Micromanage my Life - Paris Edition

[voyager]

Marcore is too new to have been picked by PbM. Scroll down to second review here: http://parismissives.blogspot.com

[joethefoodie]

Have you seen my keys?

 

 

Amarante should also be immune to PbM I think.  

Where was this place when we were there? Menu looks good.

[GerryOlds]

Not sure if you're still looking for suggestions Jesikka, but Marso & Co. also just opened. From the same team that owns Hugo & Co. and Tomy & Co.

 

The Mediterranean menu looks interesting, at least.

[Guest Ptipois]

Re. Bouillon Pigalle, etc.

 

I have figured out, through some Facebook conversations, that these 'bouillons' invest a lot in press lunches for bloggers and some not-too-fussy journalists. They probably invest as much on food for one of these blogger lunches as they do for regular customers in an entire year. They serve them decent food, plus plenty of PR talk about their low prices, and bingo, they've got about two dozens nitwits (among which nobody is old enough to know what bouillon food actually tasted like) praising the bargain over Paris. And they can safely serve utter crap on all other days.

 

These are very poor caricatures of yesteryear's bouillons in a ploutocratic era. I regret that they hijacked the term.

A genuine revival of bouillon could be possible with clever food sourcing management, but evidently this is not the way they chose.

[voyager]

the new bouillons cont, What is troublesome is the way these places are promoted by the press.    They may well serve a purpose for locals and for visitors with stringent budgets (although I think there are much better ways to dine on the cheap than at many of these places), but they are being portrayed as destination dining for the smart money.

 

When you factor the cost of getting here, staying here and getting around here, €20 saved a day by eating in these places nets you only €200 in a week.    What percentage of your total budget have you really saved and at the cost of what culinary experiences?    

[Guest Ptipois]

the new bouillons cont, What is troublesome is the way these places are promoted by the press.    They may well serve a purpose for locals and for visitors with stringent budgets (although I think there are much better ways to dine on the cheap than at many of these places), but they are being portrayed as destination dining for the smart money.

 

When you factor the cost of getting here, staying here and getting around here, €20 saved a day by eating in these places nets you only €200 in a week.    What percentage of your total budget have you really saved and at the cost of what culinary experiences?    

 

Right, you indeed don't save a lot on those meals, considering how cheap you would get the better versions if you bought the ingredients and off to the stove.

 

Plus waiting in line for 1/2 hour at least, getting plenty of tough parts in your foie de veau (meaning a loss in edible matter), tête de veau that has been reheated once or twice, eggs mayo with cold, hard, blue-rimmed yolks… I got all these. Not the line, though, since both times I tested the Pigalle it was at off hours, like 6 PM. Then it's full, but no line.

 

Economically-challenged diners in Paris who want decent food go to Vietnamese restaurants, the local Chinese (I'm excluding the horrid "Asian caterers"), the local couscous (there's at least one in every neighborhood), etc. If they want cheap saucisse-purée, they do as everybody has always done: they buy the sausage and the potatoes and they cook. The target customers of these restaurants is, by a crushing majority, people who never cook, don't want to or don't know how to. The shipwreck of neo-bouillons is, primarily, a result of the loss of cooking ability, which often doubles as the inability to tell good products from mediocre ones.

 

Cooking a decent saucisse-purée, or a couple of lamb chops with green beans, or grilling some boudin with sautéed apples, or even making pumpkin soup, takes less time than waiting in line at Le Bouillon Pigalle.

[voyager]

 The target customers of these restaurants is, by a crushing majority, people who never cook, don't want to or don't know how to.

 

 

You describe a large portion of the current populous on both sides of the pond.    Or how else is uber-eats et al viable.

[Steve R.]

C’est moi.

(said in a somewhat ashamed, humbled but not ready to change way)

[GerryOlds]

Aux Bons Crus and Bouillon Julien both caught my attention for different reasons (ABC's classic menu, BJ's atmosphere), but Buffet from the owners of Au Passage looks like it might actually be nudging -- if not exactly pushing -- the envelope for the money.

[joethefoodie]

C’est moi.

(said in a somewhat ashamed, humbled but not ready to change way)

But you're really not (economically challenged, that is).

[joethefoodie]

As I probably mentioned, we enjoyed Aux Bons Crus for a number of reasons; and the food wasn't bad either.

[voyager]

ABC is really a different breed of cat from the neo-bouillons.  

[joethefoodie]

ABC is really a different breed of cat from the neo-bouillons.  

Yeah, I think I'm confused because of how it was lumped in together with the others in the article.

 

Or not confused; argumentative?

[Steve R.]

We went to Aux Bons Crus last week & had an enjoyable meal. Nothing earth shattering, but certainly worth going to.

[voyager]

 

ABC is really a different breed of cat from the neo-bouillons.  

Yeah, I think I'm confused because of how it was lumped in together with the others in the article.

 

Or not confused; argumentative?

 

 

Typical NYT ill-researched and conflated pot boiler.   What's not to be argumentative with?   Glad you found your own truth.