Paris visit, spring 2026

robert · May 20, 2026, 10:12am

Yoom is a dim sum place with two restaurants. The one on the Left Bank is open all day.

spicy noodles, wild shrimp with greens, sticky rice with duck

kung pao, pork bao, vegetable dumplings

pork gyoza, crunchy salad with peanut sauce

Could / should have stopped there but went for a second round: lion’s head, duck bao, another wild shrimp & greens

soup dumpling (“juicy”)

Everything was good. I’d go to this place if it was in San Francisco. The wild shrimp & greens dumplings wouldn’t be out of place in Vancouver. The kung pao dumpling reminded me of Koi Palace in Dublin.

robert · May 20, 2026, 10:18am

Got this Ossau-Iraty at Fromagerie Secretan. I’ve had this cheese a bunch of times in the US but the rind was always smooth. I think somebody must have done some kind of special affinage, maybe washing the rind with something, to get this knobbly texture. Anyway it’s great stuff, got a grana texture but not dry.

butteredwaffles · May 20, 2026, 7:39pm

Nice yeah Dante looks great

I think that’s true of this new spot as well, which also looks cool

robert · May 22, 2026, 11:27am

Racines is a well-known Italian place that generally gets good reviews.

amuse: nice little arancino

Ravioli were richer than we expected.

Same for the tagliatelle. I think the Italian chef has gone a bit native.

Cutlet was a bit dry, needed the lemon. Should have shared one, only ate less than half. Odd that there was only one secondo. Salad was quite good.

Endive was good but didn’t need the cheese.

Really good tiramisu, better than any we had in Italy on our last trip.

Good enough lunch but not the complete change of pace we were hoping for. There’s a little deli kind of place called Gigi Gourmet at the end of the Passage du Bourg l’Abbé where I think you could get an unfrenchified Italian meal.

robert · May 22, 2026, 11:43am

Bouillon Chartier Gare de l’Est. Went because two places we tried first didn’t pan out and they were nearby and open. Doesn’t have the atmosphere of the historic Grands Boulevards branch but it’s cheap, reliable, and open all day.

Pretty decent Cotes de Bourg, 15 euros. In a restaurant. Try that at home.

Potage, French everyday home cooking you don’t get in most restaurants. One euro.

Oeuf mayonnaise, good.

Grilled random cut of beef. Good flavor. Should have ordered medium, a point was a little too rare for the chewy cut. Fries not great but good with the meat. Mayo not good, weird since the mayo with the egg was good.

Mushroom side was the best dish. Almost ordered a second.

Pike quenelle, not good. Sauce was tasty. You want this dish, go to Au Petit Riche.

Total was €48.40. I don’t know how these places stay in business. To my knowledge the best one is Bouillon République in the former Chez Jenny.

robert · May 22, 2026, 11:56am

Back to Chez Denise. Learned that Chez Jack next door is part of the same business.

10pm on a Wednesday

House wine: “I’m walking to Brouilly!!!”

Frisee with croutons but not lardons was a nice light starter.

classic soup a l’oignon

blanquette de veau, really good

Lamb chops made me nostalgic for Rome though they’re smaller there. Why doesn’t our lamb taste like this?

Raspberry charlotte was great. Their desserts are all big enough for two to share.

“The Car,” 1977 James Brolin film

robert · May 22, 2026, 1:21pm

Back to Ardent. Last time the place was packed, maybe because it was a cold night, last night it was not even half full, maybe because it was the first warm night after a week? of rain.

Really nice aged Mondeuse, not something you get offered everywhere.

Sucrine (Little Gem) entree, very good. Also got the same white asparagus as last time.

Went back mainly because they were out of beef last time. T-bone was great but the pork we got last time was even better. Didn’t need to order such a big one, but we’ll have some great sandwiches from leftovers. (I’m not sure if packing up leftovers has become a thing here, I bring a backpack with Ziplocs.)

Vegetable sides for the steak, including carrot puree.

Rhubarb tart with tarragon sorbet had a lot of wild flavors, very good. Couldn’t detect the smoked tea.

Smoked cookie, lots of textures and flavors. I think half the cookie was deliberately undercooked to make it more like a brownie, other half was crunchy.

robert · May 23, 2026, 10:28am

Tried Ebène since we liked Dante so much.

Annoying that the menu degustation has to be ordered by the whole table.

Interesting wooden charger, never seen anything like that.

9.47 knife with logo, Spiegelau and Reidel glasses, Haviland china, servers in suits, no bottles on the table, I think they’re going all-out to get Michelin stars. I preferred the laiid-back style at Dante.

Nice dry Muscat with some bottle age.

Neglected to photograph the first amuse, radishes with some kind of mayo? and bottarga. Good but had an unexpected bitter finish.

Some of the best bread of the trip.

Second amuse, rocket cream with strawberry and carrot with trout roe. Nice.

White asparagus with foie gras. The asparagus and foie didn’t go together for my taste but were both good. The sauce was rich and delicate, cream and butter with just a hint of preserved lemon.

Cuttlefish with cauliflower and some sort of vegetable-ink sauce I presume reflects the chef’s time as sous chef at Arpege. Good, probably the best dish of the meal.

Sweetbread with langoustine sauce and yellow haricots. Complex and rich but with a bitter finish I wasn’t crazy about.

Lamb chops, super tender and mild, the opposite of the chops at Chez Denise the other night,. Excellent morels. Peas were overpowered by the sauce.

Neglected to photograph the desserts. The rhubarb tart was really good, should have gotten two, I didn’t find the chocolate dish so interesting.

1980 Armagnac, remarkable, second-best I’ve had, the best being a 1961 I had at Au Trou Gascon in 1990.

Seems absurd that a la carte was more expensive than the menu degustation would have been. Good enough meal but not in the same league as Dante, whose style I prefer.

Hoping to try the mothership for lunch this week.

burritoking · May 23, 2026, 1:31pm

the mothership is vegan except honey these days….. also hope you get to try it so you can report back!

robert · May 23, 2026, 1:33pm

Yeah, which makes it an easy reservation, at least for lunch. Pasard’s Chef’s Table episode made it look appealing to me.

robert · May 24, 2026, 10:48am

Back to Chez Rene.

White asparagus used to have a very short season. It’s been on most menus for the past two months. Nice version.

Endive, Roquefort, and walnuts. Nice starter on a hot evening. Went well with a cold, bitter draft beer.

Perfect lamb chops.

Best fries of the trip so far,

Neglected to photograph the cheese course. First time I ate here (2018) I got a whole St. Marcellin, now it’s just a fixed set of three. The Comte was excellent. Didn’t want Roquefort with the Medoc. Camembert (?) was a bit bland. No real problem as I only wanted a little bit to drink more of the wine.

Baba au rhum, comes with the bottle so you can make it boozy to your taste. Classic.

Learned that there is a Reserve Imperial of Vielle Prune. Didn’t have the appetite to try it. Might bring a bottle home if I can find one.

robert · May 25, 2026, 12:41pm

Back to Au Petit Riche to test my theory that you can eat well there if you order right. I got the menu entree + plat + dessert for 39 euros. Also learned that they have a 5000-bottle cellar in the Loire and age their own wines, so the list includes things priced not much more than French retail that you couldn’t find at all in the states. Great atmosphere, place has been around for 170 years.

Nice Chenin. One of the wine-geekiests labels I’ve seen. Chose this one as it’s the dry version of the one I planned to order for dessert. Very good though not a stellar value at €95 (except in the sense that that’s about the French retail price).

Leeks vinaigrette, excellent version, not over- or under-dressed.

Lentil salad, lentils were to my taste undercooked. Al dente is one thing but chalky seems wrong. Didn’t stop me from eating it all, so maybe some people prefer it that way. Bacon was excellent.

Bread was a bit stale. No excuse for that these days, even if it was Sunday.

Pike quenelle with crayfish and mushroom sauce, house specialty, excellent. It reminded me of great German bread dumplings in that I couldn’t imagine how they got it to be so light. Managed to eat about half, the sauce is quite rich. Good pairing for the Chenin.

Spectacular properly aged Quarts-de-Chaume. Excellent value at €80, again about the French retail price.

Clockwse Forme d’Ambert (perfect), Crottin de Chavrignol (fab), a couple of other Loire goat cheeses, and maybe the youngest St. Nectaire I’ve ever had. Great with the wine.

Lemon “tart,” actually more of a cookie. Good.

Creme brulee, another house specialty, excellent.

pomodoro · May 25, 2026, 9:09pm

quenelles de brochet sauce Nantua (though the mushrooms might be their addition). recipes suggest keeping things super cold and whipping a lot of air into them, thereby trapping steam inside when they’re gently poached in simmering (not boiling) water. airiness is key to contrast with the rich sauce.

a Chenin can work but I love it with Meursault especially. and some riz pilaf on the side for the sauce.

looks very crème brûlée

robert · May 28, 2026, 4:58pm

robert · May 29, 2026, 10:21am

Found this place a few blocks from our hotel thanks to michelin.com’s “air conditioning” filter.

They also had a six-page wine list.

Crab, celeri remoulade, and crab bisque were all very good but didn’t cohere into a single dish.

Lamb confit raviolo was good. Didn’t really need three sauces but they were good too, sopped up with good bread.

Artichoke two ways was very good but didn’t particularly sync with the duck-chicken things. Would rather have had some roast pieces of fowl with crispy skin.

Maigre aka meager, croaker, jewfish, shade-fish, sowa, etc. was very good with the buckwheat-otto, sauces, white asparagus, and pine nuts. Sounds like too many ingredients but it worked.

Good cheese plate: St. Nectaire, Comte, and Danish Gammel Knas (literally “old crunchy”).
Not sure what the fruity dabs were, neither chutney nor mostarda.

Friendly service, good wine, air conditioning.

robert · June 1, 2026, 6:03pm

Aux Lyonnais. I had this place flagged in Google Maps because it’s historic, but chose it thanks again to michelin.com’s air-conditioning filter. Unfortunately they didn’t seem to have it, at least not where we were seated. I should have asked if the other room had it.

Would have drunk Beaujolais but they were all too high-alcohol for my taste. This was good with the food.

Pretty good version of salad Lyonnaise, though the croutons could have been better and more plentiful and for my taste it could have used more garlic.

Grandma’s terrine, excellent. Bread could have been better.

Quenelles de brochet, this one with a lobster sauce, best version of this dish of the trip. Extremely light.

Pork belly with gratin dauphinois “Fernand Point,” very good though sort of a ridiculous thing to order during a heat wave.

Vanilla and hazelnut ice cream, very good.

Strawberries Melba, pretty good.

They comped us trou normands and a cookbook, then ended on a sour note, it seemed like they tried to trick me into tipping by describing the screen on the card reader as a service rating.

robert · June 1, 2026, 6:16pm

Au Pied de Cochon. Last meal in Paris. If it’s a hot day and you want air conditioning, ask for a table upstairs.

This song was in rotation on the playlist, which was otherwise pop music.

Oeuf mayonnaise, kind of a fancy one on a sort of salade russe without potatoes, very good.

Green bean salad, sensible choice for a heat wave.

Homard (Canadian) rôti béarnaise with extra béarnaise and salad.

Pig’s foot stuffed with I think pig’s foot. Very good, as were the potatoes and mushrooms. Rich but a small enough portion that I ate it all.

Maybe the best frites of the trip, which is a low bar.

Coupe Dame Blanche, good sundae.

Raspberry vacherin, kind of like pavlova, mostly air, nice lightish finish.