Aux Plumes - Intriguing Discovery

I've long been intrigued by the tiny little storefront restaurant that I passed numerous times on rue Boulard in the 14th.  This is for a couple of reasons: I was always hungry at the time, that time essentially being lunchtime, and the place looked so nondescript from the outside that I figured that something interesting must be going on inside.  A nameless facade often belies a magical cuisine, and that is what Co. and I discovered during our dinner at Aux Plumes last Friday evening.

Good vibes from the outset - a warm greeting by the hostess and a nice discussion about Spanish wines with the server/sommelier.  The 22 seats were filled pretty quickly, by which time we had already commenced the dégustation of six courses - 3 éntrees + 1 poisson + 1 viande +1 dessert.  Throw in an interesting amuse bouche (rillettes
d'espadon on thinly sliced, buttered pieces of baguette) and you have an incredible deal at 50€ a pop.  I chose one of those Spanish wines that are rarely seen on a French carte, an Aleceno Twelve from the Murcia region (32€), and as promised, it was puissant, corsé, and really, really good.

Aux Plumes is another one of those Paris neo-bistros helmed by an Asian  - in this case, Japanese - chef.  Here you will find behind the counter in the spatially impaired open kitchen in the rear of the restaurant Kazuhiro Fujieda, who previously worked at L'Arpege and Chamarré Montmartre and who not surprisingly infuses his dishes with Asian textures.  Aux Plumes is conveniently located next door to the Desnoyer butcher shop, where Monsieur Kazuhiro gets his meats.  The room itself is minimalist Asian, with bare white walls, wooden tables, and brown leather banquettes.  

Chef Fujieda (Source: http://sortir.telerama.fr/paris/lieux/restos/aux-plumes,30490.php)

The menu changes regularly according to the season and what is fresh in the market that day, but here's a rundown of our meal.

Entree 1 : This was a tantalizing French onion soup, comprised of a portion of red onion and a healthy slab of foie gras.  Aux Plumes had me at the soup. 

 

Entree 2:  Carpaccio de thon, flowers, red caramelized onion, and cranberry powder - wow.

Entree 3:  Calamar with petit pois, and don't quote me on this, but I think I think that's a cushion of white asparagus cream.

Poisson :  Panga with wild asparagus and chorizo - as good as it looks.

Meat :  Coquelet a la vanille with caramelized Roscoff onions an thin mushroom slices on a bed of green asparagus (this being the season of the asparagus and all)

Dessert:  Mousse de chocolat blanc, mostarda de céleri  rouge et granité de Yuzu.  Need I say more?

If your appetite is smaller, there is a 38€ dinner menu option, and the possibility of an 18€ lunch, which I fully intend to take advantage of the next time I pass 45 rue Boulard around lunchtime.  That lunch has to be one of the best deals in Paris.  Aux Plumes recently received a shout-out from Telerama Sortir, so it should now be tougher to snag a table.  That means you should be sure to reserve a week in advance.  I noticed several people pass the restaurant during our visit who appeared equally intrigued to discover, but once the two small outdoor tables were filled, they were turned away.  Better luck next time. 

Total price for a really terrific dinner: 134.50 (one espresso included)


AUX PLUMES
45 rue Boulard
75014 Paris
tel. 01 53 90 76 22
web:  https://www.facebook.com/Restaurant-aux-Plumes

Tues. - Sat. 12h-14h15 et 19h30-22h30


Springtime in Paris, as seen through the window of Aux Plumes.

Biondi - No Clowning Around

Named after a famous Argentine clown (we had to ask), Fernando De Tomaso's Biondi is a great find in the 11th, an Argentine restaurant where non-meat items vie with the more obvious meats.  Working the room along with a couple assistants, Fernando De Tomaso, the chef and owner of La Pulperia (sadly, not yet reviewed here) has created a good vibe in a handsome space.  If I was going to open a bistrot, god forbid, this is pretty close to what my fabulous place would look like: stone walls, mirrors, wooden tables, a small tiled bar, an open kitchen -- a nifty combination of modern and rustic, kind of like the food.

 

 

On a nice Fall Friday evening, Co. and I pondered this carte, which unfortunately was all a la carte, my only real gripe of the evening.  As you should know by now, clicking on the image will actually make it readable, more or less:

After a spirited amuse bouche of poultry/porc terrine, accompanied by a basket of terrific country bread, Co. and I decided to play the paupers and split an entree, the poulpe a la braise-choux rouge, pomme de terre, Kalmata (16€).  Very nice.

Poulpe entree

Later in the evening, I noticed that one of the two young gentlemen sitting at the table to my right had a much larger portion, with some poulpe actually encroaching on the yang part to my yin.  I was pretty upset about that until I heard the words "double portion," which put me back at ease, although the wine ( a 27€ Bicicleta pinot noir) was doing a pretty good job of that anyway.

For the main dish, I opted for the chicken, or in more familiar terms, the volaille de bresse croustillant with betterave, epinard, and truffe de bourgogne (30€).  Bear in mind, I was interested in how this was prepared - chicken breast, thigh, bones, etc., but my bemused waiter took me aback by asking, 'what do you mean, how is it prepared?'  WTF?  Well, excusez-moi for asking, although I did learn that Bresse is an area of France near the Rhône-Alpes region.  Which also told me that the folks behind Biondi go to the market, including the Marche d'Aligre Beauvau off rue de Cotte, in the morning for fresh produce and vegetables.

At any rate, the chicken dish was first rate.  I was underwhelmed when it was brought to the table, but once into it, the little mountain of beets and spinach unraveled to reveal two pieces of chicken differently cooked   than the thin piece of breast that was more apparent.  Together, the combination was perfectly prepared and interesting.

Main dish - volaille, beets, spinach

Co., by contrast, a regular habitue of Buenos Aires, went with real meat - the wild boar dish - sanglier a la braise, chou rouge, and chataigne - accompanied by potatoes and the other items listed on the menu, including chimichurri, one of my favorite sauces and one of the main reason I go along for the ride with Co. to tango country, although it wasn't very evident in the dish (28€).

Now, bear in mind that the only time I've ever been around wild boar is when I attend sporting matches, only in those cases, boar is spelled boor.  Co., on the other hand, knows her sanglier, but not this time.  She had to ask the waiter if they hadn't made a mistake.  No, madame, was the answer, this was a special meat purchased at the market earlier in the day and 100% wild boar.  Don't get me wrong, Co. thoroughly enjoyed the dish, and discovered that, like snowflakes, not all wild boars are alike.

Main dish - sanglier, chou rouge, chataigne

For dessert, we went with the first two of three on the carte.  My nougat glace (8€) was hands down the best I've ever had, and I've had some pretty good ones over the years.  More nutty than fruity, and more copious than the photo suggests, plenty for Co. to test.  Co. had no complaints regarding the declinaison, which hit all the right notes (10€).

Dessert - an epic, homemade nougat glace

Dessert - declinaison de dulce de leche, glace, mousse

Even a la carte, the final price, including one cafe at the end, was more than reasonable, clocking in at 122€.  Biondi hits the spot on Amelot.  Relaxed atmosphere, but serious business, no clowning around.  And before I forget, you can reserve an upstairs room for a special party or two.












BIONDI

118 rue Amelot
75011 Paris
tel. 01 47 00 90 18
web: www.facebook.com/restaurantblondi

Le Galopin - 2 for 2

No sense rehashing my review from January.  Another visit last night and I can simply leave it at 'ditto.'  Me and Co., two for two - two great meals at Le Galopin.  Doesn't sound like much, but the maquereau, feve, and pamplemousse was awesome.

 

This would be the fixed menu - click and it gets a lot bigger.

UPDATE ALERT!

Make that 3 for 3 - with Moose in tow for an early May, 

mid-week dinner, this may have been the best yet.  Here are shots of 

three of the dishes:

 

bonito

asperges et saint-pierre 

canard

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.

Dix-Huit - No Name Goes Bourgeouis

One last dinner in Paris before the Moose goes globe-trotting for the summer and he picked a good one, Dix-Huit, the restaurant whose 'name' is the street number so you won't get lost in the upscale Ternes area in the 17th.  Don't let the neighborhood fool you, Dix-Huit/18 is affordable, despite not having a fixed-price 'menu,' something that I don't think I'll ever understand.

Chef Aaron Isap on the right

Inside Dix-Huit, obviously

       The two-roomed restaurant is the domain of Julien Peret and his the Flipino chef Aaron Isap, the latter having worked his way through Apicius, Drouant, Ze Kitchen Galerie and Pan, which is pretty amazing given that he looks like he's maybe 21 (or should I say 18?).  I didn't detect much of an Asian influence in the dishes, as I had been led to expect, but Isap is adventurous enough to keep things interesting - according to him, during his visit to our table when he made the rounds late in the meal - the menu changes daily. 

The restaurant's decor and arrangement are a bit odd - perhaps a matter of taste - we were ushered into the brightly lit back room, with its resemblance to a terrace: an atrium-like roof and an ambiance that suggested lab room with plants.  By mid-evening, the lights dimmed, the tables filled, and things became a bit more copacetic, notwithstanding the New York couple at the table next to ours who kept apologizing for listening in to the fascinating and provocative conversation typical of Moose and my interactions, but then went on to add their two sense nonetheless.  C'est la vie, as they say here.


Given that the carte changes daily, the following won't be of much use to you, but below you'll see what the offerings looked like the mid-week evening of our dinner:

Click on photo to enlarge

And here is the translation, in pictures:

This white asparagus dish, perhaps the tastiest of the evening, was comped to us by chef Isap - what can I say, the Moose is connected

My Crudo de Doraude entree was more pleasing to the eye than to the tongue - good, but nothing spectacular (9€)

The Moose was more than satisfied with this tartare de veau entree (11€)

My main dish - pintade with radishes - coulda been a contendah, but the betterave (?) accompaniment didn't really work for me.  The meat was excellent, though.  (23€)

Opting out of dessert, ever mindful that such extravagances could multiply any ill effects of his copious lager drinking on non-dinner out evenings, the Moose savored his lieu jaune (19€) and watched me dig into my espuma cafe  (9€).

This rather mundane looking dessert grew more interesting and tastier the deeper I dug, as I hit the pistachios.  Wouldn't mind another of these babies

The verdict is more a pretty good than a spectacular.  However, given the ever-changing menu and chef Isap's experimental nature, Dix-Huit certainly warrants a return visit, probably with the ever-discerning Co. in tow.  I'll keep you posted (which is why they call these things 'posts').


DIX-HUIT / 18
18 (you guessed it) rue Bayen
75017 Paris

From the restaurant's website

Le Servan - In With A Bang, Out With A Whimper

The nondescript facade of Le Servan, a converted coffee bar in the animated 11th belies a terrific, popular bistro, where Co. and I enjoyed an Indian summer Friday night dinner.  Sisters Katia and Tatiana Levha's hotspot features an ever-changing daily menu with Asian/French flair and the two sport hefty pedigrees in their kitchen bios.  Like nearly all the Parisian neo-bistrots, this one is small, but not as small as the 20-seater claimed on other sites.  One diner-like booth, several square tables, and a 4-seater bar can cram at least 30 for each of the two nightly servings.  The original hand-painted ceilings left intact, some mirrors, and a lot of windows facing the busy intersection of Chemin Vert and St. Maur, the atmosphere is anything but stuffy, and as long as you are able to let the din of a heavy contingent of high-volume American hipsters, gays, and twangy young coeds, you'll be able to concentrate on the food, which bears attention.

 

No fixed menu this time, instead you can pick from among four categories, zakouski (Greek, don't ask me why other than I guess it's hipper to say zakouski than mise en bouche), entrees, plats, and desserts.  Hedonistic splurgers if anything, we tackled each category, starting off with a bang (yes, the one in this post's title) - Asian-infused miniature shrimps with curry leaves (?) in a sauce reminiscence of Tonkatsu sauce, and a plate of soft, grilled peppers, salted and rolled in olive oil and cumin.  These were fiercely good - I could have taken two or three more helpings of each, along with Servan's excellent bread and wine - a reasonably priced Le Phacomochère (a coarse, spicy La Sorga Languedoc 37€), and this would have been one of my best meals of the year.  I'm really curious how another zakouski option - bulots and piments - was conjured.

Zakouski 1: tiny shrimps, 9€ (click to enlarge this or any of the other photos you see here)

Zakouski 2: peppers, 6€ - you eat these with your fingers, no one will mind

If the starters were superb, the entrees were excellent, a ceviche de lieu jaune (my favorite) and a calamar, pea pods, and cucumber dish.

Calamar, pea pods, cucumber 13€

 

Ceviche de lieu jaune, red onions, cucumber and red berries 12€

If the starters were superb, the entrees were excellent, the plats were pretty good - canard and lotte, both heavy on the cauliflower, respectively, below.

Canard, 24€

Lotte, 25€

If the starters were superb, etc. etc., the shared dessert was a disappointment - a tarte with red fruits was certainly tasty, but fairly pedestrian.  I forgot to take a photo, which I guess is telling - it looked okay, I just wasn't motivated enough to think about shooting it.  And yes, sports fans, we have a common mathematical trend which characterizes many of the bistrots I write about at this site - the negative correlation, characterized by a steady downward slope from initial to final dishes.  Don't get me wrong, at Le Servan, everything was good, just more so at the beginning.  In with a bang, out with a whimper.  Nonetheless, I really liked this place and will definitely be returning.  Apparently, according to our amiable waitress, the loud American bavard is pretty typical at Le Servan during weekends, so you've been warned.

LE SERVAN

32 rue St. Maur

75011 Paris

tel: 01 55 28 51 82

Advice: reserve about one week in advance, especially for Friday or Saturday nights.

Looking out Le Servan's window on a nice Friday evening