Brash, Basque, and belly-filling, a meal at l’Ami Jean can be coma-inducing. Reserve in advance, and plan on walking home.
The latest addition to the city’s burgeoning boutique coffee scene, Coutume isn’t kidding around. Beans are roasted on the premises and brewed according to your preference: Pulled on a sports car of an espresso machine, siphoned through an apparatus that looks stolen from a lab, dripped through a cone filter, or 24 hour cold drip (geek alert!). There are excellent teas, too, and a lunch menu offers fresh salads and sandwiches. If the coffee hasn’t made you hyper enough, there is a selection of pastries from Pâtisserie de Rêves.
Young chef Nicholas Valanchon is drawing attention for his inventive cooking, grounded in the traditions of his native Picardy: Ficelle picardie (a kind of crêpe) is served as a shortstack; foie gras gets a dash of pink peppercorn; Soissons beans star in a lamb dish. The room is modern but not overdone, and the prices, especially the 22€ lunch menu, are kind.
There must be at least one marriage proposal at the Jules Verne every day. Perched high in the Eiffel Tower, the restaurant was taken over by Ducasse, and his chef Pascal Féraud offers a menu of classics, befitting of the location (foie gras in many forms, escargots, tournedos de boeuf, Bresse chicken, savarin a l’Armagnac). The only thing missing might be a view of the tower itself. One Michelin star.
The specialty at Gaya is seafood, but if you’re seeking grand platters of shellfish or sole meunière, look elsewhere. Gaya, run by Pierre Gagnaire, is a throroughly modern affair.
A red and black-lacquered dining room lit with lanterns and staffed by lovely ladies: Lily Wang rides the Asian wave sweeping Paris with style and steep prices.
Gael Orieux’s menu at the polished and posh Auguste is all about seafood.
The Obamas ate here! The Obamas ate here! This perpetual favorite, a mainstay on the crowded rue Saint-Dominique, offers classic cooking with a southwestern tilt, in a charming, red-checked tablecloth setting. Open every day.
If, when sitting at the counter in this red and black-lacquered dining room, you have the feeling you could be in any major city, it’s because you could be; there are “ateliers” around the world, from Vegas to Hong Kong. Note: Reservations are ONLY accepted for the first seatings of each service. Otherwise, it’s first-come-first-served.
Alain Passard spins turnips into gold at this vegecentric (but not vegetarian) three star restaurant.
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