La Coupole
102 Blvd de Montparnasse
75014 Paris, France
Tel. +33 0143201420
The dishes
Large red label Burgundy snails
Crustaceans Seafood Platter (half lobster, half crab, 3 langoustines, 3 organic prawns from Madagascar, shrimp
Caesar Salad
Crêpes Suzette flambéed with Grand Marnier Cordon Rouge
La Coupole, one of the moist iconic and famous brasseries of the Ville Lumière marvelously located in its pulsing heart of Montparnasse, has been an ode to the Parisian joie de vivre and good food and wine since 1927. And even after all these years, the place remains packed to the rafters, with happy locals and numerous tourists regaling themselves in the brasserie’s beautiful Art Deco setting. (In fact, La Coupole is listed as a historic monument in recognition of its contributions to the historical, social and cultural fabric of France’s capital.) I have had the good fortune of eating at La Coupole many times, and am always happy to go back, though fairness dictates that I say recent visits have left me wondering if there has been a recent dip in food quality (some of the dishes, at least).
La Coupole was opened on December 20, 1927 by Ernest Fraux and René Lafon and it soon became an central hangout for the city’s large artistic and literary community; expats and locals alike flocked to its tables and its dance floor (opened on December 24, 1928, the basement area La Coupole Dance Hall, saw numerous musicians perform; it has apparently been recently been reopened after many years of being closed). Among the almost endless names of famous names who were at home at La Coupole in its hey day, Jean Cocteau, Louis Aragon, Joséphine Baker, Alberto Giacometti, Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir, Marc Chagall, Pablo Picasso, Man Ray, Édith Piaf, Georges Braque, Jacques Prévert, Marc Chagall, Henry Miller, Marlene Dietrich, André Malraux, and Ernest Hemingway (who admittedly never met a Paris party spot he didn’t seem to like, or miss out on one, for that matter). Nowadays, La Coupole is perhaps most famous for its famous bronze cast sculpture, La Terre, a work by the sculptor Louis Derbré situated in the center of the restaurant. Unveiled to the public in 1993, the original revolving version of La Terre (1972) is actually located in Ikebukuro Square in Tokyo (with a replica fashioned in resin located in the Paris square of place des Reflets at La Défense).
