November Superbon

The best dishes, drinks, and treats of the past month in Paris

Superbon is a monthly series for paid subscribers only of the things that are, well, superbon. The creme de la creme of the past month. Without further ado, my favorite flavors and finds.

This is one of the best sole meunieres I’ve ever had. Look at it just swimming in that golden lemon butter! The other signature dish, Saint-Pierre in a lemon-vodka sauce with poppy seeds, was just as impressive. Even the accompaniments surprised me: beautifully caramelized endives and nutty black rice that tied everything together.

And yet, despite the kitchen delivering at such a high level, I can’t in good conscience recommend a visit to Le Duc. The service was, especially at this price point, astonishingly incompetent. Everyone was warm, well-intentioned, and clearly trying, but simply not very good at their jobs. Before I even arrived, I had to call three separate times to get my reservation confirmed. It never got confirmed. At the table next to me, a single glass of red wine had to be ordered three times before it appeared. In our own party, a main dish was completely forgotten; the staff then asked us to remind them what the dish even was before rushing it to the kitchen to speed-cook it.

When mains run 60–120 euros per person, the expectations are higher. Exceptional seafood can’t fully compensate for service that feels this disorganized. The retro vessel aesthetic was charming but the experience, unfortunately, veered a little too Titanic for comfort. They do have Dagueneau allocations though so keep an eye out for that on the wine list.

JJ Hing’s is most known for their ice cream, bien sur, but they usually have seasonal mini pies that you can get a la mode and they are fantastic. For Thanksgiving, she had full-size apple caramel pies and they were excellent with scoops of salty pecan and spiced pumpkin ice cream from Folderol. Dream team.

An extremely beige lunch at Le Cornichon which continues to have the most excellent beef fat fries and nice homemade pasta. I always prefer lunch to dinner here and they have an excellent lunchtime prix-fixe that is tough to beat for prix-qualité. Important to note that it’s the Cornichon in the 11th arrondissement, and not the one in the 14th as that’s an easy mistake to make.

Gorgeous fancy pancakes with poached pears, slivered apples and dates, pomegranates and an orange blossom syrup all topped with crushed pistachios at Cafe Mericourt.