Location Setting and More

My last essay on the influence the clientele has on one’s judgment about a meal started me thinking about other things I factor into a review or report, such as location, setting, décor, atmosphere and food.  I used to say that I’d eat anywhere, in any setting, so long as the food was good.  But I’m finding that I am sometimes influenced by an unpleasant schlep or convenience, the wonderful or ghastly setting, the crisp or tired décor and the stifling or open atmosphere almost as much as the inventive or banal food.  Let me explain.  Take location.  A while back I returned to Pouilly-Reuilly which if you don’t remember, is in Le Pre-Saint-Gervais, which looks like it’s just over the peripherique on a map.  But when you actually go, you realize this illusion is the reason you haven’t been back in twenty years, despite not bad food then or now.  On the other hand, Les Magnolias is much farther, way out in Le Perreux-sur-Marne, necessitating either one of two RER’s or a series of metro and bus and hoofing segments.  But if you program in the time needed, you always arrive in time and the RER ain’t that bad.  Granted a place in the 6th, like Le Bistrot de l’Alycastre a few feet from the metro is easier but the food, while good, is not one-star.  Then there’s the setting.  One of the most fabulous settings in all of Paris is the Ile de Reuilly in Daumesnil Lake in the Bois de Vincennes.  Its restaurant, the Chalet des Iles Daumesnil is incredibly-sited, gorgeously sitting lakeside with an expansive lawn filled with tables and lawn-chairs island-side.  But the food is so tired and miserable, despite a new chef, that even on a sunny, warm but not hot, day, you can’t appreciate the setting.  On the other hand, the setting in which Le Clocher Pereire* is sited on what I consider a boring street, despite its upscale inhabitants and grande-dame buildings, but the place turns out a neat meal and looking out the window is pleasant enough, even in the rain, which it was one time that I went.  Now the décor.  Experts like Simon and Pudlowski have written that when a reviewer spends 95% of his or her nk on décor, beware the food.  But sometimes the décor influences the quality of the meal.  For instance, I had a banal meal at the newly-refurbished Café de la Paix, but my companion and the elegant décor partially compensated for it.  On the other hand, not much can be done with a dump like Chez l’Ami Jean, but the food redeems it and indeed I’ve added it to my list for first-time visitors because it is so retro.  Of course there are one-of-a’s, like the Pre Catalan and MiniPalais where the décor is stunning, and in the case of the first, everything works in concert.  Then there’s the atmosphere – pleasant, welcoming, friendly and open versus stifling, cold, proper and bordering on the stuffy.  When it doesn’t look like any of the customers are having any fun eating, as at a recent meal at Le Bistro des Faubourgs, one cannot ignore it.  But when everyone is happy, smiling and eager, like it always is at Astier, it makes the meal better, no?  *My last meal was on 28 October 2007. Paid for.  My favorite this week despite its location is: Le Clocher Pereire 42, bvd Pereire 17th, (Metro: Pereire ) T: 01.44.40.04.15 Closed Saturdays and Sundays Lunch menu 17, dinner 29 and 38, a la carte 35-50 €.  ©2007 John A. Talbott