Jones - Dem Bones, Dem Jones

Me and the Moose out on the town
again, checking out the latest hotspot - we are so trendy - BUT, really an old hotspot.  What?  Come on, you probably already know that an old Paris Restaurants and BEYOND favorite, Bones, is no longer -BUT, has been transformed by the same team into an all-day cafe in the morning, lunch specials in the afternoon, and amazing tapas in the evening kind of place.  I miss dem Bones, dem Bones, but Jones represents a satisfying alternative, a LOT better than nothing.

Moose and I (if you prefer) hit Jones on a good night - the place wasn't packed and the vibe was mellow and laid back.  Our servers tried their hardest to convince us that the tapas were to be shared, but I would have none of that because that's the kind of guy I am.  Mine, mine, mine.  But I'm not THAT horrible - I did offer Moose an ample sampling of my copious smoked mozzarella focaccia dish, but he politely declined.  Other standouts during our visit included the chinchard dish - a mackerel-like fish prepared almost like a ceviche, the moules au gratin, and the rabbit dish.  Moose still doesn't get the concept of "you're in France, dessert is not an option, it is a requirement,' so it was only yours truly who got to benefit from the exquisite (I love that word) chocolate ganache.  Everything savory, flavorful, fresh, interesting.

We finished up with some after-dinner drinks to wash down the bottle of red, Moose opting for another Agent Provocateur and me following the server's advice to check out a cognac that had just come in and it was epic, and I'm usually not a big cognac drinker.  Stupid me, I forgot the name.  At any rate, I didn't forget to snap the carte, so this is what the reasonably-priced, nicely-sized tapas dishes included during the evening of our visit:

 

Click to enlarge

Finally, there are two ways to look at the Jones carte de visite - as a witty, retro attempt at humor or as a 'we're too cheap to print up new cards until we use up all the old ones' ploy.  You decide:

B becomes J, sort of.

All told, 6 tapas dishes, a €28 bottle of wine, 2 beers, one cognac, and one espresso came to a total of €106, a pretty good deal if I say so myself.


JONES 
43 rue Godefroy Cavaignac
Paris 11
tel.: 09 80 75 32 08
website:  http://www.jonescaferestaurant.com/

UPDATE: May 2016

You've already noticed that my previous Jones post lacked incredibly tantalizing photos of the food, so here I am back, with photos in tow, after last Friday evening's dinner.  You know how it is when I get together with the Moose - he distracts me from the business at hand with excessive alcohol consumption and stimulating conversation.  Not that Co. doesn't offer those very same welcome distractions, but, well, I'm really getting off topic here - what do you care about that stuff?  So assuming it's the food that has brought you to this post and not my conversation partners, here are some images from the return visit to Jones, as satisfying as the first, and perhaps more so.

The carte - click it and it becomes readable

All of a sudden green asparagus is everywhere in Paris - this is the dish with the eel sauce and was pretty good.

Keeping with the eel theme - with radishes and beets, another combo that is popping up in Paris, and why not?

This canard dish was really the highlight of the meal - duck in two facons with cherries.

Dessert 1 - fiadon et frais  - just okay

Dessert 2 - the financier, much more to my liking.  Your eyes do not deceive - that is a chipped bowl, reflective of the rather informal personality of the restaurant.

They take bread seriously at Jones, with the servers cutting from various loaves throughout the evening.

The wine - a poor choice recommended by our Kirsten Dunst lookalike waitress.

Co. and I shared these dishes, as the restaurant intends, bringing the total with one espresso at the end to an extremely reasonable 86 euros.  We seriously debated another dish, but what you see above basically did the job for two diners, although another one - the bulots were tempting - wouldn't have broken the bank, or our stomachs.

A wall not too far from Jones.

2015 - Unforgettable

Le Carillon - 1 week after the attack

Little did we expect at the start of 2015 that such  beloved Parisian (and beyond) pastimes as lingering outside at a cafe with friends or a relaxed dinner in a restaurant would suddenly become matters of life and death.  Unfortunately, that's the new reality and 2015's bad news, and though it shouldn't be forgotten, there was also quite a bit of good news on the restaurant front during the past year.

The bad news came to me and Co. around the time we were ordering dessert on the Friday evening of the Paris terrorist attacks at An Di An Di ('go on, eat' in Vietnamese), a small restaurant that sits on a corner of the quiet rue du Liban.  Our hostess/waitress shared the vague (and tragically unfolding, as it turned out) news that a neighbor had imparted minutes earlier about some shootings around Republique.  It was only when we got home and turned on the news that we realized that some of the attacks were one metro stop from An Di An Di's closest station, Menilmontant, albeit far enough that we didn't hear anything.  We considered our luck at not having chosen to dine, as we usually do on Friday evenings, in the neighborhood that was hit - at one of our favorites like Septime, Villaret, Waly Fay, or the like.  Having attended, like most music addicts, the Bataclan on previous occasions, I also thanked my lucky stars I wasn't a fan of Eagles of Death Metal.

Inside tiny An Di An Di - you couldn't exactly feed an army

An di An Di turned out to be a nice find - some original Vietnamese dishes on a limited menu that didn't exactly bowl me over, and wasn't as cheap as some online reviews promised, but clearly warranted a second visit.

 2015 Highlights

There were some real dining highlights during the year and I'm looking forward to taking advantage of some new personal discoveries in 2016.  In order of preference, although I preferred them all:

Pierre Sang on Gambey (2 visits) / Pierre Sang in Oberkampf (1 visit)

Les Deserteurs (3 visits)

Louis (1 visit)

Neige d'été (1 visit)

No question that Les Deserteurs and the two Pierre Sangs have risen to the top of my favorite restaurants list.  Inventive, constantly changing cuisine, informative servers, unique ingredients, great ambiance, all at reasonable prices - what more can you ask for except for more of the same in 2016.  We had a reservation at Pierre Sang on Gambey with friends exactly one week after the Paris attacks - along the way we passed a couple makeshift memorials in the neighborhood.  Everyone was understandably on edge, but the fantastic meal was cathartic.

Les Deserteur's lotte - one of the best dishes I experienced in 2015

 

Nege d'ete's colorful salmon and flowers appetizer

A great dessert at Les Deserteurs in December

Another great dessert at Les Deserteurs in December (less blurry in person)

2016 Lowlights

Co. and I experienced a few big disappointments during the year - highly praised restaurants that didn't come close to our expectations.  Three that stood out in particular were Yard (6 rue Mont-Louis in the 11th), Gare au Gorille (68, rue des Dames in the 17th, in the shadow of Gare St. Lazare), and Pantruche (3, rue Victor Masse in the 9th).  There were a couple pretty good dishes at Yard, but the ambiance was a turnoff, the servers unhelpful, and I can't think of much that would move me to recommend that you eat there.  They have a wine bar next door that might be a better idea for schmoozing with friends, though don't quote me on that.  I was hoping for the shared duck dish during the trip to Gare au Gorille with Co., but that item was replaced on the carte during the evening of our visit by a shared pigeon.  The pigeon was tasty but unspectacular.  Maybe we just picked the wrong day to visit - I would have loved to have eaten at the Gare au Gorille that was described in le Fooding's review.  With two alums from Septime, it's probably unfair to write off Gorille after one disappointing visit, so I might give it another shot in 2016.  As for Pantruche, I can't explain the buzz about the place at all.  The meal was underwhelming and they sit you along a row of tables way too close for comfort.

2015's Most Memorable Meal

Hands down, this would have to be the Sept. 1st dinner with the Moose at Vilia, mine and Co's preferred Italian restaurant in Paris.  Maxi Silvetti was shutting down his restaurant for his end of summer congé and promising to open up a venue in San Francisco.  I don't know whatever happened to those plans, but as the only patrons (at least until a party of four occupied a second table a couple hours later), we were rewarded with Maxi's undivided attention.  To say the atmosphere was 'loose' would be an understatement, replete with plenty of gossip about some of Paris's noteworthy chefs.  Maxi promised a dinner composed of whatever they had left in the kitchen and the meal was epic, including a caille dish that was so good we had seconds.  Before too long, after finishing off our second bottle of wine, the hour grew late, a couple of Maxi's friends showed up, the music got a little louder, and everyone started imbibing Maxi's extremely potent gin martinis until the wee hours of the morning.  I don't remember much happening after that other than a trip in a cab to get home and a two-day massive hangover, but the evening was, how shall I say?  Ah yes, unforgettable.

Vilia's caille - so good, we had a second serving

Vilia's panacotta hibiscus et glace aux raisins de muscat - and I thought I didn't like panacotta

Owner-chef Maxi showing off his 'Born to Cook' tat (after a few martinis)

Owner-chef Maxi showing off one of his favorite knives (because I asked)

 Year of the Soft-Shell Crab

 Well, not really the year of, but for the first time since I relocated to Paris, I had not one, but two, servings of soft-shell crabs, although neither actually happened in Paris.  Some history, first - as a native Baltimorean (US, state of Maryland, think John Waters), I covet, dream about, and avidly search out steamed and soft-shell crabs.  But other than Asian restaurants, I know not how one can come by such dishes in the French capital.  Maybe you know, and if you do, please share.  At any rate, the first soft-shell crabs dish I experienced in 2015 was served at Farang, a top-notch Asian fusion restaurant in Helsinki.  Nowhere as good as the real thing out of the Chesapeake Bay, but I wasn't complaining.  The second serving occurred at L'éléphant Blanc in the Paris suburb Noisy-le-Grand.  Also nowhere as good as the soft-shells of my youth, but again, I didn't complain.

Farang's (Helsinki, Finland) soft-shell crabs appetizer

 2015's Weirdest Development

The bad news came around summertime that one of Paris's best, Bones, was closing its doors in August, and then the good news came in December that Bones was reopening on January 5th as Jones Café Restaurant, with the same team in the kitchen.  Which begs the question - what was the point?

2013 - End of the Line

As the hours tick down to Jan. 1, it's time to put a wrap on 2013.  I had a bad feeling about '13' last year at this time and I was right.  Was 2013 a shitty year or what?  Anyway, as commissioner, owner, president, and CEO of this here  restaurant blog, it is my duty to provide my readers with something I am sure they are waiting for regarding 2013 - closure.  So without further adieu, some highlights and lowlights, from my own personal, egocentric, and biased perspective.  I promise to keep this short and sweet and keep my fingers crossed for good things in 2014.

• Bones - despite all the hype, I liked this new entry into the Paris bar/tapas/bistrot scene anyway.  Co. was less than impressed, but I'm looking forward to a return trip.

• Alain Milliat - way over there near the Eiffel Tower, this venue has a lot of potential.  Small but innovative dishes.

• 6 Paul Bert - Paul Bert has expanded into more gastronomic country.  This may have been my  favorite new venue of the year.

• For tapas, Mary Celeste rose to the top of the list.  Innovative food and drinks, lively place.  Braisenville didn't reach those heights, but there's something intriguing about braised tapas.

• L'Apibo - enjoyable late summer dinner, bears watching.

• The grilled fish in Lisbon.  I want more.

•  Les Caves du Roy (31 Rue Simart, 75018 Paris) - finally I find a place that sells bitters for my martinis.  And where else in Paris can you find Aviation, Citadelle, and 6 Ravens gins (for the martinis)?  And speaking of the Ravens - the ones from Baltimore, that is - thanks for bringing the Lombardi trophy back to my original starting point Baltimore (Super Bowl 2013).

• The Splendid Table - with nothing else to listen to on the radio on Sunday mornings, this show really fills a void (via TuneIn's WNYC feed on my tablet).  Lynne Rossetto Kasper's laugh and other vocal mannerisms are nerve wrenching, but boy does she know food, or does she know food?  http://www.splendidtable.org/

• My new Fang laptop and Nexus 7 tablet.

• Old favorite: Les Magnolias. . . keep on truckin'.

• Le Gaigne - RIP.  Why, why, why?  Please come back, as you promise online.

• La Gazzetta - au revoir chef Petter Nilsson, who returns to Sweden.  Bienvenue to  Luigi Nastri, who has big shoes to fill

• Mansouri - I remember when this was a very good couscous restaurant.  Not any more.

• Mama Shelter - interesting place, lively bar, blah food.

• Septime - such a great restaurant, such a nightmare to reserve.

Au Revoir 2013, less than 7 hours to go.  And don't come back.

Bones - Skeletal Remains

So Co. and I finally got around to another much talked about neobistrot/wine bar in the 11th - quite simply, Bones, as in bare bones, dem bones: unadorned decor, stoney walls, basic ingredients.  King of the B's - beards (scruffy), boys (servers, save the one female on the waitstaff who was busily carving up a suckling pig at the bar), BO(effin)HEMIA.  I put my straightedge on the shelf last month and so fit right in amidst all the scruffiness.  If I didn't know better, I would have thought I had taken a time machine back to Seattle grunge.  Walk right in, sit right down at the wine bar in front or one of the little tables to while away an hour or two with your homies, washing down some oysters, jambon jambon, or the aforementioned pig, with a well-appointed, all-natural red or white.  Or, like us, reserve a table in the spatially challenged raised dining area and work your way through the server rotation.

Florent Ciccoli's venue, manned in the kitchen by Aussie chef (via Au Passage) James Henry (pictured), offers a bare-boned 4 plate tasting menu (40€; add 8€ for a cheese course), with a couple tasty amuse bouches to start.  For the evening of our visit, the menu belied the slowly unfolding Paris spring, with the obligatory May offerings of asparagus, oursin, and miel.  (Yes, it does snow in Paris, but not in May.) Noisy, but not overly so, I never could quite figure out what music was filtering out from the back amidst all the surrounding albeit low-key chatter.  But no need to further aggrandize, extemporize, improvise, or existentialize, we're talking Bones, so just the facts, Jack.


Interior:

 

 

 

The Carte:
 (click to enlarge)

Amuse Bouche 1:  oursin, ricotta, & oyster

                                       
 Amuse Bouche 2:  broth with smoked eel

1st course:  bonite, petits-pois, cresson

2nd course:  Asperge d'argenteuil, seiche, encre

 

3rd course:  Cabillaud (in lieu of the veau basque, the latter of which underwhelmed Co.):

4th course:  miel, noisette, lait de chevre

 

The verdict is a split decision - thumbs up from your's truly and a thumb horizontal from Co.  Bones comes off a bit like Chateaubriand's younger brother, energetically emulating but falling short of equaling the old pro.  Still, I had an enjoyable evening - the bonito and fish were really excellent, the bread homemade, the vibe hip, and the wine suitably imbibing - a reasonably priced Roussilon, aptly named (given the Aussie chef) HOP La Laffite (26€).  My guess is that it won't take much arm-twisting to drag Co. along for a return visit when, I am sure, it will be much more difficult to reserve.

BONES

43 rue Godefroy Cavaignac

Paris 75011

tel: 09 80 75 32 08

website: pretty much useless