A.lea, 39 rue Lamarck, Paris 18

A.lea opened in November 2021. My first meal there was in early 2022 and it has been in my regular rotation ever since.

The restaurant is located on the north slope of Montmartre, a charming neighborhood where few tourists go. It is in the small but airy space that L’Arcane occupied before moving to larger surroundings across the street.

I would guess it holds 24 or 26 diners.

Léa Lestage is the talented cheffe here, as well as giving the name to the restaurant. Her partner, William Atlan has put in his time behind the stoves at some grand restaurants, but that no longer is his task; he now covers the front of the house.

The food here is market-driven and bistronomic, with the menu generally changing every week.

The wine list was quite limited when the restaurant first opened, but it now has expanded to decent size. The selections are from very good producers, but not necessarily names that will be recognizable, and the markups are reasonable.

Having both seafood and meat, we chose a gamay from the talented producer Fanny Sabre, and it was light and delicious — an excellent match for what we were to order.

As an amuse guele, we were given a delicious thick and warming mushroom porridge/soup with fish eggs, pickled mustard seeds, greens, and chives.

L chose oysters for her first course:

The were served with Kiwi, oyster leaves (a green that adds a salty element), and butter with lemon zest to go with the bread. L, an inveterate oyster lover, was very happy with this dish.

I chose the carpaccio of scallops (Saint-Jacques) on raw cream with lemon, roasted hazelnuts, fig leaf oil, and red Shiso.

This was an excellent opening to the meal with the interesting play of the flavors and textures of the scallops, the cream, and the hazelnuts.

L took the cod (cabillaud) for her main dish.

With the sauce Maltaise, this was a richer dish than she was expecting, but she liked it nonetheless.

I took the saddle of lamb stuffed with mushrooms and Swiss chard:

This dish was marvelous, with the lamb being tender and flavorful, the croustillant of the lamb confit (the brown ball at the top of the picture) being flavorful also but very different in flavor from the saddle of lamb, and the various onion preparations being tender and working well with the meat.

Due to the richness of the two main courses, neither of us had room for dessert, alas, as they looked very good.

We came early (7.30 pm) and most of the room was not French — a couple of German tables and a couple of other American tables, in addition to two or three French tables. Ages were across the spectrum. I expect that later in the evening, the clientèle was all French.

The bottom line:

A.lea is a favorite restaurant of mine, one where you will find creative cooking, fresh seasonal ingredients, and friendly staff. Some restaurants in Paris are better at lunch, some at dinner; my preference for a.lea is at dinner.

a.lea

39 rue Lamarck, 75018 Paris

Tél: 01 81 69 96 93

Weds-Sat lunch and dinner, Sunday lunch

https://www.alearestaurant.com/

Métro: Lamarck-Caulincourt, Château Rouge