on the town BACK ON TOP The latest culinary offerings in Paris are hitting all the right notes, from nouveau casual to classic gastronomic menus. By Alexander Lobrano MARIE-LINE SINA, BENOIT LINERO Stéphanie Le Quellec’s La Scène proffers technically impressive and creative dishes. Facing page: high dining in the Eiffel Tower’s Le Jules Verne restaurant. Paris has always been a famously delicious destination, but today it’s more delectable than ever. A new generation of spectacularly talented chefs has introduced a host of new addresses that, for the most part, eschew formality in favor of conviviality while the haute cuisine temples remain deserving of all the attention they get, and a set of glam-forward fixtures has enraptured the creative classes. As for what’s on the tables, a strong local penchant for healthy eating is reflected by vegetables getting star billing on the menus of many new Parisian restaurants, and most chefs are also favoring sustainable produce on their menus, too, which means razor shell clams, mussels, and mackerel instead of wild sea bass or industrially raised salmon. Coddled egg starters are everywhere, and there is an increased appreciation of cosmopolitan flair (fairly new to the French), which means spices once confined to baking—nutmeg and mace, for example— are adding unexpected dash to savory dishes all over town. Restaurateur Stéphane Manigold is one of the best examples of the new culinary wave. Substance, his first eatery in the 16th arrondissement that has one of the best Champagne lists in Paris, Manigold recently opened CONTRASTE (contraste.paris), an intimate table near the Place de la Madeleine in the heart of the city with beautiful 18thcentury moldings and decor by local interior NetJets 59
