La Tour de Montlhéry's Chez Denise - Paris

We'd wanted to experience Chez Denise for ourselves ever since we'd seen it on No Reservations but it didn't seem like it was going to happen on this trip. However, on this particular day we weren't able to find the restaurant at which we actually had reservations, so we started wandering toward The Louvre, which was our destintion for the afternoon. After a couple blocks, we came across Chez Denise and were happy to learn that we were on the front end of lunch service and that a table was available. Sometimes things just work out for the best. . .


La Tour de Montlhéry's Chez Denise, 5 Rue des Prouvaires, 75001 Paris, France



Menu board
In many ways, especially foodwise, this was the most 'old school' of all the places we visited.



Escargot
Simple, tender and flavorful.



Foie Gras de Canard Maison
This lifetime-supply-serving was totally awesome. It was condensed like a torchon (maybe even more so) and had a rich and complex flavor. I love the aspic that was served with it and the terrine below . . . a really great touch that I rarely find here at home.



Terrine du Chef
One of my favorite terrines of the entire trip. Wonderful definition and flavor. Just about perfect.



Pied de Porc
This main course was delectable with a lightly crispy skin. It was so tender, it all but fell apart at the touch of my fork, which made me marvel at how carefully it had to have been cooked to maintain its form on the plate as it did.



Cote du Boeuf Grillee, portion 1
It probably goes without saying that by the time this was served, we were already busting at the seams. The beef was cooked perfectly and had an extremely pleasant chew to it. The marrow was, not surprisingly, rich, unctuous and totally awesome.



Cote du Boeuf Grillee, portion 2
Yes, the picture above was only half the cote.

The food at Chez Denise was all very good to excellent. These were great renditions of dishes that are so often "unorthdox" (aka made less skillfully) here in the States. Sometimes, though, wanting try certain dishes can result in a meal that is well . . . let's say 'less than balanced.' That was certainly the case here, as is plain to see. We felt bad leaving so much uneaten food behind, as that's not really the way things are done in Paris (and there aren't really doggy bags, either). This is why there was no dessert at this meal. Lesson learned. Still, we were treated kindly by our server, who seemed to appreciate our ambition. He was friendly and helpful and was clearly on a par with the food. So glad we actually did end up getting to experience Chez Denise.

=R=

La Tour de Montlhéry's Chez Denise
5 Rue des Prouvaires
75001 Paris, France
01 42 36 21 82

ronnie_suburban wrote:Pied de Porc

Ron,

Stunning pictures, delectable meal, but its the pied de porc that makes me want to hoof it over to Paris at first opportunity.

I know its been said, but thank you for sharing your Parisian experience with us, gastro voyeurism at its finest.

Enjoy,
Gary

As knocked out as I was with the pix from Alain Ducasse, these pix represent more of the small French places that I would find most comfortable. Those pates are particularly beautiful, and with a glass of red wine and bread, could easily make for a very happy lunch for me...but thanks for pushing it to the limit in the LTH fashion so that we all can get a look at the other remarkably wonderful things you've eaten lately. Prices seem reasonable, too.

How could you pass on the tripes au calvados???!!!

teatpuller wrote:How could you pass on the tripes au calvados???!!!

Rob, bro, hasn't ronnie done enough for us?

Ronnie - I am so sorry I haven't had the chance to gush at your pictorial travelogue. Thank you for sharing and taking it for the team. Not ashamed to live vicariously through someone with a palate of your caliber. This is the type of Paris restos that I love. Good to honest food that make use of everything from head to hoof.

Had something similar to that pied du porc at Le Coupole years back, and every morsel was delishingly tender infused with flavorful meat and crackling skin, as well as a nice smoky char from the char marks. The platter included tail, ear, and a hoof.

That Cervelle d'Agneau would have been one of my selection. Only simple meuniere preparation is needed with a light crisp crust. My sister would have to order the Tripe. Oh my, I hear Paris beckoning for xmas.

Chez Denise mentioned in November Saveur, p. 77

Ron - such gorgeous photos - thank you so much again for sharing!

This is the Saveur article by Megan Wetherall, March 2000, that first introduced me to Chez Denise and the old Les Halles bistros - and why we had them on No Reservations Paris 1:
http://www.saveur.com/article/Travels/T ... y-of-Paris

Louisa Chu wrote:Ron - such gorgeous photos - thank you so much again for sharing!

This is the Saveur article by Megan Wetherall, March 2000, that first introduced me to Chez Denise and the old Les Halles bistros - and why we had them on No Reservations Paris 1:
http://www.saveur.com/article/Travels/T ... y-of-Paris

Louisa, a beautiful article (love the image of the pile of skulls in the wine cellar). I remember wandering by Les Halles in 1970-71, when it was just a haunted ruin, soon to disappear entirely.

Just curious, does the "service 15% compris" mean that the service charge is included in the listed price? That makes the prices (which I assume are in euros), much more palatable.

d4v3 wrote:Just curious, does the "service 15% compris" mean that the service charge is included in the listed price? That makes the prices (which I assume are in euros), much more palatable.

Yes. Whenever there was a service charge, it was included everywhere we ate in Paris. Additional tip is customarily left for particularly exceptional service but it's at the diner's discretion and generally a "round up" situation; not really a by-percentage convention. By the same token, the rate we were quoted at our hotel included all taxes, so when we paid the bill, it matched our expectations exactly (except for the 2 spa charges made by another guest with the same last name as us! ).

=R=

Ron-
Magnifique!
I can almost taste these stunning dishes from your beautiful photos and descriptions.
I literally caught my breath at the picture of the foie!
Oh to be in Paris....sigh....
you lucky fella.

ronnie_suburban wrote:Yes. Whenever there was a service charge, it was included everywhere we ate in Paris. Additional tip is customarily left for particularly exceptional service but it's at the diner's discretion and generally a "round up" situation; not really a by-percentage convention. By the same token, the rate we were quoted at our hotel included all taxes, so when we paid the bill, it matched our expectations exactly

Not to distract from your stunning (as usual) photos, but I always found this to be a much more agreeable system than what we have in the US. I hate when that $49 a day rental car ends up costing $80 after all the taxes and surcharges. In Switzerland, they simply pay their servers a decent salary plus benefits and work it into the cost of the food (along with the sales taxes). What you see is what you pay, and nobody tries to upsell you or patronize you for a better tip. At first, it results in sticker shock, but once you figure in the additional 25-30% you pay in the US for tip and taxes (and the weak-ass dollar), the euro prices make more sense.

d4v3 wrote:

ronnie_suburban wrote:Yes. Whenever there was a service charge, it was included everywhere we ate in Paris. Additional tip is customarily left for particularly exceptional service but it's at the diner's discretion and generally a "round up" situation; not really a by-percentage convention. By the same token, the rate we were quoted at our hotel included all taxes, so when we paid the bill, it matched our expectations exactly

Not to distract from your stunning (as usual) photos, but I always found this to be a much more agreeable system than what we have in the US. I hate when that $49 a day rental car ends up costing $80 after all the taxes and surcharges. In Switzerland, they simply pay their servers a decent salary plus benefits and work it into the cost of the food (along with the sales taxes). What you see is what you pay, and nobody tries to upsell you or patronize you for a better tip. At first, it results in sticker shock, but once you figure in the additional 25-30% you pay in the US for tip and taxes (and the weak-ass dollar), the euro prices make more sense.

Agreed. This is a much less confusing system (than ours) that doesn't put the livelihoods of the servers in the discretionary hands of diners who, if they are visiting from abroad, may not even know they are expected to tip.

That said, Paris is an expensive city, which is not to say it can't be visited on a budget. Still, my unscientific and unofficial estimate is that it's about 20-25% more expensive there than Chicago. When you factor in the exchange rate ($1.4 to the Euro at the time of our visit), it can really add up. Because I was there for work, my business paid for a part of the lodging, my flight and some of my food. That was how I rationalized all the other costs.

=R=

In Switzerland, they simply pay their servers a decent salary plus benefits and work it into the cost of the food (along with the sales taxes). What you see is what you pay, and nobody tries to upsell you or patronize you for a better tip.

When I worked in Zurich our waitstaff were paid 24 Swiss francs an hr (about $18 US). They also had 5 wks paid vacation besides quite a few national and bank holidays and you couldn't fire them w/o paying quite a bit of severance. While home to some of the best hotel/culinary schools, service by in large sucked outside of the grand Hotels and best restaurants. No tip, no motivation. Our place was a bit different (Restaurant Purpur, across from the Opera House in the old city) as it was the hip Eurotrash hangout with high rollers and beautiful people throwing money around. Our servers, thongs aplenty (displayed around hips from under low tight pants) netted them ridiculous amounts of money per shift. Sometimes walking with 1000 francs per.

teatpuller wrote:How could you pass on the tripes au calvados???!!!

I'm actually more curious on the house's take on the stuffed cabbage.

This is, I am pretty sure, the only place on Ronnie's trip that I have actually been. And I had that cote du boeuf, although in my memory it does not look nearly as good. I have very fond memories of my meal there.

Jazzfood wrote:

In Switzerland, they simply pay their servers a decent salary plus benefits and work it into the cost of the food (along with the sales taxes). What you see is what you pay, and nobody tries to upsell you or patronize you for a better tip.

When I worked in Zürich our waitstaff were paid 24 Swiss francs an hr (about $18 US). They also had 5 wks paid vacation besides quite a few national and bank holidays and you couldn't fire them w/o paying quite a bit of severance. While home to some of the best hotel/culinary schools, service by in large sucked outside of the grand Hotels and best restaurants. No tip, no motivation.

Again, not to sidetrack Ronnie's lovely thread (but I will), my experience in Zürich was quite the opposite. While working there, I lived for several months in hotels (on a few separate occasions), and I ate almost exclusively in restaurants. I dined everywhere from lowly Cervalat stands to the aforementioned "Grand Hotels". The only time I can remember experiencing crappy service was in the dining room of some fancy schmancy hotel on Bahnhof Strasse. I suspect that was due to an anti-American bias on my server's part. Otherwise, sometimes the service could be less than friendly by American standards, but was always perfectly efficient (in other words, Swiss). Away from Zürich, the servers were much more friendly. In fact, there seemed to be a direct correlation between the distance from Zürich and the gregariousness of the people. Although Geneva made Zürich seem like a family reunion.

The thing that bugged me most in Switzerland were the bartenders. Here in America, bartenders are almost expected to engage in a little chit chat with the customers, especially those drinking alone. There, they seemed offended when I would attempt to make small-talk. I know it wasn't just my crappy Schweizerdeutsch since (like most Helvetians) they spoke fluent English, German, French and Italian (what crummy schools we have). The Swiss bartender's job is to pour your drink (perfectly), take your money and keep the bar impeccably clean, period.

Like Jazzfood, I was amazed by the number of paid non-working holidays there are in Switzerland. When I told my co-workers that their American colleagues only got 1-2 weeks vacation and five federal holidays off, they were flabbergasted. they could not believe we work on Pfingsten and Mariahimmelfahrt. We don't even get off for Whit Monday or (my favorite) the Boy's Shooting Festival.

Your photos are incredible. I felt that I could 'smell' the food and 'hear' the crunch they were so clear. I just want to board a plane to France now! Plus I am really hungry too.

Back on topic, what was the green spice inside the escargot? Was it parsley? The picture makes the preparation look deceptively simple, but I understand it is a fairly complex process involving several days of processing.

d4v3 wrote:Back on topic, what was the green spice inside the escargot? Was it parsley? The picture makes the preparation look deceptively simple, but I understand it is a fairly complex process involving several days of preparation.

From what I could tell it was parsley, garlic and butter. Many times Pernod is also incorporated with escargot but I'm not sure if that was the case here.

=R=