7.4 La Plantxa aka La Plancha (just look at its sign), 58, rue Gallieni in Boulogne Billancourt, (Metro: Marcel Sembat), 01.46.20.50.93, closed Sundays, is chef'd by a former (2012) Top Chef, a 25 y.o. Colombian who also passed through the kitchens of the Ecole du Cordon Bleu and L'Acajou. Now, some disclosure: I watch the occasional Top Chef and Masterchef - my endurance is measured in seconds not hours, and I can't find the right word for my reaction to the fate of its contestants - cynical, no; sceptical, no; uninterested, yah, that's it. Most disappear into the foodosphere, and except for Pierre Sang Boyer of Oberkampf or Romain Tischenko of Galopin, nobody has lit my fire, until today.
Philippe Toinard of A Nous Paris said that chef Juan Arbealez changes the menus every few days but one thing that seems constant is a giant burger (some 6 inches tall) that two amply-sized ladies were having, sorry for the blurred pix but I was miles away. As I was deciding what besides that to have, I had some nice red Scaia Corvinoa from Veneto.
I started with microtomed scallops with microtomes agrumes (which I swear had some microtomed beets, Japanese radishes and other non-citruses; all very nice indeed though.) Then I went to the duch (cooked just right) with practically raw carrots, pureed parsnip, bits of divine (unadvertised) foie gras and quince (I was going to rate this a 7.1 but the foie gras pushed it up immediately). There were an incredible number of flavors in the dish and while i usually mock too many ingredients as representing the worst of Aspen-Las Vegas-Los Angeles cooking, this guy pulls it off beutifully. I finished with a deconstructed lemon tart with tiny diced pieces of mango - nice touch.
My bill, with no bottled water, so-so bread, a half-bottle of wine and a coffee, was 53 E thus 106 E a couple.
Go? If you're in B-B, the 16th or anywhere near, for sure. But reserve - they were turning people away.
