One of the best restaurants we ate at in Paris offering haute cuisine wasn't prepared by a local Parisian chef, rather a Bostonian chef, Braden Perkins, who is living la vie en rose cooking up specialties in Paris with his business and life partner Laura Adrian.
Tucked away on rue de Richelieu across from the Palais Royal is Verjus, an intimate restaurant and wine bar that offers modern cuisine using only the freshest local ingredients.
We were lucky to get a reservation since walk-ins are not accepted, and there is limited seating emphasizing the focus on execution for high quality food and service. There is one tasting menu offered at 60E or accompanied with wine pairings 100E, which for the cuisine and service given was well worth it. By the end of our dinner it was clear that during any visit in Paris, one MUST have dinner at Verjus.
Starting from the amuse all the way through to the double dessert we couldn't have been happier. Each course was prepared perfectly combining wonderful flavors and textures, let alone a more than satisfactory portion. One of my favorites was the "skillet cooked trout from Banka, with chanterelles, guanciale, pickled chilies, chives and a roasted corn soup." I couldn't hold back from using my spoon for every last bit of the corn soup-- phenomenal!
Since this was early on in our trip I was really looking forward to my first duck entree in France -- I was not let down! Wonderfully cooked seared crispy on the outside and a tender inside with an orange, rye au jus. The red Sancerre 2011 paired with the duck was clever and couldn't have worked any better.
The only thing we didn't think worked well was one of the desserts. The espresso panna cotta with Bing and Ranier cherries seemed to clash. The lemon polenta cake with blueberries, lavender honey and a Greek yogurt sorbet was more than sufficient for dessert, and considering how creative and delicious it was nothing else was needed.
It was refreshing and inspiring hearing the story behind the owners opening Verjus. The professional and kind manager who was also our server explained how the owners started having supper clubs at their apartment when they first moved to Paris more than 20 years ago. From such popular dinners and word of mouth growing, they realized there was a high demand for the dinners. Local friends were willing to invest in the Americans so they could take their passion for homemade culinary affairs to the public in a restaurant setting.
Can't stop raving about Verjus and definitely look forward to trying their famous Fried Chicken in their lounge next time we're in town. Although we would definitely recommend the dining room over the downstairs bar since it is simply too good too pass up.
Even the flower on the table made me happy. I had never seen such an exotic shimmering color flower where it was between a beautiful periwinkle and silver color... Come to find out after seeing the flower at an open-air market the name is Chardon.
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Tucked away on rue de Richelieu across from the Palais Royal is Verjus, an intimate restaurant and wine bar that offers modern cuisine using only the freshest local ingredients.
We were lucky to get a reservation since walk-ins are not accepted, and there is limited seating emphasizing the focus on execution for high quality food and service. There is one tasting menu offered at 60E or accompanied with wine pairings 100E, which for the cuisine and service given was well worth it. By the end of our dinner it was clear that during any visit in Paris, one MUST have dinner at Verjus.
Starting from the amuse all the way through to the double dessert we couldn't have been happier. Each course was prepared perfectly combining wonderful flavors and textures, let alone a more than satisfactory portion. One of my favorites was the "skillet cooked trout from Banka, with chanterelles, guanciale, pickled chilies, chives and a roasted corn soup." I couldn't hold back from using my spoon for every last bit of the corn soup-- phenomenal!
Since this was early on in our trip I was really looking forward to my first duck entree in France -- I was not let down! Wonderfully cooked seared crispy on the outside and a tender inside with an orange, rye au jus. The red Sancerre 2011 paired with the duck was clever and couldn't have worked any better.
The only thing we didn't think worked well was one of the desserts. The espresso panna cotta with Bing and Ranier cherries seemed to clash. The lemon polenta cake with blueberries, lavender honey and a Greek yogurt sorbet was more than sufficient for dessert, and considering how creative and delicious it was nothing else was needed.
It was refreshing and inspiring hearing the story behind the owners opening Verjus. The professional and kind manager who was also our server explained how the owners started having supper clubs at their apartment when they first moved to Paris more than 20 years ago. From such popular dinners and word of mouth growing, they realized there was a high demand for the dinners. Local friends were willing to invest in the Americans so they could take their passion for homemade culinary affairs to the public in a restaurant setting.
Can't stop raving about Verjus and definitely look forward to trying their famous Fried Chicken in their lounge next time we're in town. Although we would definitely recommend the dining room over the downstairs bar since it is simply too good too pass up.
Even the flower on the table made me happy. I had never seen such an exotic shimmering color flower where it was between a beautiful periwinkle and silver color... Come to find out after seeing the flower at an open-air market the name is Chardon.
Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
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