Anyone who goes to Paris to eat will tell you that the city has been steadily tilting east, specifically toward the 11th and 12th arrondissements. This is why I find myself staring at an exhibit of the potato-producing countries of the world inside a display case in the Parmentier métro station. A wonderful expression of the French penchant for public edification, this stop was named in honor of Antoine-Augustin Parmentier, the agronomist who convinced his countrymen that potatoes were indeed edible (they were originally cultivated in France only as animal feed, and it was assumed their tubers were toxic to humans). The honor is appropriate, not only because of the shared subterranean bond between the subway and the elegantly named pomme de terre (“apple of the earth”), but also because the denizens of this venerable working-class district subsisted on a steady diet of potatoes for a long time.
Who knows what Parmentier would have made of the sudden popularity of daikon, wasabi, and all the other exotic root vegetables that have become a mainstay on menus in the 11th and 12th? My guess is he’d be dumbstruck to find that this slice of the city has become its trendiest gourmet destination, especially for those who want to taste what’s new without spending a small fortune.
L’est populaire, which encompasses the old, proletarian neighborhoods of Oberkampf, Ménilmontant, Bastille, Faubourg Saint-Antoine, Daumesnil, and Bercy, has gone gastro in a major way. It’s here that countless young chefs have chosen to set up shop, due in no small part to the low rents, but also to the demographic turnover that’s seen an influx of well-heeled bobos (bourgeois bohemians) with adventurous palates and a love of good food.
It was, curiously enough, the Opéra Bastille that got the ball rolling. This much-derided building (many still compare it to a lavatory thanks to its glass blocks and skin of pale-green tiles)—commissioned by President François Mitterrand as a symbol of his Socialist party’s devotion to making the performing arts accessible to working people—opened on July 13, 1989, to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the storming of the Bastille. Ironically, by drawing thousands of affluent Parisians to this part of the city for the first time (many of the locals found the programming uninteresting and the ticket prices too high), he set the stage for a real-estate revolution.
Hot spots like the pioneering (but now defunct) China Club, a Shanghai-in-the-’30s-themed bar and restaurant, opened to cater to the fashionable culture vultures who discovered the charm of this old-fashioned neighborhood, which had been the center of furnituremaking in Paris for centuries (and which had already acquired a gloss of bohemian glamour from the free spirits who’d seized upon the low rents along the Rue de Lappe and the Rue Saint-Sabin a few years earlier). Following the completion of a second set of public works in the mid-’90s, these arrondissements—which had previously lacked any major attractions (even the perennially trendy Père-Lachaise cemetery is just across the street, in the 20th)—became a destination for a broader public. The change began 14 years ago with the conversion of a long-abandoned railway viaduct into the Promenade Plantée, a green-belt walkway that runs all the way to the edge of the city. Underneath it, in a series of brick arches that were the support for the tracks themselves, the Viaduc des Arts became a street-level parade of shops devoted to arts and artisans. (Check out the handmade copper cookware at L’Atelier des Arts Culinaires.) In nearby Bercy, the transformation of the handsome brick warehouses that formerly served the wholesale wine trade (barges from Burgundy unloaded their cargo here) into shops, cafés, and restaurants gave way to a whole new neighborhood. Et voilà, eastern Paris, once snobbishly dismissed by the bourgeoisie, was suddenly hot, even fashionable.
But aside from a few old bistro standbys like Le Quincy and À La Biche au Bois, these neighborhoods didn’t have many restaurants to boast about. That situation has changed dramatically.
Rodolphe Paquin was one of the first chefs to take advantage of this vacuum when he opened Le Repaire de Cartouche, not far from the Place de la Bastille, more than ten years ago. “It was obvious the neighborhood was getting younger and more affluent,” he says. “The rent was half of what I’d have paid in the seventh or the eighth.” Inventive dishes like his carpaccio of calf’s head with oyster vinaigrette and his côte de sanglier (wild boar) with pickled beets have been packing them in ever since.
Paquin was a pioneer, but today this patch of Paris teems with destination restaurants, including Le Chateaubriand, one of the city’s best contemporary bistros and certainly its most popular. The talented young chef Inaki Aizpitarte first attracted attention at La Famille, in Montmartre. And since he moved to the Oberkampf section of the 11th two years ago, his food has become even more intriguing. He does a single menu nightly, and it reflects both his background—he’s from the Basque Country and traveled in Latin America and Israel before moving to Paris—and his sometime fascination with Japan. “Everything I do is intended to tease as much of the natural taste out of my produce as possible,” he says, and dishes like mackerel ceviche with Tabasco and slow-cooked tuna belly with asparagus and chorizo deliciously prove his point. His grilled pork belly with a sauce of réglisse (licorice root) and a small salad of grated celery root offers a brilliant contrast of textures and flavors.
Oberkampf is also a great bet for wine lovers. Le Marsangy, a relaxed and friendly bistro with very good food, has an excellent wine list, as does the consistently good Le Villaret. And there are regular wine tastings at La Cave de l’Insolite, one of the city’s most interesting new wine shops. (Nearby, La Bague de Kenza, on the Rue Saint-Maur, sells the best Algerian pastries in Paris.)
In the Faubourg Saint-Antoine, the neighborhood that straddles the 11th and 12th arrondissements along the street of the same name, Le Bistrot Paul Bert has become so popular it can be tough to score a table. What drives this trio of cozy dining rooms decorated with flea-market bric-a-brac is some of the best traditional bistro cooking to be found in Paris today. The chalkboard menu changes often but runs to dishes like coddled eggs with cèpes, coucou de Rennes (a Breton breed of chicken prized for its delicate flesh) in a sauce of morels and vin jaune, and their much-loved signature dessert, a sublime Paris-Brest, the praline-buttercream-filled round choux pastry created to commemorate a bicycle race between the two cities from which it takes its name. L’Écailler du Bistrot, run by the same owners as Le Bistrot Paul Bert, is a terrific address for seafood lovers, and on the same street the hip La Cocotte, Argentinean-born Andrea Wainer’s wonderfully eclectic gastroshop, sells everything from cookbooks and table linens to kitchen equipment and the world’s best dulce de leche. Next door is Crus et Découvertes, a first-rate new wine shop.
Other excellent restaurants in the area include Au Vieux Chêne, serving up a delicious market-driven menu; Chez Ramulaud, a relaxed bistro with an inventive menu, a stylish crowd, and a great wine list; and La Gazzetta, where young Swedish chef Petter Nilsson has generated major word of mouth with dishes that are variously of Scandinavian, French, and Italian inspiration. With its loftlike décor, La Gazzetta has something of a New York City vibe, along with a menu that changes all the time. One night, roasted endive with dill, horseradish, lemon, and puréed almonds proved a parade of bitterness, acidity, sweetness, and heat; grilled cod with a side of Brussels-sprout purée, fresh tarragon, and capers had a quiet elegance; and ricotta ice cream with ewe’s-milk cheese, hazelnuts, and olives made for an unexpectedly sexy grand finale.
The latest contender in eastern Paris’s new gastro sweepstakes is Le Cotte Rôti, a tiny place not far from the eminently gastronomic Marché d’Aligre. Despite the fact that he describes his restaurant as a bistro, young chef Michel Nicolas puts a lot more creativity into the menu than such a label would imply. His cooking veers between such surprises as an oyster milkshake and nougat de volaille (a sweet riff on chicken terrine) and homier dishes like pork loin roasted in hay and served with gratin dauphinois. Nicolas’s classical training (he worked with Marc Meneau at L’Espérance, in Burgundy) and respect for the best French produce are the perfect springboard for the kind of creativity found throughout the 11th and 12th, a part of the city that treasures the past as ardently as it loves discovering the new.
11th/12th Arrondissements Address Book
Astier 44 R. Jean-Pierre-Timbaud, 11th (01-43-57-16-35). Traditional bistro with a fantastic cheese tray.
L’Atelier Des Arts Culinaires 111 Ave. Daumesnil, 12th (01-43-40-20-20)
La Bague De Kenza 106 R. St.-Maur, 11th (01-43-14-93-15)
Le Baron Rouge 1 R. Théophile-Roussel, 12th (01-43-43-14-32). A terrific neighborhood wine bar that’s packed with a young crowd.
À La Biche au Bois 45 Ave. Ledru-Rollin, 12th (01-43-43-34-38)
Le Bistrot Paul Bert 18 R. Paul-Bert, 11th (01-43-72-24-01)
Le Bistrot du Peintre 116 Ave. Ledru-Rollin, 12th (01-47-00-34-39). Art Nouveau café with decent food and a fun crowd.
Café Place Verte 105 R. Oberkampf, 11th (01-43-57-34-10). With an hors d’oeuvres bar and delicious plats du jour.
Café Titon 34 R. Titon, 11th (01-43-71-74-51). Where the shopkeepers and restaurateurs of the fashionable Rue Paul-Bert hang out. Good for quick lunches; on Saturday, there’s a Sri Lankan spread.
La Cave de l’Insolite 30 R. de la Folie-Méricourt, 11th (01-53-36-08-33)
Le Chateaubriand 129 Ave. Parmentier (01-43-57-45-95)
Chez Ramulaud 269 R. du Faubourg-St.-Antoine, 11th (01-43-72-23-29)
La Cocotte 5 R. Paul-Bert, 11th (01-43-73-04-02)
Le Cotte Rôti 1 R. de Cotte, 12th (01-43-45-06-37)
Crus et Découvertes 7 R. Paul-Bert, 11th (01-43-71-56-79)
Le Duc de Richelieu 5 R. Parrot, 12th (01-43-43-05-64). Steps from the Gare de Lyon; a best bet for a hearty meal before or after traveling.
L’Écailler Du Bistrot 22 R. Paul-Bert, 11th (01-43-72-76-77)
L’Équateur 151 R. St.-Maur, 11th (01-43-57-99-22). Delicious Cameroonian and Senegalese cooking.
Eurotra 119 Blvd. Richard-Lenoir, 11th (01-43-38-48-48). A sort of discount version of Dehillerin, the famous cookware store in Les Halles.
La Gazzetta 29 R. de Cotte, 12th (01-43-47-47-05)
Marché d’Aligre and Marché Beauvau (the covered market in the middle of the open-air Marché d’Aligre), two of the greatest and least-known markets of Paris, both with a distinctly neighborhood feel. Place d’Aligre, 12th.
Le Marsangy 73 Ave. Parmentier, 11th (01-47-00-94-25)
Le Pause Café 41 R. de Charonne, 11th (01-48-06-80-33). Trendy, with nice, simple food.
La Pharmacie 22 R. Jean-Pierre-Timbaud, 11th (01-48-06-28-33). A former drugstore; now a grocery store, organic tea salon, restaurant, and bookshop.
Le Quincy 28 Ave. Ledru-Rollin, 12th (01-46-28-46-76)
Le Réfectoire 80 Blvd. Richard-Lenoir, 11th (01-48-06-74-85). Hip little bistro specializing in nostalgic retro dishes.
Le Repaire De Cartouche 8 Blvd. des Filles-du-Calvaire, 11th (01-47-00-25-86)
Au Vieux Chêne 7 R. du Dahomey, 11th (01-43-71-67-69)
Le Villaret 13 R. Ternaux, 11th (01-43-57-89-76)