Dispatch from Paris: Melissa’s Spring 2024 Visit

While Paris readies for the Olympics, many residents are making plans to leave the city during the games. It’s rumored that entire districts around the Seine are going to be restricted to residents bearing proof of domicile, and traffic will be banned in the center of the city. So Parisians, who often choose to leave the city in summer anyway, have booked vacations away and are looking forward to watching the festivities on television. “We will have guests during the Games,” one hotelier told me. “But we are expecting more travelers before and after, and the city has never been more ready to welcome them.”

I am just back from a week in Paris, which has been primping for its global prime time for years. Below are some new and favorite spots for those visiting this spring or summer:

What I find most exciting about today’s restaurant scene in Paris is how it keeps expanding its breadth of offerings. You can still dine in incredible temples of gastronomy like Epicure and Arpège, where a vegetarian fine dining experience can be rhapsodic, but you can also find seriously great burgers at new places like Dinand, the Ferdi outpost that opened during Covid for takeaway and now has a handful of tables as well as a line out the door like the original on Rue Mont Thabor still does every night. Beloved New York restaurant Four Charles has even brought its burger to Paris in its otherwise quintessential Parisian bistro La Renommée.

For a casual but very French lunch or dinner, a new favorite brasserie of mine is Alfred in the 1st arrondissement, which has a décor that pays tribute to Mondrian and serves French comfort food classics like perfectly cooked chicken, pepper steak and brioche perdu, which is a sublime salted caramel riff on French toast.

For a more traditional take on a casual bistro meal, my colleague Kathryn Nathanson loves Le Bon Georges in the 9th arrondissement and Le Petit Lutetia in the 6th. Adding to the range of dining are the many lively restaurants that celebrate foreign cuisines. Anna, on Rue Marbeuf, serves really yummy modern Greek food in a stylish cozy dining room. Another exotic new entry on the Right Bank that is getting a lot of buzz is the Spanish restaurant at the new Maison Delano hotel, formerly Buddha Bar, called La Chambre Bleue and helmed by Michelin star chef Dani Garcia. My favorite Parisian restaurant for Lebanese cuisine is Liza, which lives up to the high bar set by its namesake in Beirut, where I have been lucky to dine as well. I also love Shirvan, which serves Azerbaijani cuisine on Avenue Georges V, and like the staff at Liza, the team turns the music up on the weekends for a post-dinner party scene.

But Israeli Chef Assaf Granit may deliver the best blend of revelry and gastronomy at his new outpost Kapara. Located in the same space where he formerly had Balagan, the new restaurant serves up his soulful Middle Eastern home cooking at two nightly seatings. Sitting at the counter and watching the chefs work and cheer each other on reminded me of my very memorable dinner at Granit’s Michelin-star eatery Shabour. A reservation there is much harder to get and it is a more intimate, multi-course experience, so Kapara makes for a more casual, fun evening with friends; and it beautifully showcases his talent and his love for food and how it should always be celebrated. Every night is truly a party here. (Last fall, I ate at Granit’s vegetarian restaurant Tekés, in the Marais, which is also excellent.) Granit also recently opened Boubalé at the new Le Grand Mazarin hotel in the Marais. At the bar here you can order cocktails with a nod to the restaurant’s distinct Middle Eastern and Mediterranean cuisine served next door, such as a drink inspired by baba ganoush.

Perennial favorites that we tried on this trip that still retain their charm include the tiny La Bourse et La Vie by Chef Daniel Rose who runs Le Coucou in NYC. The steak au poivre with frites are a stand out, as is the foie gras. At the intimate and traditional Joséphine Chez Dumonet on the Left, the langoustine with lemon butter is not to be missed, and same for the beef bourguignon as your main. For those who are craving a treat, the hype is well worth it for Folderol near Le Marais which serves only ice cream and wine–the natural wine selection is a star on the menu. Be prepared for a wait on a hot day. The ice cream is all made in house and the wine on offer by the glass changes daily.

Finally, one last new example of range: Yves Camdeborde, the star chef who trained under Christian Constant before opening his wildly successful Comptoir du Relais St. Germain, has shuttered his main Comptoir for the moment and added another one of his counter-seating-only off-shoots known as L’Avant Comptoir. The original L’avant Comptoir de la Terre opened in a slip of space to serve “hors d’oeuvres” to patient, hungry diners waiting in line to get into Comptoir du Relais. The small bites were so delicious in their own right that Camdeborde started serving meals of the mini dishes at a counter and then acquiring the space next door to offer a seafood counter joint with the same spirit. He has said that not having table service creates camaraderie amongst food lovers and a great atmosphere, which it does. I also love stopping in for lunch or dinner on my own and having a delicious meal for a super reasonable price.

The new one, L’Avant Comptoir du Marché, is located not far from the original two near the Luxembourg Gardens. Camdeborde’s obsession with making the most of daily products and offering them at reasonable prices remains, but here, in addition to seats at a counter, diners may also sit on a terrace under the arches of the historic Marché Saint Germain, where fresh ingredients have been worshiped for decades. While the first two L'Avant Comptoirs are divided into seafood and meat, L’Avant Comptoir du Marché serves both in the chef’s signature small dishes. You can order a charcuterie plate, or a perfectly prepared artichoke dressed with octopus, herbs and vinegar for less than 10 euros. There are also always glasses of wine starting at just 3.50 euros. Cheers to a widening range of cuisines— and prices—in Paris.

As LVMH continues to expand its Parisian footprint with its new Tiffany on Avenue George V and its massive Dior and Vuitton stores on the Champs Elysées being joined in a few years by the first Louis Vuitton hotel, I still like to hunt down the smaller independent shops, which are scattered all over the city.

My favorite new find in the Marais, Le Nom, opened last fall and offers personalization of bags–from small leather pouches to round bucket bags. You can pick your color, shape and size as well as the color and font that you want your name, phrase or word painted on your item. Ooh La La and Mon Amour are some popular choices. In the article I wrote about Shopping with a Teen in Paris, which remains one of our most popular, I declared this area one of the best for mother/daughter shopping and this has been added to that updated roundup.

On this latest trip I also finally made it to the ateliers of two cult jewelers that I learned about from stylish French and Italian friends. Maison AUCLERT, who has a small boutique on the Rue de Castiglione, near JAR, specializes in one-of-a-kind pieces inspired by the Renaissance tradition of mounting precious objects as jewelry pieces. It takes people of taste and cultivation to recognize the rare treasures like Greco-Roman coins or rock crystal Renaissance carvings, and so it is a refined clientele that patronize Maison Auclert. In the spirit of collecting, each antique objet d’art is uncompromised: No soldering, scratching, permanent gluing, re-piercing or alteration is allowed during the mounting process. If wearing a mini-museum piece instead of something flashy appeals, this is an address to know.

Also located on the Right Bank, Salons Elie Top is another under-the-radar brand that is popular with super stylish women who trust their own taste and don’t care about big brands. Catherine Deneuve, Kristin Scott Thomas, Naomi Campbell and Inès de la Fressange are all fans of the designs of Elie, who began his career at 19, working with Yves Saint Laurent and Loulou de la Falaise before becoming the head of couture jewelry for Lanvin under Alber Elbaz. In an apartment space tucked into a courtyard off the Rue St. Honoré, his upstairs atelier feels like a cross between an artist’s office and a chic sitting room. Here, you can confer with Elie and peruse his fantastical creations from high jewelry pieces like a diamond and emerald crocodile ring that drapes across multiple fingers to his trademark gold and silver heart, key and tarot charms.

Another Yves Saint Laurent disciple who became a star creator in his own right when he revived the legendary shoe brand Roger Vivier, Bruno Frisoni has launched his own eponymous brand. His sophisticated designs have immediately caught the attention of the truly stylish, who care more about beauty and comfort than brand recognition. His draped ballerina flats and pointy pumps with elastic bands on the insteps already have groupie collectors, and it is hard to guess which of his eye-catching pumps–the furry, denim or d’Orsay gold–will be likely to appear on the next season of Emily in Paris. Though he doesn’t have a retail location, my favorites for summer are the strappy sandals adorned with silk flowers.

The flower shop cum coffee shop that has design lovers swooning is Cordelia Bloom Cafe on the Rue du Bac. Just opened by Cordelia de Castellane, the designer of Dior home and children labels as well as the décor of Café Laperouse, the new Left Bank spot combines two French obsessions: fresh flowers and English tea rooms. Cozy places serving quiches and cakes on fine china have drawn Parisians for years. Elevating the concept with her signature plates, floral banquettes and pastries made by her son, who has Ducasse training, Cordelia has combined forces with a talented florist and amassed special finds to brighten any house and garden. So come to browse her floral fabric lampshades, classic picnic baskets and of course tableware, which you can sample first during lunch or a sweet treat with your coffee.

Houseware lovers should also make a visit to the nearby new boutique on Boulevard St-Germain, La Maison de Commerce, which specializes in artisan finds from all over Europe. Its owners have a passion for beauty but also for authentic, handmade objects so they hunt down talented artisans from the Cyclades and Sicily to Sweden and share their favorite products in this new space.