I am lucky enough to get the opportunity to eat in a lot of really fantastic restaurants, but I have a confession to make: I almost didn’t tell you about my newest discovery. Chez Marius is barely ten minutes from my home, and I’d been walking past it for months before, last week, I finally paid it a visit with a friend.
The only thing I could think about the entire time was how much I want to go back.
Chez Marius is an ultra-cozy Franco-Italian small plates spot just steps from Gare de l’Est. From my many drive-bys, I knew that the ever-changing chalkboard menu often skews offal. On the night of our visit, calf’s brains, marrow bones, and blood sausage featured. But so too did a plate of homemade vegetarian pasta – tagliolini with a sauce made from cime di rapa and a generous sprinkle of ricotta salata snow over the top. We ordered it along with a few other dishes, and luckily, the pasta came at the end. Otherwise, I’m sure we would have gorged ourselves on it and been unable to enjoy the rest of our meal.
A generous portion of mussels was cooked in fresh turmeric and coconut broth. The promised aromatics were relatively mild – just enough to bring out the best in the fresh shellfish. (The broth we finished by dragging crusts of delicious bread through it and, finally, slurped from tablespoons.)
We also dug into a bowlful of étrilles – tiny velvet crabs – served “à la venitienne,” aka atop a salad with bitter puntarelle, sweet fennel, and a simple Italian-style vinaigrette (read: no mustard). The crabs, which were served in their shells, were meant to be eaten whole. They were sweet and crunchy and absolutely delicious.
And then… the pasta came. And holy heck, I could have eaten just this and been perfectly sated, so I’m glad I had someone to share it with. The perfectly cookedd strands of fresh pasta were lusciously coated with the rich, bitter sauce, and the sweet-and-savory nuttiness of the ricotta played perfectly with the rest of the dish. It was, in a word, exquisite.
At Chez Marius, service is genial and familiar – no vous here. The wine list is overwhelmingly natural, with a chalkboard menu of bottles taking up one whole wall and the “menu” of by-the-glass offerings leaning into that “tell me what you like and I’ll tell you what you’ll drink” mentality. (We asked for light red; we got a delicious seasonal glass of Beaujolais Nouveau). While we were too full to venture into the dessert list, it included tiramisu, brioche, and a lemon tart. With prices hovering around 15 euros per generous plate, it’s a reasonable spot to enjoy with a crowd.
So… when can I go back?
Chez Marius – 11 Rue de Chabrol, 75010