Brion by Geoffrey Lengagne, 17 rue Lamartine, Paris 9

Earlier this year, there was much noise about the new restaurant of Geoffrey Lengagne, who previously has worked in the restaurants of celebrated chefs Matthieu Viannay in Lyon, Pierre Gagnaire in London, and Thomas Keller in New York, among other places. Brion is his first effort on his own. The restaurant opened in February of this year to generally very favorable reviews. A previous reservation I had was cancelled by the restaurant on short notice (I expect because it was during a week with holidays on Wednesday and Thursday, and so they decided to close for the whole week). I finally made it back for a solo Thursday lunch.

The restaurant is located more or less in the center of the butterfly-shaped ninth arrondissement, between the Poissonnière and Saint-Georges neighborhoods. It is on a block with other restaurants, many ethnic such as Korean and Italian; and currently there are barriers along the sidewalks because of construction on the street.

The crowd at lunchtime seemed to be of all ages, both local office workers and a few retirees getting together for a good lunch (even with retirement reform, workers in France retire earlier than in most other industrialized countries). The only table where I did not hear French spoken was the one next to me — a man with an Indian accent and a woman with a very heavy French accent were conversing in English. The interior is airy and tables are not too close together. All tables were occupied at one time or another during the lunch period.

The lunch menu:

The wine list is all or mostly-all natural wines; those producers I recognized are of high quality, and markups are reasonable. The wines offered by the glass:

I began with the grilled green beans, smoked ricotta, cherries, and black shallots, and a glass of the 2023 Bourgogne blanc from the excellent La Soeur Cadette.

The Bourgogne blanc was served before the dish came out, making for a welcome mini-aperitif before the food came. The wine was crisp, fresh, and energetic.

The dish was a play on the classic entrée of green beans, here with contrasting elements from the other ingredients. It was fresh and light and a nice diversion from the classic dish.

Next, I took a red Tavel from Alexandre Hôte, a producer I did not know, and the roasted Sicilian eggplant with grilled oyster mushrooms, zaatar, pecorino, and tomatoes. The pecorino was combined into a white sauce, with the eggplant, mushrroms, and tomatoes beneath.

The wine was dark red but quite transparent, and sometimes Tavel rosés are that way. The truth is, looking at the producer’s website, I don’t think he cares whether it is called rosé or red. The wine, alas, never really came together and was just a mess of disjointed elements. Once again, not all natural wines are good wines.

The eggplant dish was very good, showing depth, chewiness, and good precision of all the elements in it.

For dessert, I took the cherries with hibiscus, gingered crème diplomate, and ice cream of dark chocolate with Sichuan pepper.

The dish sounded intriguing, combining many elements that I like. In the end, though, it was disappointing because there were just too many things going on, and so the dessert lost its focus.

The bill for one three-course menu, a 4€ supplement for the dessert, and two glasses of wine:

Bottom line: Brion didn’t live up to some of the rave reviews I’ve read in the professional press. The chef is willing to take risks, and in the case of the dessert, the risk didn’t pan out to my palate. Still, it was an enjoyable meal and I look forward to going back in the autumn to see how things are shaping up.

Brion

17 rue Lamartine, 75009 Paris

Monday-Friday, lunch and dinner

Tél: 01 40 18 10 93

website: https://www.brion-restaurant.fr (I do not link to the site because, according to my anti-virus program, the website is infected with malware; go at your own risk)

Métro: Cadet, Le Peletier, Notre-Dame-de-Lorette, Grands Boulevards, Richelieu-Drouot, Saint-Georges