Paris, France — It is one of The Gourmet Gazette’s favorite times of the year when we climb up the Butte or Hill of Montmartre to reach a point of pilgrimage, a haven of hearty dining and select wines: La Bonne Franquette, a rustique yet elegant restaurant serving solid bourgeois cuisine at very reasonable prices. Don’t let the tourists of Montmartre turn you off, this is the real deal where the real residents of Montmartre eat out. We make our way up every year to La Bonne Franquette during the Beaujolais Nouveau season in November. The house, owned by an eminent wine expert and ultimate host, Patrick Fracheboud, is known for its wines, and carries anywhere between 10 to 15 different Beaujolais: Nouveau, Villages and the rare white, and at times the even rarer sparkling white, on its immense wine list.

It all began with a wonderful white Beaujolais from the Perroud Estate, a 2022 Beaujolais-Villages made entirely with the Chardonnay grape variety which takes on its own special character in the soil of Beaujolais country. This was followed up with a red Beaujolais from the Domaine Anita, a delightful Beaujolais-Villages 2023, made in the old traditional style, which, Mr. Fracheboud explained is to be enjoyed à la régalade, which literally means without letting your lips touch the glass, but in practical terms with great joy. These wines were perfect with a healthy platter of typically Lyonnais cold cuts from the house of Colette Sibilia, regarded as the best in cold cuts of the Lyon region, which opened the meal with superbly thin and slim slices of the Rosette de Lyon saucisson or dried sausage, a remarkable saucisson studded with pistachios and a terrine cut into bite-sized pieces from the house which is over 100 years old. Main course offerings were a melt-in-the-mouth beef served pot-au-feu style, that is to say cooked until fork cut tender and served surrounded by a medley of excellent vegetables: carrots, mashed potatoes, flat green beans and mushrooms. A healthy helping of warm lentils provided the perfect bed for a taste-filled warm pistachio sausage. The old growth vine plants — dating from 1940 — formed the backbone of the aromatic Beaujolais-Villages 2023 from the house of Jean-Michel Dupré that went with the mains. The dessert course included thick rich Fontainebleau (a combination of fresh white cheese and whipped cream) and chestnut cream from the house of Imbert and a pear perfectly poached in Beaujolais. We switched back to the white Beaujolais for the desserts.

But beyond the Beaujolais season, this restaurant is a genuine Parisian gourmet find. The specialties enjoyed on the Beaujolais menu are served year round along with other dishes that defy and define the palette. Foie gras with fig chutney is among the appetizer options along with the house chicken salad with curry sauce and hearty salad platters, meanwhile blood sausage and good steaks are among the main courses. There is an excellent value three-course Bistro menu with a choice of cold cuts or house chicken salad followed by a filet of hake or pistachio sausage and with ice-cream or the previously mentioned Fontainebleau for dessert. The excellent wine list is available throughout the year while the Beaujolais Nouveau season hunkers down in November and December. The restaurant has two delightful terraces overlooking the quiet side of Montmartre for fine dining in fine weather, spring, summer or fall. 

But another star of the show is the Fracheboud family, Patrick, the father and Luc, the son are on hand to dazzle diners with their eclectic selection of wines, wines that are listed over pages and pages in an enormous wine menu and others that are clearly off menu. And who stop by at your table to make sure everything is going well. The house was awarded the Coupe du Meilleur Pot which honors the excellence of the wine list selections in a bistro, in 2021. Meanwhile the restaurant can boast one of the most beautiful storefronts in Paris. The letters on the facade are hand painted in gold onto black by one of the last craftsmen in Paris to master the art, Lucien Helle. Meanwhile the building that houses La Bonne Franquette dates back to the end of the 16th century. La bonne franquette is a French expression describing something as simple or unfussy in the positive sense. ©Trish Valicenti for The Gourmet Gazette. La Bonne Franquette, 18 rue Saint-Rustique, 750018, Paris, France, Tel : + 33 (0) 1 42 52 02 42. www.labonnefranquette.com