Dans les Landes: An Authentic Bite of Southwestern France

Emily Buchanan December 16, 2016

Anyone looking for an honest food experience from Southwestern France should head for Dans les Landes, a vibrant, always bustling café/bistro that resounds with authenticity. Everything at this spot is true and flavorful, from the tastefully breaded and fried rings of baby squid (chipirons) to the smoky pork sausages served with the tiny pickled peppers known as guindilla. Although not traditionally from the region, their Asian spring rolls with a Southwestern touch are worth a try too: here wrapped in traditional rice paper but filled with an avalanche of vegetables and bits of flavorful duck (the prized bird of the region), with leaves of lettuce and sprigs of mint for wrapping the rolls in, accompanied by a perfectly spicy sauce. Dishes are advertised as tapas portions, but each tapas serving can easily be shared by two hungry diners. Make sure to order the local Iroulegy wine, white or red, both of which are organic. Service is swift and friendly, décor right out of a sports bar, with lots of sports team banners and it wouldn’t be the Southwest without a few hanging cured sausages and dried Espelette peppers.

For more Paris restaurant reviews, get The Food Lover's Guide to Paris 5th edition, or download the app!

Cooking Classes 2018: Dates Announced

Emily Buchanan November 22, 2016

With pleasure and anticipation I am announcing the At Home with Patricia Wells cooking class dates for 2018 (all of our 2017 classes are now full).

The 2018 season begins with our spectacular Black Truffle Extravaganza in January, including a special truffle hunt, black truffles with every meal and an extraordinary selection of rare, white Châteauneuf-du-Pape wines. In April we hold three Cooking in Paris classes, followed by my ever-popular Cooking in Provence sessions in my farmhouse in Provence in June and September. All classes involve plenty of hands-on, seasonal cooking, sourcing the best produce France has to offer from local markets and growers and, in Provence, my own organic vegetable garden. Classes are augmented with market visits, cheese, oil and wine tastings, and restaurant visits (in Paris an unforgettable three-star meal; in Provence, the very best of the local cuisine).

Classes are now open to the public via my website. Sign up here to reserve a place in your class of choice. Note that classes do fill up fast and all requests are accepted on a first-come, first-served basis.

PROVENCE COOKING CLASS: BLACK TRUFFLE EXTRAVAGANZA

January 22 to 26, 2018

The session includes the Monday welcome dinner, a Tuesday market visit followed by class and lunch, Tuesday evening class and dinner, Wednesday truffle hunt and restaurant lunch, Thursday visit to our truffle supplier, a wine tasting and a restaurant lunch, Friday class and lunch.

PARIS COOKING CLASSES

April 2 to 5, 2018
April 16 to 20, 2018
April 30 to May 4, 2018

Each session includes class and lunch, Monday through Friday, as well as a private wine tasting, a market tour, a bakery visit, an olive oil and nut oil tasting, and a memorable Michelin three-star lunch.

PROVENCE COOKING CLASSES

June 10 to 15, 2018
June 24 to 29, 2018
Sept 2 to 7, 2018
Sept 16 to 21, 2018

Sessions begin with the Sunday welcome dinner and end after lunch on Friday. Each course includes Sunday dinner, Monday class and lunch, Tuesday market tour, class and lunch, Tuesday restaurant dinner, Wednesday private wine tasting and restaurant lunch, Thursday class and lunch, Friday olive oil and nut oil tastings, class and lunch.

Big news - my Paris cooking studio is up for sale!

Emily Buchanan November 18, 2016

After 20 years of conducting cooking classes in our Left Bank atelier on rue Jacob in the 6th arrondissment – as well as writing many books there -- we now have an extraordinary opportunity to move our cooking class location to an apartment with a small private garden close to our home on rue du Bac in the 7th arrondissement. So consequently, we have decided to put the rue Jacob studio on the market, with its kitchen intact, including my beloved La Cornue stove, and most of the apartment's furnishings.

For more details and to contact the real estate agency see the A+B Kasha website or email Paris@abkasha.com.

For students enrolled in the spring 2017 Cooking in Paris classes, sessions will go ahead as scheduled at the rue Jacob location. Details on other future Paris classes will be updated as the renovation moves forward.

Noodle Haven: Abri Soba

Emily Buchanan November 17, 2016

One of the more welcoming soba noodle restaurants to grace the Paris restaurant landscape is Abri Soba, a casual, friendly spot in the 9th arrondissement, just down from the Cadet métro stop. Run by Katsuaki Okiyama of the excellent restaurant Abri, in the 10th arrondissement, Abri Soba adds a new definition to the wholesome buckwheat (sarrasin) noodle. With its warm wooden décor and open kitchen, the compact restaurant has a Japanese country aire and breathes authenticity. I already want to return, having eyed the tempting cold soba noodles paired with crispy shrimp tempura. Everything has a careful -- yet hardly precious -- aesthetic sense here. The warm soba noodles arrive nestled in a mahogany-toned hand-crafted bowl, garnished with crisp sheets of jet-black nori, or strips of dried seaweed. I’d return again and again for the cold soba noodles topped with strips of tender chicken, crispy fried onions, and a touch of greenery, all presented in an elegant, light blue and white ceramic bowl.

Just add a glass of Kozaemon Junmai Daiginjo sake, and you’re on the road to heaven. Note that the noodles are 80 percent buckwheat, and 20 percent wheat flour, so are not suitable for for those with gluten intolerances. Note also that the restaurant does not take reservations.

For more Paris restaurant reviews, get The Food Lover's Guide to Paris 5th edition, or download the app!

A bite of history: Clown Bar

Emily Buchanan November 10, 2016

Filet of cod, Italian radicchio, miso, seaweed powder

Finding a restaurant whose atmosphere gives you an authentic historic experience, while offering you fresh contemporary fare on the plate, can be somewhat of an enigma in Paris. Sure, historical settings with charming turn-of-the-century décor abound, but so do the disappointments when the food arrives. But since Sven Chartier and Ewen Lemoigne of restaurant Saturne fame have taken over Clown Bar -- the historic monument that was once the watering hole for the adjacent Cirque d’Hiver (Winter Circus) – this is decidedly not one of those places.

The charming Belle Epoque bistro setting with Sarreguemines ceramic tiles depicting parading clowns, a zinc bar and circus-style, exposed bulb lighting is a surprising but refreshing setting for chef Sota Atsumi’s modern French, produce-driven cuisine. Chef Atsumi, who has passed through the likes of 3 Michelin star Maison Troisgros in Roanne and Vivant Table and Toyo in Paris, assures a daily changing menu of carefully composed offerings, that are simple yet imaginative and satisfying. You might find entrees such as a sashimi coins of coquilles Saint Jacques (scallop) served with smoky shaved ricotta and delicately perfumed bergamot; or a raw beef tartare, brightened up with marinated anchovy fillets and a thick substantial burrata. For mains, we sampled a filet of cod, soft and pillowy (yet a touch overcooked) served with grilled Italian radicchio, spiked with miso and showered in a dramatic green seaweed powder (photo); and a perfectly cooked pigeon, served with fresh blueberries and a generous bowl of grilled whole gernika peppers from the Basque country.

We loved the light yet puckery tarte au citron (lemon tart), but being late in the season, the blueberry tart was a little lackluster, despite its pairing with a heavenly salted caramel ice-cream and we might have been better with the chocolate mousse with grilled tea ice-cream. Always good to have a reason to go back. Other bonuses include their six table terrace and they are open Sunday nights. All the elements are there for a great Parisian dining experience.

For more Paris restaurant reviews, get The Food Lover's Guide to Paris 5th edition, or download the app!

Juveniles: vibrant bright flavors and a wine list to love

Emily Buchanan June 3, 2016

Juveniles wine bar and wine shop is the sort of place you want in your neighborhood. When you don’t want to cook, you just slip in for a taste of solidly modern bistro fare, including sparkling fresh fish from Brittany, meaty duck breast from the southwest, and of course, enough wine choices to make your pleasure thermometer soar. And should you be cooking up a storm that day, test your wine-pairing skills and choose from owner Tim Johnston’s keen-eyed selection of wines from all over the world, take a bottle home and uncork it.

Since Tim opened in March 1987, this tiny spot (you will surely slip past mountains of wine cartons on the way to your table) has been home to wine lovers from all over. In January 2014, he was joined by daughter Margaux and her partner Romain Roudeau, who reigns in the kitchen. The food here is vibrant, offering an avalanche of bright flavors and herbs galore. Who could not love a combination of soothing Italian buffalo-milk burratina set on a bed of crunchy fresh seasonal peas and fava beans, then showered in a pungent garden of mint, coriander and dill? Tender fillets of merlu (hake) are paired with beautifully seared chunks of zucchini, a mound of salad greens and crunchy toasted almonds. Like many menus today, the list of offerings reads like a welcome admonition to “eat your vegetables” and Romain does them proud with his ability to sear, char and turn sometimes mundane ingredients into real treasures. This is also a cheese-lover’s paradise, with everything from well-aged French Brie to the UK’s Neal’s Yard Dairy unpasteurized cheddar.

But of course wine is why we go, to ponder the compact yet extensive well-priced wine list, offering everything from Aubert de Villaine’s bright, citrusy white Bourgogne Côte Châlonnaise to Domaine de Marcoux’s always pleasurable white Châteauneuf-du-Pape. In the red category, there is Tim’s own Vin de Table de France “Purple Fourteen” a wine crafted along with winemaker Marcel Richaud in the southern Rhone. They offer wines by the glass, the half-liter, the bottle, the magnum- from the US, Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, Austria, Spain and Italy, so explore!

For more Paris restaurant reviews, get The Food Lover's Guide to Paris 5th edition, or download the app!

Papillon: An exciting new modern bistro from Christophe Saintonge

Emily Buchanan May 27, 2016

What a pleasure to find a restaurant where everything satisfies from the minute you walk in the door to signing the check at the end of the meal. No question about it, Papillon to my mind is one of the most exciting new modern bistros to hit the Paris food scene in many years. Chef-owner Christophe Saintonge, who was last seen as head chef at Alain Ducasse’s three Michelin star Paris restaurant Le Meurice, is now out on his own and continues to show us his talent, intelligence and maturity as a chef, but in a more low-key, accessible setting.

Located in the beautifully appointed Parc Monceau neighborhood in the 17th arrondissement, the restaurant looks onto the picturesque Hausmannien building opposite through its all-glass facade. The pristine 45-seat dining room is modern and understated, but not without character with it’s gold-rimmed grey oak veneer tables, orb-like suspended lamps, comfortable blonde wooden chairs and camel-colored leather banquettes. The alert attentive staff (the number of which seemed enormous for the size of the restaurant) are charmingly outfitted in crisp white shirts, black suit pants, black bow ties and black suspenders. While there is a ‘closed kitchen’ you can catch glimpses of the action into the slick, clean, stainless steel kitchen workshop.

But best and most important of all, the menu and wine list is something to embrace wholeheartedly. It’s a happy conundrum to be faced with a menu where your first reaction is “I want to try everything!” And I loved almost everything I tasted there, including the marinated daurade (porgy) carpaccio (photo), bathed in lemon juice, olive oil, and tender leaves of mizuna, or Japanese mustard green. Paper-thin slices of radish added a winning touch of color and crunch. I will definitely be ordering that again.

The roasted asparagus was a marvel: Perfectly cooked so that its earthy flavor had a chance to star, topped with a tiny layer of melted Comté cheese and served with a tarragon cream alongside, to extend the pleasure. At least 35 years ago in the south of France I sampled a whole roasted leg of lamb that had been cooked in a bread oven and smothered in hay and I have never forgotten that smoky marriage of smoldering hay and tender meat. Saintonge’s version of lamb chops smoked in hay did not disappoint, paired with a side dish of my favored fregola, those crunchy, toasted pellets of pasta from Sardinia.

Equally fabulous was the roasted veal – full-flavored and tender – served with a brilliant creation of sliced, roasted artichoke hearts. A giant fillet of roasted barbue (brill) just barely cooked, was served with a spring-fresh salad of mixed herbs.

As we sat savoring our main course, we watched the waiters parade around the room, scooping warm chocolate cake direct from the pan into dessert bowls already adorned with fresh mint and chocolate nibs. No need to consult the dessert menu, we were sold. Pure chocolate heaven, one heady spoonful at a time.

My only serious disappointment was the madeleines offered with coffee, cleverly served directly out of their metal baking tins. But alas, they were undercooked with a distinct acidic tinge of baking soda.

The wine list was equal to the impressive menu however. Don’t miss one of my favorite whites, Domaine Ostertag’s pinot blanc from Alsace and the always dependable red Côtes–du-Rhône from Michel Richard. Prices are totally reasonable considering the all-around quality with 28€ and 36€ lunch menus (2 or 3 courses respectively), or 50-60€ à la carte.

For more Paris restaurant reviews, get The Food Lover's Guide to Paris 5th edition, or download the app!

Wide-eyed Wonder at Restaurant David Toutain

Emily Buchanan April 8, 2016

Pigeon and Asparagus at Restaurant David Toutain

One of my wine-loving friends says of a new wine discovery, “I’d like to have a bottle of this once a month for the rest of my life.” I could apply the same sentiment to dining at David Toutain’s outstanding Paris restaurant in the 7th arrondissement. Toutain stunned us several years ago as head chef at Agapé Substance before opening his own modern dining room in 2014.

Not many chefs today can offer total satisfaction in a single bite, but Toutain achieves it right off the bat with a brilliant red bundle of beef carpaccio, silken, glistening, set on a bed of pristine ground hazelnuts and topped with sharply flavored oxalis leaves.

The wide-eyed wonder continues throughout the meal as Toutain distinguishes himself as a chef who follows no one but himself, always experimenting, searching for the surprise and joy that a single bite can deliver.

Toutain has worked with the best – Pierre Gagnaire, Alain Passard, Bernard Pacaud – and has certainly been an exemplary student. But what I love most about his approach and his daring is the way he translates nature’s treasures to the plate. We marvel at some of his combinations – kiwi and oysters or salsify and white chocolate – and applaud when something as down to earth as a tender, juicy pigeon breast is paired with perfectly cooked first-of-season asparagus (photo). And who could resist a pair of brilliant green parsley tortellini floating in a sublime pork consommé?

His multicourse menu is restrained and you don’t leave this understated restaurant feeling as though you never want to eat again. Portions are small but not skimpy. The food is picture-perfect and always eye-opening, but not precious. Some dishes are more exciting than others: I could have lived without the abrasive smoked eel with black sesame. And I find that some of the chunky contemporary pottery – especially jet black plates and bowls – do little to flatter the visual appeal of the food.

Toutain’s attentive staff are not at all aggressive and I am always happy to put myself in the hands of sommelier Guillaume Lescoliere. We have similar tastes and I applaud many of his selections, including the vibrantly refreshing 2014 Vouvray Sec from Domaine du Clos Naudin, the lively Saint Romain pinot noir by Alain Gras, and the syrah-infused Saint Joseph from Domaine Gripa.

For a restaurant of this caliber prices are a veritable bargain with a 55€ lunch menu and 80€ and 110€ lunch and dinner menus (130€ and 180€) with wine.

For more Paris restaurant reviews, get The Food Lover's Guide to Paris 5th edition, or download the app!

Fulgurances: A bold, brave concept

Emily Buchanan December 3, 2015

A fulgurance is like a lightening bolt – a moment that is intense in emotion, unique, exceptional, mystical, and cannot be reproduced. These are the words of the Parisian restaurateur Rebecca Asthalter, who, along with partners Hugo Hivernat and Sophie Coribert opened Fulgurances l’Adresse on October 14th of this year. The concept is a new one: The restaurant will change chefs every six months, working with sous-chefs from well-known restaurants who are eager to go it on their own.

Their first featured chef, Chloé Charles, worked most recently as a sous-chef at the nearby Septime, under the tutelage of Bertrand Grébaut, and earlier she passed through the kitchens of l’Astrance with Pascal Barbot and David Toutain during his days at L’Agapé Substance. The restaurant – a casual, modern, clean little 36-seat spot in the city’s 11th arrondissement – is not far from the scene of the city’s horrors of November 13th. On that Friday evening police came to the restaurant, directing the owners to lock the doors, turn off the lights, and wait. By 1 am the police returned, allowing guests and the owners to vacate. Obviously, a rather challenging beginning to an already brave adventure. Parisians have shown themselves in the wake of these events to be extremely resilient, and restaurant was close to full on the two occasions that we visited the restaurant in the last two weeks.

Locals, as well as diners who had already experienced the trio's pop-up restaurants at various venues around Paris since 2010, have become loyal supporters, and on a recent evening the small, elegantly casual restaurant was overflowing with tables full of 30-somethings sharing Chloé Charles's inventive cuisine. Her food is modern, vibrant and forward flavored, ranging from a sumptuous starter of giant artichokes bathed in a touch of red wine, bone marrow and a hit of Roquefort, to an unusual and soothing salad of smoked eel, paired with a broccoli puree seasoned with a bright touch of mint and orange.

A main-course of plump, moist farm guinea hen was stuffed with herbs beneath the skin, seasoned with a yogurt sauce that included pepper, pear, and bit of grilled bread, a very modern bistro dish if there ever was one.

She boldly pairs squid and sweetbreads with a mixture of winter vegetables, meat juices and a bit of lemon, and offers a super-fresh portion of rouget barbet (red mullet), served with generous portions of pleurotte and chanterelle mushrooms as well as crisp chestnut chips.

One of the best tastes of the evening was her very bright flavored appetizer of mulet rillettes, served with the crusty sourdough bread from baker Olivier Haustraete of Boulangerie Bio near the marché d’Aligre. When baking the bread, the floor of the oven is spread with ground olive pits, which smoke as the bread bakes, giving each loaf a unique, smokey flavor.

The brief wine list offers some appealing selections, including Domaine Valette’s satiny, mineral-rich Maçon Chaintré.

Desserts were far less convincing, with a very dry poached pear with touches of quince mousseline, and a rather unimpressive chocolate cream dotted with bits of chocolate sablé.

The lunchtime menu is more low key, offering two choices for starters and mains, a cheese course and one dessert. The thick textured mushroom soup was adorned with the flavors of autumn: paper thin slices of pair, crumbled tangy Roquefort, onions and chestnuts. The pork braised in white wine was impossibly tender, served with simple garlic potatoes, shitake mushrooms and topped with a handful of arugula and fresh herbs that were a welcome refreshing touch. The 19€ 2-course / 22€ 3-course lunchtime menu is a fantastic bargain, even if the dessert did not inspire.

I’m eager to go back again, to watch the bustle of the open kitchen, see the restaurant progress, and share in the creation of this unique, brave, bold idea. Chloe Charles will be resident chef until May 2016.

For more Paris restaurant reviews, get The Food Lover's Guide to Paris 5th edition, or download the app!

Giving thanks to olives

Emily Buchanan November 26, 2015

The events of Friday November 13th in Paris left us stunned and horrified. It is the city that I have come to call home and not uncommonly for a Friday night, I was out dining with friends at a small bistro on the left bank when the news of the attacks broke. We decided that the most positive action we could take was to continue with our plans to harvest our olive grove in Provence, both to celebrate the longevity, strength, beauty, and bounty associated with the revered olive and to soothe our saddened souls.

I had anticipated this day all year, not only because in 2014 there had been no harvest due to an infestation of the olive fly that had affected olives groves almost worldwide, but also because I had never seen our 30 or so olive trees thrive as they did this year.

Somehow, I have always been in the U.S. during harvest time – usually taking place between November and January – but this year I was determined to pick those olives myself! So on Sunday morning together with three of my French neighbors Colette, Jeannette, and Jean-Claude, I initiated the harvest. We decided to pick each olive by hand rather than, as is common practice in the region, raking them from the branches and letting them fall onto nets set beneath the tree. We began plucking them one by one from low-hanging branches, then later trapping upper branches with an antique wooden olive rake, pulling the supple branches down to within reach of our eager grasp, all the while collecting our bounty in wicker baskets hung in the trees from metal hooks.

I used to think that all olives were perfectly calibrated like the ones in the pots in an olive bar or in jars on market shelves. I could not have been more wrong! Olives are fruit, and at least on our trees, they can range from little green specimens the size of a pea, to plump, moist, black ones the size of a walnut.

Skies were clear and pristine blue, temperatures were in the 70s – not rare for mid-November in Provence – and local birds sang to us as we labored. The trauma of Paris slipped out of our minds as we chatted about the bounty of the harvest, how fortunate we were to be here at this moment, and how much oil we might see as the result of our efforts. It turns out that it takes about 9 lbs / 4 kg (enough to fill a very, very large champagne bucket!) of olives to press a quart or litre of oil. Except for one exceptional tree that yielded a record (for us) 132 pounds/60 kg of olives, most of the trees gave about 6 1/2 pounds / 3 kgs. We figured that between the four of us we put in some 70 hours for a total of521 lb / 237 kg, giving us 60 quarts or liters of oil.

I set aside the plumpest and most beautiful olives from a single tree that grows near our dining area on the sunset terrace and immersed them in an inky black salt brine I have used for decades, to cure them for eating out of hand at aperitif time or for making our favorite tapenade. The rest were destined for the oil press. I had to return to Paris before the last olive was harvested, so my neighbor delivered our harvest to the local mill in nearby Puyméras. The mill workers immediately noticed they had been picked my hand, announcing loudly that these perfect specimens had clearly been picked “à l’ancienne!”. In fact, our olives were so beautiful that a local television crew there to film the seasonal event chose to focus on our very crop!

Olive harvesting, at least by hand, is slow going and hard work (our shoulder and arms muscles sure were sore the next day!) but it’s rewarding, restorative and certainly this year, for me, a sort of welcome, zen undertaking at a time when France has been shaken to it's core.

So I give thanks for the olives and all they bring. I can’t wait to open the first bottle, drizzle the oil onto some homemade sourdough toast, inhale, bite down, and appreciate the goodness in simple things.

Wishing you all a happy, safe and delicious Thanksgiving.

Freddy's: A name you're not likely to forget

Emily Buchanan October 29, 2015

Not content with their already sizeable portion of the Rue de Seine restaurant real estate – Cosi, Fish, Semilla and their wine shop La Dernière Goutte around the corner – American Juan Sanchez and New Zealander Drew Harré have now added a quick-stop wine bar, Freddy’s, to their lineup. The wine bar is named for Drew’s wine-loving grandfather, who called everyone whose name he could not remember, Freddy. Grandpa’s photo, in his last years at a bar with a glass of wine, graces the menu.

The small plates menu and excellent wine list makes this an ideal place to pop in alone, in search of a glass of wine and a quick snack, lunch, or dinner or with a quartet of friends who plan to let loose with good conversation and pleasant sips.

I’ve lunched here several times since they opened late in the summer of 2015, and there is no question that, once again, Juan and Drew know what they are doing. But never taking themselves too seriously, the staff in the wine bar wear t-shirts that read “Work in Progress” and in their typical style, these boys are always fine-tuning day by day, along with talented, modern, inventive Semilla chef Eric Trochon. Start, with platters of Corsican ham and chorizo, sliced paper thin, with sips of whatever wine appeals. I like to go for the 100% Marsanne Cairrane, from the Domaine l‘Oratoire St Martin Reserve des Seigneur, or the always table-pleasing Burgundy Chardonnay Viré Clessé from Comte Lafon.

When it’s on the menu, try the meaty, hearty, coeur de canard, duck hearts that appear so seldom on menus. One of my favorite versions was sampled at the restaurant Bones, then run by chef James Henry. Henry and his duck hearts have since moved on, so I am happy to find a pleasing replacement here where these morsels are moist, tender, a revelation. Freddy’s falafel – crispy chickpea balls – are light, spicy and well-seasoned, and could serve as a meal all on their own. These are small plates, with prices ranging from 6 to 9€, so you can order and re-order as hunger dictates. There are no tables, just stools, in a warm setting of exposed stone walls and wooden floors. Remember, no phone, no reservations, but open noon to midnight daily!

For more Paris restaurant reviews, get The Food Lover's Guide to Paris 5th edition, or download the app!

La Bourse et La Vie: Daniel Rose gets it right again

Emily Buchanan October 22, 2015

American Daniel Rose, of Spring fame, has opened a nostalgic, classic French bistro in a landmark-worthy café near the Paris Bourse, with such traditional fare as pot-au-feu, calf’s head in ravigote, mackerel in white wine, and, of course, steak-frites. He is clearly moving against the current grain of bistronomy sites run by non-French chefs. And bravo!

He has a good head on his shoulders and a will to please, as well as a talent for knowing what people want to eat today. And he’s realistic. I so totally agree with a recent quote from him: “Food is 20% about cooking, 50% about buying, and the rest is cleaning up and organizing.”

I am a pushover for oysters of any kind, and his rendition of warm oysters broiled with a touch of spinach and a healthy dose of thick Normandy crème fraîche totally made my day. The serving was of three oysters, I could have easily had six!

The first-course salad of beets and smoked eel, bathed in a horseradish-rich cream made me feel very energetic, but I found the eel rather tough and out of place in this creation.

The pot-au-feu was totally satisfying, more of a modern and light version, blasted with fresh herbs and lime, offering a voluminous amount of fresh vegetables, including thick rounds of leeks and plenty of cabbage. Less convincing was his rendition of steak-frites, perfectly cooked but the beef was rather tasteless and without character. The frites however were crisp, delicious, welcome.

Desserts included a perfectly moist and successful autumn fig tart and a thyme sorbet that was, unfortunately, far too aggressively infused to be appealing.

Service is direct, friendly and quick. Giant rounds of gougère welcome you at the table, and the wine list offers many treasures, including my favorite Grenache-rich Domaine Saint Prèfert Châteauneuf-du-Pape from talented winemaker Isabelle Ferrando; Léon Barral’s always reliable red Faugères; and Lucien Crochet’s white Sancerre.

Although the décor and the space are classic bistro, with a long, narrow dining room and space so elbow-to-elbow you almost injure your neighbor, I would have preferred a lighter look than the olive-grey tones of the dining room. But I’ll be back, maybe even for breakfast, when they are open Monday through Friday from 9am.

For more Paris restaurant reviews, get The Food Lover's Guide to Paris 5th edition, or download the app!

Another side of Montmartre

Patricia Wells September 18, 2015

My fantastic assistant, Emily Buchanan, is taking over the blog today with a guest post about her Parisian neighborhood in the l8th arrondissement. Follow her here for the latest on dependable restaurants, wine shops, bakeries, and more!

Patricia

Au Bon Coin – a neighborhood institution

Another side of Montmartre

[Guest post by Emily Buchanan]

Over the past five years or so, the outer boroughs of Paris have become hubs for gastronomic renewal. Lower rents and young restaurant-loving locals make the outer arrondissements, particularly in the north of Paris, favored locations for young chefs and restaurateurs to set up shop and make a name for themselves. Of course, not all the outer neighborhoods guarantee fine croissants, good coffee and satisfying bistro dining, but when one does spring to life and the old mingles with the new it’s always exciting to watch.

Just north of the Caulaincourt metro, away from the throngs of tourists on nostalgic Amelie tours and wandering the steep cobbled streets in search of the Sacré Coeur, is a quiet, very residential neighborhood, fast making a name for itself as a culinary hotspot of the 18th.

How do I know this? Because it’s my neighborhood. When I moved here four years ago, there was scarcely a decent bistro to speak of. Now, I can barely keep up with the new openings all over the neighborhood, from new ethical grocers, to hip, modern bistros.

If you find yourself hungry in Montmartre, skip the terraced cafés on rue des Abbesses and head north of Caulaincourt for a more authentic bite of the local Paris dining scene. Here are my favorites, old and new.

Montcalm - Modern French bistro

After only five months, this small 14-seat bistro has hit its stride, serving a simple but flavorful menu. Dishes change daily but you can expect such elegant dishes as an entrée of zucchini gaspacho adorned with thin slices of haddock, or an original take on a salmon tartare with preserved lemons, showered in salty salicorne (sea greens). Or for main course a falling-off-the bone, succulent, slow-cooked lamb from the Limousin, served with a butternut squash puree. It has a certain zeitgeist feel – modernist décor, open kitchen, bar and a menu that only gives a list of ingredients. But the food is honest, and the service genuine and friendly. An excellent addition to the neighborhood.

21 rue Montcalm | +33 1 42 58 71 35 | Open Monday to Saturday. Closed Monday dinner and all day Sunday | À la carte 30-35€.

Au Bon Coin - traditional café

A neighborhood institution, Au Bon Coin is a welcoming place to refuel at just about anytime of day: for a quick morning coffee at the bar (this is no craft coffee, just straight up French espresso with no frills), or for a more leisurely beer or glass of wine later in the day. The menu remains staunchly classic – good but not spectacular. The sautéed pommes de terre, however, are completely addictive.

49 rue des Cloÿs | +33 1 46 06 91 36 | Monday to Saturday 8am to midnight (lunch daily, dinner Monday to Thursday).

Bululu Arepera – Venezuelan café

This shoebox of a restaurant is run by a super-friendly Franco-Venezuelan couple, Joss and Victoria. The mainstay of the menu is traditional Venuezuelan areperas, baked and fried cornmeal pockets with freshly made fillings, like chicken, avocado, black beans, cheese and baked plantains. A recent favorite lunch menu entrée was a deep flavorsome beef broth with cubes of white sweet potato, and spiced up with some coriander and hot chili sauces.

20 rue de la Fontaine du But | +33 1 42 54 96 25 | Wednesday to Friday noon-11pm, Saturday-Sunday noon-5pm. Closed Monday and Tuesday | individual areperas 7€, lunch menu 14€

Owner Victoria preparing for the lunch service at Bululu Arepera

Melali Coffee Riders – Coffee bar

This new coffee bar (by the owners of Bululu, above) brews one of the best coffees you’ll find in this part of the Montmartre neighborhood, using Belleville Brulerie roasted beans. On hot days their iced coffee is hard to beat, but as the weather gets cooler it's a toss up between the guayoyo (filter coffee) or their perfectly executed cappuccino.

10 rue de la Fontaine du But| Open daily, Monday to Friday 7:30am-3pm, Saturday and Sunday 9am-5pm | coffee 2 – 4.50€

Esquisse – Modern French bistro

Another new bistro addition, the bustling, convivial Esquisse (meaning 'sketch') serves up classic bistro dishes with a modern twist. I loved their hearty reinvention of a caillette (round, pâté-like pork sausage mixed with vegetables and wrapped in caul fat) using veal, a lighter, more contemporary version of its traditional Provençal counterpart.

151bis rue Marcadet | +33 1 53 41 63 04 | Open Tuesday to Saturday. Closed Sunday and Monday | À la carte 30-40€.

Le Ruisseau – Hamburger bar

At Le Ruisseau you can find a fine burger: a seriously respectable classic cheese and bacon, or go for the more unusual goat cheese burger made with Saint-Maure de Touraine, caramelized onions, honey, mustard and baby spinach. The ubiquitous hamburger joints across Paris aren’t all good, but this one is a keeper.

65 rue du Ruisseau | +33 1 42 23 31 23 | Open Monday dinner-Sunday. Closed Monday lunch | Burgers 12 – 14€ (served with home made fries or salad).

Boulangerie Bel Ange – Bakery | Pastry Shop

The breakfast pastries in this unassuming-looking bakery are buttery yet light and perfectly flaky. And try the tasty rustic pain aux cereals, mixed grain loaf.

145 rue Marcadet | +33 1 42 58 75 74 | Open Monday, Tuesday, Thursday-Saturday 7:30am-8:30pm, Sunday 8am-8pm. Closed Wednesday.

Delmontel – Bakery | Pastry Shop

The dessert pastries in the window will have you pressing your nose up to the glass and reconsidering your latest diet. Their tourte auvergate, a dense nutty rye loaf, is worth a detour, but I give mixed reviews to their viennoiseries (breakfast pastries).

57 rue Damrémont | +33 1 42 64 59 63 | Open Tuesday to Saturday 7am-8:30pm, Sunday 7am-8pm. Closed Monday.

Il Brigante – Pizzeria

Calabrian chef/owner Salvatore Rototori was voted the best pizzaiolo (pizza thrower) in Paris by French food guide Le Fooding last year and they are not wrong. Using the freshest ingredients direct from his home region in the south of Italy, everything is good here – try the Garabaldi with buffalo mozzarella, arugula, cherry tomatoes and spicy Calabrian cured meat capicollo or La Salina white pizza with broccoli rabe (cime di rapa), buffalo ricotta and marinated anchovies and transport yourself to Italia.

14 rue du Ruisseau | +33 1 44 92 72 15 | Open Monday to Saturday. Closed Sunday | Pizza 9 – 18€

Chez Virginie – Cheese Shop

Simply one of the finest cheese shops in Paris – and one of just a handful that ages their cheese in their own cellar beneath the shop (cheese tours and cheese tastings are available in English and French). It's always a difficult decision given the vast choice of excellent cheese here, however you can't go wrong with one of their raw milk goat cheeses such as the thyme-infused baguette du thym. If you’re a cheese lover, don’t miss this gorgeously displayed and extremely well stocked shop. They also carry superior quality milk, Bordier butter, and various condiments to accompany cheese.

54 rue Damrémont | +33 1 46 06 76 54 | Open Tuesday-Saturday 9:30am-1pm, and 4pm-8pm, Sunday 10am-1pm. Closed Monday.

18 sur Vin – Wine Shop

If natural wines are your thing, or you are curious to learn more, owner Alban Le Cam knows the story behind every bottle and has an extensive selection of natural, biodynamic and organic wines, mostly from small French producers, all at modest prices. A recent summer discovery is the bold yet refreshing Côte-du-Rhone white, Vigne du Prieuré blanc 2014 from Château Gigognan, a southern Rhône white blend of Roussanne, Marsanne and Clairette.

154 rue Ordener | +33 9 81 44 10 16 | Open Monday 5-7pm, Tuesday to Thursday 10:30am-1:30pm and 4:30-9pm, Friday 4:30-9pm, Saturday 10am-9pm. Closed Sunday.

Primeur Ethique – organic grocer

I am addicted to this newly opened organic fruit and vegetable shop, mostly for its fabulous heirloom tomatoes that taste like they have been grown in the earth and sunshine, as tomatoes should. I love the fact that they have a section of produce that does not carry an organic label but has been minimally sprayed, so there’s a price point to suit all budgets.

64 bis rue du Ruisseau | + 33 7 82 59 73 40 | Open Monday 2:30-7:30pm, Tuesday to Sunday 9:30am-7:30pm. Free home delivery for online orders at

Soul Kitchen

For some California sunshine in Paris, try this breezy hillside café that serves up excellent Coutume-roasted coffee, granola, breakfast muffins and healthy daily-changing lunch menus.

33 rue Lamarck | +33 1 71 37 99 95 | Open Tuesday to Friday 9am-5pm, Saturday and Sunday 10am-6pm. Closed Monday and most public holidays.

Patisserie Boris – Pastry Shop | Bakery

One of the prettiest, and most delicious pastry shops in the 18th, if not the whole of Paris. Recently reviewed here.

48 rue Caulaincourt | +33 1 46 06 96 71 | Open Tuesday-Sunday 7:45am-8:30pm, Sunday 7:45am-7pm. Closed Monday

Slightly further afield from this Caulaincourt-Lamarck pocket, but still worth a mention:

La Table d’Eugene – Modern French restaurant

This has been, in my view, the best restaurant in the 18th for many years. Previously, the room was a little pokey but every dish was perfectly conceived, using the freshest of ingredients, and the prices were truly affordable. A recent interior décor makeover helped it get its first Michelin star this past March. Prices have gone up a bit, particularly in the evening but the Tuesday through Saturday lunch menu still remains very reasonable, and worth every penny.

18 rue Eugène Sue | +33 1 42 55 61 64 | Open Tuesday to Saturday. Closed Sunday and Monday | lunch menu 31 – 38€, dinner dégustation menu 79 – 99€ (120 – 160€ with wine pairings).

La Rallonge – Wine bar

Meaning ‘the extension’, La Rallonge is the wine bar annex of La Table d’Eugene. Some favorites from the Table d’Eugene menu have migrated next door to join the wine bar offerings, including the much loved ‘risotto’ de coquillettes (tiny pasta shells with cèpe mushrooms and truffles).

16 rue Eugène Sue | +33 1 42 59 43 24 | Open Monday to Saturday from 7pm. Closed Sunday | small plates 5 – 14€, cheese and charcuterie platters 8 – 33€

Les Caves du Roy – Wine Shop

You almost can’t go wrong in this wine shop, who specializes in rare wines and supplies wines for La Table d’Eugene’s extensive and well-selected list. Vintages from Eric and Joël Durand and La Domaine de la Janasse have become go-to favorites.

31 rue Simart | +33 1 42 23 99 11 | Open Monday 3-8:30pm, Tuesday to Friday 10am-1:30pm and 3-8:30pm, Saturday 10am-8:30pm. Closed Sunday and Monday morning.

For the complete reviews of some of these addresses and for other recommendations of where to eat in Paris, get The Food Lover's Guide to Paris 5th edition book or the App for the iPhone (also works on the iPad).

All photos © Emily Buchanan.

An inspired meal at Ellsworth

Emily Buchanan September 4, 2015

Fried clams, corn, cream, marinated peppers, basil

Braden Perkins the immensely creative chef behind Palais Royal restaurant Verjus, and the adjacent Verjus wine bar, is going for a third win with his latest tapas-style endeavor, Ellsworth (a tribute to Perkins’s Grandfather). Perkins has installed 22 year old Canadian Hannah Kowalenko as head chef, who adds a brand of inventiveness beyond her years to Perkins’s already impressive repertoire.

The evening menu, which offers nearly a dozen substantive little tastes, a cheese selection and two desserts to choose from, is perfect for a quick snack or a multi-course feast, depending upon one’s appetite of the moment. The food is generally full of bright, vibrant flavors, well-seasoned (although at times a little heavy handed with the salt), and cleverly conceived, with no theme that screams “you’ve seen this all before too many times.” Most dishes are priced at 10 to 13€, each copious enough for two to share.

The long, narrow dining room, with plenty of bright window space, is sober but not cold, with light wooden floors, crisp white walls, 1930s style bistro chairs, antique brass wall sconces, and slate grey banquettes. The small white marble tables, white linen napkins (thank you!), and beautifully engraved Ellsworth wine glasses give the place a touch of class, freshness, and modernity.

As if Kowalenko had been given a list of my personal preferences, I happily discovered the seasonal menu (which changes regularly according to market offerings) replete with some of my current favorite ingredients and dishes: seasonal corn, green beans, pork meatballs, deep-fried clams and grilled squid. Each dish has a personal signature and when a dish sings it does so loud and clear. My favorites were the fried clams (palourdes) set on a bed of fresh corn kernels bathed in a light creamed corn soup, a touch of basil, and a few slices of marinated baby peppers. The clams were heavily breaded and fried to a perfect golden crunch, with the sweet corn serving as fresh, lively foil.

I loved, as well, the fresh green beans and pencil-thin baby carrots that were seriously wok-style sautéed over high heat, giving them a smoky, meaty personality. She is clever with flavor pairings and pays close attention to how texture plays in a dish. Here the smoky vegetables were set against a bed of mild creamy houmous, a touch of sesame, and covered with a shower of deliciously crunchy bread crumbs, a combination that awakened one’s palate and could almost have been a meal in itself.

The least interesting dish of the meal was the homemade mozzarella, thin as lasagna, wrapped like Vietnamese rice paper around a very good blend of tiny cubes of sautéed tomatoes and zucchini, seasoned with herbs and capers. While the filling was truly satisfying, the mozzarella itself lacked flavor and substance, and left me wondering why bother making such things in-house when the results are so underwhelming. The dish’s visual appeal cannot be denied though.

The baby squid was decisively seared to a smoky high and was set on a bed of timidly seasoned riced potatoes and leeks – good but I would have preferred a bolder pairing. One of my favorite dishes of the meal – the beautifully seasoned and well-seared pork meatballs – were sadly marred by an unforgivably harsh harissa.

Desserts were winners, with a very moist and intense walnut cake topped with a colorful, generous, full-flavored blend of seasonal fruits – cubed peaches, nectarines, blueberries and giant blackberries just slightly warm – finished with dulche de leche, a dollop of cream and bits of crunchy, crumbled walnuts (photo below). The pairing of malt ice cream and chocolate sorbet was brilliant and quite irresistible, even after the marathon sampling of little plates.

I’ll go back for sure, as this meal rates among the most inspired I have had in many months, and I am keen to follow the culinary adventures of both Perkins and Kowalenko through the seasons.

At lunch time there is a set, fixed price menu, with a trio of choices at each course. The wine list offers a good selection of sips by the glass, and service is swift and pleasant.

For more Paris restaurant reviews, get The Food Lover's Guide to Paris 5th edition or download the app.

Announcing 2017 cooking class dates

Emily Buchanan August 25, 2015

With pleasure and anticipation I am announcing our At Home with Patricia Wells cooking class dates for 2017 (all our 2016 classes are now full).

The season will begin, as ever, with our spectacular Truffle Extravaganza in January. In March and April, our popular week-long class Cooking in Paris will include plenty of seasonal hands-on cooking, a market visit, cheese, wine and oil tastings, as well as an unforgettable three-star meal. Our June and September, week-long classes Cooking in Provence, cooking with herbs, fruits and vegetables straight from the garden, sipping wine from the vineyard, visiting the vibrant market in Vaison-la-Romaine, meeting with winemakers and cheese merchants, and enjoying the cuisine of our local chefs.

Advance notice of these dates were offered to our newsletter subscribers and those on the 2016 waiting list. The response has been overwhelming, and some classes are now full.

AT HOME WITH PATRICIA WELLS COOKING CLASS SEASON 2017

PROVENCE COOKING CLASS: BLACK TRUFFLE WORKSHOPS

January 23 to 27, 2017

PARIS COOKING CLASSES

March 27 to 31, 2017
April 10 to 14, 2017
April 24 to 28, 2017

PROVENCE COOKING CLASSES

June 11 to 16, 2017 (full)
June 25 to 30, 2017
Sept 10 to 15, 2017 (full)
Sept 24 to 29, 2017 (full)

If your preferred class is already full, email us to be put on the waiting list, as cancellations do happen. Classes are filling up fast, so don't miss out!

Taste of the week: Where to eat in Paris

Emily Buchanan July 16, 2015

I never like to say there is the perfect restaurant when it comes to dining out in Paris. So much comes into play when chosing where to eat – season, weather, who you're dining with, the kind of mood you're in, your budget. But I do have a list of favorite places which I find myself going back to again and again, because I always come away feeling inspired and like it has been time and money worth spent. Here are a few must-try addresses that currently top my list, for all budgets and moods. I'll be updating this list from time to time, here on my website.

Restaurants

Bistrot Paul Bert: Classic French Bistro

This here is the quintessential Parisian bistrot that remains completely authentic and honest despite its wild popularity.

18 rue Paul Bert | Paris 11 | +33 1 43 72 24 01 | Metro: Faidherbe-Chaligny or Rue des Boulets | Open Tuesday - Saturday. Closed Sunday, Monday and August.

Le Servan: Casual Modern Bistro

Casual Parisian bistro dining at its best – Le Servan has a great neighborhood vibe, the food is simple but interesting, the ingredients impeccably fresh, and the price very reasonable.

32 rue Saint-Maur | Paris 11 | +33 1 55 28 51 82 | Metro: Saint-Ambroise, Rue Saint-Maur or Père Lachaise | Open Monday dinner-Friday. Closed Saturday, Sunday and Monday lunch.

Le Severo: Classic bistro

A carnivore's dream – owner William Bernet, a former butcher, really knows his meat and even has his own aging cellar beneath the restaurant. Don't go near this place if you are a vegetarian.

8 rue des Plantes | Paris 14 | +33 1 45 40 40 91 | Metro: Alésia or Mouton-Duvernet | Open Monday-Friday. Closed Saturday and Sunday.

Porte 12: Modern French

This has all the elements of great dining in the capital: bright contemporary decor, sincere attentive service, and sophisticated, signature fare.

12 rue Messageries | Paris 10 | +33 1 42 46 22 64 | Metro: Possionnière | Open for lunch Tuesday - Friday, dinner Tuesday - Saturday. Closed Saturday lunch, Sunday, Monday and public holidays.

La Table d'Akihiro: Modern French

Akihior Horikoshi, worked in the kitchen of 3 Michelin starred L'Amboisie, before opening his own fish and seafood restaurant. The influence of this pedigree is clear and his seductive cuisine is always elegant and worthy of the effort it takes to secure a table at this post stamp-sized restaurant.

49 rue Vaneau | Paris 7 | +33 1 45 44 43 48 | Metro: Vaneau or François-Xavier | Open Tuesday-Saturday. Closed Sunday and Monday

Ze Kitchen Galerie: Modern French | International

I never get tired of dining on chef William Ledeuil's creative, inspiring cuisine, based on traditional French training, injected with a modern international flare and a love for Asian ingredients.

4 rue des Grands Augustins | Paris 6 | +33 1 44 32 00 32 | Metro: Saint-Michel or Pont Neuf | Open Monday-Saturday. Closed Saturday lunch and Sunday.

Astrance: Modern French | Haute Cuisine

A magician in the kitchen, Pascal Barbot never fails to inspire me with his ethereal nuanced dishes. His 70€ week day lunch menu is one of the best buys in the city.

4 rue Beethoven | Paris 16 | +33 1 40 50 84 40 | Metro: Passy | Open Tuesday - Friday. Closed Saturday, Sunday and Monday

L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon Saint-Germain: Modern French | Haute Cuisine

Always at the forefront of innovation, Joël Robuchon in my opinion is the best chef cooking today. I am always happy to sample whatever Chef Axel in his Saint-Germain atelier suggests.

5 rue Montalembert | Paris 7 | +33 1 42 22 56 56 | Metro: Rue du Bac | Open daily 11:30am-3:30pm and 6:30pm-midnight

Shops

Jacques Genin: Chocolate maker

Truly one of the finest chocolate makers in France. Not to be missed for chocolate lovers.

133 rue de Turenne | Paris 3 | +33 1 45 77 29 01 | Metro: République or Filles-du-Calvaire | Open Tuesday - Sunday 11am-7pm, Saturday 11am-8pm. Closed Monday and August.

27 rue de Varenne | Paris 7 | +33 1 53 71 72 21 | Metro: Rue du Bac, Sèvres Babylone or Varenne | Open Tuesday - Saturday 10.30am-7pm. Closed Sunday and Monday.

La Derniere Goutte: Wine shop

Owner Juan Sanchez has a rare palate, and carefully sources his selection of largely organic and biodynamic wines from small independent wine makers. For those curious to learn more Juan holds regular tastings at the shop.

6 rue Bourbon le Château | Paris 6 | +33 1 43 29 11 62 | Metro: Saint-Germain des Près, Mabillon or Odéon | Open Daily: Sunday 11am-7pm, Monday 3-8pm, Tuesday-Friday 1:30am-1:30pm and 3-8pm, Saturday 10:30am-8pm

Quatrehomme: Cheese Monger

Marie Quatrehomme was one of the first women to be awarded the Meilleur Ouvrier de France title, and her dedication to quality shines through in her well-tended shop, one of the finest in France. Whether you know a lot or a little about cheese, her shop is always educational.

62 rue de Sèvres | Paris 7 | +33 1 47 34 33 45 | Metro: Vaneau or Duroc | Open Tuesday - Thursday 8.45am-1pm and 4-7.45pm, Friday and Saturday 8.45am-7.45pm. Closed Sunday and Monday.

Poîlane: Bakery

Known for their country sourdough loaves, to my mind and palate, they make the best bread there is. My Paris cooking class includes a visit to the wonderful, flour-dusted underground cellar to watch the famous loaves being kneaded, shaped and then baked in the ancient wood burning oven.

8 rue du Cherche-Midi | Paris 6 | Metro: Sèvres-Babylone or Saint-Sulpice } Open Monday - Saturday 7.15am-8.15pm. Closed Sunday.

Market

Marché President Wilson: Roving market

This is the market I bring my students to. It is the market that Parisians will cross town for.

avenue Président Wilson, between rue Debrousse and place d'Iéna | Paris 16 | Metro Alma-Marceau or Iéna | Open Wednesday and Saturday 8:30am-1pm

For the complete reviews of these addresses and for other recommendations, get The Food Lover's Guide to Paris 5th edition book or the App for the iPhone (also works on the iPad).

Patisserie Perfection: Boris Lumé

Emily Buchanan July 3, 2015

Summers for me are almost exclusively a Provençal affair. With temperatures soaring into the 80s and 90s, I bunker down in the cool stone kitchen of my hilltop farmhouse in Vaison-la-Romaine, to test recipes, cook from my bountiful summer vegetable garden and prepare for my late summer cooking classes.

So for those of you travelling to Paris this summer looking for gastronomic inspiration, I leave you in the capable hands of my good friend and co-conspirator on the fifth edition of The Food Lover’s Guide to Paris, Emily Buchanan.

Patisserie Perfection: Boris Lumé

[Guest post by Emily Buchanan]

If the original Belle Époque exterior of this immaculate Montmartre patisserie (a classified historical monument, built in 1900) is not enough to draw you in, then the rows of Boris Lumé’s signature finger-shaped tarts, glistening in the glass vitrine, surely will. The pastries here have as much charm as the décor, with its off-white and duck-shell blue wall tiles, butterfly-themed tile frieze, and original heavenly ceiling fitted out with a crystal chandelier – this is what dreams of Parisian pastry shops are made of.

Pastry chef, baker and owner Boris Lumé opened his first shop with his Japanese wife Mihona (also a baker) on the leafy rue Caulaincourt in the 18th arrondissement in 2013, after time spent under the tutelage of the likes of Joël Robuchon in Tokyo, and Cyril Lignac and Meilleur Ouvrier de France Frederic Lalos (of Le Quartier du Pain) in Paris.

His selection of tarts and viennoiseries (breakfast pastries) is small, but finely tuned – each creation a small work of art, but without pretension. His tarte citron doesn't have many rivals with its irresistibly crisp base, thick pillowy lemon cream that has just the right balance of acidity, sweetness and creaminess, hiding a thin layer of soft cake-like hazelnut biscuit.

Among the lineup is an excellent version of the classic Paris-Brest, a light choux casing filled with praline cream and punctuated with a crispy praline crunch. Other offerings include tarts with seasonal fruit toppings such as strawberry or fig, and a less traditional matcha and black sesame tart with red fruits, a nod to Mihona’s Japanese origins.

I love their homely tartelettes, soft pastry casings filled with dark acidic cherries (griottes) and an earthy pistachio cream.

The viennoiseries are without fault: buttery, light and perfectly flaky. The baguette tradition has a flavorful crumb, although I prefer my baguette a little more bien cuite – well baked – with a crunchier crust. I’d rather go for their near-perfect, nutty pain d’épeautre (spelt loaf), and I can hardly pass by this shop without grabbing a loaf.

If you’ve been searching for the perfect Parisian pastry shop, you may well have just found it.

For more Paris restaurant reviews, get The Food Lover's Guide to Paris 5th edition book or iPhone app.

The new Guy Savoy

Patricia Wells May 18, 2015

The red carpet is out for Guy Savoy all over the city of Paris. With his new restaurant celebrating an official opening Tuesday, May 19th, this three-star chef and his almost giddy staff are luxuriating in their new sunlit home inside the 6th arrondissement Hotel de Monnaie de Paris along the Seine. With no less than five dining rooms boasting huge windows, the restaurant overlooks tall shimmering chestnut trees, the Seine, out onto the Louvre, Pont Neuf, the Île de la Cite. and beyond.

For Savoy, 62, the adventure and the dream began in 2009, when he visited the oldest institution and oldest factory in France, the French mint. He bid, and won a chance to move his 17th- arrondissement restaurant on rue Troyon to the mint. Construction proceeded more slowly than anticipated, since asbestos was found in the structure and needed to be eliminated. Today, the restaurant sits on the top floor, with spacious kitchens just below, sporting welcoming windows with the same bright view as Savoy’s diners.

One enters the august, newly renovated space walking regally up the red-carpeted stairs decorated with medallions and laurel wreaths. Dining rooms are warm and cozy, in colors of brown and anthracite with touches of modern lighting, all fully respectful of a building founded in 1864 and rebuilt in the 20th century.

Two “soft-landing” preview lunches in the new dining rooms attest that Savoy’s food remains on the same steady course he has followed since first opening in Paris in 1977, achieving his third Michelin star in 2002. Guests will find many of his signature dishes, such as the landmark soupe d’artichaut à la truffe noir et brioche feuilletée aux champignons et truffes (a masterpiece that marries earth with earth, the earthy flavors of artichokes and the wild mushroom essence of the truffle, embellished with an unforgettable mushroom brioche brushed with fragrant truffle butter). His famed huîtres en nage glacée never fails to excite or delight, nudging the briny, iodine-rich essence of oyster to new heights as a mildly creamy oyster puree lines the oyster shell as the real deal sits atop it like a king. A spoonful of jelly created with the oyster liquid tops it all for a celebratory hit of oyster heaven.

Savoy constantly works to capture the essence of an ingredient and bring it to your palate: His pea soup, made with peeled peas (!) and a puree of that regal vegetable, topped with a soft-cooked quail egg, blends on the palate with intensity and clean, welcoming, spring flavors.

And there are new dishes --- such as salmon “cooked” on dry ice at the table – with the fresh, brilliant strips of salmon embellished by an avalanche of varied citrus, including lemon, lime, and the rare Australian caviar citron, sporting little, citrus-flavored beads that look just like the caviar of our dreams.

Savoy’s masterful pastry chef, Christian Boudard, has outdone himself with spring desserts: In one, rhubarb is sliced paper-thin and dried to bring out its brilliant flavors, molded in the shape of onion skin, which serves as a perfect vessel for his vibrant rhubarb sorbet. He works the same idea with this season’s strawberries, a fine sorbet, paper-thin slices of strawberries, dried to bring us its very soul.

Do not forget Sylvain Nicolas, Savoy’s sommelier, a man I trust with my wine life! He has never steered me wrong, visit after visit. Discoveries at a recent lunch include Josmeyer’s Grand Cru Brand Riesling, 2009, a wine that is at once authoritative, regal, lively, and pure. As well, Domaine Rebourgeon-Mure’s pinot noir Pommard 1er Cru Clos des Arvelets moved everyone at the table, emerging with a purity of fruit, finesse, and expression of delightful ripe tannins.

The Hotel de la Monnaie restaurant is not his only project for the moment. In December he opened L’Huîtrade on rue Troyon, a compact oyster bar offering some of the world’s finest oysters and oyster dishes; the former Restaurant Guy Savoy on Rue Troyon will become a fish restaurant, d’Etoie sur Mer in June of this year; and already famous for his brioche, Savoy will open a brioche boutique, Goût de Brioche, at 54 rue Mazarine, Paris 6, in June.

Porte 12: Sophisticated, signature fare

Emily Buchanan October 10, 2014

Porte 12 fig meringues hazelnut ice cream

I knew that I was going to have a good time on my first visit to Porte 12 – a brand new modern French restaurant in the 10th arrondissement – when, as we sat down for lunch and I heard them playing a favorite Nat King Cole tune, followed by the modern-day American jazz singer Stacey Kent, belting out a great song. There’s much to love, even embrace about this small, 30-seat restaurant with its simple, bright, contemporary décor, a bustling open kitchen, sincere and attentive service, not to mention straightforward, yet sophisticated, signature fare that makes me want to come back for dinner...which I plan to. Whimsical corset-shaped light fixtures all but swing from the high ceiling, echoing the space’s former incarnation as a textile and lingerie atelier. The one-bite starter of a miniature potato hollowed out, filled with an eggless aioli, a sprinkling of crunchy toast bits, and a few herbs sets a surprising and satisfying tone, and I’ll be serving a version of this to my cooking school students first chance I get.

The restaurant is overseen by Singapore chef André Chiang, with Vincent Crepel in charge in the kitchen. A native of Lourdes, Crepel has also worked in the kitchens of the landmark Swiss restaurant made famous in the 1980’s by Fredy Girardet, (now under the direction of chef Philippe Rochat and Benoit Violier), as well as, of course, in Chiang’s own highly celebrated restaurant in Singapore, Restaurant André.

Dishes that both inspire a cook as well as please the palate are always winners in my book, and Chef Crepel offers a stylish serving of moist and tender duck hearts bathed in a deep, dark poultry sauce all topped with an ethereal, thin, creamy potato puree, paper-thin toast crisps and a few tender, bright green wisps of salicorne, or edible sea beans. Also on the winners list goes his so simple yet brilliantly cohesive creation of ultra-tender strips of chicken breast set atop a full-flavored mixture of herb-infused fregola (lightly toasted Sardinian pasta that’s similar to Israeli couscous), and more of those crunchy, nutty, toast bits for added texture. The dish was brought together seamlessly by a delicate corn purée. His dessert (photo) – a plate of vibrant, warm, thickly sliced fresh figs, atop crumbled chocolate brownie, surprisingly tangy and not-too-sweet crumbled meringues, and a hazelnut ice cream that was light, yet made its presence felt, rounded-off a memorable, well-priced (€35) three-course lunch. The only disappointment of the meal was the rather timid plate of barely cooked mackerel-like chinchards set atop thick slices of crunchy, barely cooked potatoes, a pairing that was far from satisfying. The wine list is streamlined and offers some good choices by the glass, including a favorite Chardonnay from the Jura, from Domaine Labet. The 3-course lunch menu allows two selections for the first and main course, with a single choice appetizer and dessert. A smaller lunch menu of two dishes – starter and main, or main and dessert – is a very reasonable 28€. The more expensive dinner menu offers more choices, from 58-65€.

Porte 12
12 rue des Messageries | Paris 10 | Tel: +33 1 42 46 22 64 | Metro: Poissonnière
Open Tuesday to Saturday. Closed Saturday lunch, and all day Sunday and Monday.
reservation@porte12.com | www.porte12.com (reservations taken online)

For more Paris restaurant reviews, get my Food Lover's Guide to Paris app.