Authentic Sicilian Restaurant in Paris?
 

I know it's crazy to be in Paris and eat Italian food, however this is the my first birthday in a decade that I haven't spent in Italy and I'm homesick alreay.

I'd like to make reservations at an authentic Sicilian restaurant if one exists. I've been looking at a lot of the Italian restuarants in Paris and from the photos they all look SO fancy, they look just like French restaurants and many of them had French owners and chefs. I'm just hoping for a nice trattoria with an Italian chef and owners, wait staff that speak Italian, does that exists in Paris?

It's not so much the price as the atmoshpere, I'm hoping to find a quaint place that actually looks like an Italian trattoria. We'll be eating plenty of French food, so I'd like to plan one special night for my birthday to have really good Italian food.

Any suggestions?

Why is it crazy? Italian food is considered to be on an equal footing with French food in France and is not even considered to be foreign cuisine (just like in the U.S. -- do Americans consider pizza or spaghetti to be foreign food?).

Yes, there are thousands of Italian restaurants in Paris, and many of them are Sicilian (if you consider the fact that there are more than 700 Japanese restaurants in Paris, this is not surprising). Sicilian? I'm sure that hundreds of them are Italian run and with Italian waiters.

Copy and paste this into Google, and you will see what I mean:

restaurants siciliens à Paris

Try this one, but it could be closed on Mondays. Tiny place, Sicilian chef, authentic cuisine.

Casa Vigata
44 rue Leon Frot
75011 Paris
Tel: 01 43 56 38 66

A veritable GOLD MINE! Thanks a million!

My kids' favorite restaurant in Paris is Sicilian. Unfortunately, I can't remember the name of it, but it's on the Avenue Bosquet one block north of the Place Ecole Militaire, on the right.

It's run by a Sicilian family and boy are they characters! It's not fancy at all, but the food is delicious.

StCirq: Do you think it was called Carmine? I see an Italian restaurant called Carmine on 81 Avenue Bosquet?

Nope, that's not it. It's called something like Pizza Tina...I think.

Can't help with Sicilian but there's a great hole in the wall place run by two brothers from Naples at 6, rue Castex.

If Corsican is close enough, try Le Cosi on rue Cujas - a favorite that gets consistently good reviews. www.paris-restaurant-cosi.com