Island away
Cypsèle (4th arr)
RESTAURANTS • First Word
The Skinny: A famous tourist trap on Île Saint-Louis gets a makeover by two cool operators — one, a gutsy young chef, the other, his talented sommelier (and business partner). There hasn’t been so much carefully calibrated buzz about a restaurant here since the ‘80s, when the Baroness Marie Helene de Rothschild held beau monde dinner parties at her Hôtel Lambert and a slightly catty, la-vie-en-rose atmosphere tinged the late actor Jean-Claude Brialy’s flower-filled restaurant L’Orangerie. Maybe Cypsèle will make the Île Saint-Louis sexy again?
The Vibe: Still gelling after opening in November, but already frequented by a promising mixture of aristocratic locals, like the three poodles accompanying a studiously disheveled divorcee (she told the waiter as much) and the handsome older man with her (who was, also by her telling, her grandfather). Also, alert Parisian design fiends (for the brilliant décor); a regularly changing regiment of young chefs and their friends here to support two of their own; and fashion folks and photographers. This is a friendly, unpretentious place with a winning, tough-to-pull-off equilibrium between the relaxed ambience of a country auberge and the precision of supervailing big-city service.
Cypsèle occupies the former premises of an elegant wood-paneled pharmacy and Nos Ancêtres Les Gaulois, a notoriously bawdy, joyously mediocre mock-medieval restaurant serving meals themed around the supposed diet of the Gauls. (Apparently, they liked crudites, tough meat, potatoes, and earthenware pitchers of red wine that delivered a pounding headache the following morning.) London design firm Nice Projects coined an intriguingly original and eclectic décor for the space that includes custom neon ceiling lighting, pale wood furniture, and handmade mosaics and cutlery with wooden handles (made from old beams, removed during renovations).
The Food: Before hanging out his shingle here, Polish-born chef Marcin Król has had a world-roving career since he began cooking at 18, including stints at Noma, Borago, Le Chateaubriand, Inua, and Maison. There’s a winsome purity in Król’s cooking, a Little Prince-like celebration of his ingredients’ natural flavors and textures, that is his signature. The menu evolves regularly, featuring dishes like kimchi croquettes, smoked trout with a velouté of lamb’s lettuce, veal tartare with baby kale salad and sorrel puree, quail with orange sauce and garnishes of hazelnut oil and caramelized endive, and choux with pear sorbet.
The Drink: A superb wine list by sommelier Quentin Loisel, who previously worked at Le Jules Verne at the Eiffel Tower. This is one of the rare places in Paris that actually aces the idea of pairing a different wine with every course.
The Verdict: There’s some fine-tuning needed — more gustatory contrast between courses and a more emotive serving style from some of the dining room staff, for example — but Król and Loisel have given birth to a promising restaurant with the potential to become one of the city’s best modern French tables. –Alexander Lobrano
→ Cypsèle (4th arr) • 11 Rue des Deux Ponts • Wed-Sat 12h-14h30 & 19h-21h30 • Book.