It’d be easy to assume, given Café du Coin’s Instagram feed, that its pizzette are the backbone of the menu. And you wouldn’t be wrong. But you wouldn’t be totally right either.
Café du Coin ticks a lot of boxes regarding what seems to encapsulate Paris’ current dining trend: the rade, or old-school, divey French café, zhuzhed up with a natural wine list and a parade of approachable small plates. Not a follower but a pioneer, Café du Coin has been a champion of this model since 2017, with, comparatively speaking, a fairly long menu of small plates.
The offerings range from thing-on-a-plate like anchovies (10) or saucisson (10) to slightly transformed items like tarama with radish and sumac (8) or Picodon goat cheese with pickled mustard seeds (10) to culinary creations like green beans with cherries, basil, and elderberries (7) or fish tartare with buttermilk, horseradish, fennel, and fried spelt (12).
But the menu is nevertheless dominated by small pizzette – to the tune of 10 of the 23 savory options on the menu.
Unsurprisingly, I hemmed and hawed over the offerings for quite a while: Did I want to go for one of the more creative options, like gorgonzola with zucchini blossom and dukkah (8) or smoked mozzarella and za’atar (7)? Was I more enticed by a richer creation, like cacio e pepe (6) or taleggio with egg and guanciale (8)? Or did I go for the pizzetta of the day, topped with tomato, mozzarella, smoky morteau sausage, mustard, and pickles (7)?
Ultimately, I skewed relatively classic, perhaps because this native New Yorker not-so-secretly believes it’s not really pizza without a tomato base. I was rewarded diminutive, perfectly person-sized pizzetta topped with dollops of spicy ‘nduja and just the right balance of cheese and tomato. The dough is perfectly serviceable, and the pizzetta does with aplomb what I think not enough small plates spots do: Provide you with something substantial to counterbalance those glou-glou glasses of natty wine.
But friends, the pizzette are not the stars of this menu.
This plate of fish croquettes (10) was one of two crispy, fried offerings on the menu, the other being boudin noir with sweet chile (9), which I found enticing, and my dining companion less so.
I’m so glad we ended up with this rich, smoky fish instead, with a perfectly crispy crust and a generous base of herbaceous zucchini and sorrel purée.
This plate of fried sardines (10) cemented, for me, the kitchen’s mastery of all things seafood, with perfectly fried fish just barely coated in flour and settled atop thick labneh before being smothered in salsa verde.
Not everything proved quite so perfect. This beetroot dish (7) was perfectly fine, with chunks of beetroot tossed in Isigny cream and topped with olives, almonds, dill, and fig leaf oil. But it lacked a little something – salt? acid? – to make it sing.
And this rhubarb dessert (6) did little to woo me to the side of my second-least-favorite fruit, with its broken biscuit topping that ultimately became saturated in syrup far too quickly. Devoid of the promised spelt, it was a textural disappointment, though the fig leaf ie cream was excellent.
Ultimately, this spot is the perfect place for drinks and a few nibbles, and with an expansive sidewalk terrace, it’s the perfect place for summertime apéros that somehow magically become dinner.
Café du Coin – 9, rue Camille Desmoulins, 75011