Le Nemrod
51, rue Cherche-Midi, 6th
M°Sèvres-Babylone
Tel 01 45 48 17 05
On Monday night I met up with David Lebovitz and my friend Jeanne, who comes to Paris every Monday (she’s a flight attendant). We were all starving and looking for somewhere good to eat in the 6th. You’d think a food writer, a travel writer and a flight attendant could make this easy, but all of us had our own idea of where to go.
Finally David recommends the brasserie Le Nemrod for the great steak-frites, and since neither Jeanne nor I had been before, we hop on some Vélib’ bikes and head on over. It’s not far from the Bon Marché, but just enough off the beaten tourist track to keep the quality high. It’s on the corner, with a large covered terrace, typical Parisian brasserie decor, and a professional and attentive wait staff.
The menu has a large selection of salads and steaks, but we all crack for one of the specials of the day, a steak with a ‘brick’ of cheese on top, accompanied by a baked potato drowning in salted butter. Yum!
My steak with cheese and baked potato.
We order them à point (medium) with a plate of frites and a bottle of red, a Gamay, I think…I let David pick it. “It might be a bit dry for you,” said the waiter with a concerned look on his face. “No, dry is good!” says David.
Except when it comes to steak.
Our steaks are a bit too well done for Jeanne’s taste. There’s barely a hint of pink. She asks the waiter, very politely, if he could take it back and make it more rare. David and I hold our breath. The waiter smile and takes the plate away. It comes back medium-rare, like she wanted it. Don’t try this unless you’re a beautiful redhead with perfect French. 😉
Jeanne got her steak…now can she figure out the salt?
The food is, overall, perfect. The fries are crisp (we asked the waiter specifically to cook them a bit longer for us), and the service very pleasant. Our bottle of wine, dish of the day and fries came out to about €25/person.
Highly recommended. Just make sure you ride a bike or walk home afterwards to burn some of those calories!
My husband and I found Le Nemrod by accident while on our honeymoon in Paris. It was one of the highlights. The best frites and croque-monsieur, afternoon ice cream etc. Nice staff/service and great food. Yum!
Well, if you’re up for it, I’d welcome a full review for the site. No time to get over there myself, alas. 😉
Now Heather, you know perfectly well that, in Paris, "near" does not mean "like". La Panètiere is in a quiet neighborhood buried on the rue de Maison de Dieu, across Avenue de Maine, and in no wise partaking of the station’s noise and grime. La Cérisaie is on the very pleasant well-treed Edgar-Quinet, and has one of the best value/price ratings in the city. btw, the name of the Italian restaurant in question has something to do with Naples (hence the Napoleonic N all over) and it is on rue St. Placide.
Yeah, but then I’d have to go near the Gare de Montparnasse…what a depressing place to eat. Noisy, tacky, neon, and full of weirdos. There’s a reason it’s cheaper. I’ll just have to avoid the stringy duck legs. 😉 I’m guessing the Italian place is Le Cherche-Midi? There are so many great Italian restaurants in Paris!
I am glad that you three had a good meal and that the waiter was responsive. I must say, however, that the new ownership has not kept up what the Nemrod used to be.It was here that we first experienced gésiers confits and the other goodies of the Périgord, and other excellent regional salads, enormous things in deep bowls. We returned over and over again.When we returned last spring, the salads were smaller, the duck legs were dry and stringy, and the menu limited and even more expensive than before. A neighbor informed us that the place was under new ownership, and referred us to the Italian place back down the street. We don’t go to Paris to eat Italian food, but it was much much better.There are some excellent small new places in Montparnasse that you might want to look into (and eat at).La Panètiere, for instance, is delightful and unbelievable inexpensive and classic to boot. And if you want to dine, La Cérisaie near the Gare du Montparnasse is very fine. Each place has one chef with a sous-chef, and that’s about it.