice), diced apple, and hazelnuts, and served just warm under a lovely sage foam.  An interesting and complementary play of texture, sweetness, earthiness, herbaceousness, and just a hint of acidic bite.   On the side, a baton of their mussel terrine, half of it puréed mussels and cream, and half mussels and squid ink – oceany, slightly funky, tasty.

A nice pinot noir Champagne from C.H. Piconnet accompanied the next courses.  Lovely on the nose, beautiful red fruit, with a somewhat surprising minerality that worked!

First, an a-a-a-a-mazing dish of sweet pineapple chunks (I wonder what they did to tame the bite!) and slices of sauteed shiitake mushroom in a gorgeous pineapple crème Anglaise and covered with an impossibly thin and crispy slightly salty leaf of roasted chicken skin.  Blew me away!  What an inventive combo.  Chef Romain Mahi stopped by to ask how I was doing, and I think that I actually embarrassed him going on and on about how brilliant it was!

Then, chunks of rich, slightly funky mackerel in a bouillabaisse reduction with lemon foam, crispy fish skin, a nasturtium leaf, and herb flowers.  A pristine product, and a nice balance of richness with a bit of acidity.

Up next, a generous portion of amazingly tender, just-cooked (sous vide?) wild salmon with a squid ink ravioli stuffed with a fresh cheese (feta?), diced raw zucchini, broccolini, and fish eggs in a fish stock reduction.  With this plate the raspberry tones in the Champagne really came forward.

To accompany my next course, an Argentinian red (Grenach) by Seclantas Adentro that’s grown at 2000 feet.  Those grapes suffer!  Beautiful currant and other red fruit, very fresh, a bit of chalkiness.

My final “main” course was poultry gently cooked on the bbq with a juicy cherry tomato & anchovy, a fresh raspberry stuffed with black garlic purée (a surprising and amazing jolt, harmonious with the slight smoke on the chicken), pumpkin purée, reduction of poultry stock, and some haricot verts.  

For my first dessert, coconut ice cream, salty caramel popcorn, brown sugar meringue cubes, hazelnut cream, orange segments, peanuts, and a bittersweet chocolate fan. They all played together nicely!  

With it, a caramelly yet refreshing ale that reminded me of Normandy cider (past-prime apples, stems, leaves). 

Then one of pastry chef Ayumi Sugiyama’s astonishing sugar boules.  It’s a you-can’t-believe-how-thin-sugar-can-be-blown, 2-inch diameter, transparent sugar ball that shatters under your spoon, today filled with ginger crumble, fresh blueberries, pear, orange cream, and a smaller white chocolate ball filled with crème Anglaise.  I would have said "unbelievable" if I hadn't eaten it myself!

With it they served a low alcohol cardamom-ginger-anise-cinnamon drink that amplified everything – it reminded me a little bit of Chartreuse.

Finally, a slice of chef Sugiyama’s famous orange chiffon cake with creme Chantilly, a tomato gel, a little  chocolate nugget that seemed to be a cross between mousse and cake, a dried strawberry, and espresso. 

Everything was terrific, but the two superstars today were the pineapple dish and the sugar boule.  

It's an oasis of calm just a half block from the giant Paris Stock Exchange (La Bourse de Paris) on a quiet little street.  It was about 80% full today, but with barely audible music on the sound system and people speaking in whispers, you could hear a pin drop – about only 40dB.  And that included, at the table next to me, an infant in a stroller to whom mom sang quietly when she fussed a bit!

This place is still high on my favorites list, but it has slipped a bit – slightly less intriguing wines and wine pairings (and slightly smaller pours – I really miss their former Sommelier Étienne!), slightly less inventiveness and variety in the foodstuffs.  They recently did a big remodel during which they were closed for a few months, so I wonder if the financial pressure is getting to them.  In any case, it's still a favorite and they feel like family and I’ll be back to continue cheering them on!

Accents Table Bourse, 24 rue Feydeau, 75002.  One Michelin star.  https://accents-restaurant.com/

  

Bonus:  I thought you might like to see how they characterize wines.  They have a huge cellar, and these are a couple pages from the big wine book.  You can click on any photo in my blog to get a full screen version.