Steak Frites appears as a signature dish in 1 France cities. See each city's local variant and where to eat it.
Steak frites · Paris
Steak frites is the dish Paris built into its bistro grammar: contre-filet or onglet pulled saignant, hand-cut fries fried twice, butter sauce or just sea salt on the side.
The Parisian bistro form of steak frites took shape in the second half of the 19th century, when Belgian-style frites travelled to Paris bistros and the slim contre-filet cut became the city's default beef. By the 1930s, the dish was the standard set lunch across working-class quarters of the 11e and 12e. Yves Camdeborde's 1990s bistronomie movement, then Bertrand Grébaut and the neo-bistros after, kept steak frites on the carte but moved the meat sourcing onto farmer-named cuts. Le Relais de l'Entrecôte, founded 1959, codified the no-choice salad-then-steak-then-frites format with secret-recipe butter sauce that the chain now runs across four addresses.
Where to eat in Paris:
- Bistrot Paul Bert
- Le Relais de l'Entrecôte
- Bouillon Chartier
- Le Bon Georges
- Robert et Louise