Le Gorille Blanc in the 4th: New Address, New Chef, New Look.

5.4 Le Gorille Blanc, 4, impasse Guemenee in the 4th, 01.42.72.03.45, closed Sundays, moved from the 7th over to this (old) Les Cotelettes space with a new look and new chef; it's gotten mixed reviews with Toinard finding his pork chop too dry but Fuffy's review on Chowhound in September came to me when I needed to find a place near my old friend's cabinet in the Marais.

Now, how many places can you eat at that say this?

 

The specials looked great today but the whole carte was equally impressive.

The grilled mackerel with shredded beets and raifort was fine; I'm not sure the beets added anything and I couldn't taste the horseradish, but it was an interesting combo.  Then we both had the civet de biche with cepes and while I found the biche too dry, game are forever running, right? so they never develop fat, but the cepes saved the preparation.  Finally, after much deliberation we split a croustade ariegeoise with prunes  and apples; it's a light pastry specialty of the Couserans region and was the high point of the meal.

With a bottle of Madiran, no bottled water and two coffees, the bill was 92 E.

Go?  I'd like to hear more positive feedback before I take Colette.  But it's way better than it was in November 2005 when I rated the former chef a 3/10.