When you dine at a Three-Star Michelin restaurant, you expect perfection both with the food and the service, and, spoiler alert, Arpege was perfect with food and service. Choosing restaurants in Paris, especially ones with coveted stars, is an extraordinarily daunting task, but I decided to book at Arpege for a couple reasons. First, they allowed bookings relatively far out (over 3 months) which, as a planner, I love. Second, Chef Alain Passard has been serving exclusively a vegetarian tasting here for years, long before it was cool. I find it difficult to cook with just veggies, and so it’s always more interesting for me to try places that are going to serve me food that I can’t cook myself. These days, Chef Passard has provided the option to add a little meat to your prix fixe menu, and we said absolutely yes to that, however 90% of what we ate was vegetarian. We enjoyed our experience here on November 1, 2024.

The ambiance at Arpege is subdued, although gets a little more jovial as the night goes on, as the guests imbibe, and you get to know your serving team better. There’s no music playing, which I did think was a little weird, but the food is really the star of the show here. Beautifully embroidered walls with pastoral and garden scenes surround the dining space, and the rattan/woven chairs give a real outdoor garden vibe.

Service here was extraordinary, and we got to know our servers and sommeliers very well. Cheers to both Victor and Hugo (yes, you read that right!), who added levity and an easy air to what could’ve been a stuffy experience. At the end of service, Chef Passard ventured out of the kitchen to greet as many guests as he could. The dishes were all paced out perfectly. We never waited too long, nor felt rushed at any point. The delicious sourdough bread was consistently replenished, and we really had to try hard to not eat a whole loaf.

The food was not only stunningly beautiful, but also incredibly delicious. I swear I have never eaten vegetables this flavorful in my life, even the ones grown in my own garden, and this was such an incredible treat to discover such a wide array of tasty, crunchy veggies moving through the tasting menu. I’ve really got to start planting more radishes.

We started with a couple of smaller tastes including, essentially a fancy veggie plate sprinkled with just the right amount of salt (but, like, the most delicious raw zucchini, radish and tomato you will ever have), followed by a smoked vegetable broth. Both were outstanding. Elske in Chicago also serves a smoked vegetable broth as an amuse bouche, which I love, and I was really excited to try it here. It’s so surprisingly umami, that, unless you knew what it was, you would never guess it was made entirely from veggies.

Next up were two of my favorite dishes of the evening, and the first is up there as one of my favorite dishes of all time. It was a gorgeous plate of nearly transparent slices of radish, topped with a bit (a lot) of a really mildly flavored olive oil and parmesan cheese. The radish was tender, yet had a really nice snap, and the olive oil plus cheese gave it the right amount of savory notes to make this dish interesting and substantial. It was beautiful, and I won’t forget this one for a long time. Following this was a delicious pumpkin soup, perfectly creamy and an amazing warm-up for fall.

The next highlight was the vegetable sushi which actually somehow tasted like fish, even though it most definitely was not fish. A lovely, fresh bite in between more savory courses.

Another favorite was the onion gratinee, which reminded me of one of my favorite appetizers that I make at home, although much more elevated. I love onions, and this dish seemed like a very simple combination of impossibly thinly sliced onions and parmesan cheese, baked, then topped with microgreens. This was really savory and a solid dish for the middle of our tasting, and I melted with happiness with each bite.

Thank goodness that Chef Passard has his own version of beet tartare. I have sung the praises of many a beet on this website, and it’s definitely my favorite root vegetable next to potatoes, but I have to say this was the best beet tartare I’ve ever had. Tiny little cubes of beets bound together with a very light cream, topped with a radish (more radishes!) that looks like an egg yolk. This dish really embodied the beauty and flavor of vegetables here. I mean, look at how gorgeous this is!

Finally, for the non-vegetarian course, there was the rack of lamb. We had a healthy portion of lamb served with root vegetables and a dynamite sauce. And guess what? We were offered lamb part deux, which was a smaller piece served with a different kind of sauce and chopped up chestnut. When they ask you if you want more lamb, definitely say yes!

Desserts here were simple, refined, and not too many. First was a profiterole with herby ice cream covered with a fresh caramel sauce. Finally, was Chef Passard’s signature tiny apple tart, with apple strips rolled up to look like roses. Neither of these dishes were too sweet, and they were a nice way to round out the evening.

Chef Alain Passard’s vegetarian dining concept does not disappoint, and is totally unique, even still. We are very much big time meat eaters, but we loved our meal here, and probably would’ve been just as satisfied without the meat course. I opted for purchasing Chef’s vegetarian cookbook (which he signed), and hope to feel inspired to learn a new technique or two in the future, and you’ll definitely be finding radishes in my garden next spring. I would highly recommend Arpege for a special evening out in Paris! Cheers!