It's not easy to find a good place to eat in Paris over the holidays when many restaurants are closed. Here's a favorite one from the Food Lover's Guide to Paris archives - what could be better than transporting yourself to Alsace for Christmas?
You’ll feel as though you’ve taken a trip to eastern France as you enter this cute traditional brasserie, all dolled up with folkloric wooden carvings and paintings from one of France’s most welcoming regions. This is the place for some of the best choucroute in Paris, with a well-seasoned sauerkraut (not the sort that tastes as though it’s been reheated multiple times), served with hearty portions of sausages and pork. The sauerkraut is simmered gently with a touch of duck fat, grains of coriander, cumin, mustard seed, and juniper berries. I’d go back for the quartet of sausages alone – a carefully seasoned smoked pork sausage, another flavored with cumin, a white veal sausage, and a hot-dog-like Strasbourg sausage. The dish also included a giant simmered pork knuckle, as well as smoked pork breast. Quality all round. A single 25€ serving was copious for two diners. The onion soup is correct, as the French say, meaning nothing special. So I’ll pass next time. And the flammekueche – regional onion, bacon, and cream tart – could have been crispier. Do sample one of their well-priced, crisp and dry white Rieslings.
CHEZ JENNY | 39 boulevard du Temple | Paris 3 | Tel: +33 1 44 54 39 00 | Métro: République | Open daily noon- midnight, including December 25 | Reservations recommended | Menus from 20.80€ (children 11€), à la carte 30-60€ | www.chez-jenny.com