After parading his bistronomic plates and cocktails on rue des Goncourt in 2019, then hitting back in 2022 on rue de Bruxelles with pizzas by the slice,Elliot Lefèvre is embarking on a new adventure not so far from the Parade: Bagarre, a French-style taqueria.
Nothing surprising, in the end, for this young owner who left for Mexico in 2016 to open a cocktail bar in Mexico City. It was there that he caught the taqueria fever and the tacos that paraded by the dozen. Back in Paris, after opening his first two flourishing businesses, he fell under the spell of French corn tortillas from Gâtinais de Los Cuates, an artisan 50 kilometers from Paris, recognized by the Collège Culinaire de France.
These tortillas, made according to the rules of the art, as in Mexico, inspired him to open his own taqueria in Paris, with French recipes and choice products drawn from the Ile-de-France region and beyond. To achieve this, Elliot Lefèvre has surrounded himself with a crack duo: young chef Yen Nhi Huynh in the kitchen, and Angèle Pampelune, formerly of Rosa Bonheur, as manager.
In detail, fruit and vegetables come from Zingam, fish and shellfish from Thibault, a small-scale fisherman from Normandy, 120-day-old poultry from Ferme Avicole in Dordogne and meat from Châteauneuf in Hauts-de-France.
On La Bagarre's short menu, you'll find carefully-crafted starters and sides, such as an egg marinated in beet vinegar and chipotle mayonnaise (5€), leek croquettes that we were lucky enough to try as a preview, triple-fried chunk potatoes (7€) and, above all, the addictive creamed corn with hazelnut butter and popcorn (7€).
For lunch and dinner, tacos are of course served in pairs on the tables. On the menu, 4 recipes with a French twist, like these beef bourguignon tacos (10€) with onion pickles and fried shallots, these roast chicken and mustard tacos (10€), or these sea bream tacos with chimichurri sauce (11€), probably the most South American tacos in the house. All are accompanied by a homemade sauce made with organic Italian citrus, organic French chili, garlic and fennel seeds.
Since La Bagarre also aims to be a true neighborhood wine and cocktail bar , the restaurant offers a list of natural and biodynamic wines from small French winemakers, as well as cocktails served in bottles to share (€18), veritable elixirs to be savored on the rocks, like this regressive Kawa cocktail with coffee-infused rum and white amaretto.
An address that knocks you out!
This test was conducted as part of a professional invitation. If your experience differs from ours, please mention it in the comments.
Location
La Bagarre
4 Rue de l'Orillon
75011 Paris 11
Prices
Une paire de tacos et une petite assiette, le midi: €15
Une paire de tacos et deux petites assiettes, le midi: €20
