L'Assiette
Great cassoulet, but there are problems...
June 2024
This is a good occasion to talk about variability in Paris restaurants. After having an incredible meal here four months ago and praising the restaurant’s consistency over time, I just had a bad experience. I brought some visiting friends, including a young man on his first-ever trip to Paris. The food was mostly very good, aside from a cassoulet that was fairly blackened and dry. My complaint is about the service and the pacing. Our reservation was at 7:45pm and we weren’t even handed a menu until 8:30pm. There were glacially long pauses between courses. We didn’t escape until 11pm. Tables that arrived long after us were finished long before us. It was a slog. David Rathgeber was not in the kitchen and it didn’t feel like anyone was running the show. I won’t be including L’Assiette among our 50 Favorites for summer, but am hopeful that whatever issues are plaguing this perennial favorite are quickly resolved.
February 2024
In the last two decades, I’ve had the pleasure of dining at L’Assiette five or six times. This most recent visit was the best one yet, and that just thrills me. It’s not often that a celebrated restaurant gets better with time. Sometimes people rest on their laurels. That’s not the case at chef David Rathgeber’s classic bistro in the 14th.
L’Assiette is famous for their cassoulet, and rightly so. It’s the best one in Paris by far. Rathgeber’s version is so golden and crusty. His beans are bursting with flavor. Other contenders pale (quite literally) by comparison.
But cassoulet isn’t the only source of joy at L’Assiette. You should also order the snails.
Rathgeber’s unusual touch is to add a disk of toasted bread on top of each snail. This little cap gets soaked through with parsley butter and becomes a delicious crouton for every bite.
We alternated during our first course between buttery bites of snail and this bright and vinegary mackerel dish:
In addition to the cassoulet, which they kindly boxed up for us to take home, we went crazy for this sautéed veal chop with potatoes and carrots:
I mean, how beautiful is that? It tasted even better than it looked, on account of that deep and dazzling jus.
Did we have room for dessert? Of course not. Did we have some anyway?
A few bites of salted crème caramel never hurt anyone.
I love this restaurant. There are quite a few seafood options on the menu, but this isn’t the place to bring your vegetarian friends.
Prices are on the high side compared to a classic bistro, but they’re very much in line with what you’ll find at other haute bistros like Benoît, La Bourse et la Vie, and La Poule au Pot.
The far-flung location in the 14th arrondissement, near the Catacombs but far from the center, has probably helped L’Assiette to stay off the tourist radar. Rathgeber and his team are friendly with visitors but don’t cater to them. The customers who come to indulge in this hearty fare are mostly local, which makes this a great option (especially on a Sunday night) for tourists looking to avoid their own countrymen.
L’Assiette has long been included among our 50 Favorite Restaurants in Paris, and that won’t change anytime soon.
L’ASSIETTE
181 Rue du Château, 75014
Open Wednesday-Sunday for lunch & dinner
Closed Monday & Tuesday
Reservations online or at +33 1 43 22 64 86
I have to join you in being down on L'Assiete. Their cassoulet was not dry, bland and lacking in the meat department. And the service was also disjointed. We will not be going back until reports improve.
Your June 2024 update is accurate to my experience in March this year. FOH service was a bit awkward, and it felt like they were really pushing the cassoulet on us versus letting us find our own path. Wasn’t the same very kind service versus the last time we were there. Thank you for the revisit and confirming my personal thoughts from earlier this year!