October 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.
Girafe is better than it has any right to be. The Eiffel Tower views from the terrasse are extraordinary and for most restaurants, that would be enough. When you have a view that great, you don’t really need to do much else. That’s why it’s so surprising that the food is actually really solid. The menu is extremely seafood heavy, with only a dish or two for vegetarians and carnivores. I got an impressive raw seafood tower plus entire turbot for two. And you know what, call me a basic bitch, but I actually love a pornstar martini and the one there was great.
The best lemon cake of your life at Bontemps. You can find lemon cake in just about any bakery and they’re usually pretty dry. This one is soaked in a syrup and has a beautiful tartness to it.
We celebrated an old friend’s 40th birthday with the heartiest, coziest communal feast at Repaire de Cartouche. Rodolphe spoiled us with platters of oysters, homemade rillettes, and giant slabs of paté en croute to start followed by enormous iron cocottes of venison stew with chestnuts, white beans and mushrooms. The highlight was a giant communal chocolate mousse served with homemade langues de chat cookies and madeleines. He is phenomenal with wild game and tis the season.
A genuinely good (rich but not too sweet, very chocolatey with real chocolate from local bean to bar roaster Plaq) hot chocolate and gorgeous chestnut moelleux at the lovely, lovely little cafe & bookshop Tram in the Latin Quarter. It’s a neighborhood that I don’t visit often, but now that I know about this café, I suspect I’ll be finding more reasons to be strolling around there.
A hot dog at the bar at Harry’s is one of life’s great pleasures. Cocktails just a bonus.
