As a native Manhattanite, I have a shorthand I use for restaurants you go to solely for the ambiance with no regard for the food: “like Tavern on the Green.” The Central Park restaurant is known for its unique location, but (unless a lot has changed in recent years) not so much for the food. It’s not an uncommon problem, and it’s one of the reasons I’m always wary of going anywhere with a view: the very reason why it’s taken me so very long to get to Fouquet’s, the most famous restaurant on Paris’ most famous avenue.
But since 1899, Fouquet’s has stood the test of time on the corner of avenue George V and the Champs-Elysées. A luxurious Parisian brasserie, it has long been the place to be (and be seen) for members of the glitterati, from Gene Kelly to George Clooney. And so when I was invited to the restaurant as part of its 120th anniversary celebration, following a 2017 revamp, I decided to see if Fouquet’s deserves its reputation.
The current menu was designed in collaboration with Chef Pierre Gagnaire and notably features a three-course 120-year celebration menu called “à la table de Joseph Thome.” A little leaflet on each table clues diners into Thome’s story: a road builder convinced that creating the angle where Avenue George V and the Champs-Elysées met would create a unique location. The result became home to one of the first buildings to have an air heater and a mains drainage, and Thome himself decided to add a café to the ground floor – the site of Fouquet’s.
We started things off with a classic from the à la carte menu: French onion soup.
While admittedly unphotogenic (as all good French onion soups should really be…) it was delicious: perfectly seasoned with tons of caramelized onions and a nice balance of salt to sweet. A special nod goes out to the crouton holding up that layer of cheese, which somehow managed to retain its texture even as it was imbibed with beef broth. This iteration of the soup has displaced my former fave in the city.
For our second appetizer, we decided to test something from the Joseph Thome menu, created with help from historian Marion Godfroy-Tayart de Borms. But the fish terrine was unfortunately not up to par. Relatively bland and just not all that interesting, it was saved by a tasty roe mayonnaise.
Things only got better as lunch progressed, thanks to these scallops – perhaps my favorite I’ve ever had in a restaurant. Seared on just one side, they were barely pearlescent inside but warm all the way through, with just the right amount of caramelization. Perfectly paired with a chunky Jerusalem artichoke mash, these scallops were a major hit. If there was anything to quibble with, I’d say the sauce and the bacon made this dish just a touch too salty for my palate.
The image up top was my favorite dish of the day. I’m a huge steak tartare fan, and at Fouquet’s, you have the choice of two: a classic tartare or the house special, made with a combination of beef, bluefin tuna, Beaufort cheese, and mackerel. We went for the latter, served with a tomato-vodka shot and a spiced wedge of sucrine lettuce.
While it’s not easy to taste the relatively mild tuna amidst all of the other flavors, the texture does shine through: the beef is chopped rather than ground, so its slight chew provides a pleasant contrast to the melt-in-your-mouth tuna. The nutty, buttery Beaufort chunks and rich mackerel are a delicious foil. I could have done without the bright red gelée over the top – and, for that matter, the tomato shot – but the tartare itself was out of sight. (And so are the “pommes coin de rue” – chunky, hand-cut chips – that are served with it.)
Criticisms of Fouquet’s have long been over the price, and this hasn’t changed. This is a special occasion meal for sure. But given the locale – and the quality of the classic brasserie food – it’s worth it for a special occasion… and most importantly, it does not suffer for its geography.
Fouquet’s – 99 Av. des Champs-Élysées, 75008