on the town designer Michel Amar. Chefs Kevin de Poree and Erwan Ledru cook for a chic crowd of locals and offer a regularly changing menu of inventive contemporary French dishes that include wild mushrooms with spelt and quince, red mullet with chicken livers and fennel, mackerel with lardo di Colonnata and seaweed butter, and Bellota pork with oysters and sea herbs with oyster-studded potato puree. Another chef branching out in the City of Light is Yannick Alléno, who has just debuted PAVYLLON (yannick-alleno.com). “I wanted to create a new restaurant that was relaxed and intimate, and which would be a showcase for some of my latest culinary ideas,” says the Michelin three-star chef of his third eatery in the Pavillon Ledoyen (this same location also includes his superb Michelin one-star sushi bar, L’Abysse, and his three-star gastronomic dinner-only space upstairs). With counter seating overlooking an open kitchen in a sunny room enlivened by the surrounding gardens, this excellent new offering, which is open daily, serves an alluring menu of creative dishes like spinach soup with scamorza cheese, nutmeg, and roasted mushrooms; oyster beignet with lovage granite and pike mousse; sole cooked with vin jaune, comté and cabbage; and Wagyu beef stroganoff. Don’t miss the salted caramel ice cream with double cream, amarena cherries, and candied hazelnuts for dessert. A kilometer to the north, just on the other side of the Elysée Palace, chef Stéphanie Le Quellec has launched LA SCÈNE (la-scene. paris), currently one of the most exciting tables in Paris with its chic contemporary decor and open kitchen. After winning two Michelin stars while cooking at the Prince de Galles hotel, Le Quellec’s new venture involves technically impeccable and equally creative dishes such as poached langoustines with buckwheat and a quenelle of blancmange with the claw meat of the crustaceans; Scottish grouse with morels cooked with smoked tea, veal sweetbreads with roasted cauliflower and harissa; and a ganache of criollo chocolate from Venezuela made with olive oil. Le Quellec has a bright future ahead of her. Two venerable Left Bank addresses have similarly promising times ahead as well, thanks to the recent injection of new creativity to the kitchens. LES CLIMATS (lesclimats.fr) has always had a lot of charm and an excellent wine list—notably a superb selection of burgundies. Set in a former Belle Époque residence for telephone operators near the Musée d’Orsay, with the arrival of new chef Emmanuel Kouri, it’s become one of the best restaurants in the neighborhood. Kouri, who previously worked with Pierre Gagnaire, Yannick Alléno and Éric Fréchon, presents a suave menu that changes seasonally and runs to dishes like Breton lobster sautéed in butter with avocado and curry bouillon; cèpe with gnocchi and Beaufort cheese; linecaught wild sea bass with shellfish and leek garnished with poutargue; and pickled lemon and passion fruit sorbet. The second Left Bank star is even more familiar: Located on the second floor of the Eiffel Tower, LE JULES VERNE (restaurantstoureiffel.com) has the best views of Paris and is one of the city’s most romantic dining spots, lately improved by elegant interior in tones of grey, white, pearl, and gold by Paris-based interior architect Aline Asmar d’Amman. The new chef, Frédéric Anton, has three Michelin stars at the excellent Le Pré Catelan in the Bois de Boulogne, and he has placed Kevin Garcia, sous chef at Le Pré Catelan, in the kitchen at Le Jules Verne. The evolving menu includes dishes such as a velvety crème Dubarry—cauliflower cream served with a flan of baby leeks—and chicken poached in foie gras bouillon with wild mushrooms and an Albufera sauce (duck foie gras, cognac, white port, madeira, chicken bouillon, and cream). For people whose Paris is Saint- Germain-des-Prés or the silk-stocking 8th arrondissement, a trip to LE CHEVAL D’OR (chevaldorparis.com) in the funky northeastern 19th arrondissement of the French capital might seem like visiting a new city, but this is part of the fun of discovering brilliant restaurateurs Florent Ciccoli and Taku Sekine’s latest address: It’s a diminutive neo-Asian destination that serves up dishes like clams steamed in lemongrass broth, weakfish carpaccio with yuzu and soy sauce, and bao buns filled with crème pâtissière to a hungry flock of young Parisian artists and trend makers. Similarly far from the city’s gilded districts is MAISON (maison-sota.com), which occupies an old warehouse in the 11th arrondissement. Japan-born chef Sota Atsumi won rave reviews as a chef at Clown Bar, and now he’s gone out on his own with a unique, domestic-scale space that’s been redesigned by Japanese architect Tsuyoshi Tane with a lot of wit: for instance, tomettes, Clockwise from top left: chef Amandine Chaignot in front of Pouliche; eggs marinated in beetroot at Contraste; Assaf Granit, chefowner of Shabour; Maison, Sota Atsumi’s new restaurant housed in a former warehouse EMILIE FRANZO, ROMAIN GAILLARD, HANS MEIJER, JOANI PAI 60 NetJets
