La Gazzetta is a restaurant that is a mix of Italian and French. It is in a decidedly un-fashionable part of the city, the 12th arrondissement, very close to one of the most interesting food markets in Paris: Le Marché d’Aligre. It is a Parisian café-restaurant, quite simple, quite crowded, and quite friendly. With a small touch of modern (or rather art-nouveau) design.
The concept is a little bit different from your average Paris café. First, the ambition of the cuisine is definitely one notch up from most café-resto:s. For lunch they have an interesting 2 course “formule” (set menu) at 16€ to 20€: for starter you get three small tapas-like things, for example a soup, a small tartare, and a little salad. For the main course you have a choice between four different dishes: fish, meat, vegetarian or from the grill. Or you can have a pizza. In the evening they serve either a five course menu for 39€ or seven four 52€. The choice can include e.g. oeuf-en-cocotte with white truffles and lardo, farm-bred chicken with pistou, and raviolis with goat milk and herbs. In other words, quite imaginative but based on classic French (mainly) – Italian (a bit) cuisine.
For a Paris café-restaurant they also have a very decent selection of wines; around a dozen by the glass and some interesting names on the 60-long bottle list. A restaurant that makes it worth taking the detour to try it! (With the added benefits that it is close to where we used to live, so a nostalgia trip for us, and one of the owners is Swedish! Plus just next door to Le Baron Rouge, one of Paris’ most curious wine bars.)
La Gazzetta, Café – Restaurant – Bar à Vin, 29 rue Côtte 75012 Paris, ph 01 43 47 05, www.lagazzetta.fr
