What does two hearts in Figaroscope mean? – Redux.

In January of 2007 I wrote about this subject for the first time and a recent rating in Figaroscope by Emmanuel Rubin, of restaurants that have opened since the Rentree 2008, prompts me to pick up the theme again. The scale Rubin uses in his weekly “C’est nouveau,” goes from a busted heart to 4 hearts, thus it gives him 5 points of possible usage. Then in periodic roundups, he rates places from 0-10. The reality is that in his heart scale he rarely goes above 2 and in his 0-10 scale, he clusters ratings of meals between 5 and 7; both of which severely limit the possibilities, unless one uses a lot of decimals. Not that this is that different from, say Gault-Millau which theoretically uses 0-20, but tends to really rate in the 12-19 range.   So who cares? Well, I for one. When I pick up Figaroscope each week, I go straight to the “C’est nouveau” and usually find that of the 5 new places that have opened in Paris recently, he’s given 2, 3 or sometimes 4 of them, a rating of 2 hearts. So, if the majority of places that open are 2/5, they must be pretty much the same, no? No! They’re very different, from real restos and bistros to tea salons and bars. And then Figaroscope at mid-fall and year’s end and just before their summer break comes out with a ranking of many places and one sees the spread. This week, for instance, it went like this for 34 new places so far this fall: 9.0 Le Cinq  7.0 Jeu de Quille  La Table d’Eugène Pizza Chic 6.5 L’Assiette  Cul de Poule Miroir Firmin le Barbier Chardenoux Lilane Le Bar Ladurée Le Zebra 6.0 Agapes La Cantine du Troquet  L’Ober-Salé Arthur Khao San Road Barocco Le Bar à pizza du Bellagio Chacha Club Mama Shelter Dos de la Baleine Rosa Bonheur Miyou La Laiterie 5.5 Le Relais de l’Entrecôte 5.0 Le Boudoir Gars dans la cuisine  Family Affair Jour de Fête 4.0 La Païva Café Rouge Le Corot 3.0 Valseuses If we knock out the outliers at the top and bottom and concentrate on the 29 places to eat between 5 and 7, there do seem to be shades of difference that his two heart rating missed and one wishes he’d (1) use a wider range or assign more decimals in “C’est nouveau” and (2) tell us why a 5.0 two-hearter is so much different from a 7.0 two-hearter. My own ranking of the ones on the list I’ve been to this fall is like this: 8.0-6.0 Le Jeu de Quilles 8.0-5.5 La Cantine du Troquet 7.0 Table d’Adrien 6.5. Le Boudoir 6.0 Agapes 5.9 Cul de Poule  5.5 Miroir A La Chataigne 5.0 Le Dos de la Baleine Memere Paulette  Au Gout (Denis) Dujour La Table d’Eugene  l’Ardoise Gourmande  La Grange Bateliere  5.0-2.0 Cavesteve 3.5 Firmin, le Barbier 2.5 Moulin a Vent 2.0 Zebra aka Zebra Square Pasco 1.0 Chez Fred -0.5 l’Escapade  Now, leaving aside that I hedged my marks on three places, Le Jeu de Quilles, La Cantine du Troquet + Cavesteve, because their styles might not fit all sizes, one can see that I used pretty much the whole 0-10 scale (including one negative score) except 9’s and 10’s (which is perfection, unattainable by mortals.)   Plus, several places I listed aren’t even on Rubin’s summary – one, La Table d’Adrien, I suspect, because the quirky owner now won’t allow anyone tainted by or recommended by the press or the opposite sex to enter, others, Memere Paulette, Moulin a Vent, Cavesteve + A La Chataigne because they’re not really so very new, yet another, Au Gout (Denis) Dujour), because it hasn’t been “found” by one of the big boys and the last ones, La Grange Bateliere, Chez Fred + l’Escapade because, I suspect, they slid off his list down towards the baseline.   I’ll let you decide whose listing is more to your taste over the next few months. These thoughts were prompted by my thoughts at two of the more interesting and “unknown” places: Memere Paulette 3, rue Paul Lelong, 2nd, (Metro: Sentier) T: 01.40.26.12.36 Closed Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Menu: 2 courses for 15 and 3 for 17 €   Au Gout Dujour 12, rue Beaugrenelle, 15th (Metro: Charles Michels) T: 01.45.71.68.36 Closed Sundays Lunch menu 20 and menu-carte 25 €.  Blog: John Talbott’s Paris © John Talbott 2008