L’Assiette

Though Paris first-timers won’t find the trek to this upscale residential neighborhood worthwhile, repeat visitors must add L’Assiette to their dining list. The far-flung restaurant in Montparnasse is helmed by chef David Rathgeber and serves the kind of cuisine you wish was more prevalent throughout the city (and France as a whole) — rustic classics executed with uncharacteristic finesse and fresh ingredients. A recent visit revealed a refreshing blue-prawn tartare, expertly prepared escargots dusted with toasted bread crumbs, and a reinvented house cassoulet, the restaurant’s pièce de résistance. For dessert, try the crème caramel with salted butter, served in a warm pot and sinfully delicious — especially when paired with one of L’Assiette’s terroir-driven dessert wines (poured out of a vial, natch).