Paris Dining

Subtitle:  In which I share an incomplete, idiosyncratic, and highly subjective list of our favorite places to obtain nourishment of various types in an overly-long post

I think I mentioned before that my most popular blog posts from last sabbatical were the ones on our favorite Paris restaurants.  Many people have asked for our restaurant suggestions, and it was handy to have someplace to send them.  So I have tried to put together an updated version.  By the way, I do think that our restaurant experimentation was suboptimal--we relied on familiar places a bit too often--so I offer the list with that caveat.  

There's some old saw about eating dessert first, to which I do not subscribe, but I do eat it often, so perhaps I'll start with the category of sweet things.

I mentioned Chapon in my Paris Shopping post because it's a great place to get unusual single-origin chocolate bars.  I mention it here because it is an incomparable place to buy chocolate mousse.  They typically have 3-5 varieties, which you may taste, differentiated by amount of added sugar and characteristics of the single-origin chocolate.  You can purchase large containers to take home, or you can ask for mousse in a paper cone a emporter.    It has, I am told, become Instagram famous lately, so you might want to avoid the absolute peak times, but we have not had any issues this year.

We have been underwhelmed by some of the places that have become Instagram famous, such as Glace Bachir, a Lebanese ice cream place in the Marais.  There was a long line when we went, which gave us plenty of time to eagerly anticipate the enormously-hyped pistachio-milk-based ice cream, pick a flavor, and decide whether we wanted our cones rolled in chopped pistachios or not.  (My choice was sweet cream and chocolate rolled in pistachios.)  It was ... fine.  Actually, probably well below average for ice creams that I've tried in Paris.  I was glad we went there to see what the hype was about, but I don't think I'll be standing in that line again.  Bo & Mie is a very popular (Instagram famous?) patisserie these days, often with long lines, but I would not recommend something they call a cookie, which is hockey-puck-like in both shape and density.  (Their croissants and pains au chocolate are good, though.)

Other than Glace Bachir, I don't recall having disappointing ice cream or gelato in Paris.  I particularly like La Fabrique Givree, especially their roasted pistachio and black sesame flavors (both excellent with chocolate sauce).  

There is no shortage of wonderful chocolate shops and patisseries (some of which I mentioned in Paris Shopping).  Here are a few of our favorites:  The Smiths (for their flourless chocolate cake with raspberry coulis), Carl Marletti (for standard eclairs), Sadaharu Aoki (for unusual eclairs), Laduree (for macarons), Pierre Herme (for sables, macarons, and chocolates), and Jean-Paul Hevin (for chocolates). 

There’s an American-style bakery called Clove, that has fantastic chocolate chip cookies.  (That probably seems less interesting for visitors than it does to us, but just in case you find yourself in desperate need, you know where to go.  In general beware of things that look like chocolate chip cookies.  We have tried them all, and we can attest to the fact that there is large variance in their degree of fidelity to the American prototype.)

France is famous for its baguettes and croissants, of course, and we have had our share of both this year.  But I often go for the more unusual breads, like l'unique from La Parisienne or the fig bread from Liberte.  (Both La Parisienne and Liberte are small, local chains.)  If we want a reliable croissant or pain au chocolate, we head to the Eric Keyser a couple of blocks away (which won in two different blind taste tests we ran of viennoiseries from nearby bakeries this year).  And for a baguette, we go to Maison Dore, 6 minute walk away on rue Gay Lussac, which was just named the second best baguette in Paris.  

Now, I'll move onto restaurants.  Since the list is pretty long, I'll keep my commentary short.  I've indicated our favorites with a *.

In the 6^th north of Luxembourg Gardens (essentially where we lived six years ago):

Le Christine—haven’t been there recently, but it has been reliable for slightly elevated but casual atmosphere, good food.

Semilla—one of our favorites from six years ago, but they lost their chef and our last experience was not as good.

*Ambos—very nice restaurant, delicious food with a little bit of a Spanish/Latin American tilt, good service.  If it has not already, it will be discovered by tourists soon, given its location right across the street from the Senat.

Saigon D’Antan—casual, good Southeast Asian food.  They have a mango salad with crispy beef that I like.

Luisa Maria—pizza and Italian food, fun atmosphere.  They have a little room on the upper floor that is more intimate than their bustling main room.  They also have small sidewalk tables in nice weather.

La Ferrandaise—French regional cuisine, excellent beef, overall very nice, small, quiet.  They have sidewalk tables in nice weather.

Seulement Sea—seafood, had several excellent meals there, but the service was pretty bad the last time.

L’Epidon—our neighborhood slightly nice-ish place at our previous apartment, very friendly young chef, outdoor seating in nice weather.

Breizh Cafe---a mainstay in the Odeon neighborhood.  Good crepes and galettes and oysters and lots of cider choices for washing everything down.  

The Moose---a sports bar with a tilt towards North American sporting events which offers surprisingly good bar food.  

I include a disproportionate number of restaurants in this neighborhood due to familiarity, not because it is the best food neighborhood.  One trend I have noticed over the last several years is that the quality-weighted restaurant distribution has moved markedly away from the center of Paris.  The outer arrondissements are probably a better bet than the very central northern 6th arrondissement, but I just don't know the best places.  And, by the way, it's probably a good idea to make reservations at any of these places, but, with the exception of Semilla and Ambos, reservations a day or two before should be entirely adequate.  

Elsewhere on the Rive Gauche:

*Simone, le Resto—probably my favorite new restaurant discovery this year, great seasonal food, nice laid-back vibe, natural wine pairings, definitely off the beaten path.

Les Papilles—good value, prix fixe with no choice.  I didn’t think it was as good as usual last time we went.

Hugo et Co—reliable, casual, we’ve eaten well there.

Casa di Pepe—pizza and Italian food, fun atmosphere, maybe Glenn’s favorite pizza.  I like the crust, but am underwhelmed by the toppings.

Pizza Chic—pizza mostly, small and crowded, I thought the pizza was excellent but service was leisurely at best.

Otto—wine bar with Semilla’s old chef, just small plates and no reservations, but we enjoyed it.

*La Grivoiserie---delicious roast chicken and fish, small casual place well off of the tourist radar.  Food is very good with almost American-sized portions (actually too large for me).

Seoul Mama---an embarrassingly-named mini-chain of Korean food, which has a vegetarian bibimbap that I really like.  It also has a great gochujang brownie with caramel sauce and sesame ice cream, which I love.

Doran Doran---they have a dolsot bibimbap (I get the bulgogi) that warms my whole body up on a cold, gray Paris evening.  

I guess I would say the same thing about reservations at all of these places as I said above.  Simone, le Resto would need to be booked further in advance, the others (except Otto) can be booked last-minute-ish.  You may have to book La Grivoiserie by phone.

Rive Droit (where we go less often):

Datil---vegetable-focused tasting menu with no choice, inventive cuisine and plating, very good but more of a performance than I typically like at dinner.  

Verjus—prix fixe with little choice, food has always been spectacular, we have enjoyed many memorable meals here over the years.

Ellsworth—run by the same people as Verjus, only been once for lunch, but it was great.

Le 52—more modern, vegetable-focused, casual place, lively neighborhood, went recently and was as good as I remembered it from six years ago.

Tavline—Israeli place in the Marais, reliable, fantastic appetizer of four vegetable dishes.

L’Instinct—I've been twice for lunch and thought it was quite good both times.

Maslow—all vegetarian, loud and young crowd, pretty good food.

*Dandelion---we sat out on a patio in a quiet corner of Paris covered with an awning on a cool rainy night, ate several spectacular dishes, drank delicious wine, and stayed warm and dry.   

Datil and Dandelion are both somewhat hard-to-get reservations in this group---I needed to book out a few weeks in advance.  Verjus can fill up early but sometimes has last-minute tables.  Le 52 does not take reservations, I believe.

There are a few others I could add, but this post is already long enough, and, anyhow, I'm getting hungry.