At the Il Bacaro restaurant, the ravioli “ricotta, apples and pears, herbs, biscuit and cinnamon are a concert with many voices”

Isign of this pocket restaurant of 11e arrondissement, in Paris, is a promise. Il Bacaro, suspended above a wooden facade with bay windows decorated with curtains, plunges into the atmosphere of bacari, these wine bars lined up along the Venetian canals and where, perched at the counter, you can taste cicchetti, these bites of polpette, half-eggs with anchovies, fried foods and other spreads at aperitif time.

It is in Veneto and Friuli, where she is from, that the ex-architect Eleonora Zuliani, trained at Ferrandi and at Fabrizio Ferrara’s Caffè dei Cioppi, pays homage in this twenty-five-seat bistrattoria, nestled in rue Auguste -Laurent and frequented by the faithful of the district in search of authenticity. Here, no frills.

In an uncluttered decor of bistro chairs and cream walls adorned with old family photos, the menu opens the ball with an assortment of cicchetti – like the creamy baccalà mantecato, a cream of cod whipped in oil served on white polenta or chickpea crackers – then continues with four primi and secondi piatti which waltz every month.

Inside the II Bacaro restaurant, in Paris.

Among the guests, Paolo Uccello, the stuffed pheasant that sits in the window, and Big Jim, the boar whose head, a bit fierce, juts out above the counter, give the whole place the air of a country relay. Because, alongside Venetian cuisine with maritime accents, chef Eleonora Zuliani delves into the popular traditions of Friuli, a mountainous province with a popular gastronomy mixed with Austro-Hungarian influences – sweet and savory, strudel or fermented cabbage – in legacy of its Prussian past until the end of the 19the century.

A memorable trip

In particular, she offers a family specialty typical of the Alpine region of Carnia: cjalsòns – or cjarsons – plump ravioli made with potato dough, like gnocchi, filled with a filling combining ricotta, grated apples and pears. , herbs, crushed biscuit and cinnamon. In the mouth, it is a concert with several voices. The dough, topped with a butter sauce and vegetable broth, melts like a sweetness. The apple-pear mixture brings an autumnal roundness, while the fresh herbs – lemon balm, mint, chives and parsley – come to invigorate the palate.

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To master the subtle balance that distinguishes this dish from a dessert, Eleonora Zuliani adds a hint of cocoa which adds bitterness and sprinkles the whole thing with smoked ricotta. Accompanied by an organic valpolicella with aromas of crushed fruit recommended by Frédéric Besson, the husband of Eleonora Zuliani, who officiates in the dining room, it is a memorable trip. And an address that hasn’t yielded to the sirens of the neighborhood’s trendy bistronomy, which we never tire of.

Il Bacaro9, rue Auguste-Laurent, Paris 11e. Cjalsòns dish: €19. Lunch formula from €15 to €19. A la carte in the evening. Open from Monday evening to Friday evening.

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