“Beurre Café de Paris” is known throughout the world as an herbaceous compound butter served melted over steak, yet its origins are Swiss rather than Parisian. In 1930, chef Boubier opened the original Café de Paris in Geneva with a rather unconventional strategy: serve one main dish and do it well. To this day, the restaurant serves only entrecôte, cooked how you like it, and accompanied with a simple green salad, fries, and that iconic butter sauce.
Curiously, the Café de Paris was so successful that it spawned an early restaurant rivalry. In 1959, Paul Gineste de Saurs opened Le Relais de Venise – L’Entrecôte in Paris with a nearly identical concept. Diners may order only steak-frites, which comes with a mustardy salad topped with walnuts and a similar style of butter. In 1979, the restaurant arrived in Geneva, the home turf of its predecessor.
To further complicate matters, both original restaurants have a number of licensed spin-offs. You’ll find licensed outposts of L’Entrecôte throughout the Europe and the Middle East, while the Café de Paris has declared plans to expand further.
Perhaps as a dig at copycats, the original Café de Paris has this as its motto: “Toujours Imitée, Jamais Egalée” (“Often imitated, never equaled”). To this day, their sauce recipes remains a closely guarded secret, despite multiple attempts to crack it. The French newspaper Le Monde announced they had solved the recipe, which contained, cream, Dijon mustard, fresh thyme, and chicken livers. But Café de Paris vehemently denies that they got it right. For that, you’ll just have to visit the original.
