Eating and Drinking in Paris

Boutique yam’Tcha - stopped by on our first day and had buns and tea. This is in the old space and only serves buns. Fantastic.

Miznon - Nice addition to the Marais. Not quite as scintillating as the original in Tel Aviv but still extremely delicious.

Clown Bar - fantastic meal and wine. The pigeon was outstanding. We had a 10:00 reservation and were the last diners sitting outside when the entire restaurant filled up with circus performers - surreal!

Septime - For my tastes one of my favorite restaurants in Paris.

Gare Au Gorille - Gorgeous new place by two former Septime alums in the 17th. We had a perfect lunch and will be going back often. Highly recommended.

Heimat - The legendary Pierre Jancou’s new place. We stopped in after dinner and ended up eating everything they had left in the kitchen. Wow the food was outstanding. A dish that was comprised of sardines over bread soaked in tomato juice was amazing in its freshness and simplicity.

Four more days to go…follow along on instagram:

https://instagram.com/soilpimp/

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Lunch at Clover was very good. If you find your self in the 7th it is well worth going. Not quite on the level of a Septime or Gare Au Gorille.

Mark - my intention for this trip was to explore a number of new places. The new restaurant I am most excited for is Restaurant A.T. which we have booked for Friday so stay tuned.

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We had an excellent meal at Gare au Gorille Robert. Pages is also brilliant if you have time and can get in.

Best Regards
Jeremy

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The New Yam’Tcha was outstanding as usual. Can’t really say the food changed which is a good thing as it is one of my favorite restaurants in Paris. The space is much larger than the old yet still intimate.

Restaurant A.T was one of the best meals of the trip despite the 100 degree weather. Superb food and an excellent mostly Natural wine list with many new producers to me. The Winebar below is also worth checking out.

Lastly 6 Bistro Paul Bert has a new chef and it is slightly less cerebral than the prior chef but still very good and the wine list is excellent.

It was very difficult eating in 100 degree weather and had I known what I know now I would have probably lightened up our schedule. It was extremely challenging for the wine professionals who had to chill every bottle prior to bringing it to the table, chill the glasses and then keep everything chilled. Most of the cellars are not cooled so it made me wonder if some of the wines will suffer permanent heat damage.

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TIL that Clown Bar is literally a Clown Bar

Great to hear that Yam T’cha 2.0 is as good as the original. The meal there in 2013 blew me away. I tried to visit in May this year but they were not yet open. Need to get back to Paris!

Just back from our annual July 4th trip. Our plan for this trip was to not do our usual pre-planning/scripting of lunch and dinner every single day. This was partly because we are bit burned out with this approach and because I am slammed with work so I did not have much time to plan. We have enough connections at the hard to get in places that we love that this is also not a necessity. We did make two reservations one for lunch at L’Astrance and another for dinner at Septime for nine full days in Paris.

We like to go to Le 6 Bistro Paul Bert or Cave Bistro Paul Bert for our first meal for sentimental reasons. This trip we chose Le 6 Bistro Paul Bert and as usual it was delicious and right on cue when the owner heard we were there called in from the country to welcome us. We had a fantastic simple fresh tomato dish and a mind-blowing charred avocado dish (avocado seems to be very popular in Paris at this time). We drank a beautiful 1998 Domaine Valette Clos Monsier that was unfortunately their last bottle, I am sure I have drank at least 5 other bottles there.

With no reservations on a Saturday night we decided to hit Clamato and it was also a great meal with lots of fresh produce and the usual great seafood (Clamato is the casual seafood centric restaurant from Septime).

After Clamato and approaching Midnight we head over to Clown Bar to meet with some Chefs who are finishing up service. It was late, dark, I was on NYC time and it has been a few years but I stupidly after hearing the Chef at the at the end of the table works at Le Coucou ask him if he worked at the original Spring and he says without embarassing me yes I have been there from the beginning, I then realize it was Chef Daniel Rose. We drank extremely well late into the night, before leaving we make our impossible reservation for Sunday night (their busiest night and its Mens Fashion Week) and stroll home.

Sunday we head over to Le Verre Vole for lunch another very special spot for us where we have eaten well over 15x. We meet a friend who is in town for Mens Fashion Week who does not usually have time to eat during the craziness. We choose all of the fish options and ask for an off the menu anything greens dish and are extremely happy. The 07 Ganevat mon Pere is fantastic.

Since we have a late dinner we head to Cave Paul Bert for a bottle of Selosse Initiale (2009 disgorgement and 110 Euros) and the best sardines in Paris. PROTIP - Cave Paul Bert is open 7 days a week and the simple food is actually fantastic and it sadly is never crowded, it is very small 7 or 8 bar stools and two tables in front. You can buy wine to go and order wine from the other Paul Bert places. I LOVE THIS PLACE.

For dinner we head to Clown Bar and it is as fantastic as ever. A simple buckwheat onion pancake is delicious and holds our attention for an extended period of time and beyond. “Tempura” zucchini made with charcoal is outstanding. And of course their Pigeon dish is always fantastic.

Then all hell breaks lose with work and the next four days are mostly trashed…

I did manage to go to Frenchie Wine Bar on Monday evening for a quick dinner. The food is very good; however, I get why locals don’t like the place. It is near 100% tourists, the servers a little prickly (although to be fair I did have to take four calls over the course of a 1.5 hour meal) and the food has close to zero french influence. I would definitely go back based on the food and because they are open on Mondays. Beware though if you do not get there early the line/wait can be really long.

Wednesday I am able to make our lunch at L’Astrance and it a wonderful meal all around. Chef Pascal Barbot has recently traveled to a few different countries in Asia and has added a couple of dishes that were inspired by his travels. The service is relaxed for a three star but still perfect. The sommelier was fantastic, I was able to have a 2012 Clemens Bush Falkenlay which made me extremely happy and the somm poured me a 2005 wine (Mondeuse) from Savoie that is sadly no longer made that was a beautiful wine. It was such a great experience that I can’t wait to go back.

I sadly had to miss Septime on Thursday but I can report from others that it was a great as always (Septime is my overall favorite restaurant in Paris).

Abe Schoener is in town for only two days and I have always wanted to show him “our” Paris! Thursday did not really work out as planned. I hope Friday will…

On Friday we start with Lunch at Clown Bar, we again order three of the Buckwheat Onion Pancakes and they are outstanding. The “Tempura” dish today is sardine and WOW they are amazing. Lunch in the pouring rain at Clown Bar turns into a 5 hour affair with many friends coming and going and sharing of wine including an amazing 10th anniversary edition Cornelissen Munjebel that we discuss with James Murphy who is doing an interview for his new album over lunch but would rather talk about wine. Close to 5 pm and even though there are no subtle hints from the polite staff we know we should go…

We of course head to Cave Paul Bert for snacks - Sardines and Selosse. Bertrand the owner is there and all of sudden the best cured meat and oysters I have ever had are delivered from the main restaurant Bistro Paul Bert and wine is ordered from all three venues (luckily they are on the same street).

After Cave Paul Bert we head to my friends Atsushi Tanaka’s restaurant, Restaurant A.T We let his partner Lulie do all the wine pairings and she dazzles us with her choices including a blind wine that turns out to be a classic style Pinot Noir from of all places Japan! The meal is all around fantastic and we end up hanging late into the night with Atsushi and Lulie.

15 hours later I think Abe understands why we LOVE Paris…

We head (hungover) to the Loire in the morning…

Many pictures on my instagram:

And one more day in Paris that I will write about later.

p.s. I am sure there are a million typos in here but I wanted to get this up while it was still fresh as I hope it will help others planning Paris trips!

great as always Robert!

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Wow – this is the type of Paris trip I’d love to take once I don’t have two small kids in tow. Excellent report!

Spectacular stuff, Robert!

We went to Restaurant A.T. in April 2016. Best foie gras dish I have ever eaten. It was the first dinner we ever ate in Paris and we had an early reservation. Three courses in, we were still the only ones in the place, and I commented to my wife that this place is effing amazing, how sad we’re the only ones here. Thankfully, it filled up rapidly after that.

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After the Loire where we attended an amazing wedding with 10 or so top winemakers from the region and had the winemaker visit of a lifetime (you can read about that here - report on les jardins des esmeraldins ) we head back to Paris for one last day. We arrive at the awkward time of 2:30 where most places are closed for lunch so naturally we head to Cave Paul Bert there is only one person at the counter and the chef is acting as both chef and waiter. We order most everything on the menu and I can easily say the croque monsieur is the best I have ever had.

Dinner is at Saturne which is the michelin starred sister restaurant to Clown Bar. It is a blend of nordic inspired cuisine and french technique. We loved our meal and they have one of the most fascinating natural wine lists with many older vintages (which is rare) and many wines I do not know.

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If you’re looking for “natural wines,” which appears to be the big trend here now, check out → http://www.lesfinesgueules.fr/

Our fourth meal at Septime was as spectacular as all of the others one of my favorite restaurants in the world.

Had a great time at Cave Paul Bert and very nice meal at Le 6th Paul Bert (I prefer it for lunch).

Le Rigmarole opened in October. Two young chefs that have worked all over the world including Brooklyn Fare and Tori Shin. The focus is primarily Yakatori with a number of notable surprises that reflect the two chefs diverse training including a stunning pasta dish. I really liked it and will be adding this to the rotation.

Le Sèrvan - Very nice meal and perfect choice for a light late night dinner after a long lunch.

Benichat is a new Natural wine bar from a former Clown Bar/Restaurant A.T/Ten Bells somm. Really fun place that is open until 2:00. I will definitely be going back.

Another great wine lunch at Tour d’Argent.

Tonight we ring in the new year at Restaurant A.T

Lots of photos on my instagram:

Robert Dentice - Our fourth meal at Septime was as spectacular as all of the others one of my favorite restaurants in the world.

How did you get a reservation?

I should have been more clear it was our fourth time this year and have been many times over the years. I think the best way to try to get a reservation is to call right before the first seating around 11:30 or in between first and second between 3:00-5:00. They do pick up the phone. I would say about 30 days out or very close to your date which is less likely but you might get lucky. They will also put your name on waitlist and they actually call to let you know one way or another.

Really appreciate you keeping this updated. I’m hoping to be heading back to Paris in February for a week and always looking for great places to try!

I sent a note to Septime today. Want to try and get in there.

Has anyone dined there recently?

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