Parisians have fallen head over heels for American food, and it’s not all about cheeseburgers.—By Alexander Lobrano
LessThe hard-to-book restaurant, at the Ralph Lauren boutique in Saint-Germain-des-Pres, serves Maryland-style crab cakes and Cobb salads in its pretty courtyard and paneled dining room, to a stylish crowd of Parisians and visitors.
This restaurant near the Palais Royal, from Boston-bred chef Braden Perkins and his partner, Laura Adrian, has become a word-of-mouth favorite.
“As Americans, we’re not afraid to work across different spectrums and create new dishes, like Korean tacos,” Perkins says. “This approach runs counter to the Cartesian French way of thinking—that there’s a right and a wrong way to do everything.”
The deli serves tuna melts, smoked turkey, piled-high pastrami and other sandwiches. It is run by Moïse Sfez, whose Homer Food Group sells lobster rolls in nine Homer Lobster shops in Paris, Marseille, Nice and Saint Tropez.
“The reason the French like American food is that it tastes good. The Americans also have the best food ideas, because the country’s culinary culture is constantly evolving,” he says.
“My original idea was breakfast, since a lot of American expats in Paris missed a real American breakfast,” says Connecticut native Craig Carlson.
The Yankee-style diner in the Latin Quarter has now built out its menu to include burgers, smoked salmon on bagels and Caesar salads. “This was in response to demand from the younger French who’d traveled in the U.S. and loved it.”
Pastry chef Amanda Bankert, a Washington, D.C., native who worked in Dublin for a decade, makes her haute-cuisine doughnuts fresh several times daily using highest-quality ingredients. In 2019, she revised all her recipes to make them vegan.
“I didn’t advertise the change, because I didn’t want people to have preconceived ideas. So I did it stealthily,” she says.
The new Paris restaurant was opened by the French-born, San Francisco-based, three-Michelin-starred chef Dominique Crenn. Her Parker House rolls come with condiments of shiso-miso sauce, egg-yolk jam and rice cream; the roasted conch tacos, with garnishes of piquant kimchi and grilled pineapple.
The Wall Street Journal isn't compensated by listed retailers. Hours, pricing and business type are not provided by the Journal.