I was so excited when I first discovered Chez Eugène, which seemed like an absolute gem: a bistro with a fantastic wine list on the picturesque Place du Tertre in the heart of Montmartre, which just so happened to boast a menu of creative, homemade specialties. I wanted so badly to like it, and the first time around, despite a few missteps, I did. But on second visit, I found the experience of dining here… odd.
Let’s start with the things that are still good. You couldn’t ask for a more picturesque place to dine than the Place du Tertre, the square overlooking Sacré Coeur basilica atop the hill of Montmartre. The much-lauded wine list skews heavily natural and is flooded with gems. On my first visit, I loved sipping Roman Blanc from Les Vins Ephémères, and anyone who loves the northern Rhone is likely to find a new, delicious discovery. Drinks are served with a free saucer of tasty tapenade accompanied by some lovely, crunchy toasts – definitely more delicious than your run-of-the-mill popcorn or peanuts.
Some of the food is quite good, like the egg-mayonnaise (9) made with organic eggs and a really delicious grape must mayonnaise, which adds a fruity kick to the commonplace dish.
And the French onion soup (14) topped with a blanket of nutty Cantal is well-made and not too salty, as so many iterations of this classic French dish can be.
The garlic potatoes that accompanied my vitello tonnato were perhaps the best things we ate: rich and savory and absolutely loaded with the promised garlic.
And the crème brûlée (9) was frankly excellent, with a perfectly textured custard studded generously with vanilla seeds. It’s perhaps not a coincidence, however, that all of these dishes skew fairly classic. When you veer too far off the beaten path, things get weird – bordering on unpleasant.
I ordered the daily special, a turnip and beetroot carpaccio (10). It was nice enough, with its orange condiment and pickled mustard seeds, but it was definitely missing something: the smoked ricotta promised in the dish’s description. To our waiter’s credit, he literally dropped his cigarette and hit the ground running to bring it to me, and while it definitely added to the dish, it still seemed like something was lacking here.
The other daily special suffered from the opposite problem and could very well have done way, way less. This play on vitello tonnato (24) was positively drowning in an overly salty meat reduction. The veal itself was tasty, and I was intrigued by a play on tonnato sauce that saw the chunks of tuna suspended in an herby mayonnaise rather than blended. But the big chunks of herbs and that sauce ruined the delicacy of the dish.
The lemon chicken (24) was tender and flavorful, coated as it was with no shortage of spice. But the side here was odd: Raw spinach was tossed with room temperature lentils so al dente as to be crunchy.
Chez Eugène does have a few vegetarian dishes, including a vegan risotto made with celery root instead of rice and a sweet potato “curry” (22). The bright green, vegetal sauce and perfectly cooked sweet potato are nice enough, but the dish lacked most of the flavors you’d expect from the Thai-accented title.
Ultimately, Chez Eugène is a good place to go for classics and a great glass of natural wine, but I can’t in good faith recommend it for anything else.
Chez Eugène – 17, Place du Tertre, 75018