I went to the Breizh Café near Odéon for lunch yesterday and it was great as usual. I went there because… well you’ll see why below.
Wrap-up of my final meals:
Tekés – in the 2rd. My boss loves this vegetarian Israeli place so I put it in our suite of dinners. He’s right! Wow, this place is amazing. It’s dark and noisy but that didn’t bother us. Such good food! Everything was super luxuriant and savory, just super well done. We let our waiter choose the menu for the two of us and it was just so good. The service was a bit rushed but we slow walked It and ended up having a great time. And it’s open on Sundays! An instant favorite.
Les Enfants du Marché – in the 3rd. Bah, foiled again! Monday was the only day I could attempt LEdM, but they are closed on Mondays. The future is bright…
Vantre – in the 11th. Finally, back to a restaurant in the happening part of town. Vantre was great. We had three seafood starters and all were terrific: mackerel-like fish wrapped in shiso, a delicious tuna tostada on a buckwheat crisp, and raw scallops with endives and I think bonito. I had the pigeon and foie gras tourte, which was outstanding (and essentially the same as the dish I had at Le Clown Bar last year – are the restos related?). Ordered 2013 Cuchet-Beliando Cornas off the list, and what an insane list it is. So many wines, really impossible to survey the whole thing. Great service and just a fun time overall. Thanks @ArmaanK for the urging. Would happily return.
Even though I lived in NY for 20 years, I still eat Israeli more in Paris than I ever did in NY. I think the overall Parisian food culture keeps the quality high. Usually just something very casual like Miznon (haven’t really been since they expanded so much) but it’s just so delicious and pretty easy to stay veg if that’s your thing.
Mondays in France are almost as closed as Sundays. Workweek is basically Tues afternoon to Friday early afternoon.
I’m interested in going after seeing they did a pop up with planque, I think there was some chatter up thread with people not liking the no wine list/talk to a somm policy. Curious about the food
Oops, apologies. Original chef Masa Ikuta left about 1 1/2 years ago and I had wrongly kept at the back of my mind that the restaurant had ceased operations. Yes, it had continued on with another chef.
We got in at about 5pm. Returned a rental car (side note: im never driving in the 2eme again) checked in, and went right to Danico for drinks. We had been to Danico before about 5 years ago and I’ve thought about it ever since. It’s as good as I remember, such interesting combinations of cocktail flavors. Def deserving of the top 50 bars list it’s been on since we visited last. From there we went to Juveniles and it is as deserving of the praise heaped on it here as anywhere ive been. A fried egg and mushroom dish to start, wife had a great scallop dish, and i had a killer braised pork dish. We drank from the BTG list but the bottle list had some great choices as well. Finally, capped that first night at Willi’s Wine Bar, again a great selection on the wine list. I mostly went for the posters but was very happy with the bottle selection.
Next day we started with breakfast at the hotel, Grands Boulevard Experimental, great way to start but nothing special. First stop was at Petite Vendrome for a jambon beurre. Loved it. Great bread, deserves the hype. Stopped at Cedric Grolet Opera for some pastries. We got both hazelnut and pistachio themed desserts, both beautiful and tasty. I think it was worth the 15-20mins we waited in line. Next time I would probably go to the new chocolate shop but the line was seriously long there considering it just opened. We got a snack at Butcher of Paris, the Charcuterie board. Everything at the tables around us looked equally awesome. Had a “snack dessert” from French Bastards, which was the least favorite of our pastries on the trip- just OK. Had drinks at Cambridge Public House, another top 50 bar, and again deserving of the distinction. We finished the night at Lissit, which was also a great meal. Laid back vibe, very friendly service. food was on point. Started with a pear and boudin noir tarte tatin, moved on to a stuffed quail and gigante bean dish for me and a seared bonito as poire dish for my wife.
It was a busy two days of eating and drinking, but we really enjoyed basically every stop. I would suggest all of them, except I probably wouldn’t go back to French Bastards next time, would want to try somewhere else in a place with this many good bakeries.
Agree on The French Bastards. Good, not great. I’ve only been to the original one Oberkampf and last I saw they had expanded to several locations. I think they try to do too much.
Shunta has been mostly focused on the Biarritz project and was not at the restaurant the last two times I was there (most recently in July). Mika is a talented cook himself and knows how to pick Chefs so they will be fine. I will be there on Saturday and will report back!
