National Comfort Food A simple, cozy setting. On the sort of cold, blustery night we’ve been having in Paris recently, my thoughts turn to comfort food and my abiding passion for couscous. The vegetables in broth and the hunks of … Read More
Eye Candy for Food Lovers THIS RESTAURANT IS NOW CLOSED Click here to read 2013 review. Readers may recall that the answer to the ultimate question about Life, the Universe and Everything in Douglas Adams’s The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the … Read More
Technicolor Treats The chefs work behind a window, like fish in an aquarium. Updated Nov. 12, 2008 As we pushed through the doors and entered the chic interior of Ze Kitchen Galerie, the warmth of chef William Ledeuil’s welcoming smile … Read More
Dickensian Hideaway Dark-honey-colored wood paneling and quaint murals. Named after Cartouche, a notorious highwayman operating in and around Paris at the turn of the 18th century, Le Repaire de Cartouche, some food bloggers allege, practices its own form of highway … Read More
Go East with Westermann The decor is clean and understated, with a half-timbered backdrop. In one of this restaurant’s previous incarnations, long, long before Mon Vieil Ami was launched four years ago by Antoine Westermann, the Michelin-starred (for his restaurant … Read More
Sideways to the Messinas’ The name of this Sicilian restaurant – Les Amis des Messina – refers to the friends of the Messina family, and the slick PR on the restaurant’s Web site says that the first restaurant on the … Read More
Mom-and-Pop Bistro Fusion The paneled walls don’t provide the ideal setting for the fine food and wine. As you turn into Rue Ferdinand Flocon in the further reaches of the 18th arrondissement, you are rewarded for the hike with a … Read More
Through the Grapevine No shortage of wine here. With the smoking ban in French restaurants about to take effect on January 1, 2008, it is well worth praising a pioneer like Jacques Mélac, who has had a no-smoking policy for … Read More
Salt of the Earth It’s not that Le Villaret is hidden away, but it certainly doesn’t get much passing trade, of that I can be certain. You have to want to find this quiet side street in the 11th arrondissement, … Read More
Eating Down Below Al least the basement is brightened with colorful murals. The French trade newspaper L’Hôtellerie Restauration, which advertises such well-known and admired produits du terroir as vacuum-cooked, ready-to-serve poached eggs, ready-made steak tartare preparation, and deep-frozen tutti quanti, … Read More
