As the French expression goes, the chef at L’Épicurien “fell into the pots and pans as a kid.” Nicolas Groell (ex-Gordon Ramsay) is still swimming around in them at this gourmet restaurant done up with bare stones and carved wooden rafters, which he runs in tandem with his partner Noémie Mann in the heart of Colmar’s Petite Venise neighborhood. The bottles of wine lining the walls are just waiting to be taken down and paired with beautiful farm-fresh meats – Iberian pork pluma, pigeon, Black Angus Aberdeen beef, etc… We opted for a delicate Mediterranean shrimp carpaccio dotted with trout roe, buckwheat and lime; followed by a perfectly prepared Scottish Highland Longhorn ribeye steak, served with some legendary fries cooked in goose fat and a thick béarnaise sauce; before a good raspberry sorbet from the Alba ice cream shop, lightly covered in raspberry brandy. Other options for another time: octopus and summer vegetables dressed in currant vinegar; wild prawns with sweet potato mousseline and a citrus-ginger emulsion, or perhaps a café gourmand (espresso served with a miniature chocolate mousse and crème brûlée, etc.) for an old-timey dessert. // Gwen Jacquère 
FEELING THIRSTY? : A plethoric wine list, where rarely-seen bottles (those by Chave and Reynaud in the Rhone or Leroy and Prieuré-Roch in Burgundy, for example) cozy up next to big Alsatian names (Zind-Humbrecht, Boxler, Trimbach, Weinbach, Mann…), and a dozen wines are served by the glass, including Les Ruisseaux, an Ardèche viognier from Jean-Claude Marsanne, or Luxe, Calme et Volupté, a Gard red from Le Clos des Centenaires (€5.90 each). 
PRICE: : Set menus €23-40 (weekday lunch), kids’ menu €14.50, à la carte €58-66.