With beef sourced from renowned butcher Yves-Marie le Bourdonnec, an American pastry chef baking buns and desserts, and (finallly!) a good beer list, this new gourmet hamburger outpost is adding momentum to an already exciting burger trend.
That executive chef Phillipe Labbés name is nearly homophonous to the name of this luxe enclave in the new Shangri-La hotel is only coincidence. “The bee” (as it translates) is actually a nod to the building’s Bonapartian heritage; it was built in 1896 by a princely nephew of the former emperor, whose coat of arms included a few golden bees. A century later, critics are buzzing about this addition to Paris’ haute dining scene. Many dishes present a main ingredient in dueling acts; meat and fowl come from royal lineage; the room is fit for modern aristocrats. It probably goes without saying that the prices will sting.
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.
Un Dimanche à Paris, run by Pierre Cluizel of the renowned chocolate-making family, is many things. It’s a boutique, selling gorgeous chocolates and pastries; it’s a cocktail lounge and salon du thé; it’s an event and teaching space, offering cooking classes; and it’s an elegant restaurant, where chocolate finds its way into everything, sweet and savory.
The “bread” part of Bread & Roses is a lovely range of organic loaves. The rest of it is an English-accented lunch spot and tea salon featuring fresh tarts (savory and sweet), sandwiches, and lively salads, plus flaky scones, serious cheesecake, and a few grocery items, including Marmite. What you won’t find are any bargains.
If the walls at Lasserre could talk, they would tell stories about white doves, Marc Chagall, ortolan, and Audrey Hepburn, stories of glitterati and résistants taking their truffled macaroni under the retractable roof.
A Phillipe Starck-designed dining room facing Laurent André’s open kitchen, a Bresse chicken priced in the three digit zone, a choice of 16 Pierre Hermé mille-feuilles: The age of austerity has not yet dawned at the Royal Monceau on avenue Hoche, and probably never will.
Joël Robuchon’s empire expands again with the opening of another Atelier, this time on the Champs-Elysées. Expect deft use of global ingredients, pristine products, pretty people, and a wait, unless you nab reservation for lunch or the first dinner seating; otherwise, it’s first come, first served.
Bento boxes for the bobo set (“benbo”? “boto”? “bobox”?), courtesy of chef Kaori Endo, who is winning raves from the French press for her light and colorful, Japanese-inflected salads, soups, and small plates, as well as a decidedly non-Japanese coffee cream tart.
Kedgeree. Posset. Welsh rarebit. Scones. Parisians are packing into this café/exhibition space near Place de Clichy, where a pair of former Rose Bakery cooks are giving modern British cooking a very good name, and a serious barista is serving some of the best coffee in town.
A glossary of superlatives could be culled from the reviews of Le Cinq (sublime, exquisite, sumptuous, dazzling), where chef Eric Briffard has been “respectfully and very subtly reinterpreting the grand classics of French cooking” since 2008.
Pierre Gagnaire is widely regarded as one of the city’s most creative culinary wizards.
Alain Passard spins turnips into gold at this vegecentric (but not vegetarian) three star restaurant.
Bring some friends to share a bottle and a copper pot bubbling with Bertrand Bluy’s market-inspired dish of the day. The fixed menu offers great value but no choices – those looking for variety should turn their attention to the impressive wine shelf.
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