Semilla

Well-known New York-born, Miami-raised Parisian Juan Sánchez, who runs La Dernière Goutte wine shop, and New Zealander Drew Harre, his partner in two other popular Saint Germain des Prés addresses—the very good Cosi sandwich shop and the expat hangout restaurant Fish la Boissonnerie—have a hit on their hands with Semilla (seed, in Spanish), a terrific modern bistrot that’s sprouted just in time for casual summer eating. Old hands in Saint Germain may remember but won’t recognize the space that once housed the neighborhood restaurant Le Temps Perdu, now transformed by huge metal heating and ventilation ducts overhead and a busy open kitchen where a brigade of young chefs from Ferrandi, perhaps Paris’s best professional culinary school these days, is led by Meilleur Ouvrier de France (MOF) Eric Trochon. The appealing, reasonably priced menu, which offers half-orders of many dishes, changes often, but continually offers worldly and well-prepared comfort food—shiitake mushrooms grilled in sesame oil, Corsican charcuterie from Pascal Flori, a superb blanquette de veau, yellow pollack with celery puree and meat jus, cheeses from Quatrehomme, aloe vera crème with exotic fruits. Well-chosen wines, including a good white Cheverny, come by the glass, carafe or bottle and are reasonably priced, especially for this upmarket neighborhood.

54 rue de Seine, 6th, Métro: Mabillon. 01.43.54.34.50. Two-course lunch menu €19, à la carte €20–50 per person without wine.

Originally published in the June 2012 issue of France Today

Alexander Lobrano’s book Hungry for Paris is published by Random House.www.hungryforparis.com. Find Hungry for Paris and more in the France Today Bookstore.