Paris Dining Addresses

Where I've eaten recently.

I know you’re not supposed to use all caps on the internet, but EVERYONE is coming to Paris right now, and there are so many visitors here that I think French might become the second language of Paris. Some visitors think (or read) that if they don’t speak French, that people will be mean to them. Honestly, in over twenty years, that’s only happened to me once or twice.

(Even the French have trouble with French: At dinner with friends this weekend, a topic of discussion was whether one says les haricots, pronouncing the “s” in les, or if it’s silent. Le Figaro newspaper and L’Academie Française have had to explain it to the population.)

You shouldn’t be scared or timid to come to Paris. Parisians take vacations, too, and travel to other countries. So if you feel uncomfortable, just imagine that your waiter or clerk is coming to, say…America…and how they’d feel walking into an unfamiliar store or sitting down in a restaurant, especially if they didn’t speak the language or know the customs. Probably they’d feel a bit uncomfortable, too.

So you can relax when you come to Paris. A lot more people speak English than they used to, and in my experience, more and more locals want to practice their language skills. Fortunately, food is the international language, and Paris is filled with bakeries, cheese shops, wine bars, cafés, bistros, and restaurants where everyone should feel welcome. I keep a longer list of favorite restaurants in Paris here (on my website) and here (the newsletter archives), but here are a few places I ate at recently and some thoughts about them.

[Note: At most places in Paris, reservations are highly recommended, including the restaurants listed here, except for Jixiao, which is very casual. More and more restaurants in Paris take reservations online, and if your plans change, please let the restaurant know that you won’t be coming…even if it’s at the last minute, so they can take other guests or walk-ins.)

Capitaine

When my friend Mat came to town bearing bottles of his distillations, made in the heart of Burgundy from local ingredients. It was nice to catch up with him and his wife at Capitaine, where chef Baptiste Day is keeping the food focused on very fresh ingredients. I had a plate of lightly pickled vegetables and sardines, and the chef sent out a few oysters with grapefruit and fennel to try, which were both very good. And yes, I loved the oyster plate, too.

My friends both went with the sweetbreads, but the côte de porc (pork chop) was calling me, and it was probably the best pork I’ve had in France. It seems like someone’s bred the flavor out of pork, so it was nice to dive into a really great, flavorful pork chop with carefully cooked vegetables with a sauce that was so good, I flagged down the busy chef to tell him how terrific it was.

Dessert was a brown butter–apricot tart with house-made coconut ice cream, which wasn’t picture perfect (which is fine as I’m wary of fruit desserts that look too perfect — fruit should be ripe, juicy, and a little messy), and since it’s the season for apricots, I was happy to indulge along with a few sips of Mat’s new apricot eau-de-vie. (Capitaine)

Jixiao’s Buns

There used to be a team of three Asian-American women who lived in Paris who called themselves the Chop Chicks in Paris. Their mantra was: “We need to eat Asian food every day.”

ChopChicks in Paris🍜🇫🇷

ChopChicks in Paris🍜🇫🇷 on Instagram: ”🍲Tried the braised pork belly over rice (w/ soy sauce marinated egg!) 滷肉飯 at @restaurant_april today...it didn’t disappoint!😋 🥟The spicy Sichuanese dumplings are addictive and exactly what we came back for❤️The chili crisp oil on top gives a lovely spicy crunch🌶💥and their beef noodle soup has amazing noodle texture—one of the yummiest we’ve tried recently.🍜 📍Save this post to add @restaurant_april your to-try list!✨🥢”

October 24, 2020

I followed the three of them online. When one moved to England, I applied for her position. I don’t think they realized I was serious. (I was.)

Their online outings seem to have sizzled out as they moved on to other things, but the Asian food scene in Paris continues to thrive. Back in the day, Asian food wasn’t always well-represented, but thankfully, that’s changed — as have local tastes, which tolerate more spice and seasonings, as well as the diversity of flavors at the city’s multitude of Korean, Thai, Chinese, Vietnamese, and Japanese restaurants. Jixiao’s Buns (at 21, quai des Grands Augustins, 6th) was on their list and naturally went on mine…so we gave it a try.