The best seafood to include in an ultra-rich bouillabaisse is a medley of seafood, starting with 'a collection of rockfish.' Traditional bouillabaisse, from my experience in Marseille where it's from, is made from a combination of rockfish that are easily sourced in that region.
A great and very traditional bistro cut is the bavette steak, also known as flank steak here in the U.S. You'll see it all over Paris, and in more and more American restaurants. Sometimes called a flap steak, the bavette steak is cut from the bottom sirloin. This makes it relatively lean, but it has a looser, more tender texture, and it is considered very flavorful.
Every component works: slow-cooked beef politely collapses as soon as you take a bite, and caramelized onions and a house sauce add more richness, while shredded carrots, mushrooms, and jalapeños balance things out. Just be sure to eat fast before anything gets soggy.
The streets around the Louvre have improved considerably as a dining destination. It's still true that the neighborhood rewards those who know where to look - the blocks immediately adjacent to the museum are thick with tourist traps - but a short walk in almost any direction opens up genuinely good options.
Cooking during late March can be particularly challenging due to the cold weather and lack of fresh produce. The desire for spring recipes clashes with the reality of winter ingredients still dominating the market.
Of the five mother sauces, velouté is extremely under-appreciated and not talked about enough. It's what we as Americans call gravy, which we know has so many various uses. Velouté, which means velvety in French, is made with a light roux (or a mixture of flour and fat, like butter), stock or broth, and some seasoning like salt and pepper, and a bay leaf.
Irish Stew may well be the mother of all stews. I mean, you know that anything simmered for hours is going to be a good thing. But this is the stew of your dreams. Guinness gives the sauce an incredible rich, deep flavor, and the beef is fall-apart tender. Arguably the most deeply flavorful sauce of all stews, with a rich dark brown flavor, this is the best of the best.
Suddenly, a strange, loud, rhythmic, prolonged noise, like the dying moan of an organ, then the dying wail of the breeze sighing in the cloisters, struck the indignant ears of the nuns with astonishment. The nuns all turned to stare at Sister Agnès, who in her embarrassment, tripped and let fly a spoonful of her chou pastry dough into a pot of boiling fat, and the doughnut-like pet de nonne, 'nun's fart' was born.
The cooking is unpretentious and generous—big flavors, careful balance, no tweezers—at prices that feel increasingly rare in Paris. Standout dishes include a pheasant tourte with Morteau sausage and girolles, roasted beets with smoked eel and horseradish cream, and wild duck with a Porto jus and roasted parsnips.
Chef Masa Ikuta brings serious classical training honed under Bruno Verjus at Table and Stephane Jego at L'Ami Jean to his own tasting menu restaurant in the 11th arrondissement. The cooking is confidently French-Japanese, moving from sardine churros with Cantabrian anchovy cream to veal brain tempura styled after shirako to a perfectly grilled lamb rack with smoky harissa.
Visiting France is often associated with great food, beautiful cities, and a strong sense of style. But what many travelers discover quickly is that daily life in France is guided by a set of unwritten etiquette rules. These rules are not about being overly polite or friendly at all costs. They are about showing respect for others, for shared spaces, and for social boundaries.
Past a sign for a family waterpark, a door opens onto an homage to fin-de-siècle Paris. Chandeliers are reflected in gilt-edged mirrors; there is a chorus line of lobsters and yards of fromage. Every so often, a waiter in a dinner suit flambées a crepe Suzette with a shock of flames, like a big top fire-eater. This is fine dining as buffet.
Israeli chef Assaf Granit shifts focus from Mediterranean cooking to Eastern European Jewish cuisine at Boubalé, located in the Grand Mazarin hotel steps from BHV. The menu draws on Ashkenazi traditions - borscht, chicken liver, pastrami, and potato-forward preparations inspired by Granit's Polish grandmother. The vast dining room manages warmth through maximalist touches: doilies, colorful glassware, and grandmother-approved murals. Standout dishes include salmon floating in borscht with pickled turnips, Israeli couscous risotto with spinach, and an exceptional chocolate mousse drizzled with olive oil.
The traditional French cassoulet of white beans and confit duck is considered to be an ultimate comfort food, and we think this vegetarian version is equally as satisfying. This mixed mushroom cassoulet recipe, from the kitchen of recipe developer Jennine Rye, yields a comforting and nourishing dish, perfect for those choosing to cut down on their meat consumption (or for those who just really love mushrooms).
Smearing a tomato-pasted finger across the page of the cookbook, trying to follow the instructions as the hot oil shimmers in the pan, ready for the onion you don't have brunoised. Quick! Turn off the heat, grab a (hopefully) sharp knife, (carefully) rush through the prep, turn the burner's flame back on, and hope nothing scorched or became soggy in the interim.
By the time mushrooms enter the conversation in a beef bourguignon recipe, the heavy lifting of layering the dish's flavors is mostly done. The beef has browned and braised, the veg has caramelized and come together, the wine has reduced, and the meat's collagen has melted into the sauce. It's a long, gentle cook, in which mushrooms are lost if they're added too early.
The Bartolotta Restaurants, a cornerstone of the Greater Milwaukee dining scene, is set to host a remarkable event that pays tribute to one of the greatest chefs in culinary history, Paul Bocuse. On February 26, 2026, Chef Jérôme Bocuse, son of the legendary chef, will join Chef Paul Bartolotta for a one-night-only culinary tribute to mark the centenary of his father's birth. Chef Paul Bocuse, who passed away in 2018, was a pioneer of the nouvelle cuisine movement, known for lightening classic French dishes
Bar Nouveau might change that. Just off North Lombard, it's housed inside a refurbished 1940s building called Leavitt Station, a setting that matches the restaurant's avowedly midcentury sensibility. There are no Resys to reserve, no QR codes. You book by the increasingly retro medium of text message. Chef Althea Grey Potter cooks French food without Francophile reserve. Her plates arrive like something from Julia Child or Alice Waters, whose cookbooks adorn the entryway. A decadent bouffant of chicken liver mousse, heaped like ruffled cupcake frosting atop sablé cookies, is fit for an Eisenhower-era Gourmet cover. Fried olives present like a French Scotch egg, wrapped in pâté, stuffed with melty Cantal Jeune, and served over honey mustard.
While there seem to be endless fancy recipes for potatoes and an abundance of easy pastas you can prepare, there are never enough ways to fit vegetables onto the dinner table. With the help of a little cream, a lot of cheese, and a sprinkling of buttery crumb topping, though, any vegetable can be a star - even one as hard to love as broccoli, as proven by developer Michelle McGlinn's broccoli au gratin recipe.
Don't be intimidated by fresh mushrooms. They are prized for their flavor and versatility. Look for firm mushrooms that are free of soft spots or mold. Wash them just before using them but be sure to store them unwashed. Never submerge in water to wash them because mushrooms absorb like a sponge and become mushy. Wipe with moist paper towels. Some prefer to clean them with a soft-bristled mushroom brush. If extremely dirty, they can be very briefly dunked into cold water and wiped dry.
In this review, I'll provide instructions on how to use the stovetop, oven, Instant Pot, and air fryer to prepare caramelized onions in six different ways, using nothing more than butter, salt, onions, and sometimes vegetable broth. Although you can achieve shockingly good caramelized onions with a variety of ingredients like brown sugar, alcohol, and balsamic vinegar, I kept things simple so that I could better evaluate the flavor and texture of the onions themselves.
