Le Petit Varenne -- Restaurant Review

 57, rue de Bellechasse, 7eme
tel: 01.42.73.60.72
Closed: Sundays and Mondays
Metro: Rue du Bac (12)

Rating Standards: 5-Stars = Extraordinary; 4-Stars = Excellent; 3-Stars = Average; 2-Stars = Fair; 1-Star = Poor

€ = Inexpensive: 30€ and under; €€ = Moderate: 31€-49€; €€€ = Expensive: €50 -75; €€€€ = Very Expensive: more than €76 (prices based on minimum 2-courses)

1-Bell = Pleasantly quiet (less than 65 decibels); 2-Bells = Can talk easily (65-70); 3-Bells = Talking normally gets difficult (70-80); 4-Bells = Can talk only in raised voices (75-90); BOMB = Too noisy for normal conversation (90+)

4 - Star......................................................€€......................................................... 3 - Bell

At a recommendation of our friend J we went to a relatively new restaurant opened by Jean-Baptiste Varenne who seems to be the quite the entrepreneur, opening 3-other restaurants in Paris (Laiterie Sainte Clotilde, Chez Graff and Gare aux Gorilles) with some business partners. This restaurant is located across the street from the office of the prime minister, so don't be alarmed when you see several armed military around the premises.

 57, rue de Bellechasse

The interior is nothing special. In fact very stark with just tables and chairs. No ambiance to speak of. It is a small restaurant, hence it can get quite noisy, but what's nice were the large windows which brought in lots of light and made the restaurant appear larger. As we entered the restaurant for lunch at about 12:45 pm, there was only 1-other table that was occupied, but that changed quickly. It appears the lunch crowd is later and they start trickling in after 1 pm. There were no prix-fixe menus, everything was a la carte. The Chef de cuisine is  Rémy N’Guyen of Prince de Galles and Burgundy.


ENTRÉES

Gnocchi, champignons et emulsion au parmesan (Gnocchi, mushrooms and parmesan emulsion). We really enjoyed this particular entrée. Gnocchi can be very heavy and sometimes even "gummy", but these were very light and almost had an airy quality about them. The accompanying mushrooms were a great addition to give the dish an earthy component. As many know, I'm not a fan of emulsions, but this parmesan emulsion was extremely flavorful, light. And, topped with a parmesan wafer, it gave the dish a nice crispy textural component. An excellent composed dish.

Terrine de boudin noir (black pudding terrine). I was expecting it to be a traditional sausage, but then I re-read the description and it is a terrine versus a sausage, which the latter is more typical. It was served in pie slices. Blood sausages are very common in France, but this did not have that "irony" flavor. It was actually quite tasty accompanied with the sweet sauces from the apples as well as the beets. Also, a very good composed entrée.



PLATS

Poire de boeuf, pommes grenailles et échalotes confites (Pear beef, new potatoes and candied shallots). "Poire of the beef" is reputed to be one of the most flavorful and tender parts of the beef. It's actually the inner thigh of the beef, so less muscular. I was in the mood for a good steak, and this did not disappoint. The meat was succulent, tender, and delicious. This was probably one of the best steaks I've had in a long time. I thought the potatoes were perfectly cooked, crunchy on the outside and tender on the inside. I wasn't a fan of the shallots, it had a bitter aftertaste, but I'll overlook that since the steak was so good. It was topped with some leafy greens tossed lightly in vinegar and added to the overall flavors of the dish.

Merlu poche, tombée d’épinard et emulsion au cresson (Hake, spinach and watercress emulsion). It wasn't a pretty dish, since the fish looked like it was buried under all that foam, or should I say emulsion, but the fish was moist, very tasty and with the accompanying spinach and watercress was a nice addition. And, surprisingly all that emulsion actually had quite a nice flavor profile.  The citrus atop the fish completed it.

Canard de Rouen et caviar d’aubergine (Rouen duck and eggplant caviar).  Although this plat was delicious, this was probably my least favorite. And, this had nothing to do with flavor profiles, more so for personal preference. Our friend J asked for the duck to be cooked very rare, and very rare it came out. I just found it to be too rubbery. I'm confident though, had the duck been medium or even medium rare, based on the other two dishes, it would've been perfect. The accompanying eggplant caviar and carrots was a nice accompaniment.



DESSERT

Chocolat, orange confite et noisettes grillées. Glaces artisanaux (Chocolat, orange confite and roasted nuts.  Artisanal ice cream .

The first dessert, the chocolate with orange and roasted nuts was a bit overwhelming sweet for me. But then again I don't normally eat sugar, and I just had a taste of it. It tasted like a whipped ganache topped with nuts. It was a good dessert and it would definitely be a chocolate lovers dream, but not for me.

The second dessert was less sweet. They were artisanal ice creams. The pistachio was my favorite. The two ice-creams complimented each other and it sat atop crumbled butter cookies and nuts. Very simple, but refreshing.

WINES:  We had a bottle of Clos de l’Amanaie Langedoc and a bottle of D’auphilac Lou maset Languedoc.  Both wines were from the Languedoc region of France. The white was light and crisp and citrus notes, whereas the red was lighter and fruitier.












SUMMARY

Jean-Baptise Varenne (proprietor)

What a great find in the 7eme. It's not a pretty restaurant, very stark in decoration, and no ambiance to speak of,  but who needs decoration when the food is the star attraction. You don't see many tourists in this area of Paris primarily since it's across from the Office of the Ministry. and there aren't that many shops or attractions nearby. And, from what I gathered from the lunch crowd, its clientele was very officious. So, I assume they were government employees.  The owner Jean-Baptise chatted with us a little bit, and he actually had read many of J's restaurant reviews. He interacted with several of his clients as well, which to me is always a good sign.

Onto the food, as I said, the food was the star. The food overall was excellent. My favorite entrée was the gnocchi, and my favorite main was the steak. By far, one of the best steaks I've had in Paris.  You definitely don't come here for the ambiance. Would we come back? ABSOLUTELY!




For 3-entrées, 3-plats, 2-desserts, 2-bottles of wine and 1-coffee our meal came to 186€ for 3-people or 62€ per person.

NOTE: the wines were bit on the pricey side, so brought our overall costs higher; however, the prices of the meals themselves are quite reasonable with average entrée 10-12€ range and the mains in the mid-20€ range.

Restaurant AG Les Halles -- Restaurant Review

14 Rue Mondétour, 75001
Phone: 01 42 61 37 17
Metro: Les Halles ( 1, 4, 7, 11 and 14)
Closed Sundays

Rating Standards: 5-Stars = Extraordinary; 4-Stars = Excellent; 3-Stars = Average; 2-Stars = Fair; 1-Star = Poor

€ = Inexpensive: 30€ and under; €€ = Moderate: 31€-49€; €€€ = Expensive: €50 -75; €€€€ = Very Expensive: more than €76 (prices based on minimum 2-courses)

1-Bell = Pleasantly quiet (less than 65 decibels); 2-Bells = Can talk easily (65-70); 3-Bells = Talking normally gets difficult (70-80); 4-Bells = Can talk only in raised voices (75-90); BOMB = Too noisy for normal conversation (90+)

4.50- Star......................................................€€......................................................... 2 - Bell

If the restaurant name sounds familiar, well it is. This is actually the 2nd restaurant of Chef Alan Geaam.  The original "AG" restaurant is in the 6eme.  When the first "AG" opened in the 6eme, I was absolutely in love with it. Unfortunately, it became inconsistent with both the food and the service and became overrun by tourists, so I stopped going. So, we decided to come to the "other" restaurant in Les Halles and test the waters, so to speak.

The interior of the restaurant couldn't be any more different than the other restaurant. By Parisian standards, it's quite large. Very roomy and very "airy". And, what caught my eye was the very large bar, which serves "cocktails".  I'm finding more and more "cocktail bars" in larger Parisian restaurants. We were given an English menu, but my friend asked for a French menu. I compared the translation, and it was close, but still a little off. Normally, I prefer French menus for this reason. As an aside at another restaurant, I remember once "breast of duck" was erroneously translated to "breath of duck".

We were given some sweet rolls that appeared to have been slightly smoked over hay. The rolls tasted almost as if they were steamed, because they were very, very moist.  It  was accompanied with several spices and flavored oils, since on its own the rolls were un-flavored, with the accompanying spices and oils, it was a nice introduction to what might follow. 

For our amuse bouche we had a very tasty smoked duck broth that was foamed. Despite the the size, it was punched with a lot of flavor, and I must say surprisingly very light. 

Accompanying it was some rice wafers with hazelnuts. 

Overall, an excellent composed amuse bouche!

ENTRÉES

Chicken oysters with seasonal mushrooms, chestnut and coffee. What an interesting entrée with the different flavor profiles. Yet combined, it was a scrumptious entrée. It is reputed that the oyster part of the chicken is the most flavorful. And, this was a great example of profiling the flavor of the chicken oysters. Americans usually use coffee to enhance steak seasoning, BBQs or chili, but the coffee was slightly incorporated in the chicken to enhance the flavor, but not overwhelm it. Another excellent well composed dish.

Duck foie gras with bonito broth and granny smith poutarge (salted fish roe).  At first glance, you think, what a weird flavor combination. But I have to say, after tasting it, I became a believer.  Mixing brininess of the bonito and fish roe brought this dish to a whole new level. Who knew?  The foie gras itself, was cooked to perfection. And, although you would think the broth and roe would be overwhelming, not at all, it complimented the dish well.

63C egg with pumpkin, black truffle and hazelnut.  All the entrées were delicious, but this had to be my favorite. I was expecting this dish to be somewhat bland, since in essence, pumpkin doesn't have a strong characteristic flavor and many cooks have to add spices to give some character. As you cut into the soft luscious eggs and blended it with the pumpkin, it was a pure delight sensation in the mouth. I normally don't like truffles, but the truffles along with the hazelnuts were simply delicious, and the coddled egg made the dish. However, I wasn't fond of the kumquats used to garnish the dish, but that's a personal preference.


PLATS

Hake fillet, black rice telline (shell fish) spinach and pickles.  When it was first presented, my first impression was, wow, what a beautifully composed dish. The picture doesn't do it justice, but the purples, with the greens and black, just made the dish pop.  The fish was perfectly cooked with a nice exterior crust and the rice was wonderfully flavored. The purple broccoli wasn't overcooked, it still retained a nice crunch. Overall, an excellent delicious dish.

Pig jowls with butternut, kumquat and spaghetti of fried potatoes. All the dishes previously presented were beautiful, and well composed. This particular plating, I thought was odd. Some friends thought it artistic, but I thought there was just too much empty real estate, sort of "lop-sided".

Reputed to be the most flavorful part of the pig, jowls was the main attraction of this dish. And, they did not disappoint. Despite the weird plating, I thought the meat was delicious, very flavorful. There were chunks of fat, which is to be expected, but it was the fat that kept the meat moist. Although tasty, the shoe string fried onion rings was a bit odd for me, because they were really, really long strands. But overall, it was an excellent, flavorful dish.

DESSERTS

We decided to order a cheese plate to be shared amongst the 4 of us. They had quite the selection of cheeses. We opted for 2-blue cheeses, one comte and a brie. As I always say, you can't go wrong with cheese in France.

For our wine, we had "Thierry Germain dom roche neuve l'insolite blanc saumur" from the Loire valley. It's reported to be one of the best 10 wines in the region.  Although I did like the wine, I found it very crisp with sour notes. Good, but not one of my favs.














SUMMARY

Since I've been to Chef Geaam's restaurant in the 6eme, I was expecting the plating to be wonderful, with the exception of one of the main dishes, he did not disappoint, overall the food was beautifully presented. What's more important are the flavors. All the dishes were excellent. Combinations that you would not normally think would compliment each other did, e.g., bonita broth with foie gras. My favorite entrée was the pumpkin with the black truffles. And, as far as flavors were concerned, the pork was my favorite plat. This is the type of cuisine I remembered the AG in the 6eme served when it first opened up. The service was excellent as well. Would I return"? MOST DEFINITELY.

With 4-entrées, 4-plats, a bottle of wine, 3-glasses of additional wine, and a cheese plate, our meal came to 189€ or 47.25€ a person, which is extremely reasonable. We were also provided with a digestif, which tasted like vodka with a little flavoring.

The talented Chef de cuisine and published cookbook author, Alan Geaam

Cézembre -- Restaurant Review

17 Rue Gregoire de Tours,
75006 Paris
tel: +33 9 67 57 25 08
Metro: Odeon (line 4)
(check website for operating hours)
Website: http://www.cezembrerestaurant.com/en/

Rating Standards: 5-Stars = Extraordinary; 4-Stars = Excellent; 3-Stars = Average; 2-Stars = Fair; 1-Star = Poor

€ = Inexpensive: 30€ and under; €€ = Moderate: 31€-49€; €€€ = Expensive: €50 -75; €€€€ = Very Expensive: more than €76 (prices based on minimum 2-courses)

1-Bell = Pleasantly quiet (less than 65 decibels); 2-Bells = Can talk easily (65-70); 3-Bells = Talking normally gets difficult (70-80); 4-Bells = Can talk only in raised voices (75-90); BOMB = Too noisy for normal conversation (90+)

4.25- Star......................................................€€......................................................... 2 - Bell

It's been a while since I've done a review, because I've been traveling. As soon as we hit town, a good friend recommended this restaurant, so off we went running. It's in the 6eme (Saint Germain de Près).

It's on a side street and it's a relatively small restaurants. It's a long restaurant with tables located on both sides. Let's say a very intimate restaurant.

The Chef de Cuisine is Anthony Hamon who hails from Brittany and Cézembre is actually a small uninhabited island off St Malo.  Although the menu changes daily, his influence comes from Breton and superbly sourced and served.

The menu changes daily. I like that. There basically is not an a la carte menu. However, the waiter did say that if we were allergic to anything, to let him know and they could alter the menu for us. However, you did have a choice of either a fish dish or a chicken dish for your main.

I asked if I could replace a cheese plate for the sugary dessert, unfortunately, they did not have a cheese plate so I chose to forgo dessert.

Although they did not have an a la carte menu per se, the Chef does offer a 6-course tasting menu for 45€ which we all agreed would just be too much food for us.

SCALLOPS:  The scallops was our entrée. It was small dish, but punched with a lot of different strong flavors but not overwhelming. There were what I believed was a creamy herbal sauce. We overwhelmingly loved this tasty dish.

COD:  We all opted for the cod as our plat (main). This fish was perfectly cooked. and the accompanying sauces was a nice touch to the dish.  The dish was accompanied with mushrooms, carrots and cut string beans. What I liked about the dish all the components complimented each other, and the beans were cooked al-dente, which I loved.  The bed of risotto it sat on was also extremely delicious, again cooked to perfection, al-dente, and although I'm not a fan of foam, this was light and actually made the dish cohesive.

PEACH: I must confess I did have a little taste of the dessert. It was extremely light. A peach encased in a sorbet with a light foamed cream. Everyone loved the dish, because it was not only refreshing, not overly sweet, and light.

WINES: We ordered a bottle of  "Thierry Germain, Domaine des roches Neuves, Saumur Champigny". We debated whether we should get a white or red. Since some in the group don't drink white the waiter recommended this wine with our fish. It's a 100% Cabernet franc and goes well with seafood because it smells of red and black fruit. Light with a nice after sensation.














SUMMARY:  

What a hidden gem in the 6eme, otherwise known as the "Saint Germain de Près" area of Paris, a more upscale neighborhood without the upscale prices as reflected in this restaurant. The prix-fixe for 2-courses is 24€, and for 3-courses 28€. There was absolutely no pretensions about this restaurant. It was simple, straight forward delicious food beautifully presented and packed full of flavors. I did read some reviews from Americans wherein they thought the portions were too small; I thought they were perfect, but then again I am not a big eater. I did notice that every single one of us sopped up the delicious sauces with our bread, that's always a good sign.

The menu does change regularly depending on what's seasonal. The waiter was extremely efficient, and he spoke perfect English, he took time to explain each dish and the nuances of the wines in both languages.  Would we go back? ABSOLUTELY. Go before people discover this gem.

For three 3-courses, one 2-courses, a bottle of wine, a glass of white wine and bottle water our bill came to 155€ for 4-people.

Le Mesturet -- Restaurant Review

77, rue de Richelieu 75002

Open for lunch and dinner 7/7

Tél. 01 42 97 40 68 

E-mail: contact@lemesturet.com

website: http://www.lemesturet.com/

Metro: Bourse

Rating Standards: 5-Stars = Extraordinary; 4-Stars = Excellent; 3-Stars = Average; 2-Stars = Fair; 1-Star = Poor

€ = Inexpensive: 30€ and under; €€ = Moderate: 31€-49€; €€€ = Expensive: €50 -75; €€€€ = Very Expensive: more than €76 (prices based on minimum 2-courses)

1-Bell = Pleasantly quiet (less than 65 decibels); 2-Bells = Can talk easily (65-70); 3-Bells = Talking normally gets difficult (70-80); 4-Bells = Can talk only in raised voices (75-90); BOMB = Too noisy for normal conversation (90+)

1.75- Star......................................................€€......................................................... 4 - Bell

I was looking for a restaurant close to a hotel by the L'Opéra where a family member was staying. I chose this restaurant randomly and knew very little about it, other than what I read online and the reviews looked favorable.  It's very close to one of my favorite tapas restaurants "A.Noste". 

It was a Friday night, and it was pretty well packed in. A lot of tourist and some locals sprinkled around, common in this part of town. They certainly knew how to squeeze a lot of people in the restaurant. It was quite noisy and warm inside. We perused the menu and it had very traditional French classic dishes. They had a prix-fixe menu, 2-courses for 26€ and 3-courses for 31.50€, very, very reasonable.


ENTRÉES:

Aubergine grillée à la tomate et chèvre frais de chez Lethielleux. (Grilled eggplant with tomato and fresh goat cheese).  This was my favorite entrée of the evening. A very simple grilled eggplant with the right mixtures of sweet, salty and sour and some melted goat cheese. A simple good dish, but nothing out of the ordinary.  It was under-seasoned but had a very nice dressing.

Terrine de Couchon. (Pork terrine).  I don't think I've had a more greasy and gristly terrine since moving to Paris. It was not good. First bite I took was an edible piece of cartilage. Second bite I took was the rubbery inedible part of the skin. To add insult to injury the greasy terrine left a greasy film on my palate.  The only redeeming quality of this dish was the accompanying sour salsa, I suppose to cut the greasiness.  And, the sprinkling of cayenne or espellette, I suppose to mask the blandness of the terrine. Definitely a bad choice.





PLATS:

Blanquette de veau à l’ancienne, riz pilaf et petits oignons. (Veal stew cooked in the old style, pilaf rice and onions).  This is an old style traditional French dish. Although overall an average dish, the dish was overwhelmingly under-seasoned. I couldn't stop salting and sprinkling pepper on the dish to give it some flavor. They also had some dijon mustard on the table, and I added that too. With the addition, it was more to my liking, but overall just an average nothing dish. I now know why they had salt and pepper and mustard on the table.

Tête de veau roulée sur la langue, sauce gribiche , légumes vapeur.  (Calf's head accompanied with a typical gribiche sauce and steamed vegetables).  Another classic French dish. It was an average good dish, but it's not a WOW dish.  This dish was once again extremely under seasoned and needed salt and pepper.  And as with so many French dishes, the vegetable were just for color (eg 2 string beans and 3 small carrot bits) and not for accompaniment. 

Filet mignon.  This was best dish of all the three. The filet was cooked perfectly (medium rare) and accompanied by a terrine of potato and zucchini. Aha, this dish was actually seasoned well. The sauce actually had some flavor. It was a rich demi-glace. And, the side dish was a nice accompaniment. Overall a good dish, but nothing out of the ordinary.










DESSERTS:

Charlotte et café gourmand.  A charlotte is a type of trifle or "french tiramisu". As typical of a charlotte, this was encased in a sponge cake. The trifle in this case was flavored with raspberry. Although good it was nothing out of the ordinary.

The café gourmand had a chocolate fondant cake, a chocolate mousse and a sweet buttery cake. Although it didn't look real pretty, they were all quite good and tasty, but again nothing out of the ordinary.






SUMMARY:

The restaurant is in a great location, close to L'Opera and "Little Tokyo" (Rue Saint-Anne area). The restaurant is small, but very well packed in. The menu features classical French dishes. The grilled eggplant was good, the filet mignon was good and the desserts were good. The veal dishes were extremely under-seasoned, and my pork terrine was pretty disgusting.  On the other-hand the service was excellent. What I found interesting is they kept changing our carafe of water every few minutes or so to insure we had chilled water.  The maitre'd and our wait-person were extremely efficient and warm and inviting. It was a Friday night, but I found the noise level extremely bad. It truly was difficult to carry on a conversation.

Overall, we found the food just so underwhelming. Would we go back, probably not. For 3-people we had 3-entrées, 3-plats, 2-desserts, and 3-glasses of wine, our bill came to 103.40€.