Italian Favorites Around Paris

Few people dislike Italian food, and the French are no exception. In the narrator's experience, most of Paris's Italian restaurants are run by Italian owners, unlike many Japanese and even Korean restaurants, which are often run by Chinese owners. Pride in their own cuisine may be the reason.

Cucina de Mario is a lunch spot found by chance near Google's Paris office. Restaurants near big companies tend to be the real deal, and this one is packed with Google staff and students, with ingredients better than you'd expect. You build your own dish from a long list of pastas, vegetables, hams and cheeses. A set meal runs around 15 euros. It's open for lunch only, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Le Jardin des Pâtes is a pasta-only restaurant right beside the Jardin des Plantes (no pizza). The quality ingredients show, and the really unusual part is the pasta itself: besides wheat flour, they make noodles from rice, barley, buckwheat and chestnut, a style you won't have seen before. The sauces are original and clearly made with care. It's not classic Italian, but it has real pride in its own style. On a nice day, take it away and eat on the lawn or a bench in the garden next door.

Bigmamma is Paris's hottest Italian restaurant group, with branches in major cities across France. The pick is Ober Mamma, near Oberkampf metro station. The space is casual, modern and roomy, and you feel the energy the moment you walk in. Everything is imported directly from Italy in pursuit of authentic flavor, and you can taste the care that goes into the ingredients. In France and Italy, good ingredients are arguably the first requirement of good cooking. Ober Mamma is so popular it's always crowded. For a quieter option, try Big Love.

Big Love belongs to the same group. It's a small, more personal space with a hip, original feel, and the food is reliably good. There's also a weekend brunch menu. Reservations are strongly recommended at every Bigmamma restaurant, because they fill up fast; on a few occasions the narrator was turned away for lack of a table. If you're curious about what young Parisians like in Italian food, these two are worth a visit. And Paris has plenty more Italian restaurants if you want to do some exploring of your own.