Le Severo
There’s lots of good food in Paris, but sometimes you have to travel to the double-digit arrondissements to find the gems. And while the 14th arrondissement isn’t all that far (and I live in a double-digit arrondissement myself), it’s worth the trek for the excellent meal at Le Severo. There’s only ten or so tables and a lone cook in the open kitchen, who presides over the dining room. An old zinc bar acts as a catch-all for bottles of water, wine carafes, and a container of fleur de sel…which was a good omen.
An entire wall of Le Severo is a chalk-written wine list and menu. Notice I said ‘wine list’ first. That’s because there are three-and-a half lengthy columns are up there, listing all sorts of wine, heavy on the reds. Somewhere in the midst of it all lurks a menu, and it’s almost all about beef: Steaks, Cรดte de Boeuf, Lyonnais Sausages, and Foie de Veau.
First courses range from a salade Caprese, (a dish I don’t think you should order outside of Italy) and a salad with goat cheese. But the real star here is meat and le bลuf, so we started with a platter of slices of cured jambon artisanal, which came with butter to spread on the bread first, French-style.
The other starter was a Terrine de pot-au-feu. Pot au feu is the French equivalent of a boiled-beef supper, complete with vegetables and broth. When done right, it’s excellent, and at Le Severo, my hunch paid off. The terrine featured cubed, boiled morsels of beef, tender and neatly diced, loosely held in place with a flavorful jellied beef broth.
I chose a bottle of Fleurie, which was an overwhelming task considering the size and scope of the wine list. But the prices were gentle enough to encourage experimentation and the list is full of curious wines, so I think whatever you chose would be the right choice. The Fleurie was light, upbeat, and fruity…yet sturdy enough to stand up to the hearty food.
Our steaks arrived flawlessly cooked. The French love their beef bleu, practically raw. But I like mine rare to medium-rare, or saignant. The chef-jacketed owner William Bernet, who is the singular server, assured me that I’d be happy with saignant, and when he brought my faux filet, the rosy, juicy slices were indeed cooked just to the lower edge of my desired point of tenderness. To the side, my steak was accompanied by good house-made French fries.
My only fault was that the fries could have spent an extra 48 seconds in the deep-fryer to get that deep-golden crust that everyone loves, a fault I find in too many restaurants in France. Does anyone really like undercooked French fries? But I didn’t need to reach for that container of fleur de sel at all during dinner; everything was seasoned just-right. That to me, is the sign of a great cook, and a great restaurant. If you can’t salt food properly, you should find another line of work.
I was able to talk my companions, who just moved here from Rome and had fallen off the vegan wagon recently, in splitting a dewy round disk of St. Marcellin cheese, which was roll-you-eyes-back-in-your-head amazing. For dessert I had a simple Creme caramel, which arrived properly chilled and floating in a slick of burnt sugar sauce.
On the mรฉtro home after dinner, it suddenly dawned on my that my dining companions had also been macrobiotic, and I think were staying that way. So if macrobiotic people can enjoy a beef restaurant like Le Severo, you can imagine how happy it makes the rest of us.
Le Severo
8, rue des Plantes
M: Mouton Duvernet
Tรฉl: 01 45 40 40 91
