39V, Slick, Sleek, and Soothing, B+

Dining Bar at 39V

This was a very interesting week of dining out in Paris, because even though I’m wary of announcing emerging trends in local culinary culture before they’ve gained obvious momentum, the most memorable element of a pair of very good meals were the exquisite sauces that emerged from these respective kitchens. These sauces were so luxurious and elegantly classical that my mantra all week long has been a trio of favorite quotes from Curnonsky, the brilliant 20th century French food critic. To wit:

1) “Sauces comprise the honor and the glory of French cooking.”

2)  “Good cooking is when things taste of what they are.”

3) “And above all else, keep it simple!”

But as Frederic Vardon, the talented chef at 39V restaurant makes so deliciously apparent, simplicity isn’t always simple. For example, the gently citric sauce that accompanied by griddled langoustines as a first course was so delicate that it might have been overlooked, but this was its genius since these tender tones of acidity perfectly accented the sweetness and delicate taste of the sea of these impeccably fresh clouds of flesh. Similarly, my friend David’s foie gras was cooked to absolute perfection–a careful application of heat had caused it to seize up just beyond being raw, and the autumnal garnish of quince, hazelnuts and sour cherries was coarse enough to provide a good foil to the sheerness of the liver without overwhelming it.

If this finesse wasn’t really a surprise from a chef with resume like Vardon’s–he trained at Alain Chapel, then cooked with Alain Dutournier and at various Alain Ducasse establishment, notably many of Ducasse’s Spoon restaurants around the world, what was unexpected was that he so daringly embraced a very classical cannon of Duckling cooked two waysbourgeois French cooking, while updating it to make it his own, a fine example being the superb duckling prepared two ways and served with a grilled flat peach and a sublimely fine sauce of cooking juices, butter–how nice that it’s back again!, and spices. The roasted breast of this “half-wild” bird (not sure how they manage that, but assume it’s from breeding a wild duck with a domesticated one) was succulent and full of flavor, while the thigh had been cooked ‘confit’ in its own drippings, a duette that represented a stunning amount of serious work.

My poulette breast with an almost invisible cream sauce and a little casserole of Camargue rice with the same sauce was likewise coquettishly deceptive in its simplicity, since the white sauce was made with a fine de-fatted chicken broth that allowed the succulent alabaster meat to shine.

Between courses, we were both fascinated, and puzzled, by this dining room. Reached by a private lift, it’s a circular space on the top floor of an office building that fronts on the Avenue George V, and arriving there’s a bar area with a smart counter for solo dining, an open kitchen, a private dining area seating a good quorum of people and an outside terrace for those still in thrall to the evil New World weed known as tobacco. The ceiling of the room is an array of biscuit-colored petals, there’s a central atrium with some sort of an electronic ornament that receives LED signals from a mapping satellite (sorry, this is the best I can do at explaining this intriguing but much too complicated for me bit of 21st century machinery), and a crowd unlike any I’ve ever seen in Paris, affluent and dead-pan chic, probably many of them working in luxury marketing, but who knows. Others were doubtless from the luxury hotels in this swanky part of the 8th arrondissement, a part of the city that rarely hears my foot steps.

Service throughout the meal was excellent, and the amiable young sommeliere surprised us with an excellent glass of white wine from the Greek Island of Tinos to drink with our starters, and also mentioned that she wants to kick out the walls on her otherwise French list with some Austrian wines in the near future, a good idea.

Since 39V is expensive, it’s not the kind of place you go off the cuff. Rather, it’s ideal for a business meal or for a calm tete a tete in an unusual and quietly glamorous setting when you a really good meal without all of the pomp and circumstances of anything Michelin, although I wouldn’t be surprised if this place snags a star in the 2011 Michelin guide to Paris.

Le 39V, rue Quentin-Bauchard, 8th, Tel. 01-56-62-30-05. Metro: George V. Closed Saturday and Sunday. Prix-fixe menus 39.50 Euros, 49.50 Euros (lunch), 85 Euros; a la carte 70 Euros.