Swann et Vincent

 

Swann Et Vincent is another charming small restaurant in the Marais neighborhood of Paris. Located on a narrow side street, it could easily get missed if you didn’t know about it. As it happened, it was on the shortest route between our hotel and Chez Paul, our favorite restaurant in Paris, or we may have missed it ourselves. This spot is decidedly Italian in nature, but the food has a very French influence in the way they handle classic Italian recipes. It’s clearly a French homage to Italian food or perhaps, as in America, Italian immigrants used what was available locally to try and recreate what they had eaten in Italy and it morphed into something unique.

 

One thing’s for certain, the bread was hard to visually identify as either French or Italian, but that held no importance because it was the taste that mattered. This herb and green olive baguette was 100% Mediterranean. But it was the fact that the herbs were Herbes de Provence  that  definitely made it French, along with a very soft crumb. Olives were also spanning both culinary traditions with their briny taste enhanced by an addition of olive oil.

There was no contest with the charcuterie platter. While the name is strictly French, the cold cuts were undeniably Italian. The plate included Mortadella , prosciutto, salami, coppa and even a bit of Bresaola the Northern Italian dry cured beef. All were very good, very authentic, but I doubt they were house made. After going to at least 7 major outdoor markets on this trip, I discovered that nearly every one of them had vendors selling Italian imported cheese, charcuterie and other foodstuffs.

 

The Carbonara aficionado at our table pulled a switch and ordered the Tagliatelle  with Gorgonzola Sauce. It was a decent interpretation of the classic and he was very satisfied with the selection. Heavy on cream and heavy on Gorgonzola and I suspect some Parmigiano, it was rich and satisfying. I in turn ordered the Pasta Carbonara, a very uncharacteristic rendition of the Italian classic. It looked like a cream sauce, but it wasn’t entirely made of cream. The  pasta with a bit of bacon, perhaps pancetta since it was not smoked, also had a sprinkling of parsley. There was no evidence of egg in the taste, even though the menu states that yolks were used, and no black pepper, two essential ingredients for an authentic Italian Carbonara. The cream was a dead giveaway that the chef was not Italian, as an Italian would lose his citizenship for adding cream to Carbonara! Even though I refuse to buy any Italian cookbook if cream is present in the recipe, I enjoyed this pasta, I just could not bring myself to call it Carbonara.

 

The atmosphere of this bistro/trattoria was lively, even early in the evening, and it was mainly serving French patrons. The decor was dark and a bit brooding, but not the clientele. To a person traveling, it was a good opportunity to get a sense of the community, but not feel like part of the touring hoard that can ruin the ambiance for regular patrons.  The service was good and there are so many specials offered each night, we’ll be going back when we again stay in the Marais.

http://www.swann-vincent.fr/en/restaurant-italian-paris-12-bastille-menu.html

7, rue Saint Nicolas 75012 Paris Tel : 01 43 43 49 40 Open daily for lunch and dinner Between the Bastille and Ledru Rollin metro stops