Forget the big names and put away the guidebook, for a taste of some of the best eats Paris has to offer, be ready to head underground.

By Dana McMahan

With Michelin-starred restaurants and legendary food purveyors competing for the gourmand’s attention on seemingly every corner, Paris offers some of the world’s most famous and best-known opportunities for Foodies. But for those searching for something a little more under the radar, it should come as no surprise then that the nascent “underground restaurant” scene that has been cropping up everywhere from Sydney to Vienna is alive and well in the capital of gourmet, offering those who are in the know an unforgettable dining experience unlike any they’ve had before.

On a trip to Paris last March, I dined on ten sumptuous courses at Hidden Kitchen, one such underground restaurant. Several months before my trip, I e-mailed Braden Perkins and Laura Adrian, the American couple who run Hidden Kitchen, hoping to obtain an elusive reservation. Luckily there was room for two available the week I was going to be in town, so they took down my e-mail address and told me they’d “be in touch.” I waited patiently for months but heard nothing until about a week before the big day when an e-mail arrived in my inbox containing directions to the restaurant along with a cryptic final set of instructions: “If anyone asks who you are, just say you’re friends of Laura’s coming over for a dinner party.” (more…)