The New Hot Quarters: the 3rd and 15th

23 March 2006 by John Talbott    284  
The New Hot Quarters: the 3rd and 15th
The third arrondissement is an intriguing one for both the tourist and resident.  It has been the historical center for both Jewish culture and gay life over the years has some of the most important and interesting buildings in the city.  These include the Conservatoire and Museum of Arts & Metiers and the National Archives and it is home to several popular museums including the Carnavalet and Picasso.        Obviously, then, the third houses superb collections of art, in the case of the Picasso Museum, the donation to the state (to settle for estate taxes) of a huge number of his works which are displayed both in a permanent collection and in special themed-exhibitions; the Jewish Museum, which has a similar mixture of both permanent and special exhibitions; for the Carnavalet, the art relating to the history of Paris; and in the Cognac-Jay, one of Paris’s small gems of a museum.    As for walking, if all you do is make a circle tour of all the above, you’ll see some of the most well preserved architecture and streets there are in the city.    Americans know the restaurants of the third primarily from their long love affair with L’Ami Louis and L’Ambassade d’Auvergne which have been popular for decades.  But for reasons unclear to me, despite its proximity to hotels, rental apartments and the lure of the Marais, except for Le Pamphlet, the third never saw the influx of new hot restaurants that occurred elsewhere in the city.  Indeed, a food critic friend, after eating at Les Don Juan, commented that the area had finally gotten a restaurant worthy of its density.  There is, however, one other newly-renovated place, aptly called Le Café des Musees, that merits one’s patronage.    If the third represents one of the quarters the most replete with historic buildings, the 15th is its evil twin, with really only one interesting site – the relatively new European Hospital named for ex-President Georges Pompidou, which sits on the southwestern edge of the modern Andre Citroen Park (where the factory of the Citroen auto empire originally was located.)  Readers may ask “what about the Montparnasse Tower, isn’t it in the 15th?”  Well, while it is in the 15th, I consider it a blemish on the whole city, a shared horror and since you can see it from practically everywhere, let’s ignore it when discussing monuments.    There is precious little art here as well, except for the Montparnasse Musuem which tends to have second-rate art of artists who lived in the area in the 20th century, the Postal Museum, which can have interesting postal-related exhibitions, the Jean Moulin Museum, that celebrates the Resistance and Liberation of Paris (on an elevated platform above the Montparnasse Station itself) and the (Antoine) Bourdelle Museum, that has a mixture of his sculptures and temporary exhibitions.    The 15th is not a place I think of for strolls; although, the Andre Citroen Park is the best of the modern-type gardens and parks in the city and the George Brassens Park (named for the famed singer) has interesting sculptures and a nice belvedere.       The 15th has an old bistro tradition, however, indeed, some of my fondest memories from the 1960’s are coming in from the airport and going straight to lunch at the Bistro 121 or the Bistrot d’Hubert.  That was food we just didn’t have back then in New York and the settings were like those one saw in French films.  A touristy place that still serves up good food, probably well known by BP readers, is the Ciel de Paris in the Tour Montparnasse, which, as I’ve noted above, is much-hated by inhabitants and visitors alike, but from which you cannot see the Tour M. itself, but do have a spectacular view of the Tour Eiffel, all aglow, etc.  Another place with a spectacular inside court, crusty wait-staff and decent food, if you stick to beef, is the Café de Commerce.    But we’re concentrating in this series on hot, new places.  So let’s deal with them.  Within the past few years, so many small, great little eateries have opened here, that the 15th seems the prime example of Olivier Morteau’s (Food Business: La face cachée de la gastronomie francaise, 2004) formula for a successful small neo-bistros – e.g.: find a reasonably priced building in a gastronomically underserved area, be nice and friendly, and get a chef who is talented and can prepare dishes that are reasonably priced.  Such gems include: Autour de Mont, Beurre Noisette, Dix Vins, Grand Rue and Le Troquet.  Thierry Burlot, who originally opened a wonderful place in the 15th several years ago as part of this new wave, slowly hiked his prices and reduced his “menu” choices so that the price-quality ratio was unfriendly, but within the past year has changed course and is once more offering great food at reasonable prices in his eponymous restaurant – Thierry Burlot.  And finally, just in the past year or so, two other new places have opened, both following the successful formula given by Morteau: to whit l’Ami Marcel and La Cave de l’Os a Moelle.    So, as usual, here are my favorites in the 3nd and 15th:    Les Don Juan 19 Rue de Picardie, 3rd (Metro: Filles du Calvaire, Temple) T: 01.42.71.31.71 Closed Saturday lunch and Sundays Lunch Formulas and Menus: 11.50-14 €, a la carte 30 €.   Le Café des Musées 49 rue de Turenne, 3rd (Metro: Saint Paul, Arts et Metiers, Chemin Vert) T: 01.42.72.96.17 Open everyday Menus 19-20 €, a la carte 40 €.    Beurre Noisette 68 rue Vasco de Gama, 15th (Metro: Lourmel) T: 01.48.56.82.49 Closed Sunday and Monday. Menus: 15 & 20 € lunch, 29 € dinner.    Dix Vins 57 Rue Falguiere, 15th (Metro: Pasteur) T: 01.43.20.91.77 Closed Saturday and Sunday Menus: 20 € lunch, 24 € dinner, a la carte 30 €    Grand Rue 117 Rue de Vaugirard, 15th (Metro: Falguiere) T: 01.47.34.96.12 Closed Sunday, Monday and August Menus: 18 € lunch (with wine included), 25 € dinner. A la carte 35 €.    Le Troquet 21 Rue Francois Bonvin, 15th (Metro: Volontaires) T; 01.45.66.89.00 Closed Sunday and Monday Menus: 23 € lunch, 30 € dinner, 37…
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By John Talbott