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A detail of Le 1er’s wild comic-book-style mural. |
You don’t usually expect to be taken aback by a restaurant, but Le 1er managed just that. We were flying blind after a trip to a vernissage (no drink) and a hugger-mugger …
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A detail of Le 1er’s wild comic-book-style mural. |
Pros: Interesting space (probably better in daylight), pleasant staff, plenty of room
Cons: Music, low lighting, uneven food quality
You don’t usually expect to be taken aback by a restaurant, but Le 1er managed just that. We were flying blind after a trip to a vernissage (no drink) and a hugger-mugger wine-tasting at Spring Boutique (some nice Cairanne and a Banyuls Réserve made by a delightful lady grower) and had booked at Le 1er without knowing anything about it. At the level of 47, rue Saint Honoré was a discreet chalkboard touting a menu on the sidewalk, but no sign of a restaurant. That was when we realized the 1er meant not only in the first arrondissement, but also the premier étage – a one-floor walk-up, in other words.
And what a walk-up: through a narrow, badly lit, scuffed hallway that seemed not to have had a lick of paint since Balzac’s day, and a narrow staircase leading to a rather grubby door, with no indication that this was the place. We could have been in prewar Paris. We supposed it was a conceit, as, on pushing open the door, we walked into a room that had had a real designer going-over, although the lighting was so low that we couldn’t get a proper look at it. One wall was entirely covered with a comic-book-style mural.
The friendly young waitress told us that in the days when the Les Halles central food market had been just across the way, this had been a little-known rendezvous for market porters and the gay community, who came to share rib steaks, sliced off the bone at the table. It figures.
Today the target audience seems to be thirty-somethings who have money to spend in a clubby, lounge atmosphere with music and who aren’t looking for complicated food. Not exactly my profile on any of those counts, but the service was friendly and unpretentious, and the food mostly creditably made and served. My generous portion of ravioles de Romans, a Rhône valley take on ravioli from a city once famous for its high-end shoemaking industry (Clergerie, Charles Jourdan, Stéphane Kélian) in the days before Jimmy Choo and Louboutin, was cooked just right and came with plenty of flavorful cep mushrooms. I split the dish with my companion, while she passed over half of her goat’s cheese salad, which was well-seasoned and herby.
After that came steak – a tasty entrecôte, done bleu, as requested, with well-made fries and a blanquette de veau that had seen better days. And therein lies the rub. We shared the space with only nine other diners, two of whom seemed to be friends of the patron. Under those circumstances, i.e., a dearth of diners, a blanquette is likely to sit around for some time before being served. Although it is often better reheated, there are limits to the number of times you can do that, and this one had reached that limit some time before. Unless, of course, it had just been cooked to death that day. At all events, a pleasure it was not.
A dessert of pears poached in red wine and served with something resembling a brownie was also something of a disappointment.
But we did enjoy the red Buzet (€26) that went with all of this, as well as the digestif that the owner kindly offered us at the end of the meal.
So if you’re out late in the neighborhood when all else is closed, and your food expectations aren’t too high, and low lighting and background music don’t deter you, you could do worse than venture up those narrow stairs.
Le 1er: 47, rue Saint Honoré, 75001 Paris. Tel.: 01 44 76 03 38. Métro: Châtelet-Les Halles. Nearest Vélib stations: 1, place Marguerite de Navarre; Rue Berger. Open Tuesday-Friday for lunch and dinner (8pm-2am), for dinner only on Saturday. A la la carte: €40 and up.
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