Catching Ups and Downs: Part 1

Life is tough enough, do we really need Google to make it so difficult to access one's blog that was created before Google ruled the world?  Ok, cool man, or as the tax man really did say to me the other day: 'Zen.'  Wow, it's been a while and I blame my respite entirely on my day job.  So, if you're wondering where I've been, in this installment, I offer you 180 degrees (part 1) of a 360 degree recap, starting with some good old fashioned mama's home cooking:  NOT.

Mama Shelter

Way back around early November, I finally got the urge to check out the trendy Mama Shelter restaurant, situated on the ground floor of the trendy Mama Shelter hotel on rue de Bagnolet in the 20th and just across the street from one of my go-to venues for live music, La Fleche d'Or.  Mama's has long acquired Paris renown for its funky interior spaces, lively bar, pizza corner, and hip restaurant.  'Check' on funky interior decor, 'check' on lively bar, 'check' on pizza corner, but a decidedly 'thumbs down' on hip restaurant.  As for the funky decors, check out my photos.

Funky Mama Shelter decor 1

Funky Mama Shelter decor 2

Funky Mama Shelter decor 3

Funky Mama Shelter decor 4

Yes, the dark ceiling has a number of adages scrawled in chalk, including such deep musings as the following:

 Power is standing on a street corner without waiting for someone.

           Get out of my cloud.

Deep, huh?  About as deep as big Mama''s aspirations in the kitchen.
For a place that aspires to be so ostensibly cool, the menu offerings were decidedly dull on the evening that Co. and I made our visit (and probably all the other nights when we didn't, as well).
Below, the carte, followed by some food photos.

Mama Shelter's menu, Nov. 2013 (click to enlarge)

Burratta Tomates Cerises entree (14€)

The burratta was forgettable - not that anyone's could compare to that served at Aux Deux Amis, which I revisited a couple of weeks ago with the Moose.  The cerises were memorable - with so many, how could one forget?  Meanwhile, Co. was uninspired by her poele de champignon (13€).

Salmon snacke main dish (19€)

This actually looks pretty good, but to tell you the truth, I can't remember if this was my dish or Co's, and neither can she.  So it may have been good, but who the hell knows?

Plat du jour - some kind of fish and vegetables, take your pick (17€)

I know, I know, these photos suck, but then, so did the food.  (Actually, the place is so dark, you'll have trouble impressing your partner at the bar with all your stored selfies.)  Zen, man, zen.  Okay, the food wasn't that bad, but when it comes to Mama Shelter, you go for the decor, the lively bar action, and if you and your buds are up for group gourging on pizza, there's a special room set aside for that sort of happiness.  We downed our decent Pinot noir vieilees vignes (34€) and zenned back out into the Paris night without dessert or cafe at 97€.  Next question?

MAMA SHELTER

Address: 109 Rue de Bagnolet, 75020 Paris, France

Phone:+33 1 43 48 48 48

Website:  http://www.mamashelter.com/en/paris/restaurants/


Le Boudoir

This was a decidedly strange one.  The Moose, fully inspired by an earlier visit, suggested we check out Le Boudoir, a short block or two off the insanely crowded Champs Elysee.  I must admit, I was intrigued by the online carte, but nervous that it was in English, I guess a nod and blink to the hordes of tourists swarming around the fashionably ostentatious Champs Elysee shops.  By the time we arrived for dinner, only a few tables were taken, and we were seated next to a foursome of lovely young ladies finishing up what appeared to be a rollicking enjoyable early evening meal.  By the time we left, the place was filled with button-down male suits, hardly the touristy types, seriously huddled around their tables as if mapping out their strategies for their visits to a decidedly other kind of boudoir later that night.  My mind wanders, as it did at Le Boudoir, no doubt partly a function of the whiskeys I downed at a bar along the way.

The new seasonal Le Boudoir carte (click to enlarge)

I don't know what it is about the Moose, but he is the most gregarious person I know.  When we arrived at Le Boudoir, he asked for Stefan (manager?  owner?) and they greeted each other like lifelong pals.  Stefan spent some time at our table, just glowing about how the evening of our visit they were launching their fall/winter menu, which was why half of the items weren't available.  Don't worry, I didn't get it either.  The meal's a blur, but I remember ordering 'The famous poultry pie with duck foie gras - onion confit and foliage emulsion' because I wanted to find out what was so famous about it.  Stefan explained it is famous because care is taken to use only the freshest, most natural ingredients, which is fine by me.  I was less impressed by my dessert, the 'Black chocolate cream,' that would have worked a lot better without the bananas and with black chocolate cream.  Everything in-between is but a distant memory, but check out the photos below.  I do remember being surprisingly satisfied by the meal, however, although I'm not sure that I will return.  Still, if you're hanging out on the grand old C-E one evening and you want to check out something a bit off the beaten path (literally and figuratively) at fairly reasonable prices, you probably could do worse.

The famous poultry pie

Lightly browned scallops, risotto, red squash - fresh and succulent, no kidding

The Moose's choice: Quail stuffed with dried fruits and foie gras

Black chocolate cream - this one didn't work

Not to be forgotten, Le Boudoir includes the railroad car dining space, some more intimate private rooms upstairs (no, not those sort of rooms), as well as a 'cigars smoking room' 8-seater.  Now you've got the idea.

LE BOUDOIR

Restaurant & Wine Bar

Address:  25 rue du Colisée, 75008 Paris - France

Telephone:  01 43 59 25 29
website:  http://www.boudoirparis.fr/

Le Dauphin - St. Aizpitarte’s Infirmary

Unable to snag a Feb. 15th post-Valentine's Day table at the more romantic Les Magnolias, Co. and I ventured out to the decidedly unromantic Le Dauphin, Inaki Aizpitarte's tapas wine bar a couple doors down from his remarkable Chateaubriand - the latter, as anyone who has followed this blog is well aware, is one of my favorites.  As pithily described at  phyllisflick's Paris Notebook site, when Monsieur Aizpitarte took over Le Dauphin, a previously non-descript Parisian cafe, he called upon Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas who transformed the space "into a modern white cube carved from Carrara marble." That's one way of putting it.  Another way is to sit at your little table surrounded by walls of mirrors and imagine butchers of yore happily splattering the marbled floors with blood and guts, ash descending from their cigarettes, sweat pouring from their brows.  Maybe it's just me, but the exaggerated clash of marble and mirror has that kind of effect on me.  When I say unromantic, I mean clinical.  The centerpiece bar is where the action is, with scruffy clientele mixing with animated scruffy bartender/servers.

Although I enjoyed experimenting with the vague list of tapas offerings, I kept thinking about how much more enjoyable an evening at Chateaubriand would have been.  Still, when it comes to the spate of contemporary and oh so French tapas venues popping up around town, you have to rate Le Dauphin up there with Aux Deux Amis and Au Passage.  For lack of better documentation, here's the bill listing the various offerings that comprised our dinner, followed by some photos - good luck matching the photo correctly with the itemized dishes on the bill.

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Tasty?  Check.  Diverse?  Check.  Inventive?  Check, well, for the most part.  Unforgettable?  Not really. I must admit, any time I can snag a risotto in black ink without having to book a flight to Valencia, I'm a happy camper.  But that clinical atmosphere got to me, and not in a good way.  Honey, I love you, but give me Chateaubriand.

Runners Up - Au Passage and Miel & Paprika

When it takes me this long to pen my reviews of some new venues, it can mean one of two things - I wasn't knocked out by the experience or I just don't have much to say. Not being one who is very often at a loss for words, chances are that the former is more at cause than the latter. Which pretty much describes my recent visits - with Co. in tow - to one tres hyped spot, Au Passage, and one significantly under the radar, Miel et Paprika.

AU PASSAGE


Before my introductory remarks are entirely misconstrued, I should start out my discussion of Au Passage by saying that we definitely had a good time and I can't say anything bad about the food. It's just not what we expected. Au Passage, as you may remember from one of my recent entries, won Le Fooding's 2012 Palmare for 'Fooding d'amour', therein dubbed as a 'typical bistro-style place' where the food is 'jazzed up a bit by a former Spring cook ... just good, simple and inexpensive.' All confirmed by our visit, I don't deny it, but it would have been more accurate to describe Au Passage as a 'typical tapas-style place in the fashion of Aux Deux Amis, but with even younger clientele.' Nothing wrong with that, if that's what you're up for.


We found Au Passage at the end of the narrow and quiet passage Saint-Sebastien in the 11th. Funky facade and, upon entry, a bar-like atmosphere, with some old leather couches, large mirrors, parquet floor. I almost expected to see a few guys huddled together in the back shooting darts. The only darts, however, took the form of glaring stares from the patrons at the bar where the bartender/hostess informed us that we weren't on the reservation list. As I hemmed and hawed about my having made the reservation nearly a week earlier - I would take a lie detector test, I swear - she ultimately found some cryptic markings in her ledger that must have approximated my name. Hey, I understand, I can't read French handwriting either. We were guided to a nice little table in the back, where I quickly let bygones be bygones and, upon noticing the menu items scrawled on a few blackboards quickly realized it was a tapas night. And here is what one of those blackboards looked like:



Choosing was tough, but we eventually settled on, in order as the photos display below, burratta poutarque, truite et raifort, ceviche de bar de ligne et mandarine (not pictured), magret canard poischise endive, and the gateau d'orange.









The smooth and soft burratta was a nice start, but I think it comes a close second to the same dish I sampled at Aux Deux Amis. I think the more original offering of the night was the ceviche de bar, but my photo is too weirdly cropped to post here. Overall, the photos remind me of a satisfying meal, or maybe it's the mellow mood induced by Blind Willie McTell, Duster Bennett, and Sharon Van Etten playing in the background as I write. The wine, a 28€ Perriere Costieres proved a fine accompaniment, with plenty of time between the latter dishes to ponder its subtlety, as the crowd burgeoned. So the verdict - definitely a nice place to dine with a few friends, sampling a large chunk of the chalkboard, sharing dishes, wine, and conversation - all much in evidence on the Friday evening of our visit. If I were 35 years younger, I would probably do just that. Au Passage is good, it's simple, and its cheap (the final tally totalled 73€). Nonetheless, I think I'll stick to the insane and frenetic Aux Deux Amis.

AU PASSAGE
1 bis Passage Saint Sebastien
75011 Paris
tel: 01 43 55 07 52

MIEL & PAPRIKA


During our various dinners at La Gazzetta, I often pondered the little restaurant directly across the street on funky rue de Cotte, Miel & Paprika. A little searching and I quickly realized that it doesn't show up in any of my Paris restaurant guidebooks, but the online reviews scattered here and there were all favorable. So off we went. Once into the meal, I found myself staring out the window at La Gazzetta's facade, ruefully wishing we were sampling one of their excellent 7-course meals. Can anyone say, 'the grass is greener...?'

M&P is a tiny spot, as so many Parisian restaurants are, so nothing unusual in that regard. A decent mise en bouche got us started - what it was I am sorry not to remember. In turn, our entrees consisted of Os a moelle and ravioles de chevre (the latter pictured below). Now if you haven't guessed, the restaurant's name betrays the hook - each meal more or less comprises something sweet (miel) and spicy (paprika), some more effectively than others. Main dishes took us into gambas a la creme de corail (second photo below) and souris d'Agneau territory. I love shrimp, the bigger the better, and the duo of tiger shrimp on my plate were big enough but maybe just not tasty enough, although the ratatouille accompaniment helped. Co. couldn't quite detect the sweet yin to her lamb's yang. My nems au chocolat salidou proved an interesting dessert as Co. dug into her tiramisu de framboise speculoos. All in all a pretty good meal, but it paled from being in such close proximity to La Gazzetta's great.





Along with a bottle of Cotes du Rhone Pourpre (22€), the damage came to 92€. I'm glad I finally got Miel & Paprika out of my system. Not bad, not great. All in all, I'd rather have been across the street.

MIEL & PAPRIKA

24 rue de Cotte
75012 Paris
tel: 01 53 33 02 67

NOTES:

1. Somewhere along the line during February Co. and I revisted La Gourmandise - a casual spot we used to frequent until we lost interest about 2 - 3 years ago, as we were reminded by the familiar host, who spent a lot of time at our table explaining why the food now sucked. During our hiatus there was change of ownership and chef, the latter of whom was instructed to pare down the menu and go mainstream. The good deals are still available, but when the food isn't any good anymore, does that really matter? Too bad.

2. I have created a monster - after my favorable review of Septime a couple months ago, it is now impossible to get a reservation (Le Fooding's high praise may have had something to do that, I admit). I'm on the waiting list for more than a month from now, another Friday night. Weeknights seem to be easier. Bon chance.

Aux Deux Amis - Is That a Herring On the Floor or Are You Just Happy to See Me?

Following two immensely satisfying return visits to La Table D'Eugene (but was it us four English speaking diners that led to the 25€ 'mistake' charged for the wine?) and Lilane (a hidden gem if ever there was one), it was time for something completely different, as in the retro-hipster wine bar Aux Deux Amis, unimposing facade sitting right there on rue Oberkampf for all to pass without a double-take. Nonetheless, ADA caught my attention when it won Le Fooding's 2010 award for 'Meilleur Petit Luxe'- best small luxury, a clever and not inaccurate way of describing this tiny little bistro. To wit, here's Le Fooding's English synopsis in a nutshell:

'Take a 70's-like bistro, put smart wines on the counter, cook classic radishes or modern wasabi codfish, add a former waiter of Le Chateaubriand: you get the perfect new food hang-out of the year.'

Well, as it turns out, I obviously wasn't the only one for whom that assessment struck a resounding chord. By the time the Moose and I arrived at an early 7:30 p.m. on a Wednesday evening, the place was packed with young and up Parisians, some sitting, some standing, but about as jam-packed as a small storefront bistrot can be. The entire interior seemed to be wallpapered in mirrors, bathed in yellow flourescence. It took about 15 minutes for us to be guided to the back - and when I say guided, I mean, a narrow path was cleared so that we could traverse the room - no, it's not there - back to the front, yep, there it is, your reserved table, between the window and the long marble bar. I should add, 'table' is probably an exaggeration - the little round cafe table was more of a nightstand, but neither Moose nor I was phased to the least, having imbibed a few whiskeys at that little Rhum Marin bar on rue St. Maur between ave. Republique and Oberkampf, where, you won't believe this, the laid-back owner plays some decent jazz compilations.

It didn't take long to be served at ADA, even given the tumultuous atmosphere. We started with three tapas dishes picked randomly after the waiter read the list of about 12 possibilities from his little scratchpad: piquillos, moules, and St. Jack panais. A pot of vin rouge (19€) arrived when the bartender stretched out to reach our table--as it turned out, our food arrived in similar fashion--which was a lot more sensible than asking our waiter to make any more trips to our table than one could humanly navigate through the crowd. (It was only later that I noticed that the 'carte' was scrawled on one of the mirrors next to the bar, but have a look at the adjoining photo and tell me if you could have ordered from that.) The wine and three tapas plates and bread challenged the miniscule table more than one should have asked, but we managed a fine balancing act and thoroughly enjoyed round one. Simple dishes, but fine quality, with a little bit of panache thrown in by whoever prepared the dishes. About midway through the food and wine, Moose sat back contentedly and, taking in the room, just cooed, 'This is why I love this city.' I know what he meant.

By the time I circumnavigated my way back from the 'rooms', I was happy to see that Moose had taken the initiative to order round two, which again consisted of three choices: Hareng pomme a l'huile, bourrata tapas (a very tasty and fresh Italian cheese, made from mozzarella and cream), and a salade de choux. I should explain, Moose and I were going moitie-moitie on each of these dishes, so when it was my turn to have a go at the herring, I looked at the plate and immediately wondered where my half of the herring was. When Moose explained that it was actually lying on the floor under the table, it was at that point that I realized that our functionally-challenged table had met its match. Nonetheless, the remaining garnishes were very tasty, and another day, I am sure, I will be able to taste the accompanying herring. The tally for two pitchers of wine and six tapas selections came to a reasonable 70.50€.

An inexpensive prix-fix lunch gives way to a tapas-style dinners, so if you're looking for more of a sit-down full-course meal, lunch is your better bet. Still, if you want a truly Parisian experience, go for the evening's tapas. It's not haute cuisine, but I don't think you'll regret it. And go when it's packed and jammed, because, well, it's just more fun that way.


AUX DEUX AMIS

45 rue Oberkampf
75011 Paris
tel. 01 58 30 38 13
website: none

And the Winners Are - Le Palmarès Fooding 2010

Le Palmarès - 'winners,' or in more common French usage, the Oscars, have just been awarded to the creme de la creme of the 2010 Paris and beyond restaurant scene by Lefooding.com, producers of an informative website and even better restaurant guide (mentioned in my last installment). Yes, it does seem rather early, and this is probably the first 'top whatever' list to appear for 2010, but, well...forget it, Jake, this is France. I have no idea what criteria the list is based on, or the process by which winners are chosen, but that doesn't mean my interest is not piqued for some new ideas for future meals, and of course, subsequent reviews. Two have been on my radar for some time: Spring (last year's big news and this year's big relocation) and La Tête dans les olives. A lot of buzz for both. And good to see another top spot around Parmentier, although I'm not so sure I'm willing to try a restaurant on the basis of best decor alone.

So here they are, Le Palmarès Fooding 2010. Let's just hope they don't turn out to be red herrings.

FOODING 2010 du Meilleur Petit Luxe
Aux Deux Amis, Paris

FOODING 2010 du Meilleur Bistrot d’Auteur
Rino, Paris

FOODING d’Honneur 2010
Bertrand Larcher
Breizh Café, Paris
La Table Breizh Café, Cancale

FOODING 2010 de la Meilleure Auberge
L’Auberge, Audierne

FOODING 2010 du Meilleur Décor
Rem Koolhaas et Clément Blanchet
Le Dauphin, 131 avenue Parmentier, Paris 11e

FOODING 2010 de la Meilleure Table d’Hôte
La Tête dans les olives, Paris

FOODING 2010 de la Meilleure Cave à Manger
Les Papilles Insolites, Pau

FOODING 2010 du Meilleur Agit’Popote
Spring, Paris

Links to each of these venues at lefooding.com website.