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in the windows of shops like Antoine et Lili. Not surprisingly, the streets on and around the canal have experienced a café boom. Spots like Chez Prune and Le Poisson Rouge are packed around the clock, and while there’s no grande dame like Saint-Germain’s fabled Café de Flore, the tenth can hold its own with the bar at the Hôtel du Nord, familiar to many thanks to Marcel Carné’s memorable film of the same name. Stylish restaurants like Ploum and La Cantine de Quentin let you see what the cool crowd likes to eat these days, from Ploum’s spinach in sesame cream to the Parmesan risotto served by Guy Savoy alum Johann Baron at La Cantine.

Away from the canal, the tenth harbors appealing modern places like Odile Guyader’s laid-back Café Panique and Thierry Breton’s brilliant Chez Michel. There are also wonderful fly-in-amber places, most specifically the delightful La Grille, which may serve the best turbot au beurre blanc in Paris. But to borrow a line of Arletty, the star of Hôtel du Nord, what all these places have most in common is simply “Atmosphère! Atmosphère!”

Tenth Arrondissement Address Book

Antoine et Lili (95 quai de Valmy / +33 01 40 37 41 55).

Café Panique (12 rue des Messageries / +33 01 47 70 06 84).

La Cantine de Quentin (52 rue Bichat / +33 01 42 02 40 32).

Chez Jeannette (47 rue du Faubourg-Saint-Denis / +33 01 47 70 30 89). Hugely popular café offers a perfect snapshot of the tenth’s laid-back style.

Chez Michel (10 rue de Belzunce / +33 01 44 53 06 20).

Chez Prune (71 quai de Valmy / +33 01 42 41 30 47).

Coin Canal (1 rue de Marseille / +33 01 42 38 00 30). Furniture from the fifties, sixties, and seventies.

Du Pain et des Idées (34 rue Yves-Toudic / +33 01 42 40 44 52).

En Passant par la Lorraine (Gare de l’Est / +33 01 40 35 47 80).

Furet Tanrade (63 rue de Chabrol / +33 01 47 70 48 34). Fabulous small-batch jams and savory éclairs.

Globus France (74 rue du Château-d’Eau / +33 01 42 47 00 58).

La Grille (80 rue du Faubourg-Poissonnière / +33 01 47 70 89 73).

Hôtel du Nord (102 quai de Jemmapes / +33 01 40 40 78 78).

Le Jemmapes (82 quai de Jemmapes / +33 01 40 40 02 35). Stylish café-restaurant with a casual menu.

Krishna-Bhavan (24 rue Cail / +33 01 42 05 78 34).

Le Look (17 rue Martel / +33 01 50 10 20 31). Hipster canteen, busy all day long.

Maria Luisa (2 rue Marie-et-Louise / +33 01 44 84 04 01). Brick walls, seventies funk, and the best pizza in Paris.

Le Martel (3 rue Martel / +33 01 47 70 67 56). A hip crowd and great French and North African food.

Le Passage de Pondichéry (84 passage Brady / +33 01 53 34 63 10).

Philippe Chaume (9 rue de Marseille / +33 01 42 39 12 60). An intriguing photo gallery.

Ploum (20 rue Alibert / +33 01 42 00 11 90).

Le Poisson Rouge (112 quai de Jemmapes / +33 01 40 40 07 11).

Urbane (12 rue Arthur-Groussier / +33 01 42 40 74 75). Relaxed canteen with a popular Sunday brunch.

Le Verre Volé (67 rue de Lancry / +33 01 48 03 17 34). Wonderful wine bar.

Wowo (11 rue de Marseille / +33 01 53 40 84 80).

Aux Zingots (12 rue de la Fidélité / +33 01 47 70 19 34). Friendly service, excellent wine list, and appealing bistro staples.

ELEVENTH AND TWELFTH ARRONDISSEMENTS

Anyone who goes to Paris to eat will tell you that the city has been steadily tilting east, specifically toward the eleventh and twelfth 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