It’s been two years or so,but our visit was the best we’ve had in our two visits to Paris in the last 4 years. Not cheap, obviously. The chicken for two cooked in a pig’s bladder was unreal. Doesn’t get the cred of other places but I’ve been to my fair share of *** +/- places and this was right up there. Somms were fantastic.
JD
My wife and I are going to Paris for a long weekend at the end of March. We’ve currently booked L’Arpege and Spring. Will probably do casual for our other meals. We’re excited about L’Arpege, especially given all of the accolades I’ve seen on WB, but I’m curious as to what those who love it find distinctive about it as compared to the other 3-star places?
all about the veggies and just pristine ingredients cooked perfectly…with a lot of really good butter.
it’s pretty casual for a 3-star and also very, very expensive (fair warning). to me, it’s the un-3-star 3-star. it’s not a grand room, the service is excellent, but familiar. the food and, especially, the ingredients are the star here.
i’d suggest looking at Chef Passard’s twitter feed for at least an idea of how he approaches ingredients.
https://twitter.com/arpegelive
i think the pro tip is to order 4 savory courses and have the kitchen split them. 3 veg and a protein. and then dessert obvs
it warms my heart that so many folks are interested in Arpege. it’s such a treasure.
This is what I wrote about Arpege after my July visit. Also, Yaacov is right: Passard’s twitter feed is solid gold, and precisely how top chefs should be using social media. It may be my favorite account I follow. Next time at Arpege, I almost want to write ahead and ask Passard to just make me stuff (or the sort of stuff) he tweets.
So this was my contemporaneous review:
What a thrilling meal – probably in my top 3 all-time dining experiences. Arpege is a restaurant unlike any other. It’s small, a bit cramped, and a bit frenetic. The service is very, very good – and very sincere – but absolutely not perfect (there was even one affirmative, non-trivial mishap); it’s not precise, orchestrated, and flawless like you get at somewhere like Taillevent. Aside from the Lalique glass inserts on the wall, the army of wait staff, and the stratospheric prices, you wouldn’t know this was a *** restaurant. The wine list is good, not great. In other words, going to Arpege does not feel like going to Troisgros or Le Cinq or Per Se.
But what Arpege lacks in polish it makes up for in soul and sincerity. When we entered the restaurant, Passard was working the room and immediately struck up a lengthy conversation with my wife and me about where we were from, if we cooked, what good ingredients Texas had, etc. He came by to chat several more times during the evening. His enthusiasm for the restaurant (which was full and brimming with energy) and his food was palpable. For example, he brought over a whole hay-cooked chicken to our table (that we did not order and were not served) for no other reason than to show us how magnificent it looked and smelled (and it did). For Passard to have this sort of passion and enthusiasm at this point in his career, and for him to maintain his lone, small outpost (when I’m sure he is bombarded with NY/Hong Kong/Macau/Tokyo proposals), is remarkable. And Passard’s passion shows in the food. We ordered the tasting menu (340 Euro), which lists about 16 courses but is really 20+. I feel like “chef-driven restaurant” has become a cliche without a lot of meaning, but it’s not a cliche for somewhere like Arpege (or Gagnaire is perhaps an even more extreme example). The food at Arpege speaks extremely clearly of Passard’s vision, and there was greater cohesion in this cuisine than just about anywhere I’ve been. Clearly, without Passard, there is no Arpege – and personally I would not want to go when he is not in the kitchen (ask ahead, but as a rule he is in house). Purity, freshness, delicacy, and genuine flavor spoke clearly in all the dishes. This is a cuisine of minimalism and of balance.
Of course, none of this would mean anything if the food weren’t good. Luckily, the food is spectacular. In terms of individual courses, the vegetables were (unsurprisingly) the highlights. The best courses for me were the vegetable raviolis in cucumber consomme (stunning, pantheon-level dish), the vegetable cous cous (same), and the gazpacho with mustard-celery ice cream (astounding freshness and purity). The egg of course was divine. The meat dishes didn’t reach the same heights, although the lamb course (which was massive and filling) registered an 11 on the deliciousness scale and the quality of the lamb was beautiful (even though the dish looked more like a steakhouse/bistro dish). Likewise, the lobster with vin jaune sauce was very nice and impeccably balanced. The aged comte is rightly legendary; ditto for the Bordier butter. The only outright dud was a tomato mozzarella course that, while perfectly tasty, was pretty pedestrian and not any better what you can get at casual places in Campania. In any event, when I go again (and I plan to), I may order the vegetable menu, as the vegetable courses really stole the show, or I may write ahead and ask if Passard will just cook a menu from what’s freshest that day, whether meat or vegetable (as opposed to the tasting menu, which is really a greatest hits).
Overall, this is clearly one of the world’s great restaurants. One of the finest dining experiences I’ve had, despite some idiosyncrasies.
I don’t much care for tasting menus. My wife and I like Guy Savoy and Taillevent, with a particular focus on dishes served for two.
I loved Taillevent, and it’s worth it to go there for the wine list alone – in particular to drink their Raveneau.
Thanks Yaacov and Ryan. This will be the first vacation for my wife and me away from our two boys since the first was born 2 years ago, so we are in the mood to go all-out one night. We were thinking we would do the tasting menu (although 420 euros now, gulp), but I totally get Ryan’s point about going off menu to go beyond the “greatest hits.” I wonder how receptive the chef would be if we emailed ahead as first-timers? That said, I expect we’ll have an amazing meal either way.
My one regret is that we’ll only be there 3 nights and want to have at least one casual, unplanned night. If we were there longer I would add a more formal old-school classic place like Taillevent or La Tour D’Argent to get that aspect of the Parisian dining experience.
Some excellent suggestions thus far Bill. Another place to consider is Le Cinq. The dining room is splendid and service superb. The wine list is ok and reasonably priced. There is a new chef on board trying desperately to get another star and I have heard good reports.
For casual my two favourites are La Cagouille and Le Severo. You want fish hit Cagouille. You want meat head for Severo. You will drink well at both establishments for a fair tariff.
Best Regards
Jeremy
BTW - we did lunch at L’Arpege which, while still expensive, is a lot less than dinner.
You can combine it with a trip to the Rodin Museum down the street.
Now I realize he’s just trying to figure out how that added up to 1500€.
I found this pretty interesting:
I will be in Paris next week and I’m heading to Pierre Gagnaire, David Toutain and Jean Francois Piege for my dinners. In my previous visits I’ve never been able to successfully get a reservation at Gagnaire, but I’ve been to many of the others on the list and I’d put Arpege at the top, although my wife would put Guy Savoy. I thought Astrance was really nice and probably just a little bit over my head. My view of the French michelin 3 star is that it can unfortunately be hit or miss. I’ve had three meals at Le Cinq, one great, one very good and one so-so, and I know many people who have had terrible experiences at L’ambroisie. You shouldn’t have to go 20 times to get decent treatment. But with Frenchie, Spring, Yam’tcha, Septime, Chateaubriand, etc., you really don’t even need to hit the high end places to have stunning food.
I’m really excited about Toutain. I ate at Agape Substance when he was there and it was a wonderful and adventurous meal. It seems like the new place is even more bold. And Jean Francois Piege is always a treat (and the wine list is fabulous for a burgundy lover).
A
I had a mixed experience at Spring. Some of the food was great and the wine list was right up my alley but my fish was mushy. Tasted like they’d sous vide’d it too long.
I had a great meal at David Toutain in October. He has since earned a Michelin *.
I have a question for those who have dined at Le Comptoir du Relais.
Since I will staying at the Relais St. Germain hotel, I will be able to book Le Comptoir without the usual hassle. So I definitely plan to dine at the Brasserie on the Sunday that I will be in Paris, when options are limited.
Having done that, would you recommend that I also make reservations for another night at Le Comptoir’s to sample their full dinner, which isn’t available on Saturday or Sunday? With only four nights in Paris on this trip, it will be easy to fill my dance card with other options. But if the Brasserie doesn’t represent what’s best about Le Comptoir, then I’d certainly be happy to try both of their formats.
What do you think?
Peter, I’m interested in opinions on that question as well.
My wife and I will be in Paris this month, from the 27th to the 31st (Friday to Tuesday). We’ve booked L’Arpege for Friday night and Spring for Saturday night. I’m thinking we’ll either do Clamato or a wine bar + falafel on Sunday night. Monday night is wide open.
We’d love some tips for lunches, particularly on the weekend.
We were in Paris for Christmas. Went to a number of places mentioned in this thread, but my favorite was Frenchie. We had a 1993 H. Lignier Charmes Chambertin for a quite reasonable price.
A close second was le Servan. Here is a recent review:
Scott, was it difficult to get a reservation?
Frenchie was a very very difficult reservation in its early years. You literally had to go in person to book, as they stopped answering their phone at one point. A couple of years ago, they went to an online booking system, which was great; we used it as recently as October. Now, apparently, they have discontinued online booking. Good luck. If you can’t book Frenchie, you might want to check out Saturne. While a larger restaurant, the cooking is similar and Saturne has a more extensive winelist.
Thanks, Mark. Also what are your thoughts on the question I posted earlier today. Since I’m going to the La Comptoir brasserie for a Sunday dinner, should I pass on the opportunity to reserve a table for their gastronomique format, since I will be in Paris for only four nights on this trip? In all likelihood, it would probably come down to something like the full dinner at Comptoir or l’Astrance.