Happy days are here again.

La Tute is back– just across the street from the world famous Drouot auction house.

The original bar and tiled floor remains but the food is pure Pyrénéen.

It’s been over a year since a landlord dispute shut down one of my favorite spots for substantive food,robust wines, AOC grade lamb and of course, pungent cheeses of such limited production that they lack a pedigree but oh, such flavor.

I gave Manu three weeks to work out the kinks and my BF and I sidled up to bar at 1:45 for a preparatory glass of Cote de Gascon Domaine Esquirts 2010 rouge and joined Manu à table after most of the diners had departed and he could abandon the bar.

We started with plates of pulpe, brouillé d’asperges and buttery jambonneau washed down by a vielle vignes Chiroubles.

The main courses were rounds of pimientos del Piquillo on top of a brandade, morue smothered in onions with a red pepper purée and crisply sautéed potatoes coated with parley and garlic and hands down the best perfectly cooked (rosé) magret that I’ve ever tasted. An excellent 2009 red Madiran from Chateau Viella was quickly emptied and replaced.

All of La Tute’s meats, fish and cheeses are delivered directly from the southwest including a rich, velvety cow’s cheese that still lingers on my taste buds.

A perfect tarte aux pommes and café could mean but one thing-it was now Armagnac time.

A giant 150 ML bottle from which we poured several small glasses each.

La Tute will be the scene of many long, genial meals with friends and clients.

La Tute, “Chez Manu”

7 rue Rossini, Paris 75009

Monday-Saturday, Lunch & Dinner

Closed Sundays

Tel: 01-4015-6565

M:Richelieu Drouot

Original review

Bertrand Tavernier, Terrance at the Original La Tute where I was  introduced  to Manu.

It had been nearly eight years since I had last broken bread with the great French film director Bertrand Tavernier and once again he was wrapping up post-production of a film. In 2001 LAISSEZ-PASSER and now IN THE ELECTRIC MIST, adapted from a James Lee Burke novel starring Tommy Lee Jones as Dave Robicheaux.

La Tute was in his neighborhood and was the creation of Manu, a former TV producer/ director. I arrived early and ordered a Quincy at the bar where cured hams and sausages dangled overhead as befits a bistro with a menu inspired by the Pyrenées. Moments later Bertrand joined me for a taste before we were ushered to a waiting table.

As a regular Bertrand ordered for both of us. A huge slab of gigot d’agneau for me and cotes d’agneau for himself but this wasn’t just any lamb-raised in the Pyrenées it come with it’s own A.O.C. BAREGES GAVARNIE. The males are castrated at 6-months and graze in herb-filled pastures at altitudes of from 1,600 to 2,600 meters. It has an unforgettable taste.

The meat was accompanied by a warm salad of tarbais (white beans) in a dressing of shallots, sherry vinegar from the Pyrenées, Italian flat-leaf parsley and olive oil which we continued to enjoy with our second course, a civet d’agneau whose mixture of natural juices, red wine and blood were gleefully sopped up with fresh baguette. A second glass of cotes du Rhone sent it down smoothly.

Gumbo and crayfish might have been more appropriate for a discussion of a film set in New Orleans and the nearby home of Tabasco sauce, Avery Island, but I’m not complaining.