Le Petit Paris

Met a friend for dinner at Le Petit Paris tonight...Amazing how this city can still suprise you. I had no idea that this restaurant existed. It seems that Le Petit Paris has been mentioned several time on these boards in passing, but has no dedicated thread.

Le Petit Paris has a fairly extensive and authentic menu of classic french bistro dishes, and from what i can tell based on a single meal, they are all expertly prepared.

I started my meal with a bibb lettuce salad made with candied walnuts and goat cheese and a cup of the singular best french onion soup that I have had anywhere. The broth was slightly sweet and was seasoned perfectly with the chef showing some restraint in his use of salt. C'est magnifique.

I ordered the coq au vin rougee as my entree and it too was prepared as well as anywhere. Rich and succulent sauce and fork tender chicken. an outstanding rendition of a classic dish. my companion had the tournedo of salmon a la moutarde and it too was prepared perfectly. There is something about precisely prepared french bistro food which is very comforting in chilly weather, Le Petit Paris really hit the spot.

I am not sure how long Le Petit Paris has been around, but I am sad that I did not learn about it sooner. The menu is chock full of the classics and I cant wait to try the steak tartare, duck l'orange, calf's liver and steak au poivre. This place is also reasonably priced with 95% of the menu coming in at the sub $20 level. I will return. Open for dinner everyday, 5-10pm

Le Peitit Paris
260 E Chestnut St
Chicago, IL 60611
Phone:(312) 787-8260
http://www.lepetitparis.net

I'm not surprised that you are so surprised to discover Le Petit Paris only now...
In fact, relatively few people, except the regular patrons, know about this charming old-fashion but authentically French restaurant owned by a French pro: Alain Sitbon. And it is too bad that this establishment is not talked aboutmore often in the local media.
But several interesting pages of Chicago's restaurant history are related to that address of 260 East Chestnut Street.
Le Petit Paris took over the space formerly occupied by Zaven (a good continental with a Mediterranean and Middle-Easter flavor restaurant) in 2004.
But long before that time, between 1967 and the mid-seventies, at that same address and in the same space and decor at the street level of the Eastern end of Chestnut street, you could have dined in another very decent and authentic French restaurant, Les Champs-Elysees that every francophile foodie loved in those days.

Dinner last night was very good and well-priced for authentic French bistro offerings with Gypsy Boy, Kanin, and a couple of other guests. Tucked inside a residental high rise with a small neon sign in curlicue script, Le Petit Paris, not easily noticeable. The food and company was excellent. Will try to provide pictures on the next visit, because I will be back soon to try other items. Thank you to Gypsy Boy for the suggestion.

For starters:

Pommes Frites - For the table to share. Thin crispy potato goodness to dip in truffled aioli without wilting. I rated it was as one of the top 5 in the City on my ever evolving list as lifelong quest for great frites continues.

Escargots Bourguignon - Baked with pastry cover. Perhaps Kanin can elaborate further, but he said it is very good.

Assiette de Saucisson - 2 assortments with nicely laid out traditional accompaniments. GB seemed very happy with it.

Pate de Foie Gras Mousse with Truffles- My friend loved it. Alain, the owner, said that it is "Rougie" brand imported from France. Had a bite, velvety rich mouth feel, luxurious is the word that comes to mind.

Spinach Salad with Brie Chaud- The Brie Chaud is crispy with breadcrumbs sitting on bed of well dressed spinach. Nice take on one of my favorite, Cherve Chaud with frisee salad.

Mussels with Tomato, Herbs - The mussels were fresh and the tomato sauce nice and pungent. Lacking a little bit of herb and garlic for my taste, to give it that whiff of savory provencal.

For our plats:

Carnard A L'Orange - One companion said it was nice and crispy as he preferred. The other said it was good, but that's a lot of duck (half), and wished for something else to break the one dimensional note of the duck and orange sauce. Perhaps a good item to share along with something else for constrast.

Filet Mignon - The filet is tender and the peppercorn sauce phenomenal as expected in a solid bistro. Redolent with peppercorn and tightened to that perfect creaminess and flavor concentration. The filet could have been a little more flavorful, was the comment, not sure if it's the meat itself, or if the filet was not seasoned enough before cooking.

Escalope de Veau Normande - Perfect dish for me. Perfect. This is what quintessential French. Calvados and cream. Delish. Again, as with the peppercorn sauce, reduced perfectly to coddle the veal and noodles in fragrant goodness.

For dessert:

Bread and butter pudding - 4 of us ordered this. I requested Rum ice cream on the side, and Alain teased me in his inimitable Frenchness for requesting the ice cream on the side. The Rum ice cream is everything I hoped for and more. Hard candy quality of butter rum finish, and pleasing sharp liquor edge to it. The Vanilla ice cream that usually comes with these 2 dessert, is very good, too, but pales in comparison to the Rum.

Cappucino Cake (semi-freddo) - Or something like that. Not much of a reaction, so I assume it was decent.

The portions were perfect for me, European standards, where you can have all 3 courses without feeling overwhelmed. Could have be cajoled into cheese course afterwards with a nice deep intense red wine, but that would have pushed me over the edge.

Parking is only $6 with validation from Alain, but make sure you park in the lot on North side of Chestnut, east of the building. It's underground and connected to the building, so we totally missed it in the raining dark night (my excuse anyways). The lot across the street was a whopping $23. So beware!

Let me add but a very few words. I expect to return soon because as petite gourmande said, it was an excellent dinner. It's surprising that this little gem isn't better known and part of me thinks that's too bad. Part of me is happy, though, to know that it hasn't been "discovered" either. It's tucked away on East Chestnut, almost at LSD. It's small, boasts a tiny bar, and seems a little out-of-date if interior decoration is a matter that is critical to you. It isn't, however, shabby or run-down in the least. In fact, it is well and lovingly tended by Alain Sitbon, the chef/owner. I had all my dealings on the telephone with him; he greeted us individually when we arrived and he waited on our table himself. That's not quite as surprising as it might seem for this is a small (perhaps a few dozen seats at best; no more than 50 I would guess). We were there on a Saturday at 8 and there were no more than a handful of other tables that were occupied.

The table next to ours were native French speakers and, I suspect, from France. And that is what Le Petit Paris is: a genuinely French place that happens to be in Chicago. If you can come in here, have dinner, chat with Alain, and leave and not feel as if you were in France, I'll be amazed. Shocked even. The food isn't superb; it's merely excellent. But that evaluation is based on a single dinner and I hope and expect to return shortly. Multiple times. As petite gourmande wrote, our table ordered a variety of items. I didn't taste anyone else's apps or entrees but I look forward to going back and having them myself. The menu is not particularly large but it is classically French. From the canard a l'orange to the steak au poivre to my special (there are monthly, not daily, specials): veal with a calvados cream sauce for an astonishing $20. The portion was fine for me, the menu and the specials page reminding me that you don't need a list of ingredients ten yards long. I'm tired of reading descriptions like this (cut-and-pasted from a restaurant that shall remain, mercifully, nameless): "New Zealand Ranch Venison, Matsutake Mushrooms, Door County Cherries and Italian Farro with Maple Syrup Crusted Bacon 'Shards', Rutabaga, Garnet Yam Puree and Canadian Winter Ale" (for $40) or "Wood-Grilled 18 oz. Prime Ribeye of Beef and Spring Onions with a Gratin of Macaroni, Great Hill Blue Cheese, Rich Oxtail Sauce and Murray River 'Apricot' Sea Salt." For $48. I don't need or want to read the genealogy and residential history of every ingredient. Indeed, the whole description of my entree was escalope de veau Normande (plus an English translation). The most expensive item on the regular menu at Le Petit Paris is $25 (the filet mignon steak au poivre).

I won't go into the details of the meal save to say that I very much enjoyed it. Service was attentive. The wine list is plentiful without being overlong; it is also very reasonably priced and there are many bottles under $50. Alain will recite the brief list of wines by glass: a cabernet, a chardonnay, a pinot gris and so forth. You can ask him what bottles they're from but, frankly, I wouldn't bother. You'll pay $7 (I think) a glass and you'll get good house wines. I don't know for a fact but I would imagine that he's chosen them personally and I expect that they're all as good as what I had. Every dish I tasted, from the frites to start (thank you, petite gourmande for thinking of it) to my app (an assiettes de saucissons with two mustards, two kinds of sausage, etc.) to my veal and my bread-and-butter pudding was a pleasure to see and to eat. This is exactly what I had in mind when I first posted on the Event board and noted my amazement at the lack of a French GNR. It's not the neighborhood where I expected to find it. But I'll be amazed if you go and don't get seduced as I was.

P.S. I've had the Curnonsky quotation below my signature for some time. Le Petit Paris signifies, for me, that quotation exactly: "Good cooking is when things taste of what they are." Curnonsky also championed simplicity, a point I alluded to in my post above: "Et surtout, faites simple!" ("And above all, keep it simple!")

Gypsy Boy wrote:Let me add but a very few words. I expect to return soon because as petite gourmande said, it was an excellent dinner. It's surprising that this little gem isn't better known and part of me thinks that's too bad.

Thanks for the nice summary. I've been wanted to try this place and I'm glad for the excellent review.

How is the wine list? Any reasonably priced bottles? How does this place rate compared with Kiki's or Le Bouchon?

Elfin wrote:How is the wine list? Any reasonably priced bottles?

Perhaps you didn't read carefully. I tried to address that point:
"The wine list is plentiful without being overlong; it is also very reasonably priced and there are many bottles under $50."

As to comparisons, I would say (having just returned from a very nice lunch with alain40 at Kiki's: the food is very good at both but the experience is different because Kiki's is more wide-open, much larger, and noisier (note I did not say "noisy"). The crowd is also different; although I've only been to Le Petit Paris once, I suspect it appeals to a somewhat older, more...relaxed...group of diners. Far more spacious than Le Bouchon (though, frankly, what isn't? There was probably even more room at the Black Hole of Calcutta....) and much quieter, though the menu appeals in the same classic sort of way.

It was very nice to meet Gypsy Boy and petite_gourmande. I'm so embarrassed to admit that I've been living a stone's throw away and never even knew such a gem existed. Whenever Le Petit Paris pops up as a nearby dining option on my fancy shmancy phone, I've always dismissed it as some sort of glitch.

There's a stark contrast between the dimly-lit restaurant and the bright glass and metal lobby outside. (Cliche alert) It really does feel like you're being transported to a different place and time. The only similarity between the dining room and the neighborhood outside is the noise level, the lack of it. No need for shouting here. I'm a very soft-spoken dude and a dining room where whispers can be heard is a plus for me.

The bread service included 3 types of bread: baguettes, raisin-walnut, and rosemary. Somehow the baguette slices still managed to stand out even with the other more strongly flavored choices -- it was nutty and almost buttery by itself. I forgot to ask if the breads were made in-house.

Escargots Bourguignonne en Croute - These were served in a heavy dish similar to an aebelskiver pan and topped with puff pastry (the restaurant website has a picture of it). There were 6 or 7 indentations in the dish, each filled with a shellless snail and garlic-parsley butter. I expected a bit of chewiness but the snails were completely tender. Not sure how I feel about the lack of texture, but I was sure that this dish could've use a bit more acidity. Is there supposed to be a few splashes of wine involved in this preparation?

Needless to say the snail dish was very rich with all that butter and puff. I would skip the generic butter served with the bread and go with any leftover garlic-parsley butter instead as a dip of sorts.

Duck a l'Orange - Fork tender and moist throughout, both the breast and legs (you're served half a duck). The skin was seared to a crisp and served on top of firm wild rice. One of our dining companions remarked that the orange glaze tasted like marmalade, but in a good way. I thought there was just enough bitterness from the orange zest and sourness to balance the sweetness out.

I enjoyed this dish a lot and would gladly order it again. Alain asked if we wanted it crispy so you probably have the option to keep it unseared if slightly charred skin doesn't appeal to you.

I have to mention that I appreciate how the duck was served. No ridiculous garnishes and elaborate plating, just duck breast and legs on wild rice, but neatly stacked and presented as a subtle reminder that you're still in a French restaurant.

Bread and Butter Pudding - Should've gotten it topped with rum ice cream instead of vanilla, as petite_gourmande did. Matter of fact, I wouldn't mind having a pint of that rum ice cream and get buzzed on it.

The charm is undeniable, and the recipes are classic. If Le Petit Paris were in my neighborhood, I'd probably be a periodic customer during those times when simple, homey food is what I want. The food is good enough. Foie gras-truffle mousse was velvety smooth and tasted pleasant, though neither the truffle nor the foie gras played a leading flavor role. The heavily reduced, terrific sauce with the coq au vin was intense, but the chicken itself tasted like an unfortunately bland supermarket variety. The filet of dover sole was wonderful - the fish flesh sweet, firm and succulent, and the fantastic lemon-garlic melted butter adding richness better than almost any other sea creature. Unfortunately, the unlisted "market price" for what is admittedly a unique delicacy was a whopping $50, about triple the average entree price on the rest of the menu. Chocolate mousse had sandy, undissolved sugar granules which provided unpleasantly gritty texture. I liked the house wines by the glass, especially the red Côtes du Rhône that Alain recommended with the coq au vin.