French meat holds its own at the Bien Élevé table.
"I am already conversing with you through what you eat." The line is Eugénie's, from The Taste of Things. Well-bred, or perhaps ill-mannered of me to dwell on it so.
"It takes culture and memory for taste to form."
Bien Élevé, 47 rue Richer, 9th. The name promises a good breeding... of the palate. The team cares as much about how the meat was raised as how it will be cooked. Months spent roaming the terroirs, meeting producers, and tasting, with an assumed preference for short supply chains. The lesson lasts about two hours, dessert included.
The menu pushes this logic right into the names: viandes du Châteauneuf, volailles de Licques, Noir de Bigorre, but also wild-caught fish sourced directly, and Beaufils cheeses. Depending on the day's delivery, the "Bien Élevée cut of the day" sits alongside Angus beef tartare, duck breast, or a grilled bacon burger, with—a detail that spoils nothing—beef fat fries. The house specifies that all products on its menu are grown or raised in France.
FOOTNOTES
Film The Taste of Things - Tran Anh Hung (2023)
