Brasserie des Arts, 28 rue Saint-André-des-Arts, Paris 6

On a rainy evening, we had a mixup in dates for the restaurant in the Saint-Germain quarter that I thought I had reserved. I therefore had to quickly come up with another place for dinner. I recalled having heard about Brasserie des Arts, which opened this past October, and away we went.

The restaurant is located on the rue Saint-André des Arts, near the Boulevard Saint-Michel, so it is in a major tourist zone. Although filled with lots of touristy fast food places, there are also quality restaurants on the street (a bit further west).

The restaurant is on a corner and so is L-shaped with a large mural at one end:

The diners on this particular evening were fairly evenly divided between American tourists and French people in their twenties and thirties who looked as though they were part of the academic community from the nearby Sorbonne. However, this was a vacation week in France with many restaurants in Paris closed, and I do not know if that is typical of the clientèle.

The carte was designed by Valentine Davase who has had a number of projects in Paris and elsewhere in France over the past dozen years or so. She seems to be more of a consultant here rather than regularly supervising the kitchen. The offerings are strictly traditional French.

The carte:

The wine list is unexceptional, at best. I could find some bottles I would not object to drinking, but others I would not consider ordering. By the glass, there were three whites, three reds, and a rosé. I took a glass of Côtes-de-Provence white and L took a glass of Côtes-de-Provence rosé; each was insipid and lacking character, but at least they were served at the proper temperature.

While examining the carte, we were provided with good bread and butter and some very good olives:

As we were not terribly hungry, we decided to split a starter and then each take a main course. For the starter, we ordered what the carte said was mushrooms stuffed with pork and herb gratin. This turned out in fact to be but a single, large mushroom cap stuffed with pork and topped with a gratin:

It was in any case quite tasty and a worthy opener.

For her main course, L took the poulet cordon bleu on a bed of spinach:

Despite looking like a split baked potato, she said it was very good with fresh ingredients. In addition, she ordered a side of frites, which I did not photograph, but which she said were extremely good.

I took the dos de cabillaud sauvage with fresh vegetables, and it, too, was of very good quality and properly prepared:

The bottom line:

As I noted above, Brasserie des Arts is in a very touristy area where there are many fast food options and other restaurants that serve food of inferior quality. Here, based on what we sampled, the quality of ingredients is high, the preparation is not lacking, and the setting is pleasing. The wine list is a disappointment that could easily be fixed. In sum, it’s not a place I would go out of my way to return to, but if in the neighborhood and needing to find some place on the spot (which was our situation), it did the trick.

Brasserie des Arts

28 rue Saint-André-des-Arts, 75006 Paris

Tél: 01 81 70 45 70

https://www.brasserie-des-arts.com/

Open daily 10 am to 2 am

Métro: Saint-Michel, Odéon