Chez Georgette--My Local Canteen, B-

Not surprisingly, people often ask where I go for a good, quick, affordable last minute meal in my own neighborhood, which is the 9th arrondissement in the heart of Paris. I have many local favorites, but the one place that never lets me down is Chez Georgette, a brightly lit little bistro in the rue Saint Georges. Consider that during the last couple of months, I've probably eaten here a dozen times, and under quite different circumstances. Last night, I went as part of a band of six--Bruno, two friends visiting from New York and the French couple they're staying with.

The gang gathered chez nous first for Champagne and nibbles (Auvergnat sausage, caperberries, and a Spanish mixture of deep fried corn kernels and lima beans combined with raisins, peanuts, almonds and hazelnuts). On a Friday night, the gang arrived late, derailing a reservation I'd made elsewhere, so I quickly plucked up the phone and booked us at Chez Georgette at 9.30pm. 

Not only were they happy to take us, but this small dining room with tables that were once French elementary school desks (topped with different primary-color Formica) is a cosy, casual spot that works just as well for an unwieldy group of six as it does for a couple or a quartet. The menu's ideal, too, since they're always several pastas and salads that make vegetarians happy, and a couple of delicious suggestions du jour. Three of us loved the leek, spinach and potato soup that was the day's starter suggestion, four of us had only compliments for the daube de boeuf (one of my favorite French dishes, and a great provencal classic of beef braised in red wine) served with paparadelle, and all of us loved the poached fresh figs with almond ice cream. Other dishes that won raves during our meal were the homemade pate en croute served with salad, bavette (skirt steak) with mashed potatoes, and salmon in a light tomato coulis. Knowing we'd likely have a bottle or two, I steered us towards a pleasant, good-value Cotes du Rhone at 24 euros, and it was a perfect party wine.

Popular with bankers and fashion execs from the nearby Galeries Lafayette offices at noon, Georgette (and yes there really is a Georgette--she's the gentle but bemused proprietaire with the Colette stye bob and red-lollipop framed glasses), it's always packed with a happy sociological totem pole of bourgeois and bobos in the evening. Great French comfort food and an unfailing good time just a few doors down from chez moi--no wonder I'm so happy living in Paris.

Chez Georgette, 29 rue Saint Georges, 9th, 01.42.80.39.13. Metro: Trinitee or Notre-Dame-de-Lorette 

JADIS: A Superb New Bistro, B+

  As anyone who lives in or regularly visits Paris now knows, the best food in the city is most often now found in outlying neighborhoods that are long Metro ride away. Happily, the Paris Metro system is fast, inexpensive and safe, which means that there’s absolutely no reason whatsoever to miss Jadis, which is one of the best new bistros to have opened in a very longtime.

  Occupying an attractively renovated corner-cafe space in a quiet residential neighborhoood near the Porte de Versailles convention center--this explains the odd crowd of food-loving local hipsters mixing it up with the execs in suits, this burgundy-and-gunmetal gray spot is the new perch of young chef Guillaume Delage, a major new talent with a very impressive resume. Delage was mostly recently at Pierre Gagnaire’s Gaya fish house on the Left Bank, and has also cooked at Michel Bras and Le Pré Catalan.

   This top drawer experience also explains the incredible technical talent you’ll find in your plate here. A perfect example was the stunningly pretty and absolutely delicious artichoke, chicken and foie gras terrine with celery root puree and a slice of red berry compote that I had as a starter. As Bruno rightly observed, this dish was the type of thing one expected to find, usually badly done, at first communion lunches. Here the flavors were vivid but supremely compatible, and each ingredient had a nice texture. Cream of pumpkin soup had the delicious depth provided by excellent stock and a swirl of creme fraiche, while a friend at a neighboring table loved her feuillette of snails and wild mushrooms, which came to the table as an impressive pastry turban.

   Intrigued by what seemed like Delage’s Gallic take on a “financiera,” or a Torinese dish of cock’s combs, duck hearts, kidneys, and other innards, I went for it. Perfectly cooked, it lacked only a light sauce to bind these different elements together. I also liked Delage’s somewhat aescetic take on blanquette de veau, which came in a small Alessi casserole with a plate of perfectly cooked carrots, potatoes, mushrooms and leeks. A perfectly poached pear and a coffee-flavored pot de creme with a homemade Breton style sable biscuit ended this feast, and this excellence of this meal, and the reasonable prices, including some nice and gently priced wines, explained why this place was packed on a rainy Monday night. I can’t wait to go back.  

208 rue de la Croix-Nivert, 15th, 01.45.57.73.20. Metro: Porte de Versaille. Closed Saturday lunch and Sunday. 

THAI REQUIRED: OTH SOMBATH, B+

  With Paris tucked under a quilt of low gray clouds for most of the next four months, a new Thai restaurants offers a welcome opportunity for a voyage gastronomique without leaving town.

OTH SOMBATH (pictured) is the new Paris address of the talented Thai chef of the same name. I first tasted his cooking a longtime ago when he had just arrived in Paris and was cooking at the Blue Elephant restaurant near the Bastille. Inspite of the fact that the Blue Elephant's main claim to fame was a dramatic mis en scene of an avalanche of air-freighted orchids, tropical greenery and a little foot bridge over a reflecting pool, I immediately noticed that Sombath, from the northern area of Thailand near its border with Laos, was a serious cook. He's also a charming man, so it was no surprise that he went on to build a brilliant career in Paris, which culimated with Le Banyan, his own little table in the 15th arrondissement, before he was tapped to move to Saint Tropez and set up a restaurant at the groovy Hotel Benkirai.

Now Oth is back in Paris, apparently with the backing of Eddy Barclay, and his new duplex restaurant on the rue du Faubourg Saint Honore in the 8th is one of the prettiest new restaurants to open in the city for a very long time. The serene ivory, gold, and saffron look, which seems to have drawn inspiration from sources as diverse as Courreges, NASA and Thai temples, is the work of interior designer Patrick Jouin, who has emerged as the most influential restaurant designer in Paris right now (his last opening, Le Jules Verne at the Eiffel Tower, is also stunning).

I went for dinner with a friend the second week that this place was open, and though service was still a bit unsure and portions were too small, we had a very good meal. In fact I loved his beef tartare with Thai spices, a starter and a dish that perfectly expresses what he's trying to do here, which is offer his own very suave version of a sexy meeting between French and Thai cooking. If his nems (fried spring rolls) were a little soggy, the shrimp in yellow curry were superb, and we both liked the banana nems with coffee ice cream and red wine sauce. Bravo, too, for such a terrific wine list, including the heavenly Willi Brundlmayr Austrian Gruner Veltliner we drank with our meal, a perfect wine to team with Asian food because its mineral spine stands up to all spices. 

Unfortunately, however, it isn't likely I'll be eating here again anytime soon, since prices are high enough to nudge this place into the special occasion category, and since I actually like Oth Sombath's food so much, I worry for him in light of the strong head winds that are broad-siding the restaurant business in Paris right now. It might, in fact, be a good idea to offer a "Discovery" prix-fixe menu for the next six months or so to build up a clientele for this place.

184 rue du Faubourg Saint Honore, 8th, 01.42.56.55.55.

Memere Paulette: A la Rechere du Temps Perdu, B-

A crisp October day and a brisk walk down the rue du Faubourg Montmartre, one of my favorite streets in Paris for its being so guilessly eclectic. This ancient rue presents a classic Parisian cityscape before gentrification and luxury brand names disrupted so much urban turf. First, the wonderfully gemutlich windows of A la Mere de Famille, a first-rate confiserie, or candy and sweets shop that first hung out a shingle in 1761 and which sells the best marrons glace in the world, and then Les Pates Vivantes, a wonderful Chinese noodle shop. I notice a HALAL crepe maker—now there’s some fusion food for you—and stop to read the chalkboard menu at a very good wine bar, le Zinc des Cavistes at No. 5. This street, which always makes me think of New York with its density and vitality, offers up a lot of great eating.

Finally I reach the rue Paul Lelong (a name that would be perfect for a detective or a marathoner) and Memere Paulette, the tiny bistro where I’m meeting a friend for lunch.

John is already a table and quite sensibly enjoying a nice milky glass of pastis when I arrive, so I join him, and take in the setting. Our table is covered with a sheet of that old-fashioned oil cloth that once graced many French kitchen tables and used to be cut from a long roll in quicailleries (hardware stores). The fanciful design of perfect apples, pears and plums on a red background sends me traveling back a good thirty years. With its wooden chairs, cruet set, old-enameled stove, pretty waitress with a strong jawbone like those you see in Toulouse Lautrec drawings, and an advertisement for L’Alsacienne beer (a young, blonde Alsacienne woman in a lace cap and flashing her comely pink buttocks), Memere Paulette immediately reminded me of the type of restaurant I used to go to when I’d visit Paris from London as a seriously pecunious student.

In these economically anxious times, 23 Euros for a three-course meal is appealing all over again, and best of all, the food here is not only served in nearly impossible abundance but is also very good (I’m also always very happy to find any restaurant with a large assortment of good wines on its list for less than 20 Euros).

So we ordered, and we ate. And ate. And ate. John started with an excellent salade de museu de boeuf—fine slices of beef muzzle in a light vinaigrette, and I had a hefty chunk of pate de campagne served with a delicious mustard of lightly crushed mustard seeds marinated in mout de vin (unfermented grape juice). Next, braised oxtail with sautéed potatoes for John, and a fondue de vacherin (a whole Mont d’Or cheese baked in its round pine box) with three slices of delicious jambon de Paris and a massive mound of grenaille potatoes for me, a mad choice at lunch, perhaps, but absolutely delicious. Somehow we also managed dessert—an excellent lemon-meringue tartlette and a massive baba au rhum, and given the monumental quantities of this feed, I was very glad of a long, slow walk home. With its low prices, friendly service and good quality for enormous quantities of food, Memere Paulette is a recession era address par excellence.

 Memere Paulette, 3 rue Paul Lelong, 2nd, Tel. 01.40.26.12.36. Metro: Grand Boulevards or Sentier. Closed Saturday and Sunday.