Taxi Jaune

October 14, 2008 | By Heidi Ellison | Archive

Yellow Cab Cuisine Cheerful dining with often sublime results. February 2005; updated Oct. 15, 2008 THIS RESTAURANT IS NOW CLOSED The cheerful Taxi Jaune, located in the wholesale leather-goods section of the Marais (where tourists often fear to tred), has … Read More

L’Arôme

September 30, 2008 | By Richard Hesse | Archive

The Sweet Scent of Stardom All the elements of success: gray-beige decor, great food sources, a talented chef and well-schooled staff. It’s getting to be a bit much, all this gray-beige decor. Every aspirational restaurant startup has it. Have those … Read More

Bigarrade

September 23, 2008 | By Richard Hesse | Archive

Magical Mystery Meal The cooks fashion their mystery menus from unlikely looking ingredients.   There’s an almost Biblical simplicity about the first moves in a meal at Bigarrade. One of the two waiters approaches with a rectangular piece of slate … Read More

A la Chataigne

September 23, 2008 | By Richard Hesse | Archive

Regional Byways Seasonal berries with a melon-ribbon bow. I take real pleasure in seeing a new restaurant open and take off seemingly effortlessly. A la Chataigne opened earlier this year, but when I was there very recently, it felt as … Read More

Hotaru

September 9, 2008 | By Richard Hesse | Archive

Simon Says: Don’t Miss It The decor is minimal, the food memorable. Japanese food remains largely terra incognita for me, and I have more than a sneaking suspicion that like other “ethnic” cuisines, Japanese food is dumbed down here for … Read More

Agapé

July 22, 2008 | By Richard Hesse | Archive

Feast on Friday Even the tableware is well-sourced at Agapé. Agapé. Now there’s a name to conjure with. It refers to the meal, or “love feast,” early Christians ate together after their gatherings. Not far from sherry with the vicar … Read More

La Cagouille

July 15, 2008 | By Richard Hesse | Archive

Marine Oasis in a Concrete Desert One of Paris’s most appealing terraces. A cagouille is a small snail found in the Charentes region on the Atlantic coast of France, yet the restaurant La Cagouille specializes in fish. Go figure. They … Read More

Itinéraires

July 8, 2008 | By Richard Hesse | Archive

Going My Way? When have sardine rillettes ever looked so lovely? A new restaurant has opened in my old stomping grounds, the quartier Maubert in Paris’s fifth arrondissement, and is already attracting quite a bit of notice. My own interest … Read More

Les Papilles

June 10, 2008 | By Richard Hesse | Archive

Pushing the Bottle About The wine’s the thing at Les Papilles. Another one of those places that had been sitting on my list for an age, Les Papilles (it means “taste buds” but has overtones of lip-smacking pleasure, which the … Read More

Afaria

June 3, 2008 | By Richard Hesse | Archive

Tip-top Tucker Hats off and sincere thanks to chef Julien Duboué. Afaria means “dinner” in Basque, apparently, but there’s nothing particularly Basque about this restaurant’s food, methinks, which is a brilliantly personal take on contemporary bistro fare. “Good tucker,” as … Read More