At this point, I’ve visited nearly all of the bouillons in Paris, from neo-bouillon Pigalle to erstwhile bistro Julien to Norman-inspired Pharamond. And while I love these restaurants for their ultra-French character and unbeatable prices, the thing that makes them so hard to swallow is the waiting. If you want to eat in a bouillon at a socially acceptable mealtime, chances are you’re going to wait at least an hour. With every moment I spend queuing for something, my expectations are raised threefold. And if you’re going to walk into a bouillon, you really shouldn’t have high expectations.
Still, it was high time I paid a visit to Bouillon Chartier, a bouillon founded in 1896. The restaurant originally called simply Le Bouillon quickly became famous for its simple menu focusing on slow-cooked meat specialties and accompanying broths (literally: bouillons) served in a gorgeous Belle Epoque dining room. Today, the restaurant is open from noon to midnight 365 days out of the year.
We joined the queue on a Monday night at 6:45pm; the a serpentine arrangement has you line up partially inside the storied building, where you can purchase a 1-euro cup of vin chaud or sangria while you wait, and partially in the narrow alley that leads to the restaurant, with its welcoming glow.
Half an hour later, we had brusquely been seated at a table for four alongside two strangers, both of whom ordered the steak frites. I long ago figured out that the best meat dishes to eat at a bouillon are of the slow-simmered variety, and not just because of the historical precedent: When cheap cuts are used, these dishes suffer less, and so I looked away from steak-frites to other classics of the bouillon genre.
The menu at Bouillon Chartier skews even cheaper than some others, with a selection of appetizers ranging from a 1-euro cup of broth with noodles to a 15-euro platter of a dozen escargots. Mains include roasted bass with vegetables (13.80), black pudding with apples and mashed potatoes (9.90), and duck confit (12.50). The vegetarian options are worse here than in many other spots, with just one choice – spaghetti with vegetables (8.50) – which looked extremely sad.
We started with six escargots (7.50), which were actually delicious, suffering only slightly for the ho-hum bread served alongside them.
Céleri remoulade (2.70), a favorite of mine, was neither the best nor the worst I’ve ever tried, but it was definitely the best deal I’ve ever gotten on it, and that includes the similarly priced one from supermarket Franprix. (Which is saying something, seeing as my second-favorite carottes râpées in the world is the Franprix store brand.)
Pot au feu (11.50) featured prominently on the menu: not just à la carte, but also part of a prix fixe that takes its inspiration from the way this dish is served in French homes across the country. For 15.30, you’re served first a bowl of the broth in which the meat and veg have been simmered, in which float a few noodles. Afterwards, you get a plate of the actual pot au feu: meat, carrots, and potatoes. A dessert of rice pudding finishes this offering nicely.
We didn’t get the full menu but did order the pot au feu à la carte. It was delicious, with fork-tender meat and perfectly cooked potatoes and carrots – the ideal comfort food offering for the sorts of cold days we were experiencing in early February.
I only recently became aware of beef tongue with sauce diable as a concept, thanks to my friend Chef Chris Edwards, of Café des Musiciens in Nice. He shared that it’s one of his favorite bistro dishes in a recent roundup I penned for Frenchly. I won’t hold Chef Chris accountable for the quality of the one I tried at Chartier, which, while tender, was fairly flavorless, be it with or without the sauce, devilish only in color. What a disappointment.
The mashed potatoes were good though.
We had just barely saved room for dessert, and we weren’t disappointed with the house profiterole (4.80): a simple chou filled with vanilla ice cream and doused liberally with chocolate sauce. It’s nothing fancy, but for less than five euro a portion, it did the job.
There’s no doubt Chartier is beautiful and charming, with its golden hat racks still running the length of the cavernous dining room and its adherence to old-school tradition. I got a kick out of the waiter scribbling our order on the paper tablecloth; I was less charmed by how curt he was when we asked for a glass that wasn’t already broken. Indeed, the rudeness of the service – even by Parisian standards – left a bad taste in my mouth, and the entire endeavor has an almost Disney-esque quality about it.
My only caveat would be that if you’re ever looking for an inexpensive French meal outside of normal dining hours, and you can get in without having to queue, the pot au feu really is quite tasty, and there’s perhaps nowhere in Paris aside from a bouillon where two can enjoy three courses – plus wine – for less than 40 euros.
Bouillon Chartier – 7, rue du Faubourg Montmartre, 75009