Café des Musées is a reasonably-priced bistro in the heart of the Marais with a notable beef bourguignon.
While a chorus of Bonsoir, bienvenue! still sounds the moment you walk through the door at Vivant 2, these days, it’s underscored by a bop-filled soundtrack and service with a smile that make a seat at the open kitchen’s wrap-around bar feel more inviting than austere. Chef Rob Mendoza is a champion of delicate, plant-focused fare, his luscious, creative moles drape anything and everything from broccoli to Bresse hen. Elsewhere, he effortlessly blends international ingredients with French terroir: House-made potato flatbread is spread thickly with tahini and blanketed with swiss chard; tuna is served with a Korean gochujang-spiked tomato broth. This restaurant is a great option for vegetarians and is open on Monday nights. A curated list of natural and sustainable wines seals the deal.
The 11th arrondissement may be flooded with phenomenal restaurants, but the seasonal menu at Massale stands out with far meatier market-driven options than most other spots leaning into the plant-based trend. Fish and seafood nevertheless abound here, and the wine list features specialties from France’s Jura and beyond.
This bistronomic Breton restaurant near the Gare du Nord serves a four-course feast featuring dishes that are baked in a massive dining room oven.
At Pantagruel, a modern & creative restaurant in the Sentier district, each main dish is actually a parade of three smaller ones. Meaty options abound, but vegetables are given star treatment here. Balance and precision are the hallmarks of chef Jason Gouzy’s cuisine at Pantagruel, one of our favorite Paris restaurants.
Of Yves Camdeborde’s three Avant Comptoirs, this is the one worth making a special trip – a place where the scale of the site finally matches that Camdeborde’s ambition.
Le Petit Sommelier is a rare high-quality non-stop brasserie with a 1000-reference-strong wine list.
Read an old travel guide to France, and you’ll likely find mention of les routiers. At these roadside restaurants catering to truckers, grub was classic, cheap, and good. And despite the absence of any highway running through the trendy 11th arrondissement, Aux Bons Crus evokes these restaurants of yore.
Bouillon Pigalle offers cheap classic French food from noon to midnight, every single day.
Well-sourced products plus unlikely Japanese touches put Breizh Café head and shoulders above most crêperies.
This modern, inexpensive brasserie offers classic French fare near Gare du Nord.
Well-sourced products plus unlikely Japanese touches put Breizh Café head and shoulders above most crêperies.
Well-sourced products plus unlikely Japanese touches put Breizh Café head and shoulders above most crêperies.
Ten Belles’ new Left Bank outposts offers some of the charm and all of the flavor of the original.
La Bourse et la Vie is one of our favorite Classic Bistros in Paris. It’s a place where you come to celebrate, to bring a date, and to devour one of the best steak-frites in Paris.
The overarching honesty and generosity of La Vierge’s concept places the restaurant alongside overachieving peers like Belleville’s Le Cadoret at the vanguard of a new generation of Paris bistrot that recognizes the value of virtue.
Cyril Lignac’s seafood-focused restaurant replaces an 11th arrondissement neighborhood bistrot.
Tatiana Levha, formerly at L’Arpège and L’Astrance, and her sister Katia opened this light, airy bistro with a central bar & hand painted ceiling. The short list of offerings changes each day, but expect seasonally driven cuisine inflected with international touches like tandoori spiced beurre blanc atop asparagus or harissa to spice up the line caught hake. Dessert left room for improvement, but otherwise Le Servan had reasonably priced, expertly executed dishes and friendly service in a beautiful space.
This wine bar stands out in the natural wine-staturated 11th arrondissement mainly for its ostentatious design.
Well-sourced products plus unlikely Japanese touches put Breizh Café head and shoulders above most crêperies.
French food magazine Fulgurances opened L’Adresse in 2015 as a culinary incubator featuring a rotating cast of guest chefs.
Southern hospitality, savory hand pies, salads and slices of layer cake from Laurel Sanderson (formerly at Sugarplum Cake shop).
Fresh off Paris’ greatest resto reboot of recent years – transforming the defunct destination Restaurant Bones into the beloved seven-day mainstay Restaurant Jones – chef-restaurateur Florent Ciccoli doubled down on the Voltaire neighborhood in late 2017, opening Café du Coin with the aid of frequent collaborator Greg Back (L’Orillon, Les Pères Populaires).
For the wine-indifferent, Café de la Nouvelle Mairie is merely a timeless, picturesque terraced café on a shady lane beside the Panthéon. But for alert wine geeks, it might as well be the Panthéon itself, as pertains to natural wine.
Address: 25, rue Beautreillis, 75004Hours: Open every day from 7:00-2:00Telephone: +33 1 42 72 64 94Website / Online Booking / Facebook / Instagram ? Vins…
Great natural wines by the glass, fresh well-prepared food, and congenial service at this simple bistro near Bastille.
We’re falling more in love with Tomy & Co. with each visit, and have elevated this to our #1 favorite Paris restaurant for modern & creative cuisine. Chef Tomy Gousset’s cuisine is thrillingly modern, and he’s a master of using herbs, acidity and texture to elevate sometimes humble ingredients like beef tongue or tête de veau.
Le Repaire de Cartouche is a great place to sit at the bar without reservations, order wine with a slab of terrine, and wait for your table to open up at Au Passage. It’s still great fun as a wine bar, even if it can no longer deliver as a restaurant.
The many fans of Café Oberkampf will rejoice at the opening of a sister restaurant with longer hours and online reservations. With its light and airy interior, friendly staff, and an addictive breakfast roll, Café Méricourt is currently our #1 favorite place for breakfast or brunch in Paris.
Address: 7 rue d’Aguesseau, 75008Hours: Open Monday-Friday for lunch & dinner. Closed Saturday & Sunday.Telephone: +33 1 53 05 00 00Book Online / Website / Instagram…
David Toutain, who brought acclaim to Agapé Substance before jumping ship back in December 2012, returned to the Paris scene with this signature restaurant in 2013. His meticulous and conceptual cooking highlights seasonal produce, with vegetables often playing the starring role. This is by no means a vegetarian restaurant, but Toutain’s ability to bring out the beauty in oft-ignored roots reminds us of his former boss Alain Passard.
This popular restaurant and wine bar run by Drew Harre and Juan Sanchez is a sort of Anglo haven, excellent for a quick glass, a solo dinner at the bar, or for those times when you’re just tired of speaking French.
After L’Office and Le Richer (one of our favorite new openings of 2013), Charles Compagnon is back with another gift for the Faubourg. If he has run out of…
If you want a taste of Gregory Marchand’s cooking without the challenge of scoring a reservation at Frenchie, this is where to go.
Pancakes, poached eggs and hearty seasonal fare served alongside excellent coffee sourced from Belleville Brulerie in a sunny space along the Canal St. Martin. An international array of coffee preparations (flat whites, espressos, long blacks, cappuccinos, and very good “real deal” filtered coffee) are accompanied by hot chocolate made from homemade chocolate syrup and a selection of teas from Le Parti du Thé.
Avant Comptoir de la Mer is bistronomy chef Yves Camdeborde’s seafood variation on his successful adjacent pork-themed pintxo bar.
Small plates and natural wine from Florent Ciccoli, the owner of Café du Coin and Cheval d’Or. Formerly known as Bones, Ciccoli changed the name when chef James Henry departed and the offer became more simple and casual. The wine bar up front is a great place to gather and nibble with friends.
While the focus of this cheap and cheerful Japanese franchise is ostensibly the authentic tonkatsu ramen, the real highlight is the gyoza with a thick,…
Ob-La-Di might be the most Instagrammed café of the 2015 rentrée, but there’s real substance at this stylish spot in the Haut Marais. Most of…
Practical information Address: 16 avenue de la Motte Piquet, 75007 Nearest transport: La Tour-Maubourg (8) Hours: Open Sunday-Friday for lunch & dinner and Saturday for dinner…
Address: 68, rue des Dames, 75017Hours: Open Monday-Friday for lunch & dinner. Closed Saturday & Sunday.Telephone: +33 1 42 94 24 02 (not answered during…
This historic three-star restaurant is perched in a pavilion just off the Champs-Elysées and has been a dining destination since the French Revolution. Long-time chef Christian Le Squer handed the reigns to Yannick Alleno in July 2014, and Alleno has promised a renewed focus on what he considers to be the great strength of French cuisine – sauces.
We haven’t visited recently, but you can scroll down to see photos and what others have written about Willi’s Wine Bar.
Manhattanite Jody Williams has brought her well-loved French “gastroteque” back to the city that inspired the original rustic-chic cafe.
Now with two locations, Le Garde Robe rests comfortably within the current Paris bar à vins format.
Guillaume Duprés runs this wine bar in the passage des Panoramas, serving a range of small plates for snackers, a few hot items for the hungry, and vins natures for the thirsty.
Just steps from the Canal Saint-Martin, this shoebox-sized café is serving beautiful coffee with Anglo-inspired breakfast and lunch bites like scones, healthy sandwiches and sausage rolls.
The newest bottle shop on the block from the boys behind Septime lets you shop or stay to sip and snack on olives, house-smoked duck breast, foie gras with eel.
Meat is king at Au Boeuf Couronné, a restaurant across the street from the Parc de la Villette – the previous site of the Paris…
The city’s most buttery, authentic crêpes served in an old-school dining room full of dark wood and Breton lace.
Bob (aka Marc Grossman)’s mini empire continues to expand with American style diner and bakery complete with pecan or lattice-topped cherry pie, Belleville Brulerie coffee, hand-rolled bagels and even their elusive brethren bialys. There’s a pretty lovely outdoor terrasse, too.
Lusty Basque fare, affordably priced. Arrive early (doors open at 7pm) to avoid a wait at this casual, no-reservations bistro run by chef Christian Etchebest.
Benoit Gauthier’s Le Grand Pan unfussily and deliciously serves up superb meats and market-fresh vegetables.
Practical information Address: 45 avenue Ledru-Rollin, 75012 Nearest transport: Gare de Lyon (1, 14, RER A), Quai de la Rapée (5) Hours: Closed Sunday; Open Tuesday-Friday for…
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. Open every day.
Practical information Address: 228 rue de Rivoli, 75001 Nearest transport: Tuileries (1), Concorde (1, 8, 12) Hours: Open Monday-Friday for breakfast, lunch and dinner; Open Saturday…
Here you’ll find robust, seasonal bistro cooking from a Chez l’Ami Jean alum. Menus at 31€/34€ for lunch/dinner, unless you spring for the Desnoyer côte…
An Irish pub that’s actually good with unusual craft beers (no Guinness), tasty Scotch eggs, and a big Sunday brunch.