Ken Stringfellow’s Foreign Correspondence: Chez Paul

You probably know Ken Stringfellow as the co-leader of Northwestern power-pop all-timers the Posies or as a sideman for R.E.M. or latter-day Big Star. He’s also a solo artist (we’re particularly fond of the soft-rock American beauty that is 2001’s Touched) and is currently preparing the debut by his Norwegian garage-rock band, the DiSCiPLiNES. Each day this week, magnetmagazine.com guest editor Stringfellow will be filing reports from his home on the European continent.

Stringfellow: There’s a lot I won’t tell you about France. My favorite bakery? Off limits. It already has a line out the door and sells out of stock by noon. My favorite neighborhood eatery is also getting too crowded for my liking. I might give up one gem, later in this guest-editor stint. In the meantime, there’s Chez Paul, which always seems to have room for me, you and everyone else showing up. No reservation at 9 p.m. on a Saturday? No problem; give them five minutes and you’re in. Chez Paul is a clever simulacrum of a classic old place—or perhaps it actually is old. Hard to tell. They had no problem expanding 20 feet next door and making it look exactly the same. But, what’s important is that Chez Paul works in the old ways. The menu choices, and the menu itself, could easily be from 1950. It’s too big and lively to be a bistro, but it’s also much too homey and warm to be a brasserie. It’s got soul. My usual dish? La Tentation de Sant Antoine: breaded and crisp pig tail, foot and snout. They serve an enormous tartare, bigger than your head. (You can disregard B. Kliban’s advice here.) I set up the back room for Spiral Stairs‘ 40th birthday dinner here, and all were pleased.