Paris_ The Collected Traveler - Barrie Kerper [129]
* Bistrot Melac (42 rue Léon-Frot, 11ème / +33 01 43 70 59 27 / melac.fr). Named after the owner, Jacques Melac, this wine bar is a favorite of many locals and tourists and is “a place where people can meet, eat, and drink wine.” Indeed, a sign hanging from the ceiling notes, “L’eau est ici reservée pour faire cuire les pommes de terre” (The water here is reserved for cooking potatoes). Melac is from the Aveyron and most of the food served here is from that region, while most of the wines poured are little-known varieties from Languedoc and the Loire. It’s hard not to make new friends here as most of the tables are communal style.
* Cafés Verlet (256 rue Saint-Honoré, 1er / +33 01 42 60 67 39 / cafesverlet.com). The Verlet is good to know about for purchasing excellent coffee beans, loose tea, candied fruit, cakes, confiture, peppercorns, vanilla, and more, but sitting down and enjoying a cup or something to eat is a great pleasure. Verlet was founded in 1880, and in 1995 Éric Duchossoy purchased the business from Pierre Verlet, grandson of the founder. In an interview, Duchossoy noted, “You should know I was born in a coffee bean,” referring to the fact that his father and grandfather were in the coffee-roasting business, and his father still roasts at the family business in Le Havre. Duchossoy travels frequently and meets the farmers who supply the company’s beans. At Verlet there are four house blends and twenty single-origin coffees—all of which are roasted fresh daily—as well as nearly fifty different kinds of tea. My friend Lorraine and I enjoyed cups of cappuccino here that were outstanding, served in beautiful olive-green stoneware mugs on leaf-shaped saucers and with a little square of Paul Hévin chocolate on the side. Whether you sit downstairs or upstairs, the café is cozy and filled with lots of Parisians. And though it’s on a chic street, the prices are quite reasonable.
* Ladurée (21 rue Bonaparte, 6ème / +33 01 44 07 64 87 / laduree.fr). There is no question that the older Ladurée outposts in the eighth arrondissement (16 rue Royale and 75 avenue des Champs-Élysées) are more grand and more beautiful than the smaller boutique in the sixth, but I prefer it, both for its smaller scale and for the fact that the neighborhood doesn’t have any other place quite like it. After some serious retail activity at the enticing shops on rue Bonaparte near the cross street rue Jacob, it is nice to know you can relax in Ladurée’s pretty tea salon. My favorite items to buy in the shop are the guimauves (marshmallows), cocoa powder in that distinctive pale green and gold tin, and jars of caramel au beurre salé, which usually ends up being consumed with a spoon right out of the jar.
* L’Absinthe (24 place du Marché Saint-Honoré, 1er / +33 01 49 26 90 04 / restaurantabsinthe.com). This modern French bistro has a great, animated atmosphere and really good food to match. The kitchen is under the direction of Caroline Rostang, daughter of noted chef Michel, and dishes are solidly classic but with some updated, not to say wildly creative, touches. The upstairs room is a little quieter than downstairs, and in warm weather tables spill out onto the place. The wine list is good and, yes, there are a number of absinthe options on the menu.
* L’As du Fallafel (34 rue des Rosiers, 4ème / +33 01 48 87 63 60). I’ve eaten and cooked my fair share of falafel, so I can say with some authority that the falafel here is truly “ace,” as its name purports. Many people have told me that the best falafel in the world is found in Israel, but as I haven’t been there yet to investigate the claim, I just tell everyone who will listen that the best falafel is here in Paris. It is truly a gastronomic delight that puts any other falafel you’ve ever had to shame. Clotilde Dusoulier, in Edible Adventures in Paris, advises that if the line is too long at L’As, head down the street to Mi-Va-Mi, at 23 rue des Rosiers, for a falafel she describes as “just as good as that of their celebrity neighbor.” Duly noted!
* Le Grand