It’s getting harder and harder to find a great classic Parisian bistro.
Let me explain. There are definitely still bistros in Paris: those simple restaurants with unadorned wooden tables and hearty portions of classic French comfort food fare like beef bourguignon or veal blanquette that most people imagine when they envision dining in Paris. And there are definitely great restaurants in Paris – so many that my list of spots to visit is so long I may be set as far as dining out is concerned until 2020.
But great classic bistros? Not so much.
The trend in Paris, much like in other Western cities, is towards farm-to-table small plates, and the classic bistro, as much as it is ensconced in our image of what Paris is, has fallen a bit by the wayside: many of them cater to tourists and will unfortunately sacrifice quality for ease, assuming (often correctly) that your average tourist can’t tell the difference. But there are still a few examples of this emblem of the Paris dining scene, and Café des Musées is one of them.
I’m sure that some in-the-know Parisians have risen out of their seats to tell me how wrong I am, but please, foodies, give me just a moment to explain my statement.
Café des Musées was originally opened by the folks in charge of the famous Dôme in the Marais: Pierre Lecoutre and François Chenel. They ran the Café to much acclaim until 2014, at which point it was taken over by new management and went south… very south. Reviews were aghast that this was even the same place, and it seemed that the book would be closed on this once-celebrated address.
But in 2016, a former investor decided to take matters into his own hands, and the entire restaurant was revisited: Chef Daisuke Kikuchi (who had worked with the Dôme team until 2011) came back into the fold in January 2017, and a new, pared-down menu that gets back to the essence of bistro cuisine and highlights local French terroir was unveiled. While I didn’t have the pleasure of visiting Café des Musées when it was still run by the Dôme team, I can vouch for the quality now.
The menu is refreshingly short and features dishes like a house-made terrine with onion compote, house-made red onion pickles, and cornichons as well as that beef bourguignon you see up top, which may actually be my favorite version of the dish to date (and believe me, I’ve tried a lot of them).
The version at Café des Musées is complex and rich in flavor. I’d love to know what wine is used, because there’s a really lovely hint of acidity that you don’t usually get with this dish and I want to recreate it in every subsequent version I make for the rest of time. I did suss out one twist that I’ll be using to modify my recipe: whole green peppercorns were hiding in the sauce as a welcome, piquant surprise that broke up the overall richness of the dish quite nicely.
The meat itself was impossibly tender and presented whole, in a cocotte, rather than pre-cubed as for a stew, to be piled atop an accompanying plate of mashed potatoes (a bit too buttery for my taste, but as far as criticism goes, that’s all I’ve got).
In addition to the basic menu, there’s also a special lunch prix fixe every day, featuring a few classics, like this stuffed cabbage with root veggies, as well as a few new creations from chef Kikuchi.
In his 15 years in France, the chef has mastered the French classics, but he lets his Japanese roots shine through a bit more on these daily specials, like this smoked duck breast appetizer, served in a rich duck broth with cabbage (and a kale chip on top!)
Desserts are all made in-house by pastry chef Ruri Nenoi, and this crème caramel was divine.
With a firm emphasis on local, high-quality products and big goals for the expansion of the wine list into the trendy natural realm, Café des Musées is worth talking about again.
Some photos were contributed by Café des Musées.
Le Café des Musées - 49 Rue de Turenne, 75003