Bouillon Pigalle
I used to wonder why someone didnโt open a bistro in Paris serving classic French food, a bouillion, if you will, a word used to describe a place known for serving lots of food, in generous quantities, in a convivial, and almost communal setting. A place where you wouldnโt feel out of place if you struck up a conversation with your neighbors, which be inevitable since the tables would be so close together.
So I was surprised, and delighted, when it finally happened. Of course, I didnโt come up with the idea of a bouillon, but the idea of someone opening one (or revamping an old one) took a back seat while young chefs in Paris stretched their wings, incorporating foods and flavors from other cultures, bringing the focus back to regional ingredients, and using modernist methods to get their point across on the plate.
I donโt mind all that stuff (although Iโd be okay if there was less foam, and smears of sauceโฆ), but Iโm never unhappy when I can start a meal with ลufs mayonnaise, move on to a plate of steak-frites, and finish up with an ice cream-filled profiterole doused in warm chocolate sauce, washing it all down with a pot of house wine. Even better is doing it all for around twenty bucks.
Bouillon Pigalle has struck a chord with Parisians and is pretty much packed from when they open at noon, until they close. We happened to be walking by at 11:45 one morning after a visit to A lโEtoile dโOr, and joined the short queue. By the time they opened fifteen minutes later, the line was down the sidewalk. But since the place seats 300+, and the waiters work at a very fast clip, we were seated, and served, quickly.
Since it was a nice day, we snagged a table on the open-air terrace, upstairs, away from the hubbubย of Pigalle, a neighborhood that butts up against Montmartre. Itโs gentrifying, for sure, but still retains vestiges of its seedy past. In the area, you might pass ladies beckoning from the open front doors of bars, asking men if they want to join them for a drink. (Carefulย guys, itโs a ruse. The comelyย hรดtesseย will order a very cheap bottle of bubbly to enjoy with her, which youโll get charged an exorbitant price for, and theyโll accompany you to the nearest ATM so you can pay for it in cashย since they donโt take credit cards.) Iโve not experienced it, but if youโre a middle-aged man walking around that neighborhood by yourself, youโll be an object of their interestโฆspeaking from experience.
Anyway, Iโm here to eat, not play.
The menu ticks many French bistro classics, including herring marinated in olive oil with pickled carrots and potatoes, a slab of pรขtรฉ en croute, and beef marrow served warm, withย levain bread. Note that the ลufs mayo clocks in at โฌ1,90, the marrow is โฌ3,90 and the herring is โฌ4,50.
So you can understand why the symbol of the restaurant is a startled diner, looking at the bill, and expressing shock with his glasses rising up from his astonished eyes. And you can understand why the place is packed. But the quality of the food is good, and the young servers are truly the best in Paris. They manage the tables like nobodyโs business, juggling orders and trays, all the while bantering with customers. Anyone who wants proof that the French work hard should come here and watch these guys in action. They are true pros.
Romain loves lamb, so he went with the long-cooked agneau served with a generous amount of beans. I went with Pot au feu, boiled beef and vegetables, with was terrific, although I (and it) was missing the traditional accompaniments of mustard, coarse salt, and cornichons. I wasnโt sure if they donโt normally offer them, because the waiter seemed a little surprised that I asked, but he quickly brought them over.
Beverages are featured on a separate menu. I usually avoid cocktails in restaurants in Paris unless they have a real cocktail bar, although I did go to a place that had a well-regarded cocktail bar and when I ordered a martini, I made sure the waiter knew I wanted a gin and vermouth version, not the usual glass of Martini rouge that cafรฉs serve when you order a martini. (A common visitor mistake.) But I saw that the two cocktails on the menu at Bouillon Pigalle were barrel-aged, a sign that someone probably knew what they were doing. And I was right โ my Vieux Carrรฉ, made with Cognac, bourbon, Benedictine, and Martini rouge was excellent, and only โฌ6, another bargain in a town where cocktail prices start at โฌ12.
While Romain was more prudent and had a glass of the sparkling rosรฉ, wine, beer, and soft drinks are sold โby the pour,โ from 25cl (8 ounces) to Jรฉraboams (3 liters). One thing I always miss when I travel outside of French, especially in the States, is a lack of restaurants serving drinkable house wine by the carafe. Sometimes I just want one-and-a-half glasses of wine, if Iโm by myself, or a small pitcher, if thereโs two of us, if weโre not up for a whole bottle. And I donโt need a $16 (plus tax, and tip) glass of wine at lunch. Iโm fine with a glass of vin maison, at a reasonable price.
Desserts are fine, and ours in the course of several visits have been hit or miss. The coffee รฉclair we shared wasnโt fancy, but it was very good.
The softball-sized ice cream profiterole with lots of dark chocolate sauce spooned over it looked pretty good, but the ice cream tasted rather neutral and would have benefitted from a little vanilla added to it. Myย rice pudding (a dessert Romain doesnโt like) would have been fine with half the sugar, especially since it was served with salted butter caramel sauce.
Two young women at the neighboring table had swirly bowls ofย Glace au lait frais (fresh milk ice cream), which I think is the way to go here. You can get add-ons, like chocolate, caramel or hazelnuts, for 50 centimes extra, and Iโd probably spring for all three. As I write this, dessert prices start at โฌ2,90 and none are over โฌ4,50. (But prices can change.)
I went to my favorite restaurant in Paris the other night and couldnโt get in. Itโs small and I wasnโt surprised, although I keep wondering if I should remove my Paris Restaurant list from the site because as much as Iโm happy to share, I want to be able to get a table at a good restaurant in Paris, too. However with three hundred seats, and from what I hear, over a thousand people served a day, I donโt think Iโm going to run into that problem at Bouillon Pigalle.
Bouillon Pigalle
22 boulevard de Clichy (18th)
Mรฉtro: Pigalle
No reservations
Open daily, Noon to midnight
(Note that the menu has vegetarian options.)
As an aside, Iโve never understood why guidebooks, and others, tell visitors who are traveling to avoid places with English menus. Not all waiters in other countries speak English and it makes their job easier if the diners can understand the menu. While itโs nice if visitors learn a few words and phrases when traveling outside their home country, itโs hard to enjoy a restaurant when you canโt understand the menu, especially if itโs in a different language. Although I donโt expect places to translate menus into other languages, sometimes itโs nice when they do.
While we got menus in French at the restaurant, on the Bouillon Pigalle website, the menu is in French, English, Russian, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish, and Italian, which they update when the menu changes.
