Les Cocottes, a Christian Constant restaurant

15-20 years ago, Christian Constant, a two-star chef at the Hotel de Crillon, left his post to go off and do other things. He spawned many of Paris' most creative young chefs who also opened their own restaurants. Eric Frechon had a little place in the 19th arrondissement before being awarded three stars at the restaurant of the Hotel Bristol. Yves Camdeborde opened the wonderful La Regalade, where he reigned for several years before going off to open the wildly popular Comptoir du Relais d'Odeon--always booked and always crowded. And Thierry Faucher continues to have success with his two restaurants: L'Os à Moelle and La Cave de L'Os à Moelle.

So much wonderful food and pleasure have all these chefs brought to the Parisian population!

Over the past 10 years, Christian Constant has taken over the 130 block of the rue St Dominique with his two restaurants with one star: Le Violon d'Ingres and Les Fables de la Fontaine. But in addition we find Café Constant and Les Cocottes. Violon d'Ingres is a palace of refined cuisine and Les Fables devotes itself to fine preparations of fish. Cafe Constant and Les Cocottes are more casual restaurants where you will get wonderfully prepared French bistrot food.

Today I had a wonderful lunch at Les Cocottes. This is a very popular neighborhood restaurant which doesn't take reservations and is very crowded at the peak hours of lunch and dinner. One sits on stools at the bar or at tables behind the bar. The walls are decorated with shelves housing Constant's many cookbooks, bottles of wine, cocottes to purchase, jams. The menu is simple yet extensive with salads, verrines, cocottes appetizers and cocottes plats principals . The dessert list is long and full of delicious choices. The food served is beautiful to look at and tasty to eat.

I started with the appetizer of the day: a cocotte of oeufs brouillés with truffes. This was rich and flavorful and served with two long feuilletés with which to dip in the eggs and savor. Next came a perfectly prepared magret de canard smothered in chervil and served with a lovely jus, purée of patates douces and gaufrettes--beautiful house-made potato chips. I chose a light Burgundy wine to go with the eggs and the duck.

No one can resist dessert and although there was a lovely moelleux au chocolat that day, I opted for the fabulous tarte au chocolat de Christian Constant served with a bit of crème chantilly and caramel. The tarte was not fabulous: it was sensational!

No wonder this place is as popular as it is. So as to avoid the line at dinner, I would recommend skipping lunch and getting there at the beginning of the service. But don't put it off. Hurry to Les Cocottes and you will not be disappointed.

Walaku: Authentic Bento Restaurant; Kissaten (tea salon)

An authentic Japanese tea salon in a quiet Parisian street






I learned about Walaku from a friend and then saw a little article about it in the free magazine that we can get in the metro. It is the lunch restaurant of the 1 star Japanese Teppanyaki palace, Aida, which I must try soon. Walaku was the perfect place to go with my friend, Noriko.

We spent a lovely 90 minutes in the heart of Japan. This is an authentic fancy lunch place with wonderful service and excellent food. To start was a savoury chestnut ball sitting in a delicate vegetable broth. After that came a lovely two-tiered bento box with lobster, sea bass, sashimi of flounder clothed with silky sea urchin roe, beautifully prepared vegetables and egg. The second tier was comprised of delicious roast beef and a wonderful fresh salad.

Walaku is a tea salon for most of the day, and the teppanyaki grill is used so that the chef can create the different desserts in front of you. The specialty is dorayaki which is usually a "hamburger" of delicate cake layers filled with red bean paste. However, theirs has the delicious edition of apple pieces and marscapone cream. It reminded me of a wonderful home-made dorayaki that I had in Kurokawa Onsen in Fukuoka, Japan. In a few tastes, I was transported back there and said to myself that I must return soon. After the dorayaki came a lovely fruit gelee surrounding a bit of white bean paste. A perfect ending to an excellent lunch.

Walaku is open from Wednesday through Sunday. For the bento lunch, it is necessary to reserve but for the salon de the, no reservations are necessary.

Sot L'y Laisse

A Japanese chef who worked with Paul Bocuse in Tokyo moves to Paris and opens his own little jewel of a restaurant he calls Sot L'y Laisse.





Sot L'y Laisse is a tender cut of chicken that the stupid throw out. This is what the phrase literally means and what the chef named his restaurant. The little bit of tender chicken is hidden in the wing. I remember the wife of a 3-star French chef explaining this to me as I asked her what it meant when I saw it on their menu.

Three months ago, Eiji Doihara (who worked at Paul Bocuse in Tokyo) opened his own restaurant on a quiet street in the 11th arrondissement. There was a buzz about it right away.

I went there for dinner with my friend, Eric, and we were able to sample a number of excellent dishes on the menu. Of course, I ordered the sot l'y laisse which were prepared in a cream sauce with wild mushrooms. Eric when for the ventreche (stomach) of albacore tuna, cooked rare and served with pesto.

I saw that there was Cote de veau de lait on the menu and I asked Eric if he would order that with me. Alas, he is not a big meat eater. I was very happy when the server told me that they could prepare the dish for one. It was fabulous: a thick chop of milk-fed veal served with gratin dauphinois, a potato dish slowly baked with cream until the potatoes are tender and the top is golden brown. This was a lovely dish. Eric had a lovely cabillaud dish with vegetables flavored with orange. Also on the menu was duck breast, a turbot dish and a tempting crépinette de pied de porc au foie gras et lentilles.

With our meal we were able to order glasses of wine and I chose two Burgundies: a white Macon for the first course and a red from the South of France for the veal. We felt sated after we ate the two courses, but decided to share a dessert as so many of them were appealing to us. We opted for a light compote de poires (actually a gelée of pears) with a coffee mousse. It sounds odd but it was very delicious.

The restaurant serves a reasonable three course lunch priced at 26 euros, and the menu changes with the season.

Best Pizza in Paris

A wonderful pizzeria in St Germain des Pres



Pizza Chic in the classy neighborhood of St. Germain des Près, is a classy pizzeria--not a pizza joint. It is open 7 days a week and the pizzas are terrific. The decor is lovely with jet black tables and pristine white tile walls. The pizzaoli and oven are on view and I chose a table right in front of the oven so I could watch the action.

The menu is a basic pizza menu but the pizzas are far from that. I had the sumptuous pizza prosciutto: mozzarella, cherry tomatoes that are cooked and then covered with arugala and draped with a myriad of thin slices of prosciutto. Worth its weight in gold. Prices are steep for pizza (mine was 22 euros). There are classic Italian desserts and excellent wines and coffees. I can't wait to go back.

Two Parisian Newcomers

Two superb new (moderately priced) Parisian restaurants not to be missed: Septime and Néva Cuisine







Excellent! Excellent! Excellent! That is what I wrote in my journal about every dish I had at Septime. In four short months, Bertrand Grébaut's addition to Parisian restaurants has become swamped with calls. He is definitely a chef with a stellar career ahead. Formerly, Grébaut worked at Arpège and then opened his own Agapé where he earned one Michelin star at the age of 27. Before opening Septime, he took a year's sabbatical in Japan in order to hone his taste buds and skills. The lunch menu is a mere 26 euros for three delicious courses (including wine or bottled water). You can accompany your meal with a choice of organic wines. At night, the menu is more elaborate and includes a five-course "chef's choice" for 55 euros. Prices are extremely reasonable for this caliber of food.

My friend, Gaby and I went there for a simple yet spectacular lunch in mid-July. Velouté de haricots verts, pêche (blanche) et sésame started off the meal. This was a lovely mousse de pêche shaped like a peach with toasted sesame seeds, white peach slices and pourpier (a succulent green) as garnish in a wonderful green bean soup. Gaby chose a lovely lentil salad with toasts, panoufle, and eggs that was light and flavorful. (Panoufle is a juicy part of the lamb belly and a favorite cut of the chef.) We were both tempted by the same main course: grilled baby duck with eggplant, caramelized endives and a purée of eggplant. The house wine was delicious. To close the meal we each had a dark chocolate mousse with a whipped coffee cream and a mint sorbet. What a superb luncheon for such a small price.

A second visit for lunch showed that the kitchen is consistently excellent, the food creative and delicious and the service friendly and efficient. The staff seems to be very happy to be working in such a well-received restaurant.

Dinner is more elaborate with more courses and costs 55 euros.

I can always count on my dentist, Dr. Marzouk, to steer me to a good place. Recently, he wrote to me about Néva Cuisine. Written up in Le Monde, it has already developed a good following.

The room is inviting and the service very friendly. On the evening I went there with my friend, Eric, I chose a very rich but delicious meal. The menu is 34 euros for three courses without beverages. I started off with Gnocchetti al verde, St. Jacques, émulsion parmesan. The parmesan cream with the baby scallops was nothing short of a miracle. The flavors married beautifully but the gnocchetti made the dish a bit too heavy.

As there were sweetbreads (ris de veau) on the menu, I unfortunately could not resist. Perhaps this sounds strange to you but I do adore the way the French prepare this dish. The sweetbreads were crisp on the outside and creamy within and served with a sauté of wild mushrooms.

Eric skipped the appetizer and went right for a dish of fresh flash-grilled scallops with grilled cèpes flavored with tonka seed--a flavorful bean that is often ground and added to chocolate. It has been used as a substitute for vanilla. The tonka added an exotic flavor to the perfectly prepared scallops.

I could not resist an incredible dessert (after watching the show at a neighboring table): La Sphère déstucturée chocolat Samana pur origine ananas confit aux épices douces. Please see my review of Alinea for a terrible version of same.

To the table came a large dark chocolate sphere but this time, it was filled with ice cream, bits of cookies, pieces of pineapple in dark chocolate and whipped cream. The waiter poured a wonderful warm dark chocolate sauce over it. The sphere fell apart into its delectable glory. It was spectacular. Eric chose the dessert of the day which was a wonderful baba au rhum with a small bowl of whipped cream on the side.

What a delight that so many creative young chefs in Paris are forging their way to become the next starred restaurants. I have a feeling that Grébaut of Septime will have a Bib Gourmand and then a star before too long.

Spring!!

"Spring" has blossomed into quite a wonderful modern French restaurant







Several years ago, a friend from Tokyo read a review in Japanese Elle about the restaurant, Spring. She called from Japan to make a reservation and had great difficulty securing a table--so in demand was this restaurant. She had to book very far in advance but with this reservation, she asked if I wanted to join her. Always interested in tracking down new desirable places, I was happy to accompany her.

I could not have been more disappointed. The restaurant had just 16 seats and was not separate from the kitchen. There was no wait staff to speak of. There was a set menu but each dish was prepared individually so that the time between courses was excruciatingly long. That night, it was particularly hot and unbearably humid in Paris (it was mid-July) and all I could think about was air conditioning. And to top it off, the food was over-salted and difficult to eat. I said to myself that sometimes fad restaurants are just hype. This was certainly a place to avoid.

Fast forward 8 years and I noticed a rave review of Spring in a reputable travel magazine. Spring had just moved to new beautiful quarters near the Louvre. Yes, it is hard to book, but the article had nothing but praise for Spring's chef, Daniel Rose (from Chicago) whose creative and smooth touch with ingredients make magic on the plate. I said to myself that perhaps things had changed over the years and decided to try it again.

Friends were coming in from the states and I thought this would be the occasion to go there. Once I made the reservation, I was asked for my email address and was put on a very special mailing list.

Even before the dinner, I received a message about a "lobster sandwich afternoon". I have such fond memories of going to a north shore suburb of Boston to a particular crab shack on the beach where I could get the best lobster roll in the world: meaty and juicy lobster, just a hint of mayonnaise, some celery and a buttered doughy toasted hotdog roll--pure bliss!

I signed up for the Spring Lobster Sandwich Day and was not at all disappointed. Although the atmosphere was no shack on the beach, the caliber of the roll was up to par. And with it, came the most delicious frites a la graisse d'oie (fries made in duck fat). This was heaven on earth. Daniel went around the room later and offered us pieces of his delicious tarte fine aux pommes. The atmosphere was fun and friendly and the meal an A+.

Needless to say, I was very excited to go to Spring for the real deal. Again, the kitchen is in the room but the tables are well spaced. The decor is modern and sparse, the room comfortable and the atmosphere quiet and refined. Staff is ubiquitous and proud of the food they are serving. There is a set menu of five courses for 75 euros.

Our meal was beautiful, well balanced and flavorful--such a difference from my first experience which had faded far into the background as soon as the first small dishes appeared at our table. Home made rolls came with herb butter and accompanied the several petites amuse-bouches that we were immediately served.: seabream sashimi with ashes of leek; wonderful grilled rosy basque shrimp; a small dish of crab, grapefruit and slivers of rye toast; celeri rave and black truffle in truffle broth.

Our first course was raw and fried oyster (superb) in veal broth with mustard greens and crunchy radish.

Next came lightly seared scallops with watercress, turnip and fuji apple foam--a delightful combination of flavors and textures. With the fish we had a bottle of the lovely white Burgundy, Saint Romain 2010. (I was, alas, too involved with all the flavors to note the particular producer.)

This was followed by succulent agneau de lait: perfectly pink, perfectly prepared, perfectly delicious. Velvety foie gras was served with a confiture of quince and a cabbage crepe filled with foie gras. With our meat, I chose glasses of Nuits St. Georges Les Terrasses des Vallerots, Bertrand Marchand de Gramont.

For the sweets came several small dishes of fruits: pear compote with goat cheese sorbet topped with flecks of dark chocolate; clementine jelly with chestnut cream and a chestnut crisp; olive oil tartes and luscious caramel-pecan tartes. A truly splendid meal which was delightful from start to finish.

Spring hosts wine tastings either in the restaurant or in its shop across the street. At lunch during the week, there is a 12 euro peasant soup: full of chicken and vegetables in a heady broth. And then there are those spectacular specialty days when a particular dish is show-cased. I will be sure to attend those as they come up.

New York's Wonderful Per Se

The New York Times' best restaurant in NY. I say best in the USA.




A few days before I went to Per Se, Sam Sifton wrote his last article as food critic for the New York Times and proclaimed that Per Se is the best restaurant in New York.

The other four-star restaurants in the city certainly deserve their stars and their renown, but I am going to have to agree with him about Per Se. I had the best meal there that I have ever had in the USA.

The restaurant has only 16 tables and they seat just 8 tables at the first seating, adding more tables 1 1/2 hours into the meal. As a result, the service is very attentive, and with so few tables, it is difficult to get a seat. It took me years to land an 11:30 am table on a Sunday morning and I was thrilled to be there. The welcome is warm, dignified and informal at the same time. The staff communicate the feeling that they are very happy to welcome you to what is bound to be a memorable experience.

The chef, Thomas Keller, worked in NY at Rakel over twenty years ago. When I went there, I "courageously" ordered rabbit and then dared to go up to him as he made his way around the diningroom. Not very successful in NY at that time, he then moved to the Napa Valley where he opened The French Laundry. This restaurant was considered the best in the country in the '90's. I went there in October, 1999 and even at that time it was a challenge to get a reservation. The meal was exquisite and delicious, and because I had come from Paris and the maître d'hôtel was French, I got to go into the kitchen and meet Keller. He opened Per Se in New York several years ago and from the very beginning has had nothing but praise and success.

Some of his signature dishes are on the menu: a small cone of smoked salmon tartare and crème fraîche to get you started, followed by the wonderful Oysters and Pearls: a sabayon of velvety pearl tapioca, filled with poached creek oysters and white sturgeon caviar. The textures and flavors make this dish a stunner.

Everything is perfect, from the variety of breads and butters to the unassuming way the wine is served. As I was alone, the sommelier showed me the "wines by the glass" list and we talked about the best choices for my meal. There was no pressure to buy a very expensive wine and those that we chose married beautifully with my dishes.

Next on the menu came the Peach Palm Salad which tasted like spring. It consisted of French breakfast radishes, baby herbs, Hawaiian hearts of palm, compressed apples and peach tendrils. Apparently peach palm is very rare: tender spears that grow out of the hearts of palm.

Long Island Striped Bass was a tasty and complex dish. The fish is wrapped in garlic sausage and served with a garlicky vinegar and creamy mashed potatoes--quintessential French food. After that, the succulent Poached Lobster garnished with honey-poached cranberries (which added some acidity), pumpkin porridge and seeds and black truffles was a total delight for the taste buds and the eyes. The dish was arrayed with a variety of colorful vegetables and herbs as garnish.

There were two meat courses: Wildflower Honey-glazed Pekin Duck with caramelized Mission fig, ravioli of toasted pistachios, and topped with a foie gras mignonette: an ode to autumn.

In fact all of the courses were so well-conceived, so perfect, that they took my attention away from the lovely flavorful wines that so harmoniously accompanied them.

The last main course before the myriad of desserts was an Herb Roasted Alysian Fields Farm's Lamb that came with navel orange confit, caramelized Belgian endive, a bit of bacon, almond and toasted cauliflower florets. Magnificent!

A small cheese course of local Kinderhook Creek's cheeses followed with garnishes such as San Marzano tomato marmelade, roasted eggplant, espelette (a spicy pepper from Southern France), and romaine spears.

Huckleberry sorbet and muffins with a red wine granité was a refreshing introduction to other sweets. Thomas Keller serves his rendition of S'mores which are not only superb but elegant, and Coffee and Donuts (irresistible cappuccino chocolate mousse with warm brioche donuts coated with coconut and sugar). There were chocolates to choose from, candies and finally, a popcorn sherbet with a white chocolate coating.

The meal, superbly paced and balanced, made me feel satisfied and happy--not overly full. Expensive as it was, it was worth every penny for the quality of the cuisine, the excellent service and the sublime food experience.

The maître d'hôtel had the chef (Keller was not in the kitchen this time) sign my menu and invited me into the kitchen to meet him and take pictures. They really did make me feel that they were as happy to have someone like me (interested enough in their art to come and appreciate a meal alone) as I was to be there.