Paris: Carboni’s

Perfect for date night, dinner with the parents or a group of friends, Carboni is Owners Sabrina Goldin and Stéphane Abby’s “ode to Italy” – their way. Situated on a picturesque neighborhood corner in the historic Marais, the popular restaurant (with its own gorgeous downstairs cocktail bar under vaulted ceilings in a former 18th c. wine cellar) is where you’ll find bare walls, buttery leather banquettes and tilted mirrors reflecting the sunlit space during the day and pure candlelight at night. On the menu?  You can count on their classics such as fresh hand-made pasta, Vitello tonnato (slow-cooked veal, tuna emulsion & capers), Rossini potato purée dressed with truffle oil & meat jus, Potato hash-brown layered with sour cream, caviar and lard di colonnata, Lobster and beef cheek & lemon espuma, Veal cutlet Milanese and more. Some of the best dishes for me this year? The Raviolo-ng (long raviolo) crème bleu d’Auvergne stracciatella and chili sauce and the (pictured) Pici Cacio e Pepe with marinated yolk. For natural wine drinkers – their wine list reads like a who’s who of small independent wine producers from Europe.