Le Dorcia

Difficult to believe though it may be, American cooking is having a huge impact on Paris right now. For better but mostly worse, a new hamburger place seems to open every week, and other classic American idioms from the steakhouse to the deli are also getting a look in in Paris these days. What the city isn’t picking up on, alas, is the sort of really good locavore new-style bistro cooking done at such emblematic American restaurants as Alice Water’s Chez Panisse in Berkeley, California or restaurateur Danny Meyer’s long-running Union Square Café in New York City. Le Dorcia, which takes its name from a Brett Easton Ellis novel and nods at the mid-century style of Palm Springs, California, has brought something new to Paris, however, not only in decorative terms, but by offering good California-style cooking. Chef Grégory Brousse’s food is light and flavourful, including lots of salads and vegetables in a city that is still most often determinedly carnivorous.