Sometimes a restaurant arrives that you didn’t know was missing. It seems so obvious now: of course Midtown needed a cute French bistro.
Cozy and informal, Le Parisien is a place to post up with a small group of friends for appetizers and wine before kicking off the weekend. It also feels like a perfect place for a casual business meeting, a first date or a fiftieth.
Le Parisien opened on Dec. 5 in a spot previously occupied by the beloved Café do Brasil, but you’d never know it. The space has been so reimagined that, if you were brought in blindfolded, you’d never guess it was once the vast Brazilian café. Gone are the murals of Cristo Redentor and the burlap coffee bags. The addition of a large bar, along with a wall running down the center to create space for intimate booths and plenty of soft lighting, makes the room nearly unrecognizable.
The room sets the tone. It’s intimate and unfussy, designed for conversation rather than spectacle. Tables are close, the lighting warm, the energy welcoming. It feels less like a destination restaurant and more like a neighborhood fixture—somewhere you could plausibly visit weekly, sometimes for cocktails, sometimes for charcuterie, sometimes for brunch. Always for wine.
It’s nice and new now, but it’s also the kind of place that will be much improved by the patina of a few years and about a thousand bottles of wine. It will benefit from being a little more lived-in, like a good pair of corduroys.
The menu feels like you found a French chef’s well-worn Moleskine of bistro staples: moules frites, poulet rôti, steak au poivre, gnocchi à la Parisienne. For diners conditioned to expect clever reinvention, that restraint may feel almost radical. But at Le Parisien, that seems to be the point. You won’t find fusion or modern flair. You will find beautifully executed classics of French home cooking, served alongside a well-considered list of approachable wines from Rhône to Bourgogne and Loire to Bordeaux. And, of course, Champagne.
Moules frites is an early signal of what Le Parisien does best. The PEI mussels are plump and sweet, opening easily in a shallow bowl filled with a creamy white wine broth scented with garlic, herbs and just enough Dijon to keep things lively. The broth walks a careful line: crème fraîche brings richness, while white wine keeps it from being heavy. Fries arrive hot and crisp, not as a garnish but as an essential companion, quickly enlisted to soak up every last spoonful of sauce. It’s the kind of dish that quietly resets expectations for the rest of the meal.
Steak au poivre leans more assertively indulgent. The ribeye is served with a toasted peppercorn sauce that blooms with warmth rather than sharp heat. Paired with fries, it’s classic French bistro fare at its most satisfying: rich, direct and perfect for sharing.
My recommendation? Opt to share the richest dishes, like the steak au poivre, and add individual salads. The bibb salad was especially lovely, dressed with a Dijon vinaigrette and fresh black pepper. What stood out most was the velvety texture. I’m not sure what they did to that lettuce, but if all salads tasted like that, I’d consider going full rabbit.
The gnocchi à la Parisienne offers a shift in texture and tone. Unlike potato gnocchi, this version is made from baked choux pastry, resulting in a light, pillowy bite. The classic, creamy Chablisienne sauce brings brightness, while oyster mushrooms add savory depth. Finished with Parmesan, the dish lands somewhere between comfort and elegance. Gluten-free diners should be advised that this gnocchi is of the choux variety, rather than the starchy, gluten-free–friendly potato kind.
Even the sides feel comforting. Mornay frites transform a familiar staple into something unapologetically indulgent. The fries are coated in warm, velvety béchamel. It’s the kind of dish that encourages negotiation at the table—you know you should order these to share, but that isn’t as easy as it sounds. Steak tartare doesn’t make enough appearances on menus in the 405, so it was nice to see it here. Escargots, French onion soup and a charcuterie board are also crowd-pleasers in the appetizers section.
Perhaps in a nod to the restaurant group’s other concept, Bar Arbolada, a Parisian burger also appears on the menu. With pub cheese, pickled caramelized onion, foie gras aioli and frites, it’s the bougier French cousin of the Bar Arbolada burger, which was famously called the best double cheeseburger in America by Alton Brown in 2021. Oui, s’il te plaît.
Le Parisien isn’t trying to redefine French food in Oklahoma City. Instead, it focuses on technique and timing. This approach feels particularly well suited to Midtown, where the once-young people who flocked to McNellie’s back in the day have grown up. It’s easy to imagine becoming a regular here, provided you like the barman (and he likes you); the kind of place where you might have a regular table, a standard order, a favorite server.
Le Parisien feels like an ideal place to go with a big group. By offering entrees like the burger, they’ve included a little something for everyone without giving up any of the je ne sais quoi.
It also seems like a perfect brunch spot, and I look forward to trying things like the jambon beurre and the classic French omelette. It also, blessedly, feels like the kind of place that will encourage better behavior than some of the brunch spots around town that shall remain nameless.
Spare a few unseasonably warm days, it’s not quite patio season yet. But once it is, this will likely be a coveted spot. Café do Brasil’s patio was never especially popular, but Le Parisien’s refreshed version feels poised to become a hotspot for connection, consumption and, of course, people-watching. New ideas will be scribbled on the backs of napkins; someone will probably be smoking. Maybe we’ll get a new beat poet out of the deal, or an Okie Hemingway. In any case, it seems fitting that the patio has been completely refurbished, ready for its debut once the days grow longer and the weather cooperates.
For those who have been looking for a new regular spot, I think they’ll find Le Parisien to their liking. I know I’ve been missing the comfortable neighborhood bar we once had in Packard’s. While I haven’t spent enough time here yet to know whether Le Parisien could replace that particular hospitality, the relaxed vibe and well-executed cocktails made for an enjoyable visit—and I’ll be happy to research it further.