A few weeks ago, my partner and I went to Paris for a night to watch the band Big Thief and keen to make the most of a rare night of no responsibilities, hit up Pierre Toitou’s new restaurant 19 Saint Roche, five minutes walk away from L’Olympia.
Opened in 2024, Pierre comes via legendary natural wine bar Vivant, and the new venture keeps many of the same influences but sands down some of the rougher edges.
When we arrived Pierre welcomed us with a glass of his family’s wine, something from Sardinia where they have roots, which comes bottled in a arresting bottle, like a Jurassian Clavin. The wine comes from unsulphored vineyards planted by his Grandfather (?) – very lovely, a bit skin contacty with nice texture. Pierre himself was so lovely, but I did rather get the feeling that he could also knock the head of your shoulders if he chose to.
I had a tuna carpaccio, which was very subtle, my partner had an exqusite plate of white asparagus, smoked and with a green puree. I’ve not had white asparagus for ages, and they had a real nostalgic pull to the 1990s which must have been when I last tried them – must seek them out again.
The wine list was natural, naturally and had some great stuff on it including some Prieure-Roch at a nice price, which I considered, but for again nostalgic reasons went for a bottle of 2020 Alexandre Jouveau which I was forewarned was a bit crazy.
I was keen to revisit as I remember very well a trip to meet Alexandre in I guess 2011 or so? The wines were thrilling then, abstract Chardonnay in the best sense, and I remember driving off only to see something moving in the back of our car.. turns out their cat had jumped into our boot and we had to head back and return it.
At 14.5% it was a bit alcoholic for me, especially as we were on a bit of a tight deadline, so we didn’t get to finish it off, but it was a great blast from the past.
With that – we were off. But if you’re in the area, check it out – you won’t regret it.