Chef and Bar Owner Ruba Khoury Shares a Perfect Dining Day in Paris

Ruba Khoury wasn’t quite 30 years old when she opened Dirty Lemon, a queer-friendly cocktail bar in Paris’ 11th arrondissement. Here, she serves up small plates inspired by her Palestinian heritage and executed with all of the rigor she mastered after years working in some of Paris’ top Michelin-starred kitchens, from Septime to Frenchie to yam’Tcha. But despite her Parisian career arc, including training at the illustrious Cordon Bleu, Khoury’s background – a childhood in Dubai, time spent in New York – has given her a palate as international as the clientele who flock to the bar. It’s this culinary curiosity that fuels Khoury’s ideal day of dining in Paris.  

She starts things off right with breakfast… “when I have time,” she says. “I love breakfast.” But despite living in the capital of croissants, Khoury admits, when given the choice, “I would pick a Palestinian or even American breakfast. I’m always in the mood for pancakes, eggs, bacon. Or an English breakfast, even.” 

These days, her favorite place for her morning meal is her own Dirty Lemon, which recently relaunched its brunch after a multi-year hiatus. It was only after hosting Nesreen Mroueh, founder of Bakesale for Palestine, in January, that Khoury got the urge to serve up breakfast food again. “Having Dirty Lemon open those days during the day, it just felt so good,” she recalls. “It was a different energy, different vibe, and it was nice to have people there during the day.” 

The brunch menu skews savory, with loads of cocktails, juices, and sides. Khoury’s personal favorite is the knafeh, which sees spun kataifi pastry soaked in syrup and layered with loads of cheese. “It’s cheesy, savory,” she says. “Also our shakshuka is amazing. It’s our bestseller. Everyone keeps getting it.” 

When pressed, however, she does have one go-to for a more French-style breakfast in Paris: boulangerie Blé Sucré. While she notes that the owners of this 12th-arrondissement staple have changed multiple times over the years, one thing has remained consistent. “The pain au chocolat, for me, over there, is the best,” she says. “The croissant was up and down for a while, but they still have the best pain au chocolat.” 

Come lunchtime, you’ll find Khoury on the prowl for “something light and ‘healthy,’” she says. “Like mostly vegetable and protein-based.” For her, that means one of two things: sushi or Vietnamese food. For the former, her go-to is Bastille’s Yoru. “It’s got a fun ambiance, and a very decent rapport prix-qualité,” she says. “Funky rolls that are super tasty and fresh.”

She also loves Chez Lili, a Montreuil stalwart since 1975 that recently reopened after shuttering for four years. A long-time local fave, this 20-cover spot was first opened by Cambodian immigrants fleeing the Khmer Rouge and still serves excellent food at unbeatable price. “They have a really good chicken curry that they do there,” says Khoury. “It’s so good.”

Goûter is one French tradition Khoury has embraced, especially if she’s in her neighborhood near Marché d’Aligre when 4pm rolls around. It means she can head straight to La Badine De Martine, a classic French pastry shop she’s got a major soft spot for. “They do a croissant amandes-chocolat that’s really good,” she says, citing, as well, a bread studded with chocolate chips perfect for those with a sweet tooth.

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Nearby, she also loves Amendūla, a plant-based café owned by two Italian cousins. “For goûter, I love to get their homemade vegan cakes,” she says. “She does really good banana and coconut. Or lemon cake, with a coffee.” 

In the evenings, Khoury often subsides on staff meal, and if it’s anywhere as tasty as her house-made barbecue kebab sandwich or dirty fries with slow-cooked lamb shoulder, it can only be phenom. Recently, however, she says, “I have been having nights to myself.” And in that case, she answers the siren call of her most consistent cravings: “I’m just always in the mood for Chinese food.” 

Her go-to in the Marais is Lac de l’Ouest, a Sichuan restaurant she says is known for “big sharing marmites with eggplant or beef. “If you go, definitely also get the peanut salad and the cucumber,” she counsels. “And the aubergine.” 

If she’s in the mood or something a bit more French, meanwhile, she high-tails it to le Baratin, a long-standing Belleville staple known for Chef Raquel Carena’s approaches to offal. “It’s just your typical Parisian bistro at its core,” she says. “No fuss or frills, but just enough that like there’s some technique to the food.” 

It’s no surprise, she says, that le Baratin is “where all the chefs go to eat. Because it’s so hearty and just hits the spot for French food.” 

When she’s not sipping the seasonally-driven cocktails at her own Dirty Lemon, she does have a few other bars she adores.  

“If I want to go just to drink the cocktails and really reflect on them and talk about it, it would be Danico,” she says, evoking the 2nd arrondissement bar whose menu is inspired by the international travels of founder Nico de Soto, from Indonesia to Mexico, Japan to India. “I just love the combinations.” It’s no surprise it earned 51st place on 50 Best’s list of the 100 best bars in the world. But Khoury also has a soft spot for fellow woman-owned bar Abricot. “I like the way they Americanize their cocktails,” she says. “I miss that Americanness in cocktails. Where they do fun rims and flavor combos and jalapeños and things like that.” 

America isn’t the only place this international chef misses, in Paris. She occasionally craves the flavors of London, where, she says, “they have so much more variety.” 

“They have really good Turkish food and much more variety of Arabic food there, Persian food, Chinese, Indian. Mexican. You know? Way more variety and choices.” 

But at the end of the day, she’s glad to call Paris home. 

“In Paris, so many people are going out to eat, and just seeing what the city has to offer,” she says. “That’s my favorite thing about going to different restaurants. Seeing what vibe they have, the clientele. Feeling like part of the city.”