Best Bites 2024: Marseille

It can be hard to narrow down our notable Marseille food memories from the year into a finite list. This dynamic port city makes for a colorful culinary destination, a place where traditional Provençal cuisine coexists alongside – and at times, is infused with – the many international influences brought here by travelers, immigrants, and creative chefs alike. From Colombian bakes to Medjool dates, sit-down dinners to fresh market finds, these are just a few of our favorite bites from 2024 in Marseille.

Vitello Tonnato from À Moro

We return again and again to À Moro for the dreamy vitello tonnato, which is a standard on their menu. Vitello tonnato is an unexpected surf and turf recipe from the 18th century, originating in the Piemonte region of Italy. A simple but extraordinarily delectable cold dish, it’s typically served as an antipasto or light lunch, made with thinly sliced, cooked veal and served with a creamy tuna-anchovy sauce, squeezed lemon and capers. In original records, the recipe only included anchovies and capers, which were used to add flavor to the veal. In 1891, Pellegrino Artusi included tuna in the recipe in his cookbook, Mastering The Art of Eating (Scienza in cucina et l’arte di mangiar bene). The unusual combination of the velvety texture of the veal, the brininess of the fish, the tartness of the lemon and capers is addictive and À Moro’s version is the toast of our town. – Annie Etheridge

Chantilly (whipped cream) from Royaume De La Chantilly

It’s the most wonderful time of the year: time to eat and eat and eat again. One of our favorite bites for the holiday season is the sugary, fluffy Chantilly (whipped cream) from Royaume De La Chantilly (“Kingdom of Chantilly”). Opened in 1917, people travel from all over the region to this shop for their cheeses, Echiré butters, eggs, pastas and specifically for the homemade Chantilly. The ideal sweet topping for fresh fruit, a holiday tart or, if you ask the kids in the room, the perfect bite to eat right out of the bowl. The recipe from Royaume De La Chantilly has stood the test of time. A simple, sweet cloud of cream to top any holiday dessert. – Annie Etheridge

Profiteroles and Affogato from Mon Gâté

Fabien Pouchol, a Parisian transplant to Marseille who has lived here for 26 years, has recently opened his shop Mon Gâté, which makes fresh, to-order profiteroles and choux pastries. Long linked to the aristocracy, choux pastries look and taste royal. A beautiful, delicate puff pastry filled with cream…now that’s living. Pouchol has created a menu that includes profiteroles and choux pastries stuffed with his homemade flavored creams like pistachio cream and cream with fleur d’orange, to name a few. The pastries are all hot from the oven and made to order. One of the very best is Le Prince Du Piemonte (the Prince of Piemonte), a profiterole stuffed with hazelnut cream (the nuts are from Piemonte, Italy), pecans, topped with ground roasted hazelnuts and fleur de sel (salt.) We decided to indulge and accompany our pastry with the Affogato (Italian dessert of ice cream or gelato with a shot of hot espresso.) Pouchol’s version is with homemade bourbon vanilla ice cream! Mon Gâté is a Marseillais expression that means a big hug. This small little shop offers up big, giant hugs in the form of the choux! – Annie Etheridge

Medjool dates from Noailles market

The world’s oldest cultivated fruit, grown for at least 6,000 years, dates are considered an integral food source in many cultures all over the globe. Stemming from the Greek word dactylus, meaning finger or toe, the word “date” first appeared in the English language around 1300. Medjool dates grow on date palms from the Middle East and North Africa and are considered to be the prize of all varieties. Larger in size, with a sweet, chewy texture, this diamond of fruit can be found in most any market in Marseille, but for the very best Medjool dates, we head to quartier Noailles. The fruit is an important ingredient in a favorite Provençal holiday tradition, les treize desserts. One of our favorite spots to shop in Noailles for this treat is Le Palais d’Aladin. – Annie Etheridge

Pandebono at El Barrio Marsella

If Noailles is known as the “belly of Marseille” for its central location and bevy of edible offerings, El Barrio Marsella is its bellybutton, planted in the neighborhood’s heart at the crossroads of Rue d’Aubagne and Rue Vacon. Here, Latin American street food is served with a smile by owner Juan Pulgarin. The Colombian chef is famous for his succulent meat tacos. For me, his pandebono steals the show. Like a bigger Brazilian pão de queijo or a brawnier version of dainty French gougères, the cheese bread from Juan’s homeland tastes like it is pure fromage – as if Juan forgot to add flour and just put a hunk of cheese directly in the oven. Pandebono’s airiness comes from silky yucca and corn flour. The toasty pandebono pairs perfectly with Colombian café – Juan trained as a coffee roaster. Incidentally, my first Marseille apartment was across the street. Since Juan set up shop, I’m regretting the move. – Alexis Steinman

Diner insolite at Salin-de-Giraud

We traversed snow-white mountains of salt to reach our table, 150 lucky diners floating atop a pink salt marsh. On the left, the setting Camargue sun illuminated our faces in rose gold. On the right, the rising moon painted the sky in fifty shades of blue and red. The magic of the Diners Insolites series (insolite means “out of the ordinary” in French) is that they are so much more than what you eat. Yes, Chef Fanny Aimerito regaled us with Provencal stuffed calamari, fried capers, and octopus salad. Yet, what I remember is how special it felt to take part in a meal that could never be repeated. The spectacular setting surrounded by salt. The terroir crunching beneath my feet. The whipping wind that made the night cinematic, blowing wine bottles over and bewitching my friends and I with endless peals of laughter. The icing on the cake? A documentary crew filming Chef Emmanuel Perrodin, the maestro behind these enchanting dinners, put me on camera. Immortalizing the eve – and giving me my French television debut. – Alexis Steinman

Dafina at Les Rigoles

I first tasted dafina when a friend’s grandmother made the emblematic Moroccan Jewish meat, potato, and chickpea stew. The traditional dish simmers all night so that religious Jews avoid using the oven on Shabbat. I assumed you could never find it in a restaurant, so imagine my surprise, and delight, to find it at a trendy new wine bar, Les Rigoles. Turns out the chef, Johann Barichasse, has Franco-Maghreb-Jewish origins. He uses his mom’s recipe, explaining that in the 1970s, “Women used to bring their dafina to the village oven for the local baker to cook when Shabbat forbade them to.”

Barichasse sticks to the overnight simmering at Les Rigoles. His dafina tasted exactly as I remembered, comfort fare enriched with North African spices and topped with the dish’s delicious quirk: whole eggs cooked in their shells and tinted brown from bathing in gravy. On the first cold snap of the winter, the dafina was a body-warming gift, the hands-down favorite amongst my friends. On this night where these friends felt like family, this dish oft-savored at home felt right at home. – Alexis Steinman

Pain perdu at Maison M&R

One might say it’s an improbable mix: a café that sells carb-loaded pastries steps from a beach of bikini-clad bodies. But it’s impossible to resist the baked goods at Maison M&R. They are so temptingly displayed at the open front window it would take monk-like discipline to pass them up. My sinful pleasure is the pain perdu, a generous wedge of buttery brioche bathed in salted caramel – served warm and with the familial warmth that Chef Anais inherited from her grandmother. The pain perdu is particularly divine the morning after a late night of imbibing, replacing the bitter taste in my mouth (in French, “hair of the dog” is “gueule de bois,” a “wooden mouth”) with comforting sweetness. It also replenishes the calories I burn off at my waterfront Afrovibe dance class nearby. It’s all about balance for this Libra. – Alexis Steinman

Published on December 17, 2024

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