When my mama is in town we all eat well. She cooks up delicious food and is always up for trying new restaurants or eating at “old favorites.” On Thursday night we spent our last night at le Mary Celeste– a restaurant in the Marais. I’ve eaten here a number of times over the last two years and it never disappoints.

Le Mary Celeste serves up small plates and cocktails to a very international clientele (a lot of “Yelpers” stop in). We started dinner with the slow baked celery root. The Danish chef covers the celery root with his homemade miso paste and then slow cooks it for a couple of days. The dish is served with a lemon purée and micro greens. I was surprised by the depth of flavor and smooth texture. We followed the celery root up with the crispy pork belly sandwich and a beef ragu on homemade pasta. To finish our meal we asked our multi-lingual server to surprise us.

To our delight, we discovered their orange cake with sesame seed whipped cream and sesame seed cookies. The cake was moist and dense. I could have ordered one to go– and I’m a chocolate person. The taste lingered so long that I was still thinking about it this morning and decided to make a lemon pound cake with a simple sugar-lemon glaze (I halved both recipes.) Yum.

If you’re looking for a place to feel branché (hip) and eat well, reserve a table online or show up early for a table at le Mary Celeste.

P.S. I’ve heard their cocktails are good too– you just may need to ask the server to translate them for you. Or, do as my mom does and just let them know what you like and they’ll serve you up a fresh, custom drink.