Il Prezzemolo – Authentic Italian Food in the Marais

Il Prezzemolo – Authentic Italian Food in the Marais

Eating a nice Italian pizza is already equal to a good time, but when it’s time to cut your pizza with a pair of scissors, in a decor that would resemble a real Italian pizzeria (and not the cliché checkered tablecloth and giant pepper grinder restaurants), the experience becomes unforgettable. And that is exactly what Il Prezzemolo offers.

The restaurant owner is a real Italian from the outskirts of Rome and he likes his pizzas just the way he would find them in his native country. It is love that brought him to Paris, and although he likes the French capital, the pizzas were just not good enough when he arrived. That’s when the idea struck him: why not open a small and delicious pizzeria “just like in my little town”, as a side project? So, out of pure passion and desire, Il Prezzemolo (“Parsley” in Italian) opened in 2009.

The manager wanted to offer the best pizza in town, and this is by no means an easy task! The secret is easier to read than it is to implement: importing directly the best bio ingredients from little villages of the Italian countryside. As for fish and vegetables, Il Prezzemolo buys the best fresh and bio products from the market. With the best ingredients in hand, Chef Antonio makes everything in house: bread, pizza dough, tomato sauce… The 33 pizzas on the menu come at an average price of 15€.

In order to make good pizzas, you have to have good teachers. The manager took pizza making classes at the Italian Pizza Academy and can now train his own chefs. The crust is so thin that you can use the provided scissors instead of a knife to put your pizza. Although the 4 cheeses pizza (4 fromaggi) is the most popular at Il Prezzemolo, the chef recommends the Italiana and the spicy Diabolina. Take a glass of Italian wine to go with your pizza, as the wine here is also directly imported from Italian traditional villages.

One thing is sure once you get in Il Prezzemolo: you will have a nice time. The all Italian staff will warmly greet you, but unless you have made a reservation (especially during weekends), they might politely tell you that they are fully booked… Il prezzemolo is a very small restaurant which would not be recommended for a quiet romantic dinner. Think of it as a classic trattoria, where everyone sits next to each other, so don’t be surprised if your neighbor overhears your conversation.

Away with all the clichés, as you won’t find any checkered tablecloths or ancient Roman sculpture replicas here. Instead, the decor is that of a modern Italian restaurant. Modern black tables without tablecloths are set between walls on which hang large drawings of Marianne Maury Kaufmann, a French artist and friend of the manager. These paintings are for sale, should you want to have one at home. In the back of the restaurant, old black and white films starring Italian actor Totò are projected on the wall.

In the beginning, there were mostly italiens coming to Il Prezzemolo to get a taste of home. Surely enough, the word spread out that some fine pizzas were made in this small restaurant, and Parisians from all nationalities started tasting the pizzas, and came back for more! Some Italian families on holiday in Paris even come to Il Prezzemolo every night for dinner!

The new pasta area of Il Prezzemolo, opened a few years later, is located in the next building. Whereas Il Prezzemolo theoretically only serves pizza, and the sister restaurant only pasta, you will see waiters coming in and out of both restaurants to bring one dish to the other restaurant. So at Il Prezzemolo, you can also taste the delicious pasta. Everything said about the pizzas (ingredients, freshness, taste…) can be said about the pastas! Just be sure to finish your plate, or the chef might get offended!