IL BOCCACCIO RESTAURANT: WHERE THE FRENCH DO ITALIAN JUST RIGHT!

The restaurant Il Boccaccio in Paris is, as they say in French, “superb.” Actually the restaurant is in the Beverly Hills of Paris, a suburb called Vaacresson. Il Boccaccio is indeed an Italian restaurant, but with a French twist. Everything is locally grown and one can taste it. In addition, Il Boccaccio has an authentic Italian pizza oven. I know, why should one fly to France for pizza, especially since France is known for its own specialties and pizza is not one of them! So, why should one go to all that trouble to dine at Il Boccaccio? Why indeed? Fresh ingredients done the French way, that’s why! Ooh, la la! 

We ordered a charcuterie appetizer for our host, restauranteur Jimmy Shahbazian, who picked us up from our hotel in the ninth arrondissement in Paris and drove us to Il Boccaccio, àbout twenty minutes by car. 

The owner, Ketty, having been informed that my Editor in Chief of FVM Global Magazine, Murray Rosen, tried to avoid animal products, made a vegetarian charcuterie with olive oil and black pepper, which was suspicious to us omnivores, but turned out to be incredibly delectable. Simple, but delicious! The second course was, you guessed it, a vegetarian pizza, perhaps the best we have ever had! (There are eighteen different pizzas on the menu!)

I, being a born-again carnivore, also had the Onglet Angus steak, with a Gorgonzola sauce, a French dish with pommes frites. Yum! Especially the Gorgonzola, which made the dish extraordinary. 

They tried to give me vegetables, but, in the spirit of the French Revolution, I pawned them off on my Editor who also writes under the pseudonym Vegetarian at Large. I did this surreptitiously, of course, not to be rude, because everything was prepared especially for us. We then had the fromage plate, which accounted for another thoroughly satisfactory eperience. After dinner, the owner made us a delicious tiramisu. Heavenly! 

We found out at the end of dinner they had stayed open just for us! All preconceived notions about the French went out the window. Another plus: the prices were very reasonable; for example, my steak was only 24 euros! (And no, we Americans didn’t order cokes!)

In summing up, Il Boccaccio has that je ne sais quoi that French people have perfected so well.