4466 WORLD’S BEST RESTAURANTS SEPTEMBER 2019
PARIS PRESENTS an interesting
conundrum for the hungry traveler
these days. Do you blow your budget
on one of the city’s extremely high-
end tasting menus? Do you follow the
cool kids to the casual wine bars, or
try to find the best classic bistro? The
answer, if you have the time and the
money, is all of the above. But within
all of these categories, I struggled to
find one single meal that felt essential.
Instead, I found that meal at
Saturne, a restaurant adhering
neither to fashion nor tradition but
somehow exhibiting the best of
both. The seasonal menu was one
of the most ethereal meals I’ve had,
beginning with a raw oyster hiding
under a froth of watercress mousse,
asparagus wrapped in garlic leaf,
and a tiny tart holding fava beans
topped with a cream made from
Tomme de Savoie cheese and dotted
with tiny flowers.
Raw bonito came in a pool of
intensely fresh asparagus jus and a
drizzle of green pepper oil, garnished
with pickled white asparagus and
radish flowers. Tenderly cooked cod
came under a mound of fresh peas,
with lemon pith used to great effect
as a lightly bitter counterpoint to the
sweet fish and vegetables.
Chef Sven Chartier, who worked
under Alain Passard at L’Arpège, was
only 24 when he opened Saturne
in 2010. He is also responsible for
encouraging serious talent elsewhere
in the city. (It was his group that took
over Clown Bar in 2014.)
In the months since I ate here,
Chartier has announced plans to
close the restaurant in October and
focus on a new project for 2020.
While it could have been omitted
from this list for that reason, to do so
would have denied some folks two
months or so of delicious eating. Visit
now if you can, and discover why,
in this moment, when I shut out
the hype and really focus on what
experience gave me the most delight,
there is no question. It was Saturne.
SATURNE
THE NOTES ON MY ITINERARY said to
take a cab from my Puglia hotel to
Antichi Sapori, but there are no cabs
in Montegrosso, so the innkeeper
drove me herself. “We call it a town,”
she said as we pulled up to the res-
taurant, “but really Montegrosso
is just one street.”
Set among the endless olive groves
of Puglia, Antichi Sapori is the pas-
sion project of Pietro Zito, who tends
to a large garden nearby, much of
which is set aside for wild greens
and herbs. Zito’s aim is to keep the
historic cooking traditions of the
region alive. Everything about this
place embodies the word rustic, from
the dining room with its farm-tool
decorations to its hearty cooking.
Though there is an à la carte menu,
the set menu costs around $45 and
is an obscene amount of food. You
might start with a bowl of fresh fava
ANTICHI SAPORI beans topped with sharp cheese, a
smattering of antipasti, toast with a
puree of wild herbs, baked artichoke
hearts, and more. Then come the two
servings of pasta, before you move
on to the main course (grilled sau-
sage, pork, or sometimes donkey),
then five or six desserts.
Antichi Sapori captures the heart
of Italian hospitality: It’s outrageously
generous in its cooking and in its
spirit. I left fat and happy.
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HIGHLY COMMENDED
Despite chef Sota Atsumi leaving
in 2017, Paris’ Clown Bar is still
outrageously good, thanks to new
chef Axel Gallart’s flawless execu-
tion of the dishes that made it
famous. Gallart serves a version
of the chocolate mousse that is
a signature dish at Saturne, but
here it’s a decadent warm froth—
a thing of pure and evil genius.
PARIS, FRANCE
MONTEGROSSO, ITALY
PHOTOGRAPHY: CEDRIC ANGELES
