Paris Restaurants

Where I've been eating lately...

Paris has changed quite a bit, even over this summer (!), when new places opened or changed hands, and I tried a few places in other arrondissements, notably the 19th and 20th, which are taking over the mantle from the 10th, then the 11th, where young chefs were opening places. It’s been exciting to see the changes that continue to swirl in the Paris dining scene, and here are a few places I’ve been to recently.

Soces

I met a friend at Soces, owned by the former chef, Marius de Ponfilly, of Clamato (the seafood restaurant owned by the Septime team), and just after we sat down, my friend announced that he isn’t a big seafood fan. He’s a pretty good eater and dines out a lot in Paris, so I was surprised he agreed to eat here, where three-quarters of the menu focuses on seafood. But if you don’t love seafood, you can certainly find something on the menu, although he was game for trying certain things.

We started with oyster shooters and mini-margaritas, above, which were fine, but it would have been nice to have some sort of juice or sauce in the oysters to tie them to the mini cocktails. (On the other hand, oysters are pretty sacred in France, and a majority of people can’t imagine putting anything on them, except lemon.)

We moved on to œufs mimosa with buttermilk and trout roe, a riff on the French bistro classic of hard-cooked eggs served with mayonnaise, which were delicious. And instead of the usual three halves you get when you order œufs mayo in France, it was nice that they give you four.

We also shared white tuna with smoked tomatoes, served on little puddles of tomato jelly and nasturtium leaves. (For those who dislike the foam that’s frequently used in Paris restaurants, rest assured, there was nary a bubble of the frothy stuff in sight at Soces.)

We also had a tartare of aged beef à la Provençal, topped with green (underripe) almonds and roasted peppers, whose flavor I found a bit too strong and threatened to overwhelm the beef. As soon as I pushed the pepper to one side, separating the two, my appreciation of the dish improved. It was an inventive twist on ratatouille, and my only suggestion would be to feature the eggplant over the peppers rather than putting them in such a prominent position.

We had the steamed cod, which the kitchen kindly (and without asking) split onto two plates, with a “minestrone” of beans, topped with a mint, fava bean, and garlic condiment served on top, which was quite tasty.

Dessert was roasted vanilla apricots with hazelnut praline and orange blossom cream, which tasted better than it photographed.

And even though I’d woken up at 6am that morning to wait for the oven repair person to come, who said he’d come between 7am and 3pm, before I nodded off, I wanted to taste La Gauloise, a French herbal liqueur in the same vein as Chartreuse, made in Burgundy. My friend had a snifter of Armagnac Morning Dew, V.S.O.P. The wine list leans toward non-manipulated/natural wines, with some exceptional wines from the Jura. We went with aligoté from Fanny Sabra that was full-bodied with a nice minerality that went well with the seafood.

Soces
32, rue de la Villette (19th)

Dandelion

Before I went to London earlier this summer, a few people warned me about sky-high restaurant prices. I’m used to New York and San Francisco prices, so I didn’t find them excessive (especially considering the high quality of the food we had), but prices at some restaurants in Paris have climbed to those levels too. And I’m not talking about Michelin-starred places, but restaurants in modest neighborhoods.

Twenty years ago you could get a 3-course meal in Paris for €30-35 in a bistronomique restaurant. Nowadays, that’s close to the price of a main course at a restaurant like Dandelion, which overlooks a sweet little square in the 20th arrondissement. Most restaurants don’t make a lot of money, and it’s hard to fault places for higher prices, especially since the cost of labor and ingredients have risen substantially.

Dandelion was recommended to me by the owner of one of the best-known restaurants in Paris, so I reserved a few weeks in advance. I know from reader reactions, whenever I post a photo from a Paris restaurant with foam, it gets quite a few negative comments. Romain isn’t fond of it either. While the rest of the world seems to have left it behind, it’s frequently used by chefs in Paris. It showed up in both our first courses, atop Romain’s raw veal tonnato with sunflowers and piment, spiced peppers.