Truly happy to see your post re: Septime
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Hmmm. You might prefer Ebene?
Got it!
FYI Ebene accepts BYOB for 35€/b. Some friends from our wine group have been raving about the place for some time now, and so have booked a table there for our group’s 15 years anniversary in October.
Looking forward to it a bit more after your review!
Cheers.
Alain
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Final weekend! We start our Saturday at the Thaddaeus Ropac Gallery in the suburbs of Paris in Pantin to see the Anselm Kiefer exhibit. He is one of our favorite artists (we were lucky to have dinner with him once outside of Paris at his work space which is essentially three or four large airplane hangers, we were told almost no one is allowed to visit). The pieces are extremely large in scale and moving in their intensity and well worth the 30 minute trip outside Paris.
Lunch was at Cypsele. Cypsele is one of several new openings in late 2025 along with EME, Orson, Ebene and probably others. Chef Marcin Król most recently worked as the #2 at Maison Sota and has also worked at Le Chateaubriand and NOMA. He is still relatively young, extremely talented and driven. This was our 2nd visit. There was less choice this time just one set menu; however, we did inquire about a Guinea Fowl dish that was on the dinner menu and he kindly made a slight variation on the prior days version and set it out to us as a gift. They have a large wood burning grill and the dishes that are cooked on this really excel. Overall we really liked our meal with the Guinea Fowl and duck being the highlights.
We followed lunch with a visit to Gagosian to see the Sterling Ruby exhibit.
Up next: Authentic Mexican and an obscure hip hop legend!
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We are still going maybe, a little less strong. The thoughts of NYC pizza and high acid rieslings are floating through my head. Dinner was at Locomal which is part of the Mokonuts group. Chef Jose Oviedo is a young Mexican Chef cooking authentic Mexican cuisine in Paris. He warmly greets us on arrival, we ask if it is ok to expand our reservation by one so Chef AT can join. He immediately gets a little nervous. There was no need to worry Chef loved the food and was extremely impressed with the off menu dish that Chef Jose sent out. The cooking is very authentic and just what we need after a tasting menu lunch. The wine list is small and I don’t recognize anything. I would suggest beer here which suits the food fine. Overall a lovely casual evening.
The reason Chef AT joins is that he is a big hip hop fan and we are going to see AZ! AZ is a NY artist that came up in the early 90s and almost made it. He is on the first Nas album. Nas returned the favor and is on AZ’s first album Doe or Die. My friend Pete Rock produced a few of his songs and many other notable producers including DJ Premier, RZA and others worked with AZ. As is all to typical in the musical world his career just did not take off. AZ is still at it and producing music. He played an incredible show where he gave it his all to a group of less than 100.
Post AZ we go next door to Yard for a couple of bottles, a restaurant that was THE spot in Paris for a number of years. We have not been since the Action Bronson F#ck That is Delicious Book Launch Party…that was an insane day. Lunch at Le Tour D’Argent followed by an insane hip hop and Natural wine party! R can be seen dancing in the street next to Action in the Vice episode!
Next up - We have decided to hold a residency at Les Enfants du Marche for our last meal. We will be there from 12-4 so many friends come and go…
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Does the wine list have a little more depth at Cypsele?
It was pretty sparse when we went in December.
I would not say it has depth. It was similar to our last visit. It is a blend of classic and Natural. Judging by the BTG program and my conversations with him the somm’s personal preference leans more Natural. We ordered a bottle of Lajibe and tried the BTG Vin Noe which was sadly mousey. The somm agreed and took it off the bill.
The Finale! We had several options for lunch on our final day and we opted to grab a table at Les Enfants du Marche (our 5th visit this trip) and just hang out all afternoon and see who showed up! It turned out to be a great move and exemplifies what we love so much about Paris!
Here is a big scoop that we only learned towards the end of our last lunch. The Butcher of Paris now has a chicken only (roast or friend stand) in the market! With takeaway options! So our final meal in Paris was actually The Butcher of Paris Roast Chicken at CDG!!!
Hope this thread is helpful to anyone planning a trip to Paris. I will post one last summary post with some thoughts and observations on the Paris dining scene…
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Summary post after over 2 weeks in Paris…
Lunch: Damn Paris just knows how to do lunch! Many restaurants have lunch specials ranging from 20-35 euros. Some highlights for us L’Verre Vole, Le Dauphin (20 euros on Tuesdays), we did not go for lunch but I imagine La Joie which we did for dinner is also excellent for lunch. It is shocking to me how few lunch options there are in NYC but then again I could almost never go during the week and maybe therein lies the problem. If I lived in Paris I would go out for lunch every single day.
Wine: Wine prices are all over the place. The days of going to Paris to drink cheap XYZ Burgundy are long over and have been for some time. Some producers are even more expensive in Paris (if you ask me it really depends on the importer in the U.S. and how much they increase price). Like NYC there are many lists that are a combination of classic and natural which is a welcome change. Cheval Dor which opened with an almost all natural list now has Keller. There is not much diversity in the lists at the types of places we like to dine. I am sure if we hit a broader group of restaurant types we would have seen it. Jurancon is an exciting region to explore in Paris and beyond just Lajibe.
Menus: There is a lot more freedom to choose from a la carte to small or large tasting menus.
Coffee: The coffee scene in Paris has exploded. We loved Dreamin Man, Klover, Tanat, Motors
Discovery of the Trip: Restaurant Ebene and on the casual end of the spectrum La Joie.
Tasting Menu Meal of the Trip: Tie between EME and Restaurant AT.
Overall Meal of the Trip: Septime.
Favorite Spot: Les Enfants du Marche. Our go to for lunch or just a quick snack or a place to meet up. Admittedly this is not easy because they typically have 25 people in line. We go before they open or during the lull between lunch and dinner.
Super Casual: There has also been an explosion of super casual food, pizza, burgers, etc. We enjoyed SHWI for a quick bite, lebanese chicken wraps but the star was Tabboule. Chef friends were raving about SUPERETTE a burger spot.
Casual Meal of the Trip: JIP
Wine of the Trip: 2017 Domaine d’Eugenie Montrachet
Experience of the Trip: The rooftop at La Tour d’Argent is magical! Just magical. Sadly it will be closing for the season end of Sept / early October. You can still visit the ground floor lounge and order off the main wine list alongside of a snack.
Tipping: Many places now have tipping on the credit card machines which is welcome. And tipping seems much more common and appreciated at the types of newer more international Clientele places we frequent.
Overall thoughts on Paris dining: This last year was a big year of change due to the untimely passing of Chefs (RIP Chef Bertran Grébaut - Septime and Chef Lucas Baur de Campos - Brutos), closures (e.g., impending closure of Chateubriand, Yam’Tcha). Yet there are so many exciting new openings (e.g., EME, Ebene, Orson, Cypsele among others) and a number of rumored new opens (e.g., Chef Sven from Saturne). Paris is as exciting as ever and in my opinion the best dining city in the world. I say this because you have low end, middle, high-end. Just look at what I said about lunch - how could I say NYC is the best dining city in the world, it is definitely in the conversation, when you can barely get a great lunch in the middle of the week? Paris seems to have recovered nicely from the post pandemic struggles yet based on conversations with Chefs and restaurant owners it is still a very tough business due to inflation, staffing, changing dining habits, competition etc. We love everything about Paris dining and are very fortunate to have such strong connections with so many involved in the Paris culinary scene developed over 25 years.
That concludes my Paris reporting, hope this is helpful to anyone planning a Paris trip…now off to the Gym!!!
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+1 for the La Bonbonnette wine bar in the Marais neighborhood. I was very impressed that they use Coravin to offer some interesting bottles by the glass - sadly too rare in France. After my first order, it was mentioned that almost everything on the bottle list was also available by the glass using Coravin. Seems I was there around the same time as @J_Patrick_Lynch, as I then decided to treat myself to a glass of the Coche-Dury, offered at a very fair 1/5th of the bottle price.
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what a marathon! how was the suchots?
I tip at the restaurants where we receive special treatment or where I like the servers, which are often the same. Always in cash, because I don’t know where charged tips go.
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Thanks for the reports - I was in Paris just for 24 hours last weekend to see Nick Cave (again!) but no chance to eat well.
I hesitate to comment on tipping its always a mess - but I would just mention that all restaurants already have a ‘notional’ 15% already built into the bill.
I could be wrong but I strongly suspect that locals are not adding on the machine routinely.
It’s difficult as this is an industry that is struggling worldwide - but its difficult to see how a more randomised approach to tipping (than say just raising the ‘service compris’ price) is helpful in the long run.
Also I’d add that to date I have only seen this once in Bordeaux, in a very tourist orientated place.
i have been going to Paris long enough to know the local tipping customs. What I noticed was mostly at the newer spots with more international clientel and frankly staff. I always struggle with leaving a few coins on the table, I might not if I was a local regular stopping in for a quick bite. I occupied a table at Les Enfants due Matche for 5 hours, had people coming and going, Chef cooked some special veg dishes, they ran a block away to tne cave to get a couple of bottles. I jusy cannot leave the standard tip for something like that. What I struggle with is what is the right amount that is not offensive..
Yes that’s clearly not a normal situation.
Was in Paris 2 weeks ago for 5 days (with 2 of the days as out-of-town all day trips) and, iirc, all 3 bistros where we had dinner at, and our hotel restaurant dining, had the “suggested” incremental tips from 5% to 20% that were either indicated in their remote credit card readers or on the bills.
Dined at Cafe de Ministeres, La Bourse et La Vie, Augustin Marchand d’Vins (unsure of tip indicator) and Hotel Bel Ami.
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Certainly with special treatment, things are different re tipping.. I rarely get that treatment.
But for normal meals, doesn’t tipping lead to inflation for the locals?
I’d be interested in hearing from those domiciled there.
Well, all things being equal if people want to pay optional tips I’d say that might somewhat suppress the menu prices.
But I’m not an economist.
Hi Robert,
A huge thank you for taking the time to pull together your dining reports. You certainly have a voracious appetite and your passion is infectious.
kind regards
Jeremy
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