La Salamandre Restaurant
Top Marx for Thierry
Multi-starred French chef Thierry Marx is an unusual specimen of the genre. Cheerful, easygoing and likable, he is not only an aficionado of judo and Zen meditation but also puts his values into action by using his celebrity and influence … Read More
Soces Restaurant
A Group Hug of a Restaurant
The restaurant Soces managed to fly under my radar until recently, and that’s a shame. This is a place I definitely want to go back to often. The word “soces” is slang for “pals,” and, judging by the joyous uproar … Read More
Nessia Restaurant
A Chef for All Cuisines
Our meal at Nessia started off well. We arrived unfashionably early and had the rather dark but stylishly decorated restaurant (black marble tables, designer chairs and sconces, open kitchen in the back) to ourselves. We also had the full attention … Read More
Godaille Restaurant
Almost Wrinkle-Free
Throughout our meal at Godaille, my friend Jean-Michel, a French linguist, puzzled over the choice of the restaurant’s name, a word that means “crease” (in clothing or fabric). We finally got a chance to ask our server, who explained that … Read More
Janine Restaurant
The NYT Effect
Call me a snob, but I tremble every time The New York Times publishes an article recommending Paris restaurants; it’s a surefire guarantee that they will be packed to the rafters with tourists from then on. Getting a reservation will … Read More
SAaM Restaurant
Asian Flavors Meet Western Favorites
Long gone are the days when Asian food in Paris was nearly always standardized and dumbed down. In the last couple of years, the number of creative, high-quality Asian places has grown at a dazzling pace, whether they be Chinese, … Read More
Chez Casimir Restaurant
Bistro Perfection
Even though I live not far away and have heard my friends singing its praises for many years, I had never been to Chez Casimir, located near the Gare du Nord, until recently. Its former owner, chef Thierry Breton, who … Read More
Café Content
Constant Alumni Serve Contented Customers
Chef Christian Constant’s Café Constant (now Café Lignac) was just that: a constant pleasure. Two of its former stalwarts – Wolfang Staudinger and chef Étienne Hervé – have now founded their own restaurant, honoring their former place of employment by … Read More
Grande Brasserie
Back to the Brasserie
Brasseries used to be the reliable mainstay of Paris’s restaurant world, open seven days a week and serving seafood platters and familiar dishes, usually of good quality. Nowadays, however, there are fewer of them, and the quality of many has … Read More
HuThoPi Restaurant
Utopian Dining
HuThoPi, a newish restaurant in the 12th arrondissement, has one of those corny names made up of the first letters of the owners’ names – childhood friends Hugo Lafont, Thomas Cuny and Pierre Le Lard – but it has the … Read More