By Alexander Lobrano

The Paris restaurant scene has deliciously come back to life after the challenges of two recent lockdowns, and a talented new generation of chefs are serving intriguing contemporary French cooking that leaps beyond the cliches of la bistronomie (modern French bistro cooking) with an emphasis on simplicity and sustainability. Though one or more of the restaurants below are currently closed for their August holidays, this is the cheat sheet you’ll want to tuck away for your next trip to Paris.

L’Arrière-Cuisine. Chef David Rathgeber’s Montparnasse table L’Assiette is one of my favorite Paris bistros. Now he’s opened what the French call a cave a manger, or a little grocery store where you can also get a simple meal and eat it at the table d’hotes, or communal table in the middle of the room surrounded by stools. What’s on offer here is Rathbeber’s excellent take on street food and quick eats, often inspired by the comfort food classics of Nice and the south of France, which he learned when he worked in the kitchen of Alain Ducasse’s three-star Louis XIV in Monaco … continue reading

Alexander Lobrano’s new memoir is “My Place at the Table: A Recipe for a Delicious Life in Paris.” Lobrano grew up in Connecticut and lived in Boston, New York, and London before moving to Paris, his home today, in 1986. He has written about food and travel for The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, Bon Appetit, Food & Wine, Saveur, Travel & Leisure and Conde Nast Traveler. He is the author of Hungry for Paris: The Ultimate Guide to the City’s 109 Best Restaurants (Random House), which was published in a second edition in 2014 and is a Contributing Editor at Saveur Magazine. Hungry for France was published by Rizzoli in April 2014. Visit his website, www.alexanderlobrano.com. Photo Steven Rothfeld.