A Bar Crawl in Trendy Ménilmontant--If rue Oberkampf (11e) were any hotter, it would melt. How did it happen so fast? Longtime residents shake their heads and worry that the quirky authenticity of the neighborhood may disappear under the swarms of night crawlers who've migrated north from the Bastille. "Too many banlieusards go to the Bastille," the owner of Café Cannibale told us, referring to the reluctance of trendy Parisians to socialize with the suburban crowd.
The success of ultrahip Café Charbon, 109 rue Oberkampf (tel. 01-43-57-55-13), open daily from 9am to 2am and set within what was built around 1900 as a dance hall, encouraged entrepreneurs to renovate abandoned factories and bars for the artists flowing into the neighborhood and for the crowd that was tiring of the Bastille. Some of the new spots are intentionally dilapidated, while others evoke the elegance of 19th-century watering holes. The walls often exhibit the work of local artists, the music is fairly low-key, and the drinks are reasonably priced (a glass of mint tea makes a refreshing alternative to alcohol). You can have a salad, snack, or hot plat du jour, but the food is secondary to the ambience.
Start from the Ménilmontant Métro stop and head down rue Oberkampf. Your first stop should be the divey Le Scherkhan at no. 144 (tel. 01-43-57-29-34), where you can sink into an easy chair under the fangs of a stuffed tiger, inhale the incense, and dream of equatorial Africa. It's open daily from 5pm to 2am. Stop in at the live-music club Le Cithéa at no. 114 (tel. 01-40-21-70-95) open daily from 7pm to 2am. Here you get a show ranging from funk reggae to jazz fusion and house. Later continue on to Café Mercerie at no. 98 (tel. 01-43-38-81-30), open Monday to Friday from 5pm to 2am and Saturday and Sunday from 3pm to 2am. At the end of the grungy bar is a tiny back room lined with long sofas. Farther down on the same side of the street at no. 99 is the plush Mecano Bar (tel. 01-40-21-35-28), open daily from noon to 2am. Mysterious old implements on the wall are left over from its days as a tool factory. The spacious back room has a palm tree, a skylight, and murals of seminude ladies lounging about in fin de siècle naughtiness.
Backtrack a few steps and turn left onto rue St-Maur to nos. 111-113, the Blue Billard (tel. 01-43-55-87-21), open daily from 11am to 2am. This camera-factory-turned-upscale-bar/pool hall has 18 billiard tables under a mezzanine and skylight. A few steps farther on at no. 117 is a local favorite, Les Couleurs (tel. 01-43-57-95-61), open daily from 4pm to 2am. It's outfitted with tacky posters, chrome-and-plastic chairs, and kitschy rec-room lamps. Live bands regularly play "free jazz," alternative rock, and anything experimental. Turn right at rue Jean-Pierre-Timbaud and at no. 93 you'll find Café Cannibale (tel. 01-49-29-95-59), open daily from 9am to 2am. This softly lit beauty shimmers with candles, mirrors, and chandeliers. Prix-fixe menus, usually priced at between 5.30€ and 8.50€, include a good-value Sunday brunch for 17€.
