Brian C.
Yelp
With my wife living in France at the moment, I decided we would have a New Orleans brunch to remind her of home. Brunch is a big thing in Paris these days though it goes long into the afternoon but surprisingly doesn't include much drinking. At any rate, the lower story of this place is a casual place called Po-Boy Cafe with traditional New Orleans food and appears to be done extremely well - po-boys, red beans, fried chicken, jambalaya, etc. The second story is a fancy restaurant called Nola which is a mix of French and New Orleans dining sensibilities. That's where they serve brunch for a more "reasonable" price, and an upscale menu including a 79 Euro prix fixe meal in the evenings with 6 courses I believe (plus I presume you get an amuse bouche and mignordises which likely makes it closer to eight).
Cocktails are truly excellent and the wine list is pretty good. Food was very good including what tasted like real Cajun smoked sausage as a starter (served with a pepper jelly sauce) plus an Eggs Benedict you could find in New Orleans with a biscuit, pulled pork (what we would probably call Cochon de Lait in NOLA), and of course a perfectly cooked egg and hollandaise. The egg and hollandaise being perfect is common in France where they seem to cook EVERYTHING perfectly but it would be uncommon in New Orleans where you'll often find a bit of variation in kitchen skill or maybe cooks who are hung over on a Sunday morning. The other thing that seemingly half the tables ordered is the burger - cooked quite rare by U.S. standards (as all beef is automatically cooked in France) but fantastic with a pretzel bun, cheese, crispy lardons, and a perfectly cooked egg on top. It was darn good, just know if you're from the U.S. that virtually nobody picks up their burger in France so you should probably eat it with a knife and fork. True.
Service is the ultimate in professional, the space is beautiful and it's right on the Canal Saint Martin so the window seats can be a good bet. There was also a piano player who was fine, but sadly didn't play any New Orleans songs or have the energy that you would find in NOLA music (Paris is big on Jazz but it's more traditional or what I would call "New York City Jazz" rather than New Orleans Jazz which is a mix of jazz, blues, funk, soul, gospel, etc. all put together). I guess I'm spoiled regarding music, but if you want to spoil yourself with some traditional New Orleans food downstairs or a high end meal upstairs Two Stories is a good bet. It was almost entirely locals, but if you're from out of town and even if your French is limited (like mine) they'll make you feel comfortable at Two Stories and the evening menu upstairs looks great despite being a bit different from what you might normally find in New Orleans. It's Paris however so the food will probably be better, and you're not going to go wrong no matter what you order here.
Tres tres bien.
