I love seafood and had my first authentic lobster roll in Cape Cod years ago at one of my friend’s destination wedding. Funny how life comes full circle. I had interned with the bride at the U.S. Embassy in Paris and now I have found the best lobster rolls thanks to the Embassy’s July Fourth reception. This New England craze has made its way to the City of Lights thanks to Moïse Sfez founder of Homer Lobster the best lobster rolls in Paris…and the world!!!

Jalal and I began the new decade with a New Year’s Eve proposal and so many ideas for a Marie Antoinette meets a Thousand and One Nights/Bollywood wedding this year.  Like the rest of the world, our plans are up in the air at the moment, but we are making the most of #loveinthetimeofcorona!  We are lucky to have each other, the ability to telework, and balcony views to enjoy the sunny spring weather Paris has recently been graced with.  Jalal is getting me up to speed on TikTok and I’m trying to teach him how to cook. Today we were thrilled to discovered that Homer Lobster is available again through Deliveroo, which is just what we needed for a mini Saturday night celebration.

Originally,  Jalal and I were hoping to have our civil ceremony on Good Friday followed by a trip to Keukenhof tulip-garden in Lisse over Easter 🐣 break and a summer reception with friends and family. I was excited to show him around my favorite spring destination.

Once things normalize, I’m pretty sure we will have to redo all of the French paperwork that had already taken months to put together for the civil ceremony. Did you know that the bride and groom have to prove single status to get a license for a civil ceremony and it’s no easy bureaucratic feat! But in true French style, even the designs for the paperwork are Paris chic. In the States most license applications are available online and are standard PDFs. Here you get a pretty portfolio filled with paperwork of course and lots of checklists. All civil ceremonies take place in ornate historic city halls, which makes weddings in France more egalitarian and budget friendly even for luxury experiences. 

Homer Lobster: the Best Lobster Roll in Paris…and the World

The Homer Lobster stand at the Embassy reception, which had hundreds of amazing food stands including gourmet cheese and artisanal ice cream, was by far the most popular with guests queuing up for seconds while still eating their first serving. Chef Sfez won the Down East Lobster Roll World Championship in July 2018 — beating out established contenders from New England.

Sfez has trained with some of the major names on the French culinary scene including at the Peninsula and the Dorchester Group’s Alain Ducasse in London and Le Meurice Paris.

According to the chef, he was seduced by the concept of lobster rolls during a trip to New York years ago and decided to import idea to Paris – but with a French twist of course. Sfez opened the first Homer Lobster outlet in the Marais in February 2018 after testing out the concept at local food markets and a pop up at the BHV Department store. With lots of buzz and a growing clientele, Sfez has quickly expanded to the Left Bank, opening a second Homer Lobster in Odeon.

Sfez claims the success of his recipe is due to the addition of a French touch, which includes seafood from Brittany and a French brioche roll that took seven months to develop. Anything drenched in French butter has my vote! I haven’t spent a lot of time in New England, but a meal at Homer’s transports me home and its on the list of places that I take all of my visitors. It’s where I took Jalal on his first trip to Paris, so he too could experience some American classics!

Making the most of our time in lockdown

Many restaurants and retailers in Paris had already been struggling in 2018-2019 due to the yellow vest movement and general transport strikes. A few of my usual spots had closed even before Covid-19 hit to further challenge restauranteurs. The lack of a long daily commute has allowed me to get back into making more home cooked meals and trying to get creative with limited produce and attempt more complex French recipes. But, I still like to order something once a week to support businesses under stress. The contactless delivery options in place now helps to appease Jalal’s fears and we take precautions in handling the packaging.

The two most popular items on the menu at Homer’s are the classic and Connecticut rolls. The Connecticut is the recipe that garnered the top lobster roll prize for Sfez and includes both lobster and crayfish, which are elevated with lemon butter and a secret housemade mayo sauce. The Connecticut is Jalal’s favorite, while I naturally lean toward the spicy Safran roll which is topped with fresh scallions and infused with Piment d’Espelette (a red pepper from the Pyrenees region), safran, and old bay seasoning.

For the ultimate comfort food, I recommend the lobster grilled cheese which adds cheddar to the house recipe and comes with a pickle. The homemade potato chips are not of the typical fish and chips variety either. I can’t ever choose between the three options (wasabi, truffle oil, and vinegar) so we usually get them all to share. There are dessert roll options as well, which satisfy Jalal’s colossal sweet tooth approval. When he has to fend for himself, he lives off of pain au chocolates or baguettes and Nutella. He tried the apple pie roll version at Homer’s Christmas popup at the Peninsula hotel. The Nutella option is available for delivery, which made his day today!

Despite our cancelled Easter plans, I still wanted to do something special and planned an indoor picnic to take advantage of our balcony — crucial to getting some sunshine and Vitamin D during this period. I spent the day rearranging furniture to optimize views. Its not the most practical setup for our guest room, but I like how it turned out so much that its a keeper post-Covid.

I considered making an Indian meal, but we didn’t want to trek out too far to halal butchers and the produce selection in our small local stores didn’t seem worth it for making an extra trip. The temperature is rising and after a long work week, spending the day in a hot kitchen didn’t seem appealing either.

So we looked to Deliveroo, which has contactless delivery and seems to have the most variety of restaurants for a slightly higher delivery fee and the option to easily tip drivers. At first, I was going to search for an Indian restaurant. But it was a no brainer when Homer Lobster popped up on the suggested screen. Its hard to get authentic Indian food in Paris — at least at a spice level I prefer. The few that have spice scales (5 being reserved for hardcore spice lovers) that cater to South Asian tastes are closed right now.

I even convinced Jalal to dress up for our balcony/indoor picnic. He has been living in PJs and to be fair I haven’t put on make up since January either. Once he saw the set up and opportunity to take pics, he was sold.

He looks good in my favorite color. Once he started, there were multiple outfit changes. I guess its the side effect of being cooped up for several weeks. He self quarantined weeks before the French government required it, but seems to be more zen about it than me. I think I need to spend more time on the balcony while we are lucky enough to be living in Paris.

Where to find Homer Lobster

• Right bank: Marais at 21 rue Rambuteau, Paris 75004
• Left bank: 15 rue de l”Ancienne Comédie, Paris 75006
• Delivery: Deliveroo.fr

Homer Lobster also has a catering menu featuring mini lobster rolls and mini bbq beef rolls for corporate and private events. If we ever get back to wedding planning this year, I definitely want to include them in our events. I also hope Sfez continues to maximize his connections with hotels to keep the tradition of pop ups going.

We tried the one at the Peninsula in December for my birthday before heading to Alger Fashion Week.

Which we wound up being fashionably late to due to Jalal’s excitement at spotting Adel Ramy at the Peninsula. He is a soccer fanatic and couldn’t resist the opportunity to get a photo with the a member of France’s 2018 World Cup winning national team.