5.0 Chez Christophe, 148, rue Cardinet in the 17th (Metro: Brochant), crept under the radar screen, opening in January but discovered by me (that means I only woke up to its existence) a week ago. We approached and the staff, typically French, were smoking outside, teeing off Colette who wanted a warm welcome, some watyer (on this second day of Spring) and some wine. It is ultramodern, with a stupendous wood-burning grill and an interesting carte.
We were hosting 1/2 of a French-Brit family, and it was semi-celebratory, their daughter had just got news of her Bac which was the highest rated - "Mention trés bien" which meant she was looking at Cambridge or University College London and Dad, who is a diplomat in Libya wrote that after the attack on their "consul a benghazi" "Everything is normal: attentat raté." Our friend and Colette had the gaspacho (of tomato not cucumber as advertised on the menu) which they deemed good and I had the marinated bar which I found way too over-salted.
Then our friend had the daurade royale which was very large and very good, her daughter had the gambas from the grill and I had the BBQ pork ribs which were smothered with BBQ sauce, overcooked and twice as much as a normal 18 year old Texan could put away. (Colette had an entree portion of the marinated bar.)
For desserts Colette had a lemon tart which she judged the crust of inferior and our friend's daughter had the tiramisu.
With a bottle and a half of wine, 3 coffees, OK bread and no bottled water, for the adults it aounted to about &0 E a couple.
Go? If you live nearvy it would be OK for a "cook's night out," otherwise unh unh.
