Megan P.
Yelp
I had spent the morning contemplating modern art. During a two-week stint in Paris, I ended up at the ever fascinating Centre Pompidou, a museum I admire deeply and yet at the same time a museum by which I often find myself feeling incomprehensibly drained. As I descended the building's trademark transparent escalators back down into the bustle of Les Halles, I knew that there was only one thing that could revive me in that moment: an ungodly amount of chocolate mousse.
Luckily, I was just a short walk away from the heart of the Marais, where Chez Janou sits poised on a corner beneath a green and white striped awning. The first word that comes to mind upon setting eyes on the place is "darling," although passing through the heavy doors gives way to a whole new landscape of vocabulary -- hip, timeless, quirky, and indisputably cool. (Cool here being pronounced with a French accent, of course.) The walls are tastefully cluttered with colorful remnants of a Parisian past, and exploring them feels almost like going backwards and forwards in time all at once.
If there's a way for a restaurant to win my heart from the get-go, it's a solid welcome. Sometimes that comes in the form of a friendly host or a fun ritual about finding your table. Other times -- and oftentimes -- it comes in the form of olives. From cerignola to castelvetrano (a personal favorite), a small bowl of olives feels to me a lot like an olive branch itself -- it is a predictor of peace, an indication of community, and a signal of good things to come. Of course, this little snack to whet my appetite also happened to be a perfectly savory complement to the undeniably sweet dish my dining companion and I had come for: the establishment's famed chocolate mousse.
As anyone who has passed through the doors of Chez Janou knows, however, this is no ordinary chocolate mousse. It does not come served in a sweet little ramekin garnished with berries and and shaved chocolate or powdered sugar, most certainly not. Instead, it is brought to the table in a mammoth ceramic dish, having almost the appearance of a teacup on steroids. A massive scoop is then procured from the cavernous vessel and ceremoniously flopped over onto a plate to be shared, savored, and lauded by all. When our server asked if we'd like a second scoop, he quickly added "no waste!" A man after my own heart. (And he was right, of course -- one scoop for the two of us most definitely did the trick.)
I was only more smitten when I saw the adorable signature Chez Janou nougat sitting innocently beside my companion's cappuccino, and again when I tucked one of their precious takeaway cards in my wallet. (Another way to win me over -- give me a mini postcard at the end of the meal, and the deal is sealed.) The restaurant was so proud of this special little world it had created, and by association, I had become so too.
Chez Janou is a delightful time capsule into the Paris of yesterday, infused with the flavors and the flair of the modern-day city of love. You'll find more than just an impeccable cure to your sweet tooth -- you'll also find kindness, camaraderie, and an infectious lightheartedness that's far more important than anything that could be plated.
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