Les Tablettes

For many years, the Paris food chain was pyramid-shaped, with a solid ballast of bistrots, a narrower layer of serious cuisine bourgeoise restaurants, and a glittery summit of stars. During the past 20 years, though, the ranks of white-tablecloth places like the now-gone Pierre au Palais Royal and Le Récamier have been seriously diminished by straitened budgets, changing eating habits and a preference for more informal dining.

Now it looks like there’s a comeback in the making for that sector of gourmet Paris. One perfect example of the growing number of excellent new restaurants for well-heeled grownups is chef Jean-Louis Nomicos’s new Les Tablettes. Trained by Alain Ducasse, Nomicos most recently cooked at Lasserre, but now he’s taken over the space formerly occupied by La Table de Joël Robuchon and given it a smart makeover, with basket-weave walls and ceiling designed by architect Anne-Cécile Comar. Burnt orange upholstery adds some color to the Zen-like space, and service is formal but friendly.

Instead of offering the Escoffier-inspired anthology of dishes formerly found in such places, Marseille native Nomicos has gone lighter and sunnier, with delicious starters like bergamot-brightened squid and baby artichokes à la barigoule or sea urchins in a fennel emulsion, followed by main courses like scallops with a jus de bouillabaisse or veal sweetbreads with “lemon caviar”—the tangy, beaded pulp of finger lime, an Australian rain-forest citrus fruit now also grown in the south of France. Finish up with a green Chartreuse soufflé with yogurt sorbet, and while you’re waiting for it to arrive, you might take a look at the tablette (iPad) on your table to watch a little film about one of Nomicos’s suppliers.

16 ave Bugeaud, 16th, 01.56.28.16.16. Lunch menu €58; tasting menus €80, €120 and €150; à la carte €90. Prices are per person without wine

Originally published in the April 2011 issue of France Today

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Alexander Lobrano’s book Hungry for Paris is published by Random House. www.hungryforparis.com

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