Last week I received an email from Damien Richardot, who invited me to come to his new restaurant and cheese shop, Beau & Fort. Richardot was a former partner and founder of Pinson Café, a successful vegetarian and semi-vegan restaurant in the Marais, which I wrote about in 2012.
I arrived at Beau & Fort on the gritty and congested rue Faubourg Montmartre to find an appealing and inviting storefront of painted industrial gray offset by mint green awnings and chairs. Inside was a myriad of refrigerated glass cases and stacked wood crates displaying a delectable selection of cheeses and a contemporary restaurant with a hint of mid-century furnishings and décor.
I sat on a banquette and pondered what to order. The lunch menu had a formule of plat and dessert for 15€ with a selection of five dishes each and what I liked was there were also non-cheese offerings. I did end up choosing a cheese dish, baked Camembert encrusted with herbs and pistachios, served with roasted seasonal vegetables.
Damien joined me a few minutes later and explained the concept of the shop and restaurant. His goal was to have a cheese shop and the restaurant to serve high-quality food accompanied by cheese, not the standard cheese platter and wine bar. He also said vegetables were of supreme importance to balance the menu and he sourced a small farm in the Eure region. Growing up on a farm in the Jura region and drinking fresh milk straight from the cows was a big influence in his decision to open the shop and restaurant, bringing him back to his roots. His specialty cheeses are Savoie tomme, Mont’ d'Or, Comté, and Arabis.
My baked Camembert was excellent and not too heavy or rich, as it was served on a half-scooped out bun and the roasted carrots, mushrooms, and fennel had a faint buttery taste and texture. Other appealing menu items included a cheeseburger topped with Raclette, Buratta cheese with arugula, roasted eggplant, and toasted almonds, and a non-cheese plate of the day, roasted pork filet and menus change seasonally.
Damien Richardot
The second page of the menu listed the selection of cheese plates divided into three sections: Fresh- with seasonal cheeses (spring cheeses included Mozzarella, and two goat cheeses, Imported Cheeses such as Manchego from Spain, Gorgonzola from Italy and beer washed cheese from Belgium. French cheeses are the third category. Three kinds of cheese are offered on one platter with a fourth “surprise” cheese and for the full immersion experience, the Big Cheese features nine kinds of cheese with a tenth surprise one. One last menu item was the pairing cheese with a beverage, for example, Comté cheese with black tea with dates or Manchego with white grape juice.
I realized at a certain point that Beau & Fort was a play on words, because if you connect them, it’s Beaufort, a well known hard French cheese.
The cheese shop up front is also open at dinnertime, so you may purchase them before or after your meal.
Upstairs is another dining room than can be rented for private events and cheese tastings, a fun idea for a birthday party, wedding, bachelor or hen party.
37 Rue du Faubourg Montmartre, 75009
Metro: Cadet or Grand Boulevards
Open everyday lunch and dinner
https://www.beauetfort.com/
For episode 9 of A Bite of Paris, I went to Comme a Lisbonne, where they serve pastel de nata, an amazing custard tart from Portugal.
Click here or below to watch.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5g-07qy-Wc0&feature=youtu.be
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