Savoring Savoy Meal at Les Bouquinistes, Paris

"Nicole Kidman is next door, vous l'avez vue?" asked our waitress after we sat down at Les Bouquinistes. My dining companions and I looked outside, into the inscrutable and slightly drizzly evening. The sudden appearance of a swarm of paparazzi, circling the building like giant fireflies, gave credence to her claim. "Really?" I wanted to ask. "Did she bring her career with her? Because she seems to have left it somewhere equally hard to spot." Besides, we had already found our star that night and it was food.

Les Bouquinistes, Ze Kitchen Galerie's neighbor, is breathtaking at night. The Seine is right in front, lit up and glorious, Notre Dame is in the distance overseeing the night's activities on the Left Bank. It was Fashion Week in Paris, which made the appearance of a celebrity logical, though her appearance in the restaurant next door was a mystery worthy of Poirot.

Les Bouquinistes is Guy Savoy's more "affordable" outpost on the Seine, attracting gallery dealers and tourists alike. The story is that it used to be owned by an older chef whose cuisine Guy Savoy took to and even sent some of his staff to help in day-to-day operations. Upon his death, Savoy took over the place and created the restaurant now there. At any time, the executive chef is a Savoy protégé, most recently Stéphane Perraud. I found the cuisine unpretentious and the atmosphere inviting. The crowd was well-dressed save for the occasional group of tourists walking in wearing their North Face or Patagonia raincoats. My friend from California, a gastronaut who dresses up appropriately for such dinners, gave such a group the evil eye. But a glass of Lillet, one of Bordeaux's many potent potable presents to the world, calmed her and everyone at the table.

That night, we decided to have a full bottle of Condrieu, having had glasses here and there in wine pairings. This was an excellent one, with all the characteristics of the appellation that we love and admire.

On the left, to start: Pressed foie gras with mango and passion fruit chutney, speculoos (a European cookie brand which is much like a graham cracker) and fig bread (not shown). On the right: little baguettes. The low-carb diet was put on hold for this trip because the bread in Paris was too good not to eat.

Below: Smoked seatrout, radish and horseradish mascarpone cream. Though one of the servers said seatrout, which I had for the very first time that night, tends to be lighter, the smoking method used here made it taste richer, close to a salmon, but without the occasional oily heaviness I associate with the latter.

Left: Roasted cod, parmentier, leeks and pak choy. Right: Noix St. Jacques (scallops), cauliflower puree, cauliflower carpaccio, almonds, yuzu sabayon. Yuzu? Pak choy? Never in my wildest dreams that my gastronomic trip to Paris would have so many Asian flavors. (Look at what's served next door at Ze Kitchen Galerie, for example.) But it's a sign of the times that, almost any big culinary city you go to, internationally influenced cuisines are the norm.

Below: You need more proof of Asian influences? Macqueraux (mackerel), tapioca pearls and coconut-lemongrass soup. They should call this a boba fête.

Next, below: Roasted Salers beef tenderloin, celeriac and cognac/shallots/vin blanc sauce. Though Salers beef can now be found in many French regions, the most famous is in Cantal and Puy-de-Dôme, in the Auvergne region of south-central France. (I also think of the famous Bleu d'Auvergne, the creamy, relatively light blue cheese from the same area.) Tender and subtly marbled, it had a dark, slightly more intense flavor than American beef I'm used to and was quite delightful.

Below: a piece of pure chocolate cake. I've gotten into trouble for saying this before, but here goes: I'm not a huge fan of the pure kind, the bitterness of which doesn't sit very well with my palate. I still ate most of it, but it's not something I would eagerly order on a next visit. ("Heathen! Philistine!")

So we finished our meal still not having seen the Australian star, but no matter. Les Bouquinistes may not have hit the land Down Under, but it took us to many parts of the world with its international ingredients prepared with finely tuned techniques, served in a uniquely Parisian setting.

Reservations recommended; it's a popular and busy place. You can call or make one online via LaFourchette, Paris's equivalent of OpenTable. (Check out daytime views and scenes of the Left Bank from another post.) And please, dress up for the casual-chic atmosphere lest you want a gastronaut put a dining and fashion hex on you.

All of the aperitifs, wine and food (from the degustation Les Bouquinistes) above will set you back around 125€ per person, perfectly reasonable for a "Guy Savoy" meal.

Les Bouquinistes - Restaurant avec Guy Savoy
53 Quai des Grands Augustins
75006 Paris 6e, France
01 43 25 45 94