Sitting in my room at Hotel Juliana, a luxury oasis in Paris in the shadow of the mighty Eiffel Tower, I’m hungry. This property, located on a quiet residential street and boasting spacious rooms and laid-back hustle and bustle, is more akin to an apartment than a hotel primed for tourists. And since it feels like home, my cravings start to linger to the tastes back in New York. Yes, I’m talking about a never-ending, always-there yearning for Italian food.
You may be thinking: getting Italian food in Paris? That must be like ordering a salad at Baskin-Robbins. But look at a map: it doesn’t take much for Italians to trek to the city and bequeath Parisians the food of the homeland. In other words, it’s exquisitely authentic.
That authenticity includes a chain of authentic Neapolitan restaurants from a food group called Big Mamma, which can be found all over Paris (as well as London, Germany, and Spain). Cutely, many of them here in Paris are spins on the “Momma” moniker: Pink Momma, East Mamma, and Mamma Primi can be found in different corners of the city. It’s a popular operation (which includes a cookbook), and it makes sense that locals and Italians go crazy over the brand, considering every ingredient is meticulously curated from Italy, all chronicled in an extensive list on their website, complete with the names of the specific suppliers. (For example, their Stracciatella hails from Puglia, while their Limoncello is sourced from Amalfi).
One Sunday evening a friend and I visited their location in the 10th Arrondissement for what we were expecting to be a leisurely dinner at Napoli Gang, another Momma offshoot. Upon arrival, we discovered this particular location was for takeout and delivery only. Undeterred, we ordered a margherita pizza and a pesto pasta dish, both under 10Є ($11US) each, and in no time, we were sitting on the sidewalk eating some of the best pizza I’ve ever had — perfectly crisp and succulently sweet. The pasta, which came out in a massive cardboard container, was delicious: a perfect medium texture, bursting with the flavors of pesto. Most uniquely, the packaging was downright fun, with the blue pizza box featuring a shirtless man holding a pizza listing the many occasions when to order some fresh pizza: “First date? SCC Napoli’s Playing? Mom’s in Town?”
While the Napoli Gang food was delicious, the sidewalk setting wasn’t exactly the leisurely dinner I anticipated. For that, the next day we went to another Neapolitan eatery, this one run by a different Italian food group which has made a name for itself in Paris: Gruppo Dalmata and its namesake restaurant. Located in Sainte-Avoye (which is near Le Marais, one of the city’s most popular neighborhoods), while Napoli Gang’s aesthetic was blue, Dalmata is decidedly pink. There’s a tiled pizza oven and sign above in the open kitchen proclaiming, “No to drugs, yes to Neapolitan pizzas.” The energy in the long, tight space was as kinetic as the streets of Napoli, with waiters running back and forth and modern Italian pop blasting over the speakers.
After downing a bubbly Baladin Nazionale Blonde Ale, we chowed down on appetizers ranging from a cool Panzanella (served in a tall, round pile akin to a gourmet dish) and what they list on the menu as Crunchy Mozzarella — essentially luscious Mozzarella sticks made with Fior di Latte. For our pizza, we opted for an intensely flavorful pie spotted with dollops of ricotta and caramelized onion and fresh basil over a red sauce and mozzarella. By the time dessert rolled around in the form of a creamy tiramisu and tangy limoncello (on the house), if I closed my eyes, I would have guessed I was back in Italy.
By the time my stay in Paris was nearing a close, I was satisfied with both Napoli Gang and Dalmata for quenching my cravings. While on route to Musée de l’Orangerie, a small museum featuring Claude Monet’s famous Water Lilies murals, I happened upon another Italian oasis, Cantinetta Ventura in the 8th Arrondissement, just as those hunger pangs were kicking in.
A fast-casual cafeteria teaming with local workers on their lunch break, the popular space can best be described as an Italian Chipotle, but only if the food was absolutely amazing. With walls adorned with pictures of Italian icons, customers order on a cafeteria line and seat themselves inside the fun space and outside at tables on the quiet sidewalk. Every massive dish comes in at under 10Є, including lasagna, tortellini, and an array of pastas. Fresh focaccia, pinsa, and panna cotta round out the menu. And for those in need of a midday pick-me-up, there’s an espresso bar.
It all hit the spot like no other cuisine could before our day of culture. Because let’s get candid: who needs croissants and frites when you can order plump arancini and a warm dish of pasta?
