I know it sounds blasphemous but one of my favorite restaurants in
Paris is an Italian joint. Casa Bini lies just south of the Boulevard
Montparnasse in a two-story building housing the family of Mrs. Anna
Bini. The food is traditional Puglian with a large menu of classics and
house favorites that never change. The principal allure of the place is
the leaflet of daily specials. I have rarely encountered the same dish
twice and the specials always impress so much so that my family, and
most people I know in Paris, list Casa Bini as one of their favorites.
I had dinner there a few days ago with a couple of my cousins and the food was delicious as always. The nice thing about a place like Casa Bini is that you always know what to expect; friendly staff, dusty pictures of the Italian countryside, and dimly lit dining rooms. It is the culinary delights coming out of the bustling kitchen that are novel. My cousins and I arrived at about 8 to the warm welcome of the eldest Bini son, a small round man with a baldhead and thickly Italian accent. As was expected we all ordered from the daily offerings boasting tons of fresh seafood and other seasonal ingredients from the best Parisian markets.
I started out with the duo de langoustines,
an intricate dish of roasted langoustines, poached scallops, and a sun
dried tomato and squash ragout with micro greens. The langoustines were
delicious of course; a tasty delight however prepared that is in my top
ten favorite ingredients of all time. Honestly. The scallops were
excellently cooked as well and paired nicely with the warm squash salad
brightened by aged balsamic. My cousin Nick who sat to my left in photo
range had the courgettes farci
or stuffed zucchini. The small hollowed out zucchini beds were filled
with sweet pork sausage spiced with fennel and chili flakes accompanied
by a simple fennel and arugula salad.
The fresh pastas are made every morning at Casa Bini and I usually take a pasta course as my main or secondi
instead of roast meat or poultry. About once a month I dream about the
linguini with langoustines and cherry tomatoes but alas it was not on
the menu that night much to my chagrin. I chose instead the linguini alla tonno
or linguini with fresh tuna. The pasta was tossed in a light tomato
sauce with fresh tuna, olives, and capers. Delicious and rustic as good
Italian always is meant to highlight the ingredients themselves rather
than the extent of their cooking process.
Nick had the asparagus risotto smelling of nutty Parmesan with little green spears poking out here and there. It was good though I doubted the seasonality and would have suggested something a little more exotic but to each his own. It was a wonderful meal all around and I highly recommend Casa Bini regardless of the fact that it is an Italian restaurant in the city of lights.
Casa Bini: 36, rue Grégoire de Tours 75006 Paris
Originally published on the food blog Pomander Saveur.