The oysters, at least, were spirited and proud to carry the day, while the spiral-shelled whelks were a bit old looking and the shrimp simply unfit for play. But interestingly, offshoot restaurants of big-name chefs don't appeal to me. I find it delightful: pretty girls, and waiters who ply their trade with pride… The dishes and prices fend for themselves: 10 euros for a warm endive salad with cheese and lightly smoked ham. The setting is magnificent, though the grill is much nicer with the bar.

çois Simon is an author and a food critic for French daily Le Figaro rumored in French press to have been the model for Anton Ego the food critic in the 2007 animated film Ratatouille. Thoumieux's soul had slipped away, but it's back!

I showed up early - 7 p.m. -to be sure I'd get a table and chose a seat at the bar for a sweeping view of the bustling restaurant. They'd been handled most carelessly and that's no way to treat the fundamentals… A crying shame. To catch the boss's eye, you have to weigh 200 lbs. When the biting cold starts nipping at Parisian ankles, nothing beats a meal that's fit enough for a barbarian and hearty enough for a Hun to invigorate you.

It was a relief when a platter appeared at the end of the aisle. In clusters, clots, conglomerates! But watch out – they mean business. The chef's name is Joe Ng and his thing is to develop the art of cooking inside his dim sum. Our capital is riddled with these grottos, solidly secured to the rock.

I actually sat at the bar. Simon says : "food & fashion", "wine & travel", "restaurants" & "design hotels" ... Do you want to play with us ? We went ahead with the splendidly failed and shriveled ravioli dragging their greasy resentment through an acceptable salad enlivened with pine nuts that almost saved the dish. Does that sound ok?

is a French food and lifestyle blog run by the food writer François Simon, and the french reporter Christophe Doré. For a Plus, in Paris, coffee is awful and the beer second rate. Jeffrey has always dreamt of seeing me add a few notches to my belt. A delicious interlude with a few good bottles (a Croze-Hermitage from Graillot) and rather sexy clientele! It was like the subway in Paris during a strike in there. Simon~says ! !…   to settle in at Thoumieux armed with an iron will and, more importantly, a palpable desire to do battle with gastronomy.

A visit to the Lowell Hotel (Member of the Leading Small Hotels of the World; 28 East 63rd St.; (212) 838-1400; Here, you are at the foot of the Seagram Building (99 East 52nd St. and Park Ave.; (212) 754-9494), a prime example of the influence the Bauhaus had in New York. I found myself roaming the streets for hours. Hundreds! Tel :01 49 96 54 01 I was beginning to stagger and chant to myself  "No, no, no, no…" when Jeffrey pushed me into a dim sum restaurant called China Town (380 Lafayette street, (212) 533-7000). As for desert, things were much the same: the meringue glacée was icy-cold, but the meringue was practically reduced to powder. It was a rainy Saturday around lunchtime, so I stepped in out of the rain… Holy smokes! Tags: And when it's really good, I drink, mop up sauce with bread and eat heartily. François Simon, possibly the most feared and most read figure in France’s culinary world, recently made his debut as a chef.

The waiter insisted we taste the ravioli salad.

It's a whirlwind of dishes and believe me, it's exquisite. I may well go back anyway!

He was an actor, known for Alzire oder der neue Kontinent (1978), The Roads of Exile (1978) and Histoire du soldat (1972). That's the question French food critic Francois Simon posed to a little panel: Nick Lander, Carlo Petrini, Ken Hom, Anissa Helou, Yumiko Inukai and...yours truly.
A disaster. and really be able to put it away. Although I'd been standing on the brakes, exhausted by Jeffrey's tricks, I found myself wolfing down these delightful compositions made of crunchy vegetables and peanuts, crab and spinach, or bacon, shrimp and salmon… There was a bit of everything - steamed, fried or crispy - even a tiny dim sum that was staring at me with its little eyes… Or was that the fourth beer? Tags: tender button new york tom wolfe

Nothing between meals (an apple if I'm feeling a bit drained), no wine at lunch, no bread (or almost no bread), no dessert in average restaurants (unless they're extravagant) and no spirits (don't like the stuff). The steak tartare is thriving and abundant, appropriately seasoned, catches your attention and proves very tasty. Here, you'll see only extremely serious looking gentlemen, the egghead type, admirably boring (very few women); they're probably congressmen, mayors… These are the characters who fall victim in our fantasy scenarios to corruption, violent death and perverse girlfriends They're gathered around very classical dishes like this wild salmon; the fish, at least, is quite honorable.I was delighted by this episode because it carried with it a sort of irresistible atmosphere - the feeling of power or something like that - and I enjoy approaching it and feeling its sweet thrill.
It was super-sized, an all-American immersion.

It was a gorgeous day and the light poured into this vegetable centric restaurant - as many Italian restaurants are these days. Perfect. Barely "snacked" brill filets and a jardinière from "Joël's" (21 euros).