My wife and I had a recent five night stay in Paris (plus a sixth a week later) and I thought I’d share my thoughts. The week we were in Paris, unbeknownst to us, was during some sort of huge wine industry event, which made finding reservations at a number of the places I had been interested in booking challenging, if not impossible.
La Bourse et la Vie- a Paris By Mouth recommendation, it’s a decent, if uninspiring bistro. Our meal was solid, but nothing about it made me want to return.
Juveniles- we had a great meal here. The food was excellent. Nothing over the top, but very well executed and interesting. The wine list was solid as well. We had a PYCM St. Aubin and a Clape Cornas, both of which were reasonably priced.
Automne This place has a Michelin star and we had a really nice lunch here on Valentine’s Day. Food was very good and everything was well-executed. The amuses were all excellent and the scallop, chanterelles, broccoli course was truly excellent. Wine list was solid.
Verjus- We really enjoyed our meal here,. A couple of the amuses were melt in your mouth delicious- an egg yolk with herbed cream and a kuri squash/marigold “cannoli” stood out. I’d agree with EricZ that the John Dory course was the highlight.
Les Enfants du Marché- This place was pretty much exactly what I expected based on all the comments here. Some great food- a scallop crudo with chives, vinegar, and roe was a real standout, alongside a squid and blood sausage dish. We had a couple of glasses of Riesling from Alsace that was decent (“it just came in today” seems to have been the sole selling point). I would like to return on a day when we didn’t have a signficant dinner reservation booked for later and to hang for a few hours and try more dishes. I will say, the vibe is a bit more “too cool for school” than I would find ideal, but the quality of the food more than makes up for it.
Le Mazenay- this was a place that’s on the Paris By Mouth 50 Favorite list right now. We booked a lunch there (as that’s all I could find). Located in the Marais, it’s run by a couple. The husband, who is French, is the chef, and the wife, who is Vietnamese, runs the front of the house. The food was delicious (my wife had an excellent John Dory with cabbage and chervil and I had a roast pigeon with tarragon and orange). The pommes dauphine, deep fried clouds of mashed potatoes are pure melt in your mouth decadence. The wine list was good too. Even though it had been picked over a bit by the industry crowd earlier in the week, we were able to drink a lovely bottle of reasonably priced Raveneau. Lan, the wife is super friendly and very knowledgeable about wine (and chartreuse, if you’re interested). Almost everyone else who was dining there were clearly regulars (based on the way the were greeted by Lan). We lingered for a very long lunch, finishing with a great conversation with Lan and some Chartreuse. This was one of our favorite meals of the trip.
Raviolis Nord-Est- a hole in the wall on Rue St. Denis, this was a great place to grab some Beijing-style dumplings for an easy lunch. This was perfect on a cold, dreary February day.
Septime- best meal of the trip, for us. Every course was at least outstanding. The amuse, which was a brioche bun with Comte “cream” was incredibly light and refreshing, completely unexpected. The meal was vegetable-centric and the vegetable courses were, by and large, the stand-outs for us. We did go with the wine pairing. The wine list is almost exclusively devoted to natural wine and I didn’t recognize more than a couple of names. For the most part, the wines were decent, with nothing that was outstanding (though a vin Jaune style Savagnin from the Jura was delicious). It feels to me as if the wine is very much secondary to the “story” among the natural wine true believers- “This Jurançon was made by a pharmacist who had never set foot in a vineyard before deciding to give up her career an buy a small plot of Petite and Gros Manseng”. One of the wines we were served, I believe qualifies for the natural wine grand slam- from Georgia (“wine was made in Georgia for centuries before the French ever discovered wine. This is from the true birthplace of winemaking.”) and comprised of a field blend of three white and one red grape, co-fermented with skin contact in buried amphorae. It ticked all the boxes. And it tasted exactly how you would predict it would. Not for me. Ok, rant over. Our meal at Septime was sublime. I am sure we will return, and next time, I think I will order a Champagne off the list (they have bottles from both Lassaigne and Vouette et Sorbée on the list) and skip the whole pairing thing.