22

Apr

Enter: Agapé Substance

Let’s be clear, there is nothing like it in the city right now and with reason: David Toutain and Laurent Lapaire are the gastronomical darlings of Paris.

There was so much talk around why Agapé Substance didn’t get the star(s) they seemed so predestined to receive in February just before the controversial red guide hit bookstores.

Did they deserve what they didn’t get? Who will ever know? More importantly, who cares? As I learned, stars don’t insure a stellar experience… Agapé Substance should definitely not feel cold-shouldered… They have no star to envy when all their clients leave the place with so many in their eyes.

The food is as precise as ever, the service dance is mastered, smiles everywhere, the bathroom has a warming seat and oscillating jets to massage your derrière, the bar stools are plush albeit reserved for those with no back problems, the iPad wine list is ecological. The selection is naturally oriented: Philippe Valette, Philippe Pacalet, Gianfranco Manca, Le Coste, Anselme Selosse, Emmannuel Lassaigne. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to drink Gianfranco Manca’s Sardinian wine especially since they are virtually impossible to find and I had never tried the listed cuvée: Kussas Intrendu a Manu ‘eretta, 100% Cannonau (Grenache). The wine took a moment to open up but after half an hour in a carafe and a cool-down, it was splendid.

Agapé Substance is essentially a cooking lab where the patrons are lab rats and Toutain is the mad (super-talented) scientist. The knowledgeable waitstaff make their way around twenty or so happy and willing victims that crowd the tiny space. They pour clear and perfumed potatoe skin consommé out of test tubes onto perfectly tender gnocchi and seared foie gras. They place in front of you a sea urchin topped with a decadent coffee foam that tickles the tongue and enchants the senses. A Toutain classic that is one of the most poetic and genuine odes to mushrooms that has yet to hit my palate: his pieds bleus poêlé and chestnut crumble.

I will not list every bite I had because there were over twenty, but I will say this: rarely have I eaten so well and felt perfectly full and satisfied at the exit.

Notable is the return to the restaurant scene of Sofian Aït-Bouda who used to be the sommelier at Restaurant Spring. Considerably softened up and knowledgeable as ever, the wine pairings were spot on.

Some have said that Toutain‘s style is intellectual. I disagree. I think it is the perfect blend of a genuine emotional intelligence and refined technical ability.

The result is incredibly touching and the risk-taking is inspiring. A force to be reckoned with.

Agapé Substance

66 rue Mazarine 75006

Tel: 01 43 29 33 83

http://www.agapesubstance.com/

Open Tuesday to Saturday for Lunch and Dinner


423 days ago Short URL

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11

Apr

One star, two stars, three stars… bleep.

Lunch at l’Arpège…

I guess you could say it was a little like the first time you have sex with someone you really like: the hopes are high, the performance acceptable but the result unmemorable. Thankfully, I am consoled that the first time is usually the worst. We didn’t know each other very well. We weren’t completely comfortable. The timing wasn’t right. The weather wasn’t perfect. I was tired. He wasn’t all there.

Credit: GQ

At l’Arpège, there is a stool for your bag. There are over eight people on the floor. There is beautiful silverware, spotless white tablecloths, Riedel glasses, Bernardaud plates… the works. The wines are well paired. The vegetables are absolutely exquisite and carefully prepared although mint seems to be over-flourishing in Passard‘s garden these days…

But hey! at least, I know now… Sometimes the stars don’t insure that the experience will be mind-blowing every single time.

And somehow, that comes as a relief: they are human.

This experience got me thinking about the frenzy star-excitement that swept over Paris when the Michelin released its annual red guide last month. Countless articles were written. Many opinions were voiced. In the industry, it was on everyone’s lips. Mine included. Who got a star? Did they deserve it? How could they take a star away from them and give one to them?! And on this went…

Credit: Via Michelin

Indeed, I was definitely part of the problem at l’Arpège: I expected SO much. I was bound to be disappointed. This is what the star system perpetuates: it creates (perhaps unknowingly) unreachable expectations for its readers.

Think of your best meal ever… If you can’t top that in a three star restaurant, then you ask yourself: “Why is it three starred?” And then you think: ‘Well, Michelin doesn’t know what they’re talking about and I can’t trust that I will enjoy the restaurants they have put forward.”

Now I must state, I believe in the three-time rule and it applies when tasting wines and going to restaurants.

Of course, I am not nearly rich enough to go thrice to every restaurant so I really hope the first time will be a winner.

But when it comes to l’Arpège, I can’t wait to give it another test-drive. And this time, I’m tucking all those expectations, along with that red guide, away.

434 days ago Short URL

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29

Feb

More is more or L’Insoutenable gourmandise de l’être

When I first got to Paris, I went to have lunch at Chez l’Ami Jean with Aurélia Filion and Caroline Loiseleux, two of my friends and ex-colleagues of Club Chasse et Pêche. At the time, I hadn’t really experienced the Paris food scene and I was slightly shocked by the frenetic service and the abundance of the food.

I had no idea that this was going to become one of my favorite restaurant in Paris.

Every time I go out to eat in restaurants where the portions are too tiny for my insatiable appetite, I think of Stéphane. Mostly because I wish he would give those chefs a tip or two about “gourmandise” a word that, saddly, does not exist in the english language.

Anyway, since then, I have returned to l’Ami Jean again and again and I have never been disappointed.

Wendy Lyn and I were kidding the other day about the best technique to come out alive of a dinner at L’Ami Jean. She said that it’s better to have a good lunch, that way your stomach is expanded and prepared for what’s coming… I argued on starving myself for days to be able to make the room for all that food.

Now, thinking back, I do believe she was right.

This debate is a realistic one however when you decide to go for dinner at Stéphane’s.

This man does not know the meaning of “Less is more”. But in the departement of generosity and gourmandise, Stéphane is king. I suspect he may have learned a trick or two from mentor and friend Yves Candeborde.

Armed with your best prepared stomach (whatever method you pick), grab some foodie-friends or family who love to eat everything, aren’t anal about a little rock and roll service that gives the place all its charm, like to watch a chef in action, and aren’t afraid to make noise and endure it.

Tell the waitstaff that you want the chef to cook for you and get ready for the best ride of your life! You are about to enter the wonderful world of Jégo. It ain’t always pretty for iPhone pictures, but it’s always delicious and at the end of the day, that’s what really matters.

For the wine, I admit that this time I spotted a magnum of Philippe Pacalet’s Bourgogne Rouge  2010 and couldn’t pass up the opportunity since there is so little in Paris and I ran out of my stock at Frenchie a long time ago. In general however, it’s good to ask the staff what they think is tasting well.

Two magnums later, we polished off the riz au lait (absolute MUST: the best in Paris!) with Champagne Drappier Zéro Dosage.

All in all, eating (and drinking) at l’Ami Jean is a real treat. I don’t think I would inflict it on my stomach every week but I need my trimestrial fix.

476 days ago Short URL

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