Mediaboss Marketing

When Freddy and Lori Rongier opened Paris 66 in 2009, they had large aspirations but limited means. They couldn't afford much professional equipment in the small Penn Circle space, said Mr. Rongier, so chef Cesar Dubs devised a menu of crepes, salads and a few specials.

The popular restaurant grew profitable, and the Rongiers put that money right back into the business, buying a range and hood, and building a pastry kitchen into the basement, so that Paris 66, still a creperie during the day, could become a full-scale French bistro at night.

Paris 66

Food:

Service:

Atmosphere:

Overall:

Recommended dishes: Beef carpaccio, endive and beet salad, chicken basquaise, carre d'agneau aux truffes, champ de mars galette, passion fruit mousse, la trocadero crepe.

As the restaurant changed, so the did the staff. After Mr. Dubs' visa expired, he returned to France, and Larry Laffont took over the kitchen in early 2011. Mr. Laffont, originally from the Bordeaux region in France, had previously worked in a number of Pittsburgh restaurants, heading up the kitchen at Le Perroquet in Shadyside (now closed), as well as Dish Osteria, Mallorca and Ibiza on the South Side, before leaving the city for several years.

The much-expanded menu hits all the highlights of classic bistro cooking: Escargot in parsley butter, beef carpaccio, duck confit, etc. In spirit, if not precisely in cuisine, it conjures up a casual dinner in Paris, the long narrow space filled with laughter and conversation, the food a delicious reminder of our long love affair with simple French cooking.

Originally posted here:
Paris 66, once a creperie, is now a full-scale French bistro