Le Céleste

Fans of scratch tickets and lovers of clean wines have finally found some common ground: Le Céleste, a new generation PMU (aka a sports betting bar)! Two former PR people, Léa Dautruche and Joseph Maerten-Sadion, invested in one of the last bastions of the 11th arrondissement to have escaped Paris’ naturophile fever and turned it into a cute neighborhood bar, equipped with wooden and Formica furniture, an embroidered portrait of Johnny Hallyday, neo-retro tableware and a Ricard pitcher that’s been repurposed as a vase… That’s where normcore drinkers get served their choice of Konrad pilsners or IPA and wheat beer from the Brasserie du Grand Paris (€5.50 to €6.50); spirited natural wines – a German white from Brand Brothers, an Italian skin-contact wine from Danilo Marcucci, a Portuguese red by Folias De Baco… (€5.50 to €7 a glass, €23-25 a bottle); shaken classics, like gin & tonics or Moscow mules (€7); or this dive bar’s specialty, Picon beer (€5.50 a pint), a bitter favorite of the owners – who are from Moselle and the Vosges, respectively. And for something to nibble on? Simple snacks: Gordal olives, Catalan fuet saucisson, Brillat-Savarin cheese… Jackpot! You’ve won a new HQ. // Ana Kirpad